Keystone pipeline protest garners crowd on Great Falls Civic Center

Great Falls Tribune

Lance Four Star, center, holds his fist up among a group of about 50 protestors who gathered in opposition of the Keystone XL pipeline on Wednesday in front of the Civic Center. A federal judge heard arguments for and against the pipeline later that afternoon.

Before a federal judge heard arguments over the installation of the Keystone XL pipeline's route through eastern Montana, about 50 people took to the steps of the Great Falls Civic Center on Wednesday to protest the project.

Protesters heard and gave speeches, waved signs and chanted against the TransCanada project that they argue could threaten drinking and irrigation water.

"I've lived near polluted water all my life," said Lauran Emerson, a lifelong resident of Stockett. "I know what it's like."

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In Stockett, south of Great Falls, a former mine left drinking water speckled with coal before a new $2.6 million water system set up in 2016.

The protest was organized by the Northern Plains Resource Council, which participated in the federal hearing shortly after.

Kate French, chair of the Northern Plains Resource Council, said planning the protest took about a month and a half. She said it was important to bring people from around the state to be visible in Great Falls.

Lance Four Star holds a flag representing the Hudesana, or Red Bottom Clan of the Assiniboine Tribe. From Wolf Point, Four Star is concerned the Keystone XL pipeline spur planned to run through the Fort Peck Indian Reservation would pose a threat to communinty drinking and irrigation water.

"It helps people remember who all is directly affected," French said. "It reminds folks in Great Falls that there are folks here who represent their values."

Others came from as far as the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, through which the pipeline is expected to cross along with a lineage of eastern Montana counties before reaching South Dakota.

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Lance Four Star, who lives in Wolf Point, spent the protest holding up a flag representing the Hudesana, Red Bottom Clan, a group within the Assiniboine Tribe. He's worried a potential spill could wreak havoc on the nearby Missouri River and community water source.

Four Star said the group is asking TransCanada to help pay for an environmental impact study to be completed by an independent source from the one already completed.

"This could be very detrimental to the future and the way of our people," he said. "That's where my ancestors came from."

Al Ekblad, executive secretary of the Montana AFL-CIO union group, said the arguments against the pipeline are based on emotions, not economics. Ekblad said the AFL-CIO supported the additional safety policies requested by groups currently opposing the pipeline project, but he supports the project going forward.

Lauren Emerson, of Stockett, holds a size twice her size that reads "Protect our water." The other side of the sign says "Obey the law," as she believes President Donald Trump is violating the Environmental Protection Act by supporting the Keystone XL pipeline.

"The bottom line is we are going to use and continue to use fossil fuels for a given period of time," Ekblad said. "My thought is that I would rather move that oil in a well-built pipeline... It's safer than moving underground in a pipeline than it is to move it by truck or train."

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There were emotions at the protest, but mostly of optimism for the chance to air their concerns on the record in court.

"We hope to hear that our concerns as landowners and residents of Montana about water quality are more important than corporate interests, frankly," she said. "There's a lot of thinly veiled justifications as to why this project ought to go through and really there is no justification for compromising our water and soil and family farms and ranches."

Bill LaCroix drove from Victor to be a part of the protest. He said he wanted to participate in the protest of the North Dakota pipeline but didn't get the chance. He, too, was looking forward to hearing arguments in court.

"I feel great," he said after the protest. "Let's hear what they have to say."