There will be protests across the country tomorrow over the Dakota Access pipeline. WKSU's Kabir Bhatia reports on one scheduled for 4 p.m. in Northeast Ohio.
Protests have been going on for months in North Dakota over the $3.8 billion project. The pipeline is complete except where it will travel under the Missouri River. Protesters say the project could affect water supplies and disturb Native American cultural sites.
Now, the non-profit group leading the nationwide protest – the Indigenous Environmental Network -- has called for demonstrations at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers offices and federal buildings throughout the country. Graphic Designer Amy Breedon from Kent is organizing a protest at the Seiberling Federal Building in Akron, and says it’s a matter of environmental protection, federal law and cultural sensitivity.
“There’s the Fort Laramie Treaty of April 29, 1868, that gave them this land. And that they shall enjoy undisturbed use and occupation. [The] U.S. Constitution states that treaties are the supreme law of the land.
“Just the fact that we’re digging up burial grounds to make this pipeline . I think that’s something everyone would agree: we would not put a pipeline through Arlington [National] Cemetery. We would not desecrate anything that is important to us as a people and our ancestors. And yet, we feel it is acceptable to do it to the native people of this land.”
The Army Corps has asked Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners to stop work near the Missouri River while it reviews permitting.
Dakota pipeline protests are also scheduled in Zanesville, Pittsburgh and Erie, PA.
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