To her, Friday’s event was, in a word, a “gathering”.
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In Washington, Sanders was joined at the rally by a couple of Standing Rock Sioux members, including a girl who had joined about a dozen people this summer in running a petition signed by 140,000 people from North Dakota to Washington.
Last Friday a federal judge denied the North Dakota tribe’s request to stop the pipeline construction, but the Department of Justice declared a voluntary pause on the construction the very same day.
The pipeline is now planned to cross the Missouri River at a point near the reservation of the Standing Rock Sioux.
Joel DyerProtesters march on Boulder, Colorado’s Pearl Street Mall in opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline.
But opponents say the project was fast tracked and permits ignored tribal concerns.
“It’s a win for all Indians, it’s a win for indigenous people”, Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault said in response to the government’s decision.
But Kelcy Warren, chief executive of Energy Transfer, the company behind the pipeline, insisted that the project would continue.
The group director, Alan D. Northcutt, said the proposed pipeline would endanger the Missouri River which now serves as a water supply for millions of people.
Across the country, thousands of people participated in more than 200 rallies to stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in a national day of action to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, according to CREDO Action, a network of activists.
Pipeline protests in North Dakota reached local communities in Montana.
Supporters say the pipeline would create more markets and reduce truck and oil train traffic.
Energy Transfer Partners, which is building the pipeline, says they are committed to continuing the construction.
“The halting of the (entire) pipeline was the ultimate goal and that didn’t happen, so it just shows that there’s more to do”, Moose said. 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”.
“Energy Transfer Partners has demonstrated time and time again that the bottom line for them is money”.
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Protesters in South Londonderry Township in Lebanon County also drew strength from the fight by the Sioux as they dispute two proposed pipelines locally: the Atlantic Sunrise and the Mariner East projects.
