Allan Appel Photo
With pulsating Native American drumming and signs and chants declaring “Drink Water, Not Oil,” “Move to Clean Energy,” and “Hey, hey, ho ho, Dakota Access Got to Go,” demonstrators staged an anti-crude oil pipeline protest Wednesday afternoon at the corner of College and Chapel Streets.
The pipeline is being constructed in the Midwest. New Haven’s protest was loud, clear, and rhythmic during the downtown rush hour, although no pedestrian or vehicular traffic appeared to be disrupted.
The target was the local downtown branch of Canadian-owned TD Bank which, according to lead protest organizer Melinda Tuhus, is contributing $365 million to a total $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline project slated to create a shortcut to deliver crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois, and from there to refinery points further south.
Tuhus said she organized the action on her own.
Tuhus’ formal letter of protest declared the pipeline would cross under the Missouri River, the “source of drinking water for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and millions of people downstream. It also crosses some of the tribe’s burial grounds.”
After about 50 people gathered and were picketing the bank for a half hour, Tuhus led them in to deliver the letter requesting that the corporation withdraw its support.
The letter references protests that took place across the country . The protest in New Haven appears to be in solidarity with those in the Midwest, where a U.S. district court judge’s ruling to stay a portion of the construction near the tribes’ sacred ground is expected on Friday.
As folks entered chanting “Water is life” and “Greed is death,” the bank staff seemed nonplussed.
Tuhus: “I delivered it.”
One teller declared that the bank is federal property and no pictures could be taken. Another told Tuhus she could not accept her letter. A third staffer said simply to leave the letter on the teller counter, which Tuhus did; then a woman in management asked everyone to leave or the police would be called.
When asked for a comment from the bank, local TD management staff referred the press to the general information number at TD Bank’s corporate headquarters, 1 – 888-751‑9000. Several attempts did not produce a human to give a response.
The company building the pipeline says that it is thoroughly monitored and shipping crude underground is far safer than doing so by rail, trucks, or in ships.
Tuhus’ letter argued that “thousands of indigenous ‘protectors’ are putting their bodies on the line to stop the destructive Dakota Access fracked oil pipeline” on its 1,100-mile path. It also that tribal members “wonder why their lands are considered ideal for dirty fossil fuel projects and not for renewables like wind and solar, both of which are abundant in the Upper Midwest. We’d like to ask TD about that.”
It was clear no answer would be forthcoming in the bank’s lobby.
Tuhus, a long-time environmental activist and a reporter who has worked over the years with many news organizations including The Independent, left peacefully saying “I delivered it.”
The group then deployed across the street at the northeast corner of the Green, where the Sacred Sorrow Singers, based in Hartford, kept up a pulsating Native American drum beat, as speakers shared their concerns both about the case for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and fracking and the risks involved.
Tuhus, who said she simply called everyone she knew and put the word out on Facebook, was impressed with the turnout.
Kate Foran came down from Hartford to give her daughters a living social studies lesson.
Among the Facebook-alerted participants was Kate Foran from Hartford. She brought her two daughters, Sylvie, age 6, and 6‑month-old Sina. Foran homeschools the girls; the demonstration was part of the kids’ education.
“I want them [her girls] to experience their citizenship, to experience a protest like this one. And we think the pipeline is outrageous. It’s outrageous that it over-rides the native people. It shows what little we’ve learned from the past,” Foran said.
Then they went across to the Green where Sylvia joined the drum circle. Calls of “No justice, no peace,” “Sovereignty yes, pipeline no” continued to peacefully fill the air and garner a few car honks of support.
The peaceful protest, which began at 4 p.m. began to run out of gas after an hour and a half. Customers also continued to use the ATMs in the TD Bank lobby, and by 5:45, two dozen of the protesters had recrossed Chapel Street to continue their picketing in front of the bank.
That was a garbage reason to reject the comment NHI... Let's try again.
@AllanAppel, yeah sure nothing says "peaceful protest" like people chanting "No justice, no peace," Stop over editorializing it cheapens your piece.
@Protesters, et al.
If there are legitimate burial grounds in the right of way, the work should be routed around them. No question. Hoping both sides will use this court ordered injunction to make that determination:
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/07/492988500/judges-order-halts-construction-on-part-of-north-dakota-pipeline
That said, not sure anyone is drinking water straight out of the mizz, moreover where do you think the treated wastewater of the region gets pumped to? Regardless there are engineering solutions that limit risks to this water course. Whatever marginal risk remains is lower than the risk posed by over land transportation options. Let it go.
Also, protest, speak out, that's fine. But assaulting the workers trying to do their jobs is absurd, unreasonable, and illegal. As is Jill Stein spray painting a bulldozer with the words "I approve this". That someone who would put themselves out there to be the leader of the free world, ignoring of course what a bloody limited probability that is, and then pull a juvenile stunt like this is analog to Trump's rhetoric. It is only designed as a publicity stunt to draw attention. It's pathetic:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/green-party-candidate-jill-stein-faces-charges-graffiti-protest/
Would it be okay for someone to assault their neighbor and vandalize their house because the have oil heat, Jill? Didn't think so.