The Dakota Access Pipeline is proposed to transport 450,000 barrels per day of crude oil from North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois. It would allow domestically produced oil to travel to markets in a more direct, cost-effective way. There are a lot of similarities between the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline that make it a concern for public health and human rights as well as environmental degradation.
The company in charge of the Pipeline, Energy Transfer Partners, owns and operates many refineries off the Gulf Coast. They believe their new technologies will make the pipeline safