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Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation send 500 pounds of smoked salmon to protesters of Dakota Access Pipeline

From staff reports

Five hundred pounds of smoked sockeye salmon is destined en route to North Dakota – a gift from the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe members protesting a proposed oil pipeline.

The salmon – which has been bagged and vacuum-sealed – is ready for disbursement. It was smoked by Colville tribal members Connie Shaver, Debi Condon and Krystal Keatona. The three have volunteered to deliver the salmon to weary protesters camping along the Cannonball River in North Dakota – a waterway that would be affected by the Dakota Access Pipeline.

If passed, the $3.7 billion project would cross ancestral land in the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation and waterways, like the Cannonball River. It faces strong opposition from Native American groups in North Dakota and Iowa that are fighting the pipeline, and environmental groups who claim the project would have an affect on climate change.

The case and controversy surrounding the pipeline, which would stretch 1,168 miles and cross four states, has garnered worldwide attention.

The company calls the pipeline the safest, cheapest and most environmentally responsible way to ship crude oil from North Dakota.

The project is worth $156 million in state and local taxes. The company also said construction would require between 8,000 and 12,000 workers.

Several large labor unions have called on the Obama administration to push for the pipeline project as a review of the permitted project continues.

Members of the Colville Tribes, which has more than 9,000 descendants of 12 aboriginal tribes, sent a self-loading truck full of timber for sweat lodges and cook shacks to help keep the protesters warm.

“Colville Tribes appreciates the efforts of the Water Protectors,” Chairman Dr. Michael Marchand said in a news release. “They are there to save the water. Water is the foundation of everything, it is necessary to preserve our essential needs.”