#NoDAPL: Nationwide Day of Action Underway to Protest Pipeline Construction

Thousands of demonstrators in New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Omaha, San Antonio, and other cities will be descending upon their local offices of the Army Corps of Engineers to call for an end to the $3.7 billion crude oil pipeline.

Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environment Network, one of the organizing groups of the action, said, "The purpose is to elevate the issue and to encourage the Army Corps to exert its power to stop this pipeline."

The Standing Rock Sioux claim that the pipeline, which is planned to span four states, would be destructive to sacred lands and to the environment, earning the tribe the name "water protectors." One of the investors, Phillips 66, has said that the 1,172 mile pipeline is about 85 percent complete. The remaining construction would include a tunnel that runs under Lake Oahe in North Dakota, a move that the Sioux and environmentalists say would very likely poison the water supply.

On Monday, the US Department of the Interior and the Corps of Engineers delayed making a decision on whether to give Energy Transfer Partners, the Dallas-based company hired to build the pipeline, the ability to continue construction under Lake Oahe. The company announced last week that they predicted a renewal of construction in about two weeks.

Standing Rock Sioux tribal chairman Dave Archambault II stated, "The only possible path forward for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is a decision that denies the easement or subjects it to a full environmental impact statement and tribal consultation," adding, "The only urgency here arises from DAPL's reckless decision to build to either site of the Missouri River without a permit."

Another pipeline financier, Norwegian bank DNB, announced this month that they would reconsider their support of the project if the US government did not satisfactorily address the concerns of the tribe.

The bank released a statement on Sunday saying they are "concerned about how the situation surrounding the oil pipeline in North Dakota has developed,” and that, “The bank will therefore use its position as lender to the project to encourage a more constructive process to find solutions to the conflict that has arisen. If these initiatives do not provide DNB with the necessary comfort, DNB will evaluate its further participation in the financing of the project."

President-elect Donald Trump has not publicly commented on the pipeline, but Energy Transfer executive Kelcy Warren donated over $100,000 to his campaign. Trump has promised to make fossil fuel energy-infrastructure projects, including oil pipelines, a major focus of his administration.

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