We are a group of young people from the Oceti Sakowin area calling on the Army Corps of Engineers to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). We believe that the DAPL has great potential to leak into the Missouri River and cause harm to the great people of this nation whose water and livelihood depends on the river. We're willing to go to great lengths to make sure that our voices are heard in opposition to the pipeline – we'll even run hundreds of miles.

Sign to stand with us and demand a stop to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Together with People Over Pipelines, we lead a relay race over 500 miles to deliver the signatures from this petition to the Army Corps of Engineers. Young people from across the Oceti Sakowin lands and non-Native youth ran over 8 days through South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa, from reservation to reservation, through smalls towns and bigger cities along the Missouri River. People in the communities welcomed the runners and took care of us along the way down – many young and old faces.

A lot of lives who will be effected if this pipeline were to be approved. The Dakota Access Pipeline is projected to extend 1,134 miles and connect the Bakken and Three Forks production areas in North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois. It is set to be built in May 2016, with construction beginning in the Bakken, and is supposed to be running later this year. The DAPL is designed to transport 450,000 barrels of crude oil per day along this route, and it will cross the Missouri River less than a mile away from the Standing Rock Reservation. We're worried that it could leak and pollute our river, poison our people.

By running the relay, not only were we bringing awareness to the people, we were also bringing back unity and hope! At one point, we had 50 young people from Santee, Nebraska who ran and helped us cover 30 miles in a day! The power of prayers carried us at times we couldn't run anymore, but something made us all get out there and keep running. We all understood that the sacrifice was much bigger than ourselves. We wanted people to hear us so we had to show them and bring the Dakota Access Pipeline issue to light to protect Unci Maka (Mother Earth).

We had 10 runners who completed the entire "Run For Your Life" relay run and about 160 runners ranging from 5 to 66 years old over the whole week. We saw thousands of faces who would be impacted by the construction of this pipeline.

The fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline can only be successful if we have your voice. Please sign your name to tell the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the Dakota Access Pipeline Project is damaging to all life along the Missouri River. Let them know that we do not need oil to live, but we do need water, and water is a human right and not a privilege.