The Dakota Access Pipeline has been the focus of growing opposition by Native American and environmental groups, led by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which sued the Army Corps of Engineers in July to stop the pipeline. Ronda Smith of Youngstown, among them, said: “I’m here to do whatever I can to straighten the government out, whether it is the pipeline or fracking”.
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“So we will continue to obey the rules and trust the process”.
Tracey Hill, 46, a Cleveland resident who is one-eighth Cherokee, said she went last week to protest at the site of the pipeline project in North Dakota.
Protests are planned across the country as part of a national day of action “calling on President Obama to reject this dirty and unsafe proposal”, organizers said in a statement.
The 5:15 p.m. event is outside the federal courthouse at Sixth Street and Broadway, according to a press release.
“Those are some of the things that are part of this whole convergence here is around a system’s change, not climate change, and especially how we work together, interact with each other, nation to nation, as indigenous nations and colonial nations”, said Goldtooth. “It has not been my preference to engage in a media/PR battle”.
The Dakota Access Pipeline is a 1,172-mile, 30-inch pipeline that will transport up to 470,000 barrels of Bakken crude oil from North Dakota to IL daily. The tribe has also expressed concerns that a pipeline could rupture, and put their water supply at risk.
Energy Transfer, a Texas based gas pipeline company, says there are major national benefits, profits, and local positive economic impact involving the construction.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe said Tuesday that they are commited to contining the fight to block the North Dakota pipeline project, after the company behind the project said that it planned to complete construction despite resistance. Morton County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Rob Keller says it was about 30 bulldozers, scrapers and other heavy equipment.
The company had not signaled its position on the government’s request. Lands that are deemed sacred by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe run about a half-mile south of the pipeline’s route.
In a memo to employees, the CEO of Energy Transfer Partners vowed to finish building the controversial Dakota Access pipeline, which the Standing Rock Sioux tribe says will disturb sacred ground in North Dakota and impact drinking water. In the interim, we request that the pipeline company voluntarily pause all construction activity within 20 miles east or west of Lake Oahe.
The federal departments said the case “highlighted the need for a serious discussion” about nationwide reforms “with respect to considering tribes’ views on these types of infrastructure projects”.
The protests against the Dakota Access pipeline have drawn worldwide attention, sparking a renewal of Native American activism and prompting the US government to block its construction on federal land, even as the company building the line expressed its commitment to the project on Tuesday.
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“That’s why it’s so wonderful to see so many people joining us and the warriors in North Dakota that are fighting to protect Mother Earth, fighting to protect our water and fighting to do the right thing with tribal consultation”.
