The Dakota Pipeline Controversy Explained

A complicated situation mixing environmental and cultural concerns.

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SUMMARY: A short paragraph that tells the main points of the article. What did you learn?

The article is about a company called Energy Transfer Partners(ETP). The company said that they had enough
commitments to move forward with the Dakota Access Pipeline(DAPL). With the company having success with
drilling and fracking in Bakken and they planned with making a 1,134-mile pipeline that can carry 500,000
barrels of crude oil. Native tribes dont want the company to construct the pipeline because it can pollute the
water and contaminate the environment.
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REFLECTION: A short paragraph that tells your thoughts or opinions on the article. What did you think?
What was your reaction? How can you connect with the article personally?

I dont know why the ETP company want to construct a pipeline through a place where the company is going to
pollute the water and damage the environment.

By now, you've probably read about the conflict between the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of Native
Americans and the energy company Energy Transfer Partners (ETP). Maybe you've seen the
#NoDAPL hashtag, noted the celebrity arrests, or even panicked as you thought half your
Facebook friends had suddenly booked tickets to North Dakota.

The fight is a complex one. On one side, you have the Standing Rock Sioux, who live on a
reservation in North and South Dakota. On the other side, Houston-based ETP, which is
proposing an underground pipeline that comes close to Native American reservation lands. The
conflict speaks to the general distrust of oil pipelines as well as the centuries-old tension
between Native tribes and the U.S. government.

HOW WE GOT HERE

In June 2014, natural gas and propane

company Energy Transfer Partners
(ETP) announced it had the
commitments needed to move forward
with the Dakota Access Pipeline
(DAPL), an underground pipe from a
akken Formation to Pakota, Illinois.
geological formation called the B

The Bakken Formation is a massive 200,773-square mile area. It has become a huge source of oil
and turned small towns in the Dakotas into energy boom towns. With the success of drilling and
fracking in Bakken came the plan for a 1,134-mile pipeline that would carry approximately
500,000 barrels of crude oil through four states to reach its destination.

The Bakken Formation contains oil shale, a useful source of oil that concerns many people
because oil shale can be incredibly environmentally destructive. Oil shale extraction forces lots
of water through the shale rock and leaves behind large amounts of polluted water.
WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW

In 2016, two major fights over the Dakota

Access Pipeline erupted.

The first is over safety, with a particular

concern for water contamination. Oil
contamination of water is a nightmare with the
potential danger to public health. "Groundwater contamination by crude oil is a widespread
problem," a report by the USGS said back in 1997. ETP (the energy company) promises to
monitor the proposed underground pipeline "24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a
year." The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has deemed the pipeline safe although many members
of the EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). disagree.

Meanwhile, there is the political resistance.

The Sacred Stone Camp, also known as Iya
Wakhagapi Oth, formed in April as a center of
Native American resistance to the pipeline. Sioux
opposition is based in the water safety issues
raised by the EPA and by the fact that the pipeline runs within half a mile of the
reservation. An early plan for the Dakota Access Pipeline considered running it through North
Dakota's capital, Bismark, as an alternative until it was rejected as a potential threat to
Bismarck's water supply. You can see why the Standing Rock Sioux wouldn't want it by
them, either.

The debate dips into the complex legal world of Native-American sovereignty. The Treaty of
1851, for example, has been cited by Native protesters as they have begun to occupy private land
in protest of the pipeline.

The protests have drawn international attention and have been said to be "reshaping the
national conversation for any environmental project that would cross the Native American
land",[4] but the mainstream media coverage of the events in the United States was limited until
early September. On September 3 construction workers bulldozed a section of land the
tribe had identified as sacred ground in an amendment to the federal injunction a day
earlier. When protesters entered the area, security workers used attack dogs, which bit at least
six of the protesters and one horse. The incident was filmed and viewed by several million people
on YouTube and other social media. In late October, armed soldiers and police with r
iot gear
and military equipment cleared an encampment that was directly in the proposed pipeline's
path.

rotesters
In late November many new participants joined the protest; fluctuating numbers of p
remained in the thousands. The weather worsened, with snowfall and temperatures
dropping well below freezing. Police use of water cannons on protesters drew significant
media attention. On December 4 under President Barack Obama's administration the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied an easement for construction of the pipeline under the
Missouri River. An environmental impact assessment will also be conducted by the Army Corps.
Many protesters continue camping on the site, not considering the matter closed.[5][6][7]

Police using water cannons against Standing Rock

Protesters during freezing temperatures