The Omaha World-Herald reports members of four Nebraska Native American tribes participated in a demonstration in downtown Omaha against the pipeline Thursday evening.
That happened outside the offices of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which granted permits for the project.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, hundreds gathered for an evening of speeches, dancing and chants of, “Water is life,” according to the Tulsa World. Several hundred marchers also rallied in Denver.
The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has sued to try to stop the $3.8 billion project, and the fight has drawn thousands of protesters to a construction site in North Dakota in recent weeks.
A federal judge is set to rule Friday on the tribe’s request to temporarily stop construction near its reservation. The tribe has some legal advantages in a courtroom, particularly their status as a sovereign nation with long ties to the land in question.
But stopping a project like the Dakota Access pipeline after construction has begun is difficult. And even if the Standing Rock Sioux win in federal court, the result might simply be an altered route.
A judge is expected to rule Friday on whether to block construction of the pipeline, which is supposed to pass close to the tribal reservation near the North Dakota-South Dakota border.
No matter what the court decides, opponents seem prepared for a long fight, following many of the same tactics used to defeat the Canada-to-Nebraska segment of the Keystone XL pipeline.