Bakken Pipeline Spill

Almost 95 million barrels of oil and fuel are produced each day in order to provide energy and fuel to people the world over. A major component of the oil industry is the transportation of oil through various means including oil pipelines. These pipelines are capable of transporting thousands of barrels of oil thousands of miles per day. In the United States one possible pipeline has caused a lot of controversy and discussion on the impact it will have on the United States. The difficulty in deciding if the Keystone XL Pipeline should be built is in whether the possibility of economic growth outweighs the possibility of environmental destruction. In order to make a decision, one must first look into the history of oil pipelines. It is crucial

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

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe claims that the pipeline goes against their culture and history on the reservation. As Worland puts it, it “transverses a historic burial ground and continues a legacy of

On Sunday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied a permit for completion of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which would have come a half a mile south of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota. HOWEVER, Instead, the Corps said it would begin to explore alternative routes. While members of the tribe and its allies celebrated the decision, some worry that the victory may only be temporary, given President-elect Donald Trump’s support for the almost 1,200 mile-long pipeline.However, North Dakota’s governor, the company and members of the state’s congressional delegation all denounced the decision. Therefore, members of the tribe have said for many months that the pipeline would destroy sacred lands and were worried an oil leak could

The Keystone XL Pipeline is an oil pipeline system that runs in parts of Canada and the United States. The pipeline runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Illinois and Texas with a distribution center in Cushing, Oklahoma. The pipeline has provided several jobs throughout the two countries. Many people have concerns about spills, emission, and the amount of oil left. This paper explains the location of the pipeline, the problems and concerns that surround it, and the positive outcomes it has created.

The DAPL has mainly been constructed on private land. However, some of the pipeline crosses under or near waterways that are managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Federal government. And some of this land is near the Standing Rock Sioux tribe who argues that the pipeline will destroy undiscovered artifacts and could potentially cause contamination to the tribes major water sources. There have been protests of the building of the pipeline near Lake Oahe because that is the tribe 's main source of water. The protesters think that they have the right to be on the land where they are protesting because it was given to the tribe in the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie which was immediately broken. The settlers, at the time continued to take their land and much of it remained in the settlers hands and has since been sold or inherited by family members. The natives still believe it is

It does not matter what mode of transportation gets used, there will always be some level of risk when transporting crude oil. In this case the construction company is attempting to choose the most effective way to move the oil, but they are not listening to everyone’s concerns about the environmental impact. In order to invalidate the tribe’s concerns O’Sullivan wrote that “the Corps district office has already determined the project would not cause significant environmental harm.” It is hard to believe that if there was an oil spill that began a half mile away from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s land that the damage done to their water supply would be insignificant. The original route for the pipeline crossed the Missouri River near Bismarck.

In the spring of 2016, an environmental movement began in North Dakota that today, is making history. In Cannonball, North Dakota, Native Americans have gathered to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline; resulting in one the largest gatherings of Native Americans from multiple tribes the United States has witnessed in over a century (Northcott, 2016). One tribe in particular, the North Dakota Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, have been leading and organizing the protest against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Standing Rock reservation is located in the Sioux and Ziebach counties within the North Dakota and South Dakota border; the Sioux people are the primary tribe of the area. According to Trymaine Lee of MSNBC, the counties are a part of the top 10 poorest counties in the country, and that it has a history with water distresses. In the early 1960s, five dams located at Lake Oahe in Standing Rock gave way and flooded 200,000+ acres, destroying nearly all natural resources and wildlife at the river bottom, as well as destroying towns within the reservation and sacred ancestral lands and sites. This was a devastating tragedy for the people of Standing Rock, and it seems that history is repeating itself with the proposed construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The pipeline poses many hazardous threats, and these threats outweigh any economic benefit the proponents may promise. It threatens the environment, water supplies, historical land, and only adds to the

Citizens of the U.S. must petition and call public officials to urge the Obama administration to declare Standing Rock Indian Reservation a National Monument, thereby halting the development of the Dakota Access Pipeline, to accomplish the following priorities: prevent the contamination of a vital U.S. water source and its surrounding ecosystems, stop the human rights violations and abuse at Standing Rock, and avert the desecration of sacred native burial grounds. Stopping the pipeline would additionally benefit the planet and all its inhabitants by assisting the transition away from reliance on fossil fuels, and toward more sustainable energy sources, a vital

