copyright the Chronicle February 8, 2017
by Tena Starr
The commercial wind projects on the Northeast Kingdom’s ridgelines provided the inspiration for 19-year-old Sophia Burnham’s long stint with the pipeline protestors near Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.
Ms. Burnham and her sister Hannah, who are both from Newark, joined the Standing Rock protestors over Thanksgiving break last year.
The Sioux and others are opposed to construction of the controversial 1,170-mile Dakota Access Pipeline. The young women initially went on a 350.org Vermont bus trip, planning to stay for about a week. 350.org is an environmental group concerned about climate change and the use of fossil fuels.
At the end of that trip, Hannah went back to college, but Sophia did some serious packing and returned to North Dakota after a few days. She’s pretty much been there ever since.
She said, by cell phone on Sunday, that President Donald Trump’s order to expedite construction of the pipeline has emboldened local police and private security. Numerous people have since been arrested, she said.
The protests, near the town of Cannon Ball, North Dakota, have gone on for months, with thousands of protestors, including a big contingent of military veterans, arguing that the last section of pipeline should not be built at the proposed site for safety reasons.
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