North Dakota Access Pipeline Research Paper

“In the end, there is no absence of irony: the integrity of what is sacred to the Native Americans will be determined by the government that has been responsible for doing everything in their power to destroy Native American cultures”-Winona LaDuke. Native American beliefs are deeply rooted in their culture. To diminish and violate rights of Native Americans is immoral. Violating Native American rights threatens their public health and welfare, water supply, and sacred land. Therefore, the government should not install the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has not given up their fight to end this project. The tribe claims that they had no consent of the route of this project until the construction began. This caused major controversy and also caused the halt in the construction of the pipeline. The tribe also accused the government of illegally taking land from them and it is the law to consult with the land owners before construction.

Over the past few months’ highlights of the Sioux Native American protest in North Dakota have been prevalent in the news. Though many pieces have touched upon the reasons why the Standing Rock Sioux have been protesting such as the Dakota Access Pipeline, many articles have been opinion based and failed to relay the facts surrounding the issue of it’s construction. In an attempt to understand the situation and gain factual information surrounding the pipeline and the Standing Rock Sioux, I interviewed Professor Ron Ferguson who has followed the situation from it’s beginning.

The North Dakota Access Pipeline will span from the Bakken, North Dakota to southern Illinois. The Standing Rock Sioux reservation opposes the pipeline because they believe that it goes through sacred land. The Sioux tribe also opposes the pipeline because it will cross the Missouri River twice, which is the reservations main water source. They believe that the pipeline may contaminate the Missouri River, but the pipeline company claims that the pipeline is the safest method to transfer the oil. I believe that this is a tough topic to form an opinion on, but I will hopefully explain my stance on this issue throughout this essay.

running from North Dakota to Illinois. The proposed pipeline will run directly through the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's land, threatening the water source

Dallas Based Energy Transfer Partners, the company responsible for the construction of the pipeline, claims they have met with tribal leaders “many” times over the past two years, but, “the Standing Rock Sioux claims that meaningful consultations with their leaders were never held and that their concerns have been ignored” (Dakota Access Pipeline 12). This is blatant discrimination of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and disregards any concerns they may have. Cooperation with the tribal leaders would allow the tribe to communicate any further concerns with construction. Instead they have ignored the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and decided to do what they think is best for themselves. An ideology that has always haunted the Native American people. The discrimination continues with the Pipeline being built on Sioux territory and further violates treaties. Sincere Kirabo, coordinator at the American Humanist Association, states, “[the pipeline] does cross through territory that belongs to the Sioux, which directly violates the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie that states the land is reserved for ‘undisturbed use and occupation’ of Native inhabitants” (26). The treaties once created by the government to create peace, is now being disregarded and not being upheld. This is denying their freedom of being equal before the law and further shows discrimination against the

The Dakota Pipeline is a $3.7 billion project. The pipeline will carry 470,000 barrels of oil from fields of western Dakota to Illinois, where it will then be connected with other pipelines. Sen. Bernie Sanders says “the Dakota Access fracked oil pipeline will transport some of the dirtiest fuel on the planet”. Sen. Sanders is trying

This is not fair for the Sioux Tribe because they trust in the word of the entities of the United

(Sills) Therefore, the pipeline would create further problems in the future involving enviromental issues which is why it shouldn’t be built at all. Another piece of evidence from an article provided by CNN claiming how the pipeline endangers wildlife habitat. The Dakota Access pipeline would carry 450,000 barrels of dirty oil per day from North Dakota to Illinois and cut through fragile wildlife habitat, enviromentally sensitive areas and sovereign tribal property. (Yan) The pipeline not only endangers people’s land but animals habitat and potentially their lives. It shows the ignorance of damaging wildlife and adding on to the enviromental problems we as a community already have to be concerned over. These evidentail pieces provide the ways the Dakota Access pipeline could potentially endanger are enviroment now and in the upcoming months ahead. While thousands of protesters contribute to refusing the Dakota Access pipeline construction to continue because of enviromental issues as well as invading the Sioux tribes land, the Army Corps of Engineers claims that not only will it benefit more oil but the route is a safer and more enviromentally friendly way of moving oil to other transportations such as railroads and

The Dakota Access Pipeline a controversy for many not just in North Dakota but around the U.S Should the construction continue, or due to extreme circumstances should it be halted immediately. This paper will go over all of the key facts about the Dakota Access Pipeline. How the pipeline is going to affect the environment, the production of oil and greenhouse gasses, the violence, and the fate for the U.S. if we violate sacred treaties.

Now the situation that is currently going on is between the Sioux and DAPL. Sioux say that the “Dakota Access Pipeline would cut through sacred land, and that it would contaminate the tribes water source, also which would violate the National Historic Preservation Act” (Rowena, Lindsay The Christian Science

This pipeline is designed transport oil from Alberta, Canada down to Steele City, Nebraska, and then south to Texas. The idea of building this pipeline was first brought into light in 2005, and is still a popular topic today. The designated route of this pipeline is to cross the homelands of the Sioux tribe. The essential issue with this pipeline is that it would endanger the Ogallala Aquifer. This aquifer supplies water to many thousands of both native and non-native citizens. Many people are afraid that the pipeline could contaminate the water, and potentially destroy sacred burial grounds. A statement was made by President Kindle of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe saying, “The land, water, tribal sovereignty, and governmental services were not ‘given’ to us in those treaties, they were bargained for with the blood of our ancestors. We will not dishonor our relatives and unnecessarily endanger our health, safety, and wellbeing. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe will take any and all necessary steps, up to and including litigation, to protect our people, our land and water, and our cultural and historic resources.” (William Kindle, Rosebud Sioux Tribe, NARF). This quote stated by Kindle provides great evidence about how the tribe feels about their land and sovereignty for their natural resources. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe want to assure that all of their citizens’ welfare and health are protected. All options are to be explored to ensure the safety of not only the citizens, but the resources and the land as well. There was a 210,000-gallon oil leak in the pipeline that scared the citizens. The leak was directly across from the tribal lands and resources. Many fear that any further leak will be on the burial grounds, and the land will be abolished. A

The projected Dakota Access Pipeline would be beneficial for various reasons. To start, this huge creation would be 1,172 miles long and run "from North Dakota's northwest Bakken region down to a market hub outside Patoka, Illinois" (Mother Jones). With this being said, the construction of this massive pipeline would provide an estimated 12,000 jobs. In addition, crude oil would be able "to reach major refining companies in a more direct, cost-effective, safer and environmentally responsible manner" (Dakota Access Pipeline). To support the demand for crude oil now, railroads and trucks are transporting it to major U.S. markets. However, if this pipeline were to be approved it

Native Americans are being disrespected, harmed, and their homeland is being taken from them. Am I talking about events taken place centuries ago? No, because these unfortunate circumstances yet again are occurring right here, now, in the present. This horrid affair has a name: The Dakota Access Pipeline. This Pipeline is an oil transporting pipeline, which is funded by the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, who have devised a plan for the pipeline to run through the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois. However, unfortunately, this pipeline will run straight through the reservation of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, expressing their distress for the pipeline have said, that the pipeline will be “Destroying our burial sites, prayer sites, and culturally significant artifacts,” Arguments for the pipeline however have tried to counter this claim, trying to emphasize that “The pipeline wouldn 't just be an economic boon, it would also significantly decrease U.S. reliance on foreign oil”, and that the pipeline is estimated to produce “374.3 million gallons of gasoline per day.”, which could help the sinking oil economy. (Yan, 2016) However, despite the economical growth it could achieve, the Dakota Access Pipeline could have damaging environmental effects on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the areas surrounding.

The Dakota Access, LLC is a company of Energy Transfer Partners formed to create the Dakota Access Pipeline Project (DAPL) in attempt to transport crude oil in a safer, more direct, and cost effective way. The pipeline will stretch 1,172 miles through 50 counties in North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois. This $3.7 billion project will be able to transport 479,000 barrels of crude oil a day which is enough oil to produce 374.3 million gallons of gasoline per day. According to daplpipelinefacts.com, “The pipeline will enable domestically produced light sweet crude oil from North Dakota to reach major refining markets in a more direct, cost-effective, safer, and environmentally responsible manner.” Even though there are many positive