prairiepublic.org: 1,500 join Standing Rock oil pipeline protest | Prairie Public Broadcasting

19.8.16

1,500 join Standing Rock oil pipeline protest | Prairie Public Broadcasting: [prairiepublic.org] Construction began near the Missouri River section of the 1,200-mile Dakota Access Pipeline last week. This week, more than 1,500 protesters arrived at the border of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

“For two, years we’ve been holding them off, waiting for you to come. Now you’re here with us,” Jon Eagle Sr. told a cheering crowd at a protesters’ camp near the construction site.

The pipeline will carry more than 500,000 barrels of oil per day from North Dakota to Illinois. It’s crossing under the Missouri River, just upstream of the reservation.

The concern over a potential spill prompted people like Tenille Bluebird of South Dakota’s Rosebud Sioux Reservation to join.

“If the oil comes through, there ain’t going to be no water,” she said.