Dakota Pipeline

The Keystone XL pipeline would do little in reducing the United States dependency on Middle Eastern oil, which is actually goal established by president Obama for the sake of national security and economic growth. Another issue is that the out of the 42,000 jobs TransCanada has claimed the new pipeline will create, an analysis done by the State Department disagrees and claims “The proposed Project would generate approximately 50 jobs during operations.” All the harmful effects that the pipeline would have on the environment and the public health is not worth the creation of merely 50 permanent

The history of oil pipelines in the U.S. supports both sides of the argument, but in the end one must not rely on history to decide whether or not to implement such a controversial pipeline. The Keystone XL Pipeline could be beneficial to the US economy but the dangers to the environment must be weighed in order to decide if the new oil pipeline is necessary. We live in a world that is trying to switch over to renewable energy and help reduce global warming. The increased production of oil in the United States might not be needed even though it might be beneficial to economic

TransCanada, when asked about possible benefits of construction, stated on their website that, “Keystone XL is the definition of shovel-ready infrastructure project”. TransCanada went on to say that over 9000 hard-working Americans could be put directly to work with good-paying jobs because of the construction of the KeyStone XL Pipeline. Furthermore, while the pipeline is being created, it was estimated by TransCanada that “Over Seven million hours of labor and more than 13,000 new jobs for American workers will be created”. TransCanada goes on further, stating that “Pipelines are safe and environmentally favorable” and that they are committed to minimizing its environmental impact along the proposed route. But, TransCanada is only making these tantalizing promises in order to keep currently neutral noses out of the matter in an effort to reduce the number of naysayers of the project. In truth, the creation of the XL Pipeline is terrible damaging the environment while also hurting the proposed workers of the project.

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.

First of all, the Dakota Access Pipeline can threaten Native American health and welfare, especially if it is forced into their environment. According to the New Yorker,

The next major environmental issue of the pipeline is the indigenous populations. “Northern Alberta’s, where the tar sands oil comes from, people are coming under attack because of their operation of the tar sands in their livelihoods and cultural traditions.”5 Other people affected by this project are the people who live in communities downstream from the tailing ponds, “they have seen spikes in rates of rare cancers, renal failure, lupus, and hyperthyroidism.” “In the lakeside village of Fort Chipewyan, for example, one hundred of the town’s one thousand-two hundred residents have died from cancer.”5 So not only will this pipeline affect the people living around it but it will also affect the people working on it and living around the tailing ponds, wherever those may be located. With it traversing six U.S. states that means a lot of people could get sick and even die from a project that has so many issues with it before it’s even began to be used for its intended purpose.

Thesis: The U.S. should stop the production of the North Dakota Access Pipeline because it would break the contract made over a hundred years with the Native Americans, it violates the ninth amendment, and it is not environmentally safe.

The pipeline would make it possible to transport oil from North Dakota to markets and refineries in a quicker and more affordable way. It is supposed to lessen our foreign independence on oil and create thousands of jobs. That being so, what is the problem? More than anything, it has become an ethical issue. Native Americans have had their lands stolen and rights denied for centuries. The Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation relies on the

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.

First, one reason why the pipeline shouldn’t be built because it would contaminate the water that the natives drink. By building it, the pipeline would roughly cross the missouri river 70 miles. Also, the pipeline will hold approximately 470,000 barrels per day so there is a 50/50

“The developed of the pipeline estimate 8,000 to 12,000 construction jobs” (Yan). People fail to realize that these jobs are only temporary. Work like this will not last forever. The impact of losing a job is detrimental. Once the pipeline is completed, all those who were employed will lose their jobs and be put back into unemployment. This potentially negatively affects American home life. These temporary jobs are not sufficient for the American economy. While these people are working, they tend to have more money to buy things. When they lose their job, they are no longer be able to afford it. This causes prices to rise due to a number of people buying stuff, but once those people lose their jobs, they will not have enough money and the economy plummets. This is also known as inflation, which is deleterious to our economy. “‘We're not opposed to energy independence. We're not opposed to economic development,’ Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Archambault II said. ‘The problem we have -- and this is a long history of problems that evolved over time -- is where the federal government or corporations take advantage of indigenous lands and indigenous rights.’” (Yan). The government ignores the pleas of protesters and proceed to take land for economic achievement. Although, the Dakota Access Pipeline does not benefit the country in any

The protest of the South Dakota oil pipeline seems to be getting so bad that it is becoming dangerous for the protesters. The use of excessive force by the police towards the protesters is in some cases life threading the use of rubber bullets, tear gas and high powered water houses in the dead of winter where temperature are below freezing at night it’s sickening that they can use such extreme measures . The people of the standing rock reservation are only fighting for the safety of their water and ecosystem and they are being treated like criminals. I worry with the election of trump the chances are that there is nothing they can do to put a stop to the pipeline I find it extremely hard to believe he is going to side with the protesters. What if the pipeline is happening

The pipeline not only poses a threat to one of only 326 Native American reservations left in this country, but also to the environment as a whole. Regardless of where you stand, the wrongdoing on the part of the United States Government is undeniable. The Dakota Access Pipeline is corrupt at its core and the dangers surrounding its construction have the potential to be catastrophic to the dwindling Native population by threatening their only source of water. A significant saying within the Sioux tribe, especially in times of protest, is a simple one, but one that is clearly not understood by some, and that is “water is

For every spill of oil or gas, it damages that ecosystem sometimes beyond repair or it takes it many many years to recover from it. That being said the North Dakota Pipeline is going to be one of the safest most technologically advanced pipelines in the world. Another controversy is that the Native Americans are claiming that the pipeline runs through some of their sacred lands and can possibly contaminate their water supply. The North Dakota Pipeline can be a very successful oil transporter but there also seems to be some drawbacks like it possibly running through sacred land, contaminating water, and the possibility of leaking or exploding and causing a major disaster for the people and animals that live

The Dakota Access Pipeline can be very beneficial for Americans. The pipeline will supply up to 12,000 jobs during construction which will be very helpful for the economy and bring in money for the state of North Dakota and the other states involved. Not only is it brining