While proponents for not building the pipeline cite past unfortunate events as evidence for their argument, there are many facts that lead to the dismissal of these claims as unrelated or simply irrelevant. A widely used example is the Deepwater Horizon spill, or the BP oil spill, in April of 2010. This spill was highly covered by American media, engraving in the public mind that waters surrounding oil refineries and lines often become damaged or contaminated. This is shown by the opposition’s contention that the original route crossed the Sandhills in Nebraska. The Sandhills are considered wetlands by state and federal governments and are home to a large portion of the Ogallala Aquifer, “the single most important source of water in the High Plains region, providing nearly all the water for residential, industrial, and agricultural use” (Ogallala Aquifer). Comparing the consequences of the Deepwater Horizon incident to pessimistic thoughts of the Keystone XL, advocates of the project’s cancellation claim that if the pipeline were to break or leak at point along the route near the aquifer, it would pollute the area’s usable water, therefore causing significant environmental and economic damage. Rebuttals for this argument are very resolute; pipeline supporters and other experts assert that this should not be as big of an issue as it is advertised to be. James Goeke, professor emeritus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a hydrologist by trade in

Hello I am Michelle Diaz currently a freshman at Mount Rainier High School and in my contemporary global issues class we have been learning about the issue of the Dakota Access Pipeline. I am writing to inform you about the issue with the pipeline that has been going on. Since December 2014 there has been an ongoing disagreement between the Energy Transfer Partners and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (also including other native tribes). This disagreement is due to the fact that the oil companies are pushing to build an oil pipeline from North Dakota to Illinois making the pipeline stretch 1,172 miles. According to the oil company this project would decrease U.S reliance on foreign oil and create thousands of jobs for americans. Though this may be true the pipeline would also be crossing sacred sites that are culturally important to the natives and

At Standing Rock Sioux Reservation multiple Native American tribes are protesting the construction of the North Dakota Pipeline. The North Dakota Pipeline could be very beneficial for moving oil in a safer and more cost effective manner, but it could also cause irreparable harm to the environment and communities surrounding it. Even though there are benefits to the construction of the pipeline, it would cause more destruction than being a system improvement.

The pipeline belongs to the Texas-based company, Energy Transfer Partners. The Dakota Access pipeline is a one thousand one hundred and seventy-two mile pipe that will transfer about 470,000 to 570,000 barrels of crude oil a day through four states, North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, and Iowa. The pipe is thirty inches in diameter and “will connect the rapidly expanding Bakken and Three Forks production areas in North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois” (Energy Transfer Partners). This pipeline is hoped to help the US become less dependent on foreign oil and is a safer and cheaper way to move crude oil compared to rail car or trucks. It is also estimated to bring additional revenue and jobs to states the pipeline runs through. Using new advanced pipeline technology, they are confident that the pipeline will be safe and reliable (Energy Transfer Partners).

The Dakota Access Pipeline is an underground oil pipeline project that is designed to transport crude oil in the safest, most efficient way possible. The pipeline will run under Lake Oahe and the Missouri River. It is expected to be able to carry approximately 470,000 barrels of crude oil over 1,172 miles from North Dakota wells, through South Dakota and Iowa, ending at a shipping port in Illinois CITATION Sam17 l 1033 (Sampathkumar). The pipeline is needed for our own energy independence and has been designed to improve the overall safety to the public. However, many opponents have voiced, and even protested, concerns regarding the construction of the pipeline and the environmental issues it may cause to the Standing Rock Sioux Indian reservation.

The Dakota Access Pipeline is a story that has been in the media for months, with a great deal of controversy surrounding it. Many have heard and seen the protests that are ongoing, in hopes to halt its construction. The most passionate opponents of this pipeline are the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, in North Dakota. While the pipeline does not cut through sacred land, it does pass under the Missouri River, a vital source of water for the tribe. This controversy is one with many sides and moreover, many misconceptions. The Dakota Access Pipeline is an ethically corrupt and potentially disastrous project that threatens the safety and wellbeing of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.