The Dakota Pipeline Project : Structural Racism Essay

Not just for Native Americans but for blacks, Muslims, Jews, and others, but even now we are dealing with Native American invasion and taking their land again, this time known as the Dakota Pipeline which is currently going on in North Dakota. The Dakota Pipeline is a large oil transmitting pipe that supplies oil across the United States but will be built on protected Native American land. The contractors have taken a look and have said that the pipeline would be a significant amount away from their land, but would be built under their water supply from Lake Oahe and would be at the closest 95 feet under the lake. But the Standing Rock Sioux haven't given up hope they have burought up that there have been over 3,300 incidents in which pipes have had leaks that have affected the environment drinking water and much more. The contractors have said that they have taken extreme precautions and have safety tested everything the Sioux aren't going to take any chances. Even as the Sioux and over 50 other tribes have protested there have been no clear winner of the battle on the Dakota Pipeline. The tribes have been protesting for months and though few have gotten violent many Natives and others with them have been arrested and thrown in jail, which is just another way people can attack the Native People to this

Native Americans tend to experience a majority of the corruption. More often than those of which are not considered a minority. For example, Native Americans should have an inherent right to protection within the country in which they live. Construction of the North Dakota Access Pipeline that started in September of 2016, has given supreme notice to the corruption that still surrounds Native Americans today. Natives of Dakota followed the European laws that were forced upon them and in turn were punished. The Army corps of engineers permitted the project, violating the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act along the way. These were created to stop Europeans from destroying Native American historical artifacts, culture and the livelihood of the innocent. Native Americans do not have citizen protection that was promised to them time and time again by the United Sates.

The native Americans of north America have long suffered from structural violence ever since the arrival of the European immigrants and suffer today in the situation of the North Dakota pipeline. The current situation regarding the Access pipeline is that it is running through properties belonging to the native American people without their consent. The problems that are pipeline could create are very similar to those that affect Lubicon people in Canada today. But the more important issue here is not the pipeline itself but the historical structural violence against natives that created this issue.

The Dakota Access Pipeline has been a topic of controversy since it was first announced to the public June 25th, 2014. This pipeline will run under the Missouri river to transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken oil fields to Patoka, Illinois, despite it being built on Sioux Nation territory grated to them through the 1851Treaty of Fort Laramie. This poses a threat to many tribes, including the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, for their concern of the environmental impacts, possible water contamination, and the destruction of sacred burial grounds.

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.

Since 2010, there have been “more than 3,000 incidents of leaks and ruptures at oil and gas pipelines” according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (Worland). The Dakota Access Pipeline has sparked controversy between the U.S. Army of Engineers and Native Americans. With threats of damaging their water supply, cultural land, and impeding a treaty made in 1851, had Native Americans protesting by resisting removal. The threatening impact on Native Americans deemed unconsidered and unheard of by government when they originally planned to build the pipeline through the area. And despite a severe winter storm bringing freezing conditions, protesting Natives remained (Maher and Connors). But why did it have to come to desperate measures that endanger one’s personal safety, just to gain the attention of the government? Native American sovereignty has been repeatedly impeded on, forcing them to take matters into their own hands. Concerning the decision prior to construction, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe claims the federal agency did not appropriately consult them prior to construction (Merrit). Recently, Army Corps have halted the passage of the Dakota Access Pipeline due to their outcry. But if the government had just considered the vote of Native Americans in the first place, the decision could have satisfied everyone who at least got a say

The native americans and other DAPL (Dakota Access Pipeline) opposers are filled with determination, distress, passion, and such resentment towards the pipeline project because it would run under and through ground that their ancestors knew as sacred and those beliefs are still very alive to this day. The pipeline is a 1,172 mile underground oil pipeline that will aid transporting oil through all 50 states in the USA; it was projected to go through sacred lands, reservations, and rivers. There are multifarious issues and concerns pertaining to project but some of the preeminent concerns are; historic preservation and sacred grounds becoming significantly damaged and irreparable, climate change and how it would just increase the production of CO2, and potential pipeline fractures and spills that would mutilate the crucial nearby farms and threaten contaminate for the water supply of thousands of people who depend on it.

The Dakota Access Pipeline is a problem for the natives, but obviously not for us Americans. Energy transfer quote that “Some protesters stayed overnight what looked like dog kennels and were let out in the morning”. This is why we need to stop the construction of this pipeline because it could leak and contaminate the water, the pipeline would be going through sacred grounds, and we need to stop the violence against the native protesters.

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

In the article, “A high-plains showdown over the Dakota Access Pipeline”, Justin Worland addresses the current situation the North Dakota Access Pipeline has brought upon America and its Native American tribes. In particular, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe has a conflict between the Energy Transfer Partners company. Energy Transfer Partners wants to build an oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Reservation. The Sioux tribe is against the project because the oil pipeline will destroy their historical ground and their water source of Lake Oahe.

Oil is one resource America relies heavily on. Oil has a negative impact on the environment and has long lasting affects. The Dakota Access Pipeline is a major controversial topic in the news. The Dakota Access Pipeline is being used to transport oil from North Dakota to Illinois. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is located where the pipeline will be passing through. The pipeline disrupts the lives of the Native Americans who live there. I believe that the Dakota Access Pipeline should not be built because of the affects on the environment and goes against the rights of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Greider and Garkovich’s Landscapes: The Social Construction of Nature and the Environment discusses how the environment we live in is apart of our landscape. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sees their landscape as sacred and a place they need to protect.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe currently fights to save its only water source from natural gas and oil contamination. This troubling current event has a somewhat forgotten historical analogue where very similar themes presented themselves. The Kinzua Dam Controversy, which took place in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, resulted in the displacement of over 600 Seneca Indian families and the acquisition of a large tract of traditional Seneca Land for dam building. Additionally, the acquisition of Seneca land represented a breach of “The Treaty with the Six Nations of 1794,” which explicated prevented such action by the US Government. The dam and its construction, which primarily benefitted Pittsburg, inspired a heated discourse concerning the ethics of native relocation.

Protect the native’s land and the planet! The Dakota Pipeline project is not going to be as beneficial as it’s made out to be. “It’s a 3.7 billion dollar project that would cross four states. The results could be an economic boon that makes the country more self-sufficient or an environmental disaster that destroys sacred Native American sites” (Yan). Construction of the Dakota pipeline does not only violate the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, but implementing this pipeline will release more pollution, risk contamination of the water supply, and provide temporary jobs.

The pipeline route has caused some Native American leaders to be come aggravated at the proposition of its placement. "Even if the pipeline would not cross their property, tribal leaders say, it would pose a threat to drinking water and to ancestral homelands on the rolling plains and hilly riverbeds where they still hold treaty claims" (Thune, John, and Anna Eshoo). It is ridiculous for TransCanada and the supporters of the Keystone Pipeline to propose this route with the knowledge of where the Natives are. This is an intentional insult, one they should not get away with. With an already unstable relationship, why would these polluters think it would be wise to antagonize them. This project already had many issues following it, but "so strong is their opposition that members have maintained a spirit camp on tribal property near the planned route. Despite the camp's rustic accommodations -- a tent, a trailer and no running water -- members have kept a vigil there for more than a year, and have vowed to use the site as a base camp for protesters if construction ever begins. Several activists...have said they would risk arrest through civil disobedience" (Thune, John, and Anna Eshoo). Native Americans were promised rights when they first lost their land to white settlers and the

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.