AMHERST — Far away from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in southern North Dakota, Karen Levine walked into the TD Bank on Triangle Street and took out her money.
Levine, 60, an Amherst acupuncturist and physician assistant, said she did so because of the bank’s role in financing Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics, two companies behind the Dakota Access pipeline — a project that has drawn fierce protests from the Sioux and activists concerned about potential environmental disasters and the desecration of sacred land.
“Nothing personal,” Levine said Monday. “The people who work there (at the branch) are lovely, friendly. They know my name. It’s always been very pleasant.”
But the bank’s stake in the controversial oil pipeline made it the landing spot Monday for a peaceful protest where more than 100 people turned out to make known their opposition to the project.
TD head of corporate media relations Judith Schmidt said, in part, in a statement: “we will continue to advocate that Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) engage in constructive dialogue and work toward a resolution with community members, including the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.”
Schmidt added the bank is working to ensure the “sustainability and safety of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) site.”
Monday’s protest came against a backdrop of good news for those opposed to the pipeline. On Sunday, the U.S. Army announced the company’s proposed route through a dammed section of the Missouri River would not be approved.
In North Dakota, journalists reported a jubiliant scene among protesters, although the win was tempered with the knowledge that things could change. Reaction to the news was similar outside TD Bank Monday.
Jenny Caron, 47, of Wendell, who said she recently visited Standing Rock, greeted the news with one word: “Suspicion.”
“You know, I’m not gonna start trusting the federal government all of a sudden,” she said. “I hope and pray it does mean something. But there’s still lots of questions.”
What if Donald Trump’s new administration reverses the decision, she said. What are the details behind “alternate routes” for the pipeline President Barack Obama said last month were being considered?
Others echoed Caron’s concerns. Still, the news was welcome.
Adin Buchanan, 19, a Hampshire College student, said he got back from a weeklong stint at the reservation last week.
“I think the news is monumental and historic in ways that we have yet to comprehend,” he said.
Buchanan said activists have brought attention to a “500-year history of colonialism and genocide,” and have called out some of the most negative aspects of capitalism.
“The Earth is sacred, we are sacred, we are here to protect the lands and our people,” he said. “Not corporate profits.” And the movement is grassroots, making for widespread appeal. “It was this incredible coalition of people coming together.”
Rema Loeb, 83, of Plainfield, said she got back from a monthlong trip to North Dakota on Saturday when reached by phone. She said one night authorities sprayed fire hoses on the protesters in freezing temperatures.
“I said ‘I’m dead’ — I’ll get hypothermia if I get blasted with cold water,” Loeb said. “I went back to camp.”
She left the camp altogether over the weekend, saying she could have stayed longer but felt she was becoming a burden as the temperature dropped and snow started to pile up.
“I don’t walk as well as I used to,” Loeb said, adding that she uses a cane. “Back here I can get on my phone and my computer and share with people at least.”
Loeb tagged along back to Massachusetts with her daughter and two other women, among them Sadie Stull, 54, of Plainfield, who visited the protest site for a few days.
Her reaction was similar to others interviewed.
“It was mixed,” Stull said. “I felt celebratory and excited that at least these things have been put on hold at the moment. But I also feel as though it’s not over yet.”
So the protesters will keep protesting, they said. In the near term, the organizers of Monday’s rally — among them Five College student organizers and Climate Action Now Western Mass — are calling for people to use their checking accounts as leverage against banks that finance Energy Transfer Partners and the fossil fuel industry in general.
“Close it,” Caron said of peoples’ accounts. “Put your money in a credit union.”
Contact Jack Suntrup at jsuntrup@gazettenet.com.