Native runners challenge President on pipeline

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<
Wednesday, July 20, 2016, 10:00 a.m. CT

Contact: Ed Fallon, Bold Iowa Director, (515) 238-6404 or ed@boldiowa.org
Contact: Bobbi Jean Three Legs, (605) 848-2253 or bobbi.jean@ocetisakowinyouth.com

NATIVE YOUTH RUNNERS CHALLENGE PRESIDENT OBAMA
Relay run of 2,000 miles to D.C. opposes Bakken Pipeline

Des Moines, IA — At 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 23 in front of the Neal Smith Federal Building, 210 Walnut Street in Des Moines, Lakota and Dakota youth on a 2,000-mile relay-run to Washington, D.C. will hold a rally and protest to challenge President Obama and the Army Corps of Engineers to take action to stop the Bakken Pipeline. (See their promotional video here.)

Thirty-one young people from the Oceti Sakowin lands in North Dakota are running through Iowa July 19-25, roughly following the path of the Bakken pipeline. They will arrive in Washington, D.C. on August 5 and deliver over 140,000 signatures (people wishing to sign the petition can do so here) against the Bakken Pipeline to the Army Corps of Engineers. They also will rally in front of the White House, calling on President Obama to tell the Corps that a full Environmental Impact Statement is needed to show the harmful impact of the pipeline on their native lands and waters.

“In May, we led a relay race over 500 miles to deliver signatures to the Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha,” said Bobbi Jean Three Legs, one of the organizers. “Young people from across the Oceti Sakowin lands and non-Native youth ran over eight days through South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa, from reservation to reservation, through small towns and bigger cities along the Missouri River. Corps officials listened, but they still haven’t stopped the pipeline. We are now taking our message all the way to Washington, to the Corps’ headquarters there and to President Obama, to tell them to put an end to this act of aggression against our people, our land, our water and our future.”

“The passion and commitment of these tireless young people is contagious,” said Bold Iowa director Ed Fallon. “Their message is being well-received across Iowa, where 74% of us oppose the use of eminent domain to build the Bakken Pipeline. We hope their message is equally well-received by President Obama and the Army Corps of Engineers.”

Bold Iowa is part of the national Bold Alliance, now in five states and building new alliances to fight fossil-fuel infrastructure expansion projects and promote renewable energy. Visit www.boldnebraska.org/tag/bold-alliance.

Oceti Sakowin Youth and Allies calls on the Army Corps of Engineers and President Obama to stop construction of the Bakken Pipeline because it will cause harm to the great people of this nation whose water and livelihood depends on the Missouri River.

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