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Malia Obama Spotted At Protest Against Dakota Access Pipeline Project

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Malia Obama reportedly attended a protest against the proposed Dakota Access pipeline at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this week.

The former first daughter attended the rally and a private event Monday, according to actress Shailene Woodley, who has been using her celebrity to bring awareness to the cause.

"It was amazing to see Malia. I saw her last night when we did the event with Chairman Dave Archambault. And it was incredible to see her there," Woodley told Democracy Now Wednesday.

"President Obama's daughter. Also, to witness a human being and a woman coming into her own outside of her family and outside of the attachments that this country has on her, but someone who's willing to participate in democracy because she chooses to, because she recognizes, regardless of her last name, that if she doesn't participate in democracy, there will be no world for her future children," the Divergent star told Democracy Now's Amy Goodman.

Malia will be interning for movie producer and studio executive Harvey Weinstein this summer before attending Harvard University in the fall.

Former President Barack Obama had blocked two pipeline projects - the Dakota Access pipeline proposed to be built from North Dakota to Illinois, and the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Nebraska.

But on Tuesday, President Trump signed executive orders that would advance both projects.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters said the Dakota Access pipeline, to be built under Lake Oahe in North Dakota, would pollute drinking water and disturb Native American burial sites.

But Energy Transfer Partners, the company that wants to build the pipeline, disputed that and said the pipeline will be safe.

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