Ryan Poe

poe@commercialappeal.com

The fight to block a controversial oil pipeline in North Dakota spilled into Memphis on Thursday as more than 50 protesters gathered outside the the district office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Protesters called on the Corps of Engineers to revoke a permit for the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline and attempted to file a letter saying the pipeline "imperils sacred Sioux lands and would cause irreparable harm to this planet's air and water."

Thomas Walker, the concerned citizen who planned to deliver the letter, said he was told the office in the Clifford Davis/Odell Horton Federal Building off Civic Center Plaza in Downtown Memphis was closed when he tried to file the letter at about 2 p.m.

The battle over the 1,170-mile pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota has lasted months, garnering national attention ahead of President Barack Obama delaying federal approval of a final piece of the project in October.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, an ardent opponent of the pipeline, wrote Obama a two-page letter Sept. 29 outlining his concerns, including that any spill where the pipeline crosses the Missouri River would pollute the Tribe's drinking water supply. Cohen urged a full environmental review like Obama did prior to the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline.