Pipeline Protesters Hit Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Dozens of protesters took to the streets of Minneapolis on Monday to protest an oil pipeline in Canada.
The Keystone XL Pipeline will stretch 17,000 miles from Alberta to the Gulf Coast, costing $13 billion.
The U.S. State Department has yet to approve the project and a small group in Minneapolis doesn't want it going through the U.S.
"We're protesting in solidarity with protests that are going on in Ottawa," said Marty Cobenars with the Indigenous Environmental Network. "We're saying no to the tar sands and no to the Keystone XL Pipeline."
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They group marched from the Royal Canadian Bank on Washington Avenue to the Canadian Consulate on 7th Street and 4th Avenue.
"We want to tell the embassy to stop using the tar sands," said Cobenars. "It killing indigenous people and it's killing the land."
Consulate officials would not speak to the crowd. They did, however, speak to Cobenars and another man and told them they would take their comments and send them to officials in Ottawa.
"I asked him, 'Why does Canada have such poor human rights violations?' And he wouldn't answer me," Cobenars told the crowd.
WCCO Radio left a message with the Canadian Consulate, but their office was closed.
