Everything you should know about the Dakota Access Pipeline
‘Water is life and everyone deserves water’
Around 2 pm or so on an overly heated Wednesday afternoon I found my friend and I standing among a crowd of equally infuriated people, who like us couldn’t accept that the government has the audacity to try to profit off of the basic human right to water. It was also mind blowing to see that the US government still wants to steal Native American land regardless of the decades of oppression that have already occurred.
A woman from Black Lives Matter speaks on solidarity
Before you read more, I supposed you’d want to know what the Dakota Access Pipeline is, and why people like me gathered together in front of the US district court to protest it. According to Energy Transfer, the Dakota Access Pipeline is a 1,172-mile, 30-inch diameter pipeline that will connect the rapidly expanding Bakken and Three Forks production areas in North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois. 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.
There are multiple environmental and cultural arguments against it. The main Native American tribe fighting it is the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The pipeline would move through ancestral lands that their ancestors thrived upon. Although these lands aren’t technically reservation land, there should be a certain respect held. Native Americans have been forcibly assimilated, killed off, and forced onto small pieces of land that they could finally call theirs for hundreds of years by the American government, shouldn’t we give them the respect they need for once?
The biggest argument against the pipeline would be environmental. There is a fear that the pipeline could break near the Missouri River. This would result in a poisoning of the water supply. As one of the speakers at Wednesday’s protest said “water is life and everyone deserves water.” So why do the government and corporations get to profit off of this basic human right? They shouldn’t have the right to.
In addition, the government and other parties involved didn’t consult Standing Rock. On Wednesday the protest took place in front of the US District Court for a very pertinent reason. An injunction occurred where Standing Rock sued the Army Corps of Engineers who approved of the pipeline’s path. The courts will rule on the case by September 9th. This is an opportunity for the tribes to present their case and possibly win as multiple civilians and celebrities such as Shailene Woodley, Rosario Dawson, and Susan Sarandon show up in support.
Although it is true the pipeline may create more jobs, the consequences may be more detrimental. Peaceful protesters are also unfairly being presented as criminals by media that refuses to understand how terrible the situation at hand is. As controversy grows we can only hope that the injunction will be ruled in favor of the tribes and the people who support them.
You can sign petitions in support. In addition you can get involved in many other ways such as through donations and active protesting.
A little girl speaks on the pipeline to cheers and awws