Energy

Obama’s Daughter Attends Dakota Pipeline Demonstration At Celebrity-Studded Film Festival

Reuters' Kevin Lamarque.

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Chris White Tech Reporter
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Former President Barack Obama’s daughter was among a number of celebrities to attend a Dakota Access Pipeline protest at the Sundance Film Festival.

Malia Obama, the former president’s 18-year-old daughter, attended the event Monday, according to actress Shailene Woodley, who herself has become a mainstay at anti-DAPL demonstrations.

“It was amazing to see Malia. I saw her last night when we did the event with Chairman Dave Archambault. And it was incredible to see her there,” the Divergent actress told Democracy Now Wednesday. Woodley was referring to a private event attended by Archambault, the chairman of Standing Rock Sioux, the North Dakota American Indian tribe working to defeat the pipeline based on the belief it would poison its water supply.

She added: “Also, to witness a human being and a woman coming into her own outside of her family and outside of the attachments that this country has on her, but someone who’s willing to participate in democracy because she chooses to, because she recognizes, regardless of her last name, that if she doesn’t participate in democracy, there will be no world for her future children.”

Malia Obama plans on interning with Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s company, The Weinstein Company, before she attends Harvard University.

An Obama-appointed Army Corps of Engineers agent rejected a crucial easement for the DAPL based on the need “explore alternate routes” for the pipeline, despite the agency approving the easement in July 2016. The move caused a big hit to Energy Transfer Partners’ pocket book — the company behind the project lost $20 million every day the pipeline wasn’t built.

The project, once completed, is expected to bring 470,000 barrels of Bakken crude oil per day from western North Dakota to southern Illinois. Analysts also believe it will create up to 12,000 construction jobs, and provide millions in state and local revenues during the construction phase.

President Donald Trump signed executive orders on Jan. 25 approving the controversial oil project. The memos essentially reset the Army Corps’ initial decision approving the pipeline. It would also allow the administration to rescind the Obama administration’s request to have a years-long environmental impact assessment conducted on the DAPL.

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