North Dakota Oil Pipeline Protest Still Going Strong (Video)

Protests in North Dakota have continued over the planned construction of a pipeline that would link oil fields between states, but could also potentially damage drinking water sources and degrade sacred Native American lands (video below).

Protesters have camped out for nearly one month in hopes of stopping the proposed pipeline. They have faced resistance from private security patrols armed with pepper spray and dogs, resulting in several injuries to the mostly-Native American groups protesting the pipeline construction, Democracy Now! reports.

Although news and social media reports show security guards using dogs to push back protesters, the the Morton County Sheriff’s Department blamed protesters for causing violence.

“Once protestors arrived at the construction area, they broke down a wire fence by stepping and jumping on it,” the sheriff’s office said, according to NPR. “According to numerous witnesses within five minutes the crowd of protestors, estimated to be a few hundred people became violent. They stampeded into the construction area with horses, dogs and vehicles.”

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which issued a permit to Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the pipeline.

A federal judge is expected to issue a decision on the lawsuit by Sept. 9, according to The Bismarck Tribune.

Energy Transfer Partners is owned by Dallas, Texas-based billionaire Kelcy Warren, The Dallas Morning News reports. Hundreds of protesters, including representatives from several Native American tribes, also gathered in front of the company’s headquarters to protest the North Dakota pipeline.

“Some of us can’t make it all the way up there,” said Yolanda Bluehorse of the American Indian Movement of Central Texas. “And we hope the big billionaires and higher ups can see us. Not only is what’s happening up there [where the pipeline is being built] being watched, but we’re watching down here.”

The pipeline is projected to cost $3.8 billion to build and is expected to carry 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day from North Dakota’s Bakken oil field to Illinois, Democracy Now! reports.

Sources: The Bismarck Tribune, Democracy Now!, NPR, The Dallas Morning News/ Photo Credit: Democracy Now!