Native American Pipeline Research Paper

Native Americans tend to experience a majority of the corruption. More often than those of which are not considered a minority. For example, Native Americans should have an inherent right to protection within the country in which they live. Construction of the North Dakota Access Pipeline that started in September of 2016, has given supreme notice to the corruption that still surrounds Native Americans today. Natives of Dakota followed the European laws that were forced upon them and in turn were punished. The Army corps of engineers permitted the project, violating the National Historic Preservation Act and the National Environmental Policy Act along the way. These were created to stop Europeans from destroying Native American historical artifacts, culture and the livelihood of the innocent. Native Americans do not have citizen protection that was promised to them time and time again by the United Sates.

Not just for Native Americans but for blacks, Muslims, Jews, and others, but even now we are dealing with Native American invasion and taking their land again, this time known as the Dakota Pipeline which is currently going on in North Dakota. The Dakota Pipeline is a large oil transmitting pipe that supplies oil across the United States but will be built on protected Native American land. The contractors have taken a look and have said that the pipeline would be a significant amount away from their land, but would be built under their water supply from Lake Oahe and would be at the closest 95 feet under the lake. But the Standing Rock Sioux haven't given up hope they have burought up that there have been over 3,300 incidents in which pipes have had leaks that have affected the environment drinking water and much more. The contractors have said that they have taken extreme precautions and have safety tested everything the Sioux aren't going to take any chances. Even as the Sioux and over 50 other tribes have protested there have been no clear winner of the battle on the Dakota Pipeline. The tribes have been protesting for months and though few have gotten violent many Natives and others with them have been arrested and thrown in jail, which is just another way people can attack the Native People to this

In this article, the plan of a pipeline that is attempting construction is being rejected by those of Native American descent who live on the affected land. Their claim is that, since the pipeline is intended to cross the Missouri River near the Standing Rock reservation, the drinking water has an extremely high risk of becoming contaminated. Since the people living there depend on the river for a majority of their basic needs―such as drinking, fishing, and irrigation―it is an argument that a vast number of lives could be greatly affected. In order to prove a crucial point, thousands have moved indefinitely to a main protest camp called Oceti Sakowin. A community has been established here, where common societal things such a school and security system have been founded.

The native Americans of north America have long suffered from structural violence ever since the arrival of the European immigrants and suffer today in the situation of the North Dakota pipeline. The current situation regarding the Access pipeline is that it is running through properties belonging to the native American people without their consent. The problems that are pipeline could create are very similar to those that affect Lubicon people in Canada today. But the more important issue here is not the pipeline itself but the historical structural violence against natives that created this issue.

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

Since 2010, there have been “more than 3,000 incidents of leaks and ruptures at oil and gas pipelines” according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (Worland). The Dakota Access Pipeline has sparked controversy between the U.S. Army of Engineers and Native Americans. With threats of damaging their water supply, cultural land, and impeding a treaty made in 1851, had Native Americans protesting by resisting removal. The threatening impact on Native Americans deemed unconsidered and unheard of by government when they originally planned to build the pipeline through the area. And despite a severe winter storm bringing freezing conditions, protesting Natives remained (Maher and Connors). But why did it have to come to desperate measures that endanger one’s personal safety, just to gain the attention of the government? Native American sovereignty has been repeatedly impeded on, forcing them to take matters into their own hands. Concerning the decision prior to construction, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe claims the federal agency did not appropriately consult them prior to construction (Merrit). Recently, Army Corps have halted the passage of the Dakota Access Pipeline due to their outcry. But if the government had just considered the vote of Native Americans in the first place, the decision could have satisfied everyone who at least got a say

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.

The Energy Transfer Partners wants to install the Dakota Pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, but the Sioux tribe is fighting to stop the installation of the pipeline to preserve their culture and assert their right to the property. The Dakota Pipeline is an oil pipeline that would transport oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa into Illinois. The Dakota Pipeline should not be installed because it disrespects the Native Americans’ culture and discriminates against The Sioux, a minority within the United States. The unjust treatment of Native Americans is due to the government’s disregard for Native American property rights and the government’s belief that they can simply take Native American property away because they are

It has come to my and the media’s attention that you are planning on evacuating the Native Americans to continue the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. This pipeline that will supply oil across four states will also invade a sacred and holy Native American land. It has been said that the pipeline will not harm the land, but what happens when it bursts? No pipeline is forever, and the construction of the pipeline has to cease. Continuing to build it will only cause more protests and more money out of your pocket. The pipeline cannot continue its construction, unless you want to upset half a nation and an entire race.

The pipeline route has caused some Native American leaders to be come aggravated at the proposition of its placement. "Even if the pipeline would not cross their property, tribal leaders say, it would pose a threat to drinking water and to ancestral homelands on the rolling plains and hilly riverbeds where they still hold treaty claims" (Thune, John, and Anna Eshoo). It is ridiculous for TransCanada and the supporters of the Keystone Pipeline to propose this route with the knowledge of where the Natives are. This is an intentional insult, one they should not get away with. With an already unstable relationship, why would these polluters think it would be wise to antagonize them. This project already had many issues following it, but "so strong is their opposition that members have maintained a spirit camp on tribal property near the planned route. Despite the camp's rustic accommodations -- a tent, a trailer and no running water -- members have kept a vigil there for more than a year, and have vowed to use the site as a base camp for protesters if construction ever begins. Several activists...have said they would risk arrest through civil disobedience" (Thune, John, and Anna Eshoo). Native Americans were promised rights when they first lost their land to white settlers and the

The Tribe sees the pipeline as an environment and cultural threat. The pipeline traverses ancestral lands, where their ancestors hunted, fished and buried. They are also are concerned that it would break near the Missouri River, their only water source. The tribe filed a lawsuit saying they was never consulted. Guy Jones member of the tribe said “he had never seen a greater assembly of Native Americans than the week leading up to the decision.

To Native Americans, the land is sacred and should be treated with respect. They’re a part of nature and nature is a part of them; they are all one. Land does not belong to one, it belongs to all. The Dakota Access pipeline would damage the Native Americans water, and it would hurt the ancestral cultural sites along with spiritual factors. This is shown in “Song of the Sky Loom” and “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” along with the present day focus of the pipeline.

But many years later Native Americans from all over America are yet living in that same burial ground. They sleep in teepees, ride horses and ride pickup trucks. They all decorate the land where they stay to show moral support for their land. The natives are posting hashtags and post that is against the pipeline that will run throughout America, and go on their land. The Natives Americans are protesting for what is theirs.

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.

The Standing Rock Reservation was given to the Native Americans to because of the significance and weight that the land held for the Standing Rock Tribe. For instance, the High Arctic Relocation, which was the forced relocation of 19 Inuit families from Quebec to the Arctic Region in the 1950s. Apihtawikosisân, a Métis woman from the Plains Cree speaking community of Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta, says that the relocations of indigenous people occurred as a way to reinforce sovereignty of a race or a group of people. In doing so, the effects of these relocations reverberated for generations, such as the weakening of cultural bonds, loss of economic sufficiency, decline in standards of health, changes in social and political structures, was a damaging experience for many indigenous people. While the company nor the government is telling or forcing the Standing Rock Tribe to move, the Pipeline does endanger the Native American’s way of life. The North Dakota Pipeline is essentially forcing the Standing Rock Tribe to conform so that the structure can be built under the Missouri River and near the Tribe’s Reservation and sacred areas. More instances of denying human rights or forcing indigenous people to submit, would include the human rights abuses against indigenous people in Southeast Asia. Between the Cham, the Montagnard, and the Jumma, there were rights issues regarding way of life, religious beliefs, assimilating into another culture, imprisonment, and land dispossession (Scholten). These sorts of issues are not directly tied to the Dakota Pipeline, but are related in a way that guaranteed rights were taken away or ignored when a certain group of people began to deny the human needs of the indigenous. Establishing a Pipeline under sacred grounds and near Indian Reservations can be