DutchNews, November
28, 2016
 |
| Amsterdam’s Zuidas business district. Photo: DutchNews.nl |
Dutch banks ING and ABN Amro are being urged to
end their investment in a controversial oil pipeline project in the US.
The
construction has prompted violent clashes between the army and the Standing
Rock Sioux Tribe who say construction of the pipeline through northern Dakota
could affect its drinking water supply and put communities ‘at risk of
contamination by crude oil leaks and spills.’
They also say the pipeline will
threaten the environment and destroy Native American burial sites, prayer sites
and culturally significant artifacts, CNN reported.
According to fair banking
campaign group Eerlijke Bankwijzer, ING has pumped the equivalent of €233m into
the project in direct loans. ABN Amro has lent $45m to companies which are
involved with the project.
ING said in a statement it is concerned about what
is going on and is investigating further. However, withdrawing from the project
is not an option legally, news agency ANP quotes the bank as saying.
ABN Amro
points out it is not one of the 17 banks actively funding the pipeline and says
it is in ‘continuous contact’ with the companies it has backed. This includes
‘explicitly’ ensuring that its concerns about the project are known, ANP said.
 |
Native
Americans ride with raised fists to a sacred burial ground that was
disturbed
by bulldozers building the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL),
September
4, 2016 near Cannon Ball, North Dakota (AFP Photo/Robyn Beck)
|
Related Article:
US judge won't halt pipeline opposed by Native Americans
 |
Members of
the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe confront bulldozers working on the
Dakota
Access Pipeline in an effort to make them stop near Cannon Ball, North
Dakota on
September 03, 2016 (AFP Photo/Robyn Beck)
|
Canada approves tripling capacity of Trans Mountain pipeline to Pacific pic.twitter.com/MF6eOdTBV1— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 30, 2016
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