Thousands of protesters have gathered in Cannon Ball, North Dakota to protest the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a proposed 1,172-mile pipeline enabling North Dakota-produced oil reach refining markets in Illinois.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have attempted to block the project because it passes through North Dakota's Lake Oahe, a sacred site and a major water source for the Standing Rock Sioux.
Whether or not the tribe is successful in stopping the pipeline, it is clear that the protest is reshaping the national conversation for any environmental project that would cross the Native American land.
SEE ALSO: Obama administration blocks oil pipeline that would have crossed Native Americans' sacred grounds
While members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes began protesting the project as early as April, protests heated up in August as numbers increased to the thousands.
Source: Mother Jones
The Tribe, and other Native Americans in Cannon Ball, are protesting the pipeline mainly because the route would cross sacred burial grounds, and a potential oil spill could contaminate the tribe's drinking water.
Source: EcoWatch
The tribe has consistently reached out to the Army Corps of Engineers, the main government body charged with approving the pipeline, since the project was announced in 2014. The tribe filed an injunction in early August to block construction, but a judge rejected the request.
Source: EcoWatch
See the rest of the story at Business Insider