The Stranger writer Sydney Brownstone is reporting live from North Dakota, where activists and tribal members are protesting against the construction of a crude oil pipeline. Eight tribes from Washington state have joined the protest recently.
The Dakota Access Pipeline is a $3.8 billion project that would carry crude from North Dakota’s Bakken formation to Illinois over a distance of 1,172 miles, and some of that oil is planned to travel under the massive Missouri River itself. Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose land borders the river, have been praying and demonstrating against the project since April. In recent weeks, the demonstration numbers have swelled into the thousands.
It’s an historic moment, and with the support of more than 90 tribes, it’s the largest gathering of its kind in more than a century.
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