Choosing Life Over Profit

The United States is currently attempting to build a pipeline underneath Lake Oahe that will damage Native American burial sites and will contaminate primary source of drinking water for the Sioux Tribe. First there will be a brief description of what happening with the protest at Standing Rock. Following these facts about this atrocity this paper will begin with a historical summary of the Sioux Tribe, the main set of protesters who are fighting to keep the pipeline from being constructed. Following this the paper will discus the culture and sacred sites that the pipeline would be affecting for the Sioux Tribe. Therefore no tribe should have to go through these abuse violation of their lands and such should be a better policy to protect

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.

In this article, author James McPherson discusses the key players in the Dakota Access Pipeline. He outlines not only outlines the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and the pipeline company, Energy Transfer Partners, but also the Governor of North Dakota, the Tribal Chairman,

The Dakota Access Pipeline is a large effort to take oil-rich resources in North Dakota and bring them through Dakota to Illinois. There is a lot of recently discovered

The area known as the Standing Rock Indian Reservation located in North Dakota and along the Missouri River, has been targeted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other governmental entities, to construct a 1,172-mile-long pipe, right through the area’s clean water and ancient burial grounds. The United States Government is in favor of the project for its economic benefit, while the Indian American tribes of Standing Rock are against the project due to the harmful implications that this pipe brings to their wellbeing and their heritage. With the news that this pipe was originally headed towards Bismarck North Dakota, (90% white population) and then re-routed towards Native lands, the question can be brought up: why was the pipe rerouted?

This controversy is between the Standing Rock Sioux Indian tribe and Energy Transfer Partners. Energy Transfer Partners has been building a pipeline that will transfer oil from North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota and Iowa into Illinois. This oil pipeline will be part of the 2.5 million oil and gas pipelines the run all over the United States. This pipeline is 1,134 miles long and costing around 3.8 billion, while traveling underground through 50 counties in 4 states. The working progress has stopped due to the Sioux Indian tribe protesting against the the finishing of this pipeline.

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.

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

While the mainstream media has its attention focused on North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux tribe in their fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline, there are many other tribes also struggling to protect their native ancestral sites and cultural resources throughout the United States that are going unnoticed. One such tribe is the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin. This tribe is attempting to stop Aquila Resources’ Back Forty Project which would create a mine alongside and under the treasured Menominee River. This open pit gold, zinc, and copper mine would destroy burial grounds, former raised garden beds, ancient village sites, dance rings, and more. Thus, it is clear that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is not the only tribe fighting to protect its culture and environment. In fact, the only unique thing about the Dakota Access Pipeline is the national coverage it has received (Thompson). Therefore, in this paper, I aim to do justice to the Menominee Tribe who has not been so fortunate to find its plights in the public’s view. The Menominee Tribe’s concerns have not been fully taken into account and valued in the mining permit approval process and news coverage of their fight has been severely lacking. This paper will support this claim by utilizing data and information from numerous sources to include data from Aquila Resources about the Project, testimony and stories from the Menominee Tribe, and

The origination of this case study begins on one brisk morning back on the 19th of September in 2008 when TransCanada first submitted their application to the U.S. State Department to build the Keystone XL pipeline. The Canadian based energy infrastructure company proposed a 1,179-mile, 36-inch diameter pipeline that would transport crude oil from Canada, through Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska. Along with transporting oil from producers in Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and North Dakota (Figure 1).

Many cities in the u.s have been affected by the Oil boom, countless have made millions on this product. Oil isn 't always easy to find, as a matter of fact, it can be very difficult. Often times oil seeps to the top of the surface, making it easy to find, but most of the time people have to drill to find it. In the earlier days rigs could only work on land, however now we can use oil platforms to get oil from under sea beds. Many towns like Bainville and Watford city are being affected very heavily because of the oil, changes include: growth of population, riots, and heavy construction. Not all the people in these towns support and agree with the pipeline, which oftentimes leads to protests and riots. Many protests have ended in arrests because of the violence they promote. Many people across North Dakota have been taking drastic measures such as blocking highways and roads, killing livestock, and violent fights.These people are upset because this pipeline runs across some sacred burial sites of the ancient Native American tribe leaders. The Bakken Shale formation is one of the largest oil and gas industries, it covers over 200,000 square miles in just North Dakota, Montana, and Canada.(Carter,2013) The pipeline is 12inches wide and travels over 500 miles across the US. So far, between North Dakota and eastern Montana they have produced 1 billion barrels of oil. In just North Dakota, jobs are very easy to find in the oil industry.

The Sioux Tribe in North Dakota and The Energy Transfer Partners Company have been in a disagreement over the pipeline that is supposed to go through the Standing Rock Indian reserve last month. Sadly, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved the construction of the pipeline and now the Sioux tribe has resorted to chaining themselves to backhoes and tractors to get their attention. This article shows, showing the issue of constructing a pipeline through an Indian reserve, what processes will take place if the pipeline is allowed to go through Standing Rock, and how it will affect the Native Americans if they proceed with building the pipeline through the Standing Rock reservation.

By reducing oil imports it helps the U.S. become more energy depended. This is shown in a statistic done by an activist group, their research shows that since 2010 there has been a 25% increase for oil demand, by putting in the pipeline it will cut back on billions of dollars leaving the United States for imports. Along with cutting back on imports, the pipeline will annually bring in 50 million dollars in property taxes, 129 million annual tax revenue. Along with property taxes and annual tax revenue, both North and South Dakota will receive 13 million dollars after the completion of the pipeline, and a 5.5 million

Originally the DAPL was supposed to cross the Missouri River near Bismarck, but it was moved over concerns that any oil spilling would have destroyed the state capital’s drinking water. Consequently, the pipeline was shifted to a crossing approximately 805 meters from the reservation. The Standing Rock Sioux argue that the government did not consult with them enough and that the new crossing includes destruction of sacred spots and old indigenous burial grounds (Sidder, 2016). Moreover, an oil spill into Missouri River would be the death sentence to Standing Rock as it is their only drinking water supply. But the real controversy behind the DAPL is about larger philosophical and ideological issues. It is a pattern of deep injustice from 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.