Dakota Pipeline protesters descend on CitiBank in Albany

Lyanne Melendez Image
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Anti-Dakota Pipeline protesters descend on CitiBank in Albany
Demonstrators gathered in front of a CitiBank branch on Tuesday in the East Bay city of Albany because CitiBank is a financial supporter of the pipeline.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A protest to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline sparked in front of a CitiBank location in the East Bay City of Albany. Protesters say they chose the bank because it is a financial supporter of the pipeline project.

RELATED: Hundreds protesting Dakota Access Pipeline in SF

Protests took place in more than 80 cities across the country Tuesday, involved in a "Day of Action."

Tuesday's demonstration on Market Street was meant as a sign of support for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe which continues to oppose the construction of the North Dakota Access Pipeline.

Monday, the Army Corps of Engineers temporarily halted the project.

"I wanted to be a drop in the ocean of people, to this movement that will be required to stop the pipeline," said one protester Isa Galliard.

PHOTOS: Bay Area protesters oppose Dakota Access Pipeline

Hundreds march down Market Street as part of a Dakota Pipeline protest in San Francisco on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016.
KGO-TV

The pipeline would run from North Dakota to Illinois, transferring crude oil.

It's 80 percent complete, except for a section that would run under the Missouri River. That site is near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

"Which is the water supply," added protester Patricia St.Onge. "Not just for the tribe and that should be enough, but for millions of people all along the water shed."

Maria Cole lives in Missouri. She came with a friend to protest.

"It's going to run down hill," Cole said. "It's going to affect the Midwest. I am from the Midwest, it's coming through those states and we're all going to suffer when the water is polluted."

The Army Corp of engineers stopped the project Monday saying, "Additional discussion with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and analysis are warranted."

Energy Transfer Partners, which is behind the pipeline, criticized the Army Corps saying, "This action is motivated purely by politics at the expense of a company that has done nothing but play by the rules it was given."

RELATED: Dakota Pipeline protesters arrested at CitiBank in San Francisco

Energy Transfer is based in Texas and is now asking for a Federal District Judge in Washington to assert their legal right of way to build.