As you read this blog, thousands of protesters have assembled in Standing Rock North Dakota to protest the proposed construction of the 1,770 kilometre, $3.7-billion (U.S.) Dakota Access pipeline that would carry oil from just north of the Standing Rock Sioux’s land in North Dakota to Illinois, where it would hook up to an existing pipeline and route crude directly to refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast. The project is led by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners through its Dakota Access subsidiary. While the Department of Justice, Department of the Interior, and the Army Corps of Engineers has issued an unprecedented statement asking that the pipeline not traverse Federal land (complete statement here), Energy Transfer Partners and its corporate allies will not give up easily. The Keystone pipeline was stopped, so they came up with Dakota Access, essentially an alternate route achieving the same purpose.  We need to stay informed and engaged, so read on.

The pipeline would transport highly flammable oil extracted from the Bakken Shale formation in North Dakota, Montana and parts of Canada, the same highly volatile fuel that exploded in Lac-Mégantic, Que., in 2013, killing 47 people. ( Here’s a primer on why Bakken oil can be so dangerous to transport.)  To read about who is funding this pipeline, click this link.  Hint: Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are among the key funders.

To read a very concise description of the planned pipeline and the growing national movement opposing its construction click the link below. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/standing-rock-standoff-how-north-dakotas-native-protest-became-an-americanmovement/article31764530/#content.

To find out ten ways you can support the Standing Rock Sioux protest, click here.