Demonstrators are preparing for winter at their camp in North Dakota, aiming to stop a pipeline that would carry crude oil under the Missouri River from being built. Protesters marched in solidarity Albuquerque on Tuesday, Nov. 15, as part of a national day of action against the pipeline.
On Monday, the federal government announced it would need to study the pipeline project further before granting the company access to an area considered sacred by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
That announcement spurred a large group of protesters and tribal leaders to march on the Army Corps of Engineers building in Albuquerque to demand an end to the pipeline.
"It’s too many times, too many times there are polluters right next to people of color," said Deborah Baca, a protester from Albuquerque. "It’s such a risk with pipelines going so close to water sources that millions of people need, or will use and continue to use. And then there’s the fact that they’re literally breaking the law. They’re breaking treaties. These are sacred grounds for people."
Many of the Albuquerque demonstrators have been living in an encampment in Standing Rock, including members of indigenous communities from New Mexico who are also calling on the federal government to block natural gas drilling near Chaco Canyon.
