CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — The Standing Rock Sioux has set up a camp in North Dakota to protest a planned pipeline co-owned by Enbridge, to carry crude from the Bakken oil fields to Illinois over concerns that a spill would impact the tribe’s drinking water.
The “spirit camp” at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers has been occupied for two weeks, with people coming and going in protest, The Bismarck Tribune reported. There is no scheduled end date.
People at the camp are sleeping in shelters and teepees, eating donated food and spending their days in contemplation, conversation and prayer. Willow frames for sweat lodges and a colorful prayer post stand beside the camp, along with tribal flags.
The camp is modeled after one occupied for months by residents of South Dakota’s Rosebud Indian Reservation to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that ultimately was rejected by President Barack Obama.
Protestors set up camp at Dakota Access Pipeline site
Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, the majority owner and operator of the line, said Thursday it will stop work near the reservation until a temporary injunction hearing next week, but that work continues in other parts of the state.
Calgary-based Enbridge (TSX:ENB), through its affiliate Enbridge Energy Partners, announced on Aug. 2 that it would acquire a 27.6-per-cent indirect interest in the Bakken pipeline system that includes the Dakota Access pipeline.
At the time, Enbridge said it would re-evaluate and end joint-venture agreements on its delayed $2.6-billion Sandpiper Pipeline project if the deal involving the Dakota Access pipeline goes through.
The 1,886-kilometre Dakota Access pipeline is designed to carry 470,000 barrels of oil a day from production fields in North Dakota to Patoka, Ill.
– With files from The Associated Press.