Background
Nearly 13,000 years ago, glaciers moved across the earth. In the Pacific Northwest they created many rivers, including the Columbia. The rock that the Grand Coulee Dam was built on was carved out by those glaciers creating a sturdy base of the dam. It is located in the rain-shadow of the Cascade Mountain Range in a shrub-steppe grassland, which results in very little rainfall and high temperatures. There have been many Native American tribes, including the Spokane, Sanpoli, Nespelem, Lakes, Colville and many others that have lived along the Columbia River and have relied on it for many of their day-to-day necessities (Columbia Basin Project 2015). On July 16, 1933 construction of the Grand Coulee Dam began, and nine years later
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For starters, the dam’s vast reservoir destroys Native American communities, inundate sacred fishing spots and ancestral burial grounds, and erect an impenetrable barrier denying salmon access to their spawning grounds (American Experience, n.d.). This was a problem because the U.S. had no formal process for involving Native American tribes in Grand Coulee Dam decisions; this included the taking of reservation lands (Ortolano & Cushing 2000).
Not only are the Native Americans against the dam for these reasons, other people relied on the salmon populations for both sport and food. With the denial of access to their spawning grounds, the salmon populations would begin to dwindle until extinction. If the salmon populations plummet, the populations of species lower on the food chain would rise and the ecosystem would become off balance. Salmon is much more than just a key portion of their diet, salmon holds a higher power than just for
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The tribal members are against the dam because it ruins their life style. The Native Americans use the Columbia River as a source of food and a way of life. Moreover, the damming of the Columbia River forced the Native Americans to resettle. The dam is an issue to them because they fish for salmon, an anadromous fish and once they're through the dam, there is no way for them to come back up it to spawn; this leads to the disappointed commercial fishermen. The environmentalists are upset because the construction of the dam means there would be habitat loss and alteration of a variety of wildlife, including plants. The taxpayers in the Northwest Region of the United States are the ones who paid for the majority of the irrigation construction costs (“Columbia Basin Project” 2015). Currently, there are no efforts for removing the
The Grand Coulee Dam(G.C.D) changed Kettle Falls forever. Kettle Falls was a peaceful river where Native Americans fished every year. It is said that around 3,000 fish were fished every year. Then in 1933, everything changed when the Grand Coulee Dam started construction and finished on June 1, 1942, that is almost a decade. I feel like it is good that we built the Grand Coulee Dam. The Dam has great effects that have benefitted Washington. Two of them are the jobs people got in the Great Depression and Irrigation we got.
Beside these arguments, there is also a more quantitative side to the debate. The ecological detriments of the Glen Canyon Dam have been well-documented. Extensive changes were brought about in the Colorado River ecosystem by the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam. Most of these alterations negatively affected the functioning of the system and the native aquatic species of the river. The reduced supply and transport of
Back in 1941, the Grand Coulee Dam was made on the Columbia River. This led o the creation of Lake Roosevelt. Today, Lake Roosevelt houseboat rentals allow visitors an easy way to enjoy the miles of shoreline around the lake. Placed within the state of Washington, this lake stretches upwards 150 miles toward Canada. While it may be long, there are few points where the lake is wider than a mile in width. Because of this, it tends to resemble a slow-moving, large river.
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.
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.
Dams are harming salmon in so many ways. They’re taking away their habitat. The salmon’s access of the rivers are suddenly gone. In the Northwest, a large portion of dollars are spent in a year to fix all the damage to the salmon, caused by the dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers. For decades, there have been numerous debates about taking down these dams to help the fish, because they’re part of the endangered species act. There are biologists that notice how some salmon are trying to survive in rivers located in the Northwest that have been changed by dams. These fish are simply delaying migration back to the sea, growing larger in order to survive their trip back to the Pacific Ocean, and going back to their birth streams at higher rates than ever. All these salmon could be saving themselves instead of people spending billions of dollars. The consequences of this could be very important. The recovery of salmon
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
As professor Ferguson related “Six months ago the Dakota Access Pipeline was provided a permit for the construction to begin. For six months or so there has been development of this pipeline. Now, enter the Standing Rock Sioux, which are one of the Sioux nations, a sovereign indigenous tribe who has historically experienced loss of land and tree rights and been prevalent in this area. Many of them have been pushed into these certain areas called reservations were the last remnants of land were provided, this history is important. The broken promise of the government and other parties that promised that things would be okay has been long standing.” For the standing Rock Sioux they see the pipeline going through the Missouri River as creating problems with water access for the tribe, change in the water environment and a threat to their access to water quality. Secondly, the pipeline itself is also going to upset and encroach upon Native American burial sights and artifact sights that have existed for years untouched until there was a change in the interest regarding oil. This pipeline has threatened these rights for the Standing Rock Sioux. As a Sovereign Nation, they see this change fueled by national and corporate interest as a direct threat to their nationhood because access to water is key to survival. Professor Ferguson also emphasized that “There is also a larger story, and it comes from the call for all for the great Sioux Nation and all indigenous people to come and gather in protest against the pipeline. These protest then have larger meaning because they address the threat to indigenous people around the world and not just in the united states” because often times the narrative of losses for indigenous people around the world are a very similar
In addition, farmland has been destroyed because of the floods and the decrease in delta sediment. The dam has reduced downstream nutrients and sediment flow. And has seriously impacted neighboring river and seacoast ecosystems.
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.
With human development, industrial pollution and other factors all contribute to the deteriorated condition of the river, which makes it difficult to determine the dams’ environmental impact in isolation. CITE That said, the current operations of the dam hamper and potentially prevent environmental improvement of the Colorado. In order to preserve some semblance of the Colorado ecosystem, man must restore the natural processes that created the ecosystem. The real question is how to do that, whether via dam decommission or a less extreme policy change.
The hydroelectric dam provides low cost power to numerous farmsteads and small towns of the expanded region. The lake has also provided for some of the fines walleye and salmon fishing within North Dakota.
Historical Implications: Why have archaeologists and historians criticized the building of the Three Gorges Dam? Answer: the Three Gorges Dam because it flooded and destroyed a large number of important cultural and archaeological sites. The dam has caused a lot of ecological changes and approximately 1.3 million people had to move because of the creation of this dam. 3. Governmental Implications: What has been the unfortunate response of local government officials assigned to help families affected by the construction
The Three Gorges Dam is an unfinished project which will be the largest dam ever constructed on the planet Earth. It is situated in China on the third largest river in the world – the Yangtze. The dam has been debated over since the 1919 and is still a hot topic of debate because of its many pros and cons. In 1994 construction began on the dam, and it is expected to be finished by the year 2009. The massive dimensions of the dam are mind boggling and its functions – if the dam actually works – are truly remarkable; however, with such a large structure also comes difficulties, sacrifices, and cynics. The goal of this essay is to lend an understanding of the dam itself, the prospective benefits of
The Three Gorges Dam has many costs and benefits which can make it arduous to oppose or support it (Stone, "Three Gorges Dam: Into the Unknown", 2008). Weighing the pros and cons and finding a marginal offset can determine which side to opt for. The ecological, economic, and social impacts are some of the most consequential factors which means they should be viewed meticulously. When looking at the costs and benefits it can be concluded that the costs outweigh the benefits. Supporting the dam has too many costs and that is why it must be opposed.