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Photo by Danny Fulgencio

With the Dakota Access Pipeline protests reaching a fever pitch, nearly 200 people came to our neighborhood last night to show solidarity with Standing Rock.

Chanting “You can’t drink oil; keep it in the soil” and carrying handmade signs, protestors stood outside the headquarters of Preston Hollow’s Energy Transfer Partners, the company spearheading the pipeline’s development, for almost six hours.

Photo by Danny Fulgencio

Photo by Danny Fulgencio

The Dakota Access Pipeline is a $3.7-billion pipeline that Energy Transfer Partners plans to construct across four states. Many members of Sioux tribe oppose the pipeline, which would run through the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. (You can read more about the contentious issue in these New York Times  and Los Angeles Times articles.)

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Photo by Danny Fulgencio

 

Preston Hollow resident Kelcy Warren is the CEO of Energy Transfer Partners and has become a controversial figure among protestors. Political cartoonist and White Rock Lake area neighbor Kyle Reynolds’ sign included: “Kelcy Warren=profiteer,” and other protestors’ messages echoed that sentiment.

“This turned into the front line of corporate greed versus humanity,” Reynolds says. “It’s become bigger than the pipeline.”

Downtown Dallas resident Frank Faltermeier spent a half-hour outside of a nearby CVS creating his sign, inspired by a friend’s Facebook post that compared building the pipeline through the Dakotas to constructing one through Starbucks.

He says he wanted to show his support for the Sioux after attending a weekend retreat influenced by Lakota tradition. He was in rehabilitation for substance abuse, and he says the experience was life-changing.

Photo by Danny Fulgencio

Photo by Danny Fulgencio

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Photo by Danny Fulgencio

Another protest outside of the company’s headquarters is being organized on Facebook  and scheduled for Nov. 12.  Yolanda BlueHorse is one of the organizers and has coordinated other protests throughout Dallas, including a march outside Warren’s home.

BlueHorse, a member of Rosebud Sioux tribe, says she hopes the local protests bring awareness to the issue and catch Warren’s attention.

“I would like to have an appointment with him,” she says. “We’re all human beings, and that’s what I want to say to him.”

A phone call to Energy Transfer Partners had not yet been returned as of press time.