North Dakota Access Pipeline Case Study

Humans need fresh water to live a healthy life. However, the Dakota Access Pipeline may take away the fresh water from the people who live downstream of the Missouri River and people at the Standing Rock Sioux. This will affect 8 million people downstream, this pipeline is an oil pipeline that will allow America to export oil cost efficiently. The Dakota Access Pipeline is approximately 1,172 miles 30- inch diameter pipeline that will start from North Dakota to Illinois. This pipeline has sponsors from 17 companies including 4 Japanese banks. However, the mass media companies had ignored topics related to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Until recently a famous actress Shailene Woodley got arrested for trespassing the area. However, this is not

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 Standing Rock Sioux tribe in North Dakota has made headlines throughout the US because of their reaction to what they feel is a threat to not only their sacred lands but also the water source of the whole tribe, along with many others. The construction of an oil pipeline going through North and South Dakota while going under the Missouri River has caused this major controversy. This pipeline that is soon being built has been a project that was halted before by the past president Obama in late 2016. The project called Bakken or better known as the Dakota Access Pipeline, is being built by Energy Transfer Partners. This is a 3.8 billion dollar oil pipeline that would stretch over 1,100 miles long through North

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 Dakota Access Pipeline is a problem for the natives, but obviously not for us Americans. Energy transfer quote that “Some protesters stayed overnight what looked like dog kennels and were let out in the morning”. This is why we need to stop the construction of this pipeline because it could leak and contaminate the water, the pipeline would be going through sacred grounds, and we need to stop the violence against the native protesters.

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

“’An old Sioux prophecy says that a black snake will come to destroy the world at a moment of great uncertainty,’ he said. ‘Unless the youth stop it’” (Enzinna 35). The Standing Rock Sioux tribe believe the “black snake” has arrived in the form of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Dakota Access Pipeline is a pipeline that originates in North Dakota and stretches across four states. The pipeline is roughly 1,000 miles long and would carry up to 600,000 barrels of domestically produced oil each day. This pipeline would run above the surface, but at certain points would run under lakes and rivers. In the beginning of the year 2016, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a rough draft of its proposed plan to begin construction of the Dakota Access

In the article, “A high-plains showdown over the Dakota Access Pipeline”, Justin Worland addresses the current situation the North Dakota Access Pipeline has brought upon America and its Native American tribes. In particular, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe has a conflict between the Energy Transfer Partners company. Energy Transfer Partners wants to build an oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Reservation. The Sioux tribe is against the project because the oil pipeline will destroy their historical ground and their water source of Lake Oahe.

Oil is one resource America relies heavily on. Oil has a negative impact on the environment and has long lasting affects. The Dakota Access Pipeline is a major controversial topic in the news. The Dakota Access Pipeline is being used to transport oil from North Dakota to Illinois. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is located where the pipeline will be passing through. The pipeline disrupts the lives of the Native Americans who live there. I believe that the Dakota Access Pipeline should not be built because of the affects on the environment and goes against the rights of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Greider and Garkovich’s Landscapes: The Social Construction of Nature and the Environment discusses how the environment we live in is apart of our landscape. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sees their landscape as sacred and a place they need to protect.

A new rising issue is the North Dakota Access Pipeline v. Native American tribe, Standing Rock. The main reason for the pipeline is to transport crude oil through four states more safely than the current way of transporting it through 750 railroad cars daily. In the same fashion, the pipeline will convert the 750 carts to 470,000 barrels of crude oil traveling 1,172 miles a day. Under those circumstances, the line will start in Montana, traveling through North Dakota reaching Canada, then heading southeast to South Dakota and finishing up in Illinois. On the positive side, it will make 374.3 million gallons per day, resulting in giving America an economic boom. The pipeline project is predicted to be a $3.7 billion investment and producing

But, according to Yan (2016) the pipeline can have either a great economic benefit for the United States or it can cause an environmental disaster. The pipeline also is going to run through sacred Native American land and water source (Jensen 2016). This brings in protestors that range from humanist, Native Americans, environmentalist, state residents and even Hollywood celebrities (Yan 2016). According to Jensen (2016), these peaceful protestors are being treated harshly by law enforcement, which makes the pipeline even more controversial. The police are trying to run out the protestors by “using freezing water and concussion grenades” during winter conditions to get them to leave Cannon Ball, ND (Jensen 2016). Law enforcement doesn’t want the area to “swell” with protestors again when it comes spring (Reuters 2017). These protestors just want to be heard, which they were in Obama’s administration, but Trump’s administration wants to continue construction with or without the support of the community. This could be due to Trump’s investment and profit in the pipeline (Mufson 2016). On the another hand, the pipeline can help the economy by making the United States more independent on oil and reducing the use of trains. In some cases, trains that are carrying oil cargo has been derailed and exploding. This would also bring down cost for shipments with

Should the Dakota Access Pipeline be built? Because of so many protesting acts going on, it really shouldn't be built. Police keep attacking Native Americans and other protesters. If the protesters keep fighting them they'll have to give up on everything and cancel the pipeline once and for all. I'm sure that all of you hate people getting hurt for this so, we need more people to come and help us stop this once and for all. With every single person down the Mississippi River with one burst the water and everything could get poisoned so, everybody couldn't drink the water until it was cleaned out. With this pipeline their could be a burst and many people could get sick.

A majority of the pipeline is already finished and the section closest to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation is still waiting federal approval. This is because the construction will go through burial sites, Sacred Stone Camp, reservations, and sites sacred to Native Americans in the area. More than 200 tribes have already pledged their support to protect the land and “accused the government of approving pipeline construction without consulting them, a requirement under US law” (BBC News). In more recent news, it is believed that most of the protesters now are environmental activists who want to exterminate the use of fossil fuels. The completion of the pipeline will also increase oil prices and it is

The Dakota pipeline potentially risks destroying countless miles of land and water, since it will be built underneath

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