Some Oklahoma Indian tribes are supporting the protest of the Dakota Access oil pipeline that is being built across North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois.
The Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma recently sent volunteers as well as donations of food, water and other supplies to the protesters who include a large population of Native Americans who have created an encampment outside one town.
“It’s the first time in my lifetime that I have seen a gathering of nations of this magnitude over protecting water,” said Sherry Hamby in an interview with a Tulsa TV station.
She and others are protesting the pipeline being built by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners. Leading the protest is the Standing rock Sioux tribe which contends the pipeline will contaminate drinking water supplies on the reservation and destroy sacred historic and cultural sites.
A judge denied an emergency request this week for a restraining order filed by the judge to block construction of the $3.8 billion pipeline. But the judge will rule Friday on the tribe’s challenge to the permit granted to the energy company.