Hundreds of Native Americans from tribes across the country are protesting the construction of an oil pipeline in North Dakota. As Reno Public Radio’s Anh Gray reports, a few members from tribes in Nevada are there as a show of support.
Demonstrators fear the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline would affect the drinking water of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and also trample on sacred Native American sites. Monty Williams is with Nevada’s Statewide Native American Coalition. He says a few tribal members from Nevada have joined the group of protestors as a show of unity.
“It’s something that we try to grasp onto is identity—standing for something—our land," Williams explains. "I mean they’ve found our ancestral burial grounds but is that stopping people from doing this devastation to our land, our Mother Earth? No it’s not.”
Supporters of the project say that it enables a more efficient and cost-effective way to transport crude oil passing through four states from North Dakota to Illinois. The Associated Press reports construction of the pipeline is also being challenged in federal court.
Over the weekend, the protest turned violent when demonstrators clashed with private security guards from a Dallas-based energy company Energy Transfer Partners.
