MIDDLEBURY — Members of the public are invited to Triangle Park in downtown Middlebury on Tuesday evening for a vigil in support of efforts to block a petroleum pipeline in the central part of the U.S.
Two groups — Showing Up for Racial Justice and the Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society — organized the vigil in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Water Protectors who are working to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The pipeline is a 1,172-mile-long underground oil pipeline that would transport crude oil from the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota to central Illinois. Among other groups, the project has been protested by the Standing Rock Sioux Native American nation to protect their land and water. Opponents said the pipeline endangers the water supply of millions of people.
The vigil will start at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15, at the corner of Main Street and Merchants Row.
Participants are asked to bring a food donation for the HOPE food shelf, and if possible a monetary donation for the Water Protectors legal fund.
“We do not currently have any speakers lined up, but there should be opportunities to connect with other Middlebury-area residents who want to work against climate change and for racial justice,” organizer Joanna Colwell said on Friday.