Tribal members plan protest of Dakota Access Pipeline

FORT YATES, N.D. (AP) - Members of the Standing Rock Sioux and other tribes are protesting the planned $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline to carry oil from western North Dakota's Bakken oil fields to Illinois.

Tribal officials are planning a protest ride Friday across the Standing Rock Reservation, which straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border. They also will establish a "spirit camp" near the Cannonball River, modeled after one occupied for months by residents of South Dakota's Rosebud Indian Reservation to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

The camp will be semi-permanent, with tribal members and supporters coming and going, spokeswoman Dakota Kidder told The Bismarck Tribune (http://bit.ly/1RKhkAz ).

The proposed 1,130-mile Dakota Access Pipeline planned by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners would pass through North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa on its way to Illinois. Regulators in all states have approved the project, though it still needs federal approval.

Energy Transfer Partners maintains the pipeline will be a safe and cost-effective way to transport oil, and also will create jobs and boost the economy. The Standing Rock tribe opposes the pipeline because it fears a spill could contaminate its drinking water.

"We're hoping to get the information out there that a tribal nation is put at risk for the interests of big oil and the state of North Dakota - everybody's interests but ours," said Steve Sitting Bear, the tribe's director of external affairs.

Friday's 20-mile ride will go from Fort Yates to Cannon Ball. The protest will be done "in a respectful manner," Kidder said.

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Information from: Bismarck Tribune, http://www.bismarcktribune.com