The proposed route of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Potentially hundreds of neighbors and those who oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline plan to gather on Preston Road at Forest Lane tonight, part of a national effort organized by groups like 350.org and the Sierra Club asking President Barack Obama to shutdown the controversial project.
“We’re not calling it a protest,” says Preston Hollow organizer Kelley Rainwater. “It’s a peace stand, a peace stand to protect water.”
Supporters of the project say the 1,100-foot, 30-inch pipeline is a cost effective solution for moving crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois. Opponents say the project cuts through sacred tribal land, including burial sites, and poses seriously environmental risk to local water supplies. In an unexpected move, last week the Justice Department halted the project, calling for for a “serious discussion on whether there should be nationwide reform with respect to considering tribes’ views on these types of infrastructure projects.”
Rainwater says the event tonight is meant to stand with the rest of the country to ask that the project be permanently nixed. Rainwater says all are welcome to join, supporters will gather outside the Wells Fargo at 11730 Preston Road from 7-8 p.m. tonight.
