Native Americans show solidarity over pipeline

Native Americans from reservations hundreds of miles away from North Dakota have joined the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s growing protest against a $3.8 billion four-state oil pipeline that they say could disturb sacred sites and impact drinking water for 8,000 tribal members and millions farther downstream.

About 30 people have been arrested in recent weeks and the company has temporarily stopped construction. A federal judge will rule before Sept. 9 on whether construction can be halted on the Dakota Access pipeline, which will pass through Iowa, Illinois, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Among the protesters near the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri Rivers in southern North Dakota is Wambli Johnson, who was supposed to begin third grade last week on the Navajo Nation. Instead, she rode horses, saw buffalo up close for the first time and made new friends.