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Protesters Rally During State Of The State Address

LANSING (WWJ) - Hundreds of protesters made their presence known outside the Capitol in Lansing ahead of Governor Synder's address.

Pat Hartzel traveled to Lansing to voice her opposition to fracking, a process of extracting natural gas from miles underground through high-volume horizontal hydraulic fracturing.

"Temporarily people come from out-of-state with their oil rigs, and all of their machinery, they stay for a year or two ... and they leave when the oil is gone ... it is a lie that it's all going to stay here and that we are going to have millions of job," said Hartzel.

Hunter Genia, a Native American from Saginaw Michigan joined the rally:

"The reason why we are here is to bring awareness .. and support to our Canadian relatives, indigenous nations, that are asking for their land rights, treaty rights, water rights to be respected by the Canadian government," said Genia who is part of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe.

Genia says a Tribe Chief in Canada is on a 30-day plus hunger strike as part of their protest.

"Just all the lame duck bills he has signed, the right-to-work bill and all the rest of them that are not doing anything for the middle-class people in the state of Michigan. Just all for big corporations and he needs to know that we are ashamed of him," said a protestor from Ironwood holding a sign which read,'Shame on Snyder."

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