Santa Clara County Joins Dakota Access Pipeline Naysayers

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA – The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors today passed a resolution that supports a moratorium on building the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The board passed the resolution in a 3-0 vote this morning during its meeting in San Jose, with Supervisors Mike Wasserman and Joe Simitian abstaining, to oppose the 1,172-mile crude oil project that has drawn strong opposition because of the risks the line could pose to the environment and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

The proposed $3.7 billion pipeline that is expected to transport 470,000 barrels of oil daily would run through the tribe's source of drinking water.

The pipeline would start in North Dakota, then stretch into South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. It would also connect to other pipelines delivering oil to the Midwest, East Coast and Gulf Coast.

Similar resolutions have been passed in Oakland, Berkeley and many cities nationwide.

Many protests opposing the project have been scheduled today across the country as part of a national day of action, including one in San Francisco this morning where a large group gathered outside the district
headquarters of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that authorized the project.

The federal agency issued a statement on Monday saying the project needs further analysis and input from the Standing Rock Sioux before going forward.

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--Bay City News/Image via Santa Clara County; pipeline route image courtesy of Energy Transfer Partners