Spiritual relay protests Bakken pipeline

By Lauren Donovan, Bismarck Tribune

CANNON BALL, N.D. - Young Plains Indians and other youthful protesters seeking to stop the Dakota Access pipelines are expected to arrive Tuesday at the Omaho office of the Army Corps of Engineers after a 500-mile spiritual relay run.

The 'Run for Your Life: No DAPL” run left Cannon Ball in far south central North Dakota on April 24.

In Nebraska, the runners will deliver a petition asking the Corps to conduct an environmental impact statement before issuing a pipeline easement to cross near the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation boundary.

The Corps is conducting a less-rigorous environmental assessment and would undertake a complete environmental impact statement only if it finds significant issues, said spokesman Larry Janis.

Jessye Stein, a spokeswoman for 'Run for Your Life,” said the battle is over protecting one of the largest water resources in the country that provides drinking water for millions of people.

Jasilyn Charger, a young runner from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, said she's running for everyone who resists the pipeline.

'I run for every man, woman and child that was, that is, and for those who will come to be. I run for my life, because I want to live,” she said.

The Dakota Access LLC pipeline, a project of Energy Transfer Partners out of Texas, would transport as many as 570,000 barrels daily of Bakken crude from northwestern North Dakota, through a section of South Dakota, across 18 Iowa counties to a terminal in Illinois.

Pipeline representatives announced at a recent public meeting that construction on various parts of the pipeline will start in May, excluding unpermitted river crossings at this time.

The pipeline has received approvals from utility boards in the four states, but is awaiting approval from the Army Corps.