Punishing Wells Fargo Bank for its role as a lender to the Dakota Access Pipeline felt more important than ever to activists gathered Tuesday at Seattle City Hall for a hearing on a bill to sever the city’s relationship with the bank.

Just before the hearing began, it was announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would be approving an easement under a Missouri River reservoir to enable completion of the 1,200-mile oil pipeline.

“It’s obviously a disappointment,” said Muckleshoot tribal member Rachel Heaton. But potential city action against Wells Fargo, she said, “balances it out.”

Local action against fossil-fuel development is more important than ever, she said.

“We need to bring this fight home. It isn’t just Standing Rock. It’s oil trains and coal trains and now … approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline,” she said, referring to a Canadian pipeline from Alberta to Burnaby, B.C., that would transport tar-sands oil for export.

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