Protesters march in Carson City in solidarity with Dakota pipeline action

CARSON CITY — About 80 protesters took to the streets of the state capitol Friday in solidarity with the Standing Rock action in North Dakota aimed at stopping a pipeline construction project.

Holding signs saying “Water is Life” and “No DAPL” for the Dakota Access Pipeline project, the group marched from Carson Street at the state Capitol one block east to a Wells Fargo bank branch.

The bank is a target of protests because it is one of several financial institutions helping to finance the $3.8 billion project.

The pipeline would deliver oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois.

The construction of the pipeline is nearly complete, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has yet to grant an easement that would allow the pipeline to be built beneath a reservoir that provides water to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.

Last week the group Stand with Standing Rock, Reno, protested at the Army Corps of Engineers field office in Reno.

In a letter, the group urged the agency to immediately halt the Dakota Access Pipeline and to cancel existing permits “in order to prevent any further desecration of sacred burial and archaeological sites and to protect the land and water we all depend on.”

“If it happened in North Dakota, it could happen in Nevada,” the letter said.

Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Follow @seanw801 on Twitter.