A French Bank Is Latest to Divest from Dakota Access Pipeline Project

By Yessenia Funes Apr 06, 2017

A French bank is the latest to divest from the hotly contested Dakota Access Pipeline.

BNP Paribas SA announced yesterday (April 5) that it has sold its $120 million portion of a $2.5 billion loan for the $3.78 billion energy project. “The sale of our stake signals the importance of full and detailed consultation on projects that impact large numbers of stakeholders,” the bank wrote in a statement.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe applauded this latest development. Per Chairman Dave Archambault II, in an emailed statement:

“As corporate greed continues to fuel dirty energy projects on our land, it is heartening to see that some banks recognize the imminent harm to our people posed by DAPL, and are taking actions accordingly. We appreciate BNP Paribas, ING and DNB leadership and their advanced understanding and respect of tribal sovereignty and Indigenous Peoples rights.”

ING and DNB are the other two banks that have also removed their investments in the project. ING Groep NV is a Dutch bank that sold $220 million in shares on March 21. DNB is in Norway, and it sold its shares on March 26 after pulling $3 million in assets in November.

Though oil is already flowing through the pipeline, its opponents are still working against it. Last night, in New York City, The New York Daily News reports, people camped outside City Hall to get Mayor Bill de Blasio to divest from banks like Wells Fargo that are financing the 1,172-mile long pipeline—as the cities of Seattle, Los Angeles and Davis, California have already done or are taking steps to do.

(H/t Reuters)