Plaza protest: block the pipeline

Several hundred people rallied on Sonoma Plaza late Tuesday afternoon in a show of solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and its ongoing blockade of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

As passing drivers and pedestrians signaled their support with horns and waves, the group chanted, “What Do We Want, NO Pipeline” and “Protect the Water, You Can’t Drink Oil.”

At issue is the $3.7 billion, 1,172-mile pipeline, which would stretch from the oil-rich Bakken Formation — a huge underground deposit where Montana and North Dakota meet Canada — southeast into South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois.

Advocates say the pipeline would be an economic boon, and significantly decrease U.S. reliance on foreign oil. The pipeline would also help free up railways to transport crops and other commodities currently constrained by crude oil cargos, they argue.

Opponents cite environmental concerns, including possible contamination due to breaches and eventual greenhouse gas emissions. Standing Rock Sioux tribe has sued to halt the project on the grounds that it  “threatens the Tribe’s environmental and economic well-being, and would damage and destroy sites of great historic, religious, and cultural significance to the Tribe.”

The peaceful Sonoma protest was just one among hundreds of other events held all over the world as part of an international “day of action”. The Sonoma protest was organized by the Earth Care Committee of First Congregational Church, 350.org, and Transition Sonoma Valley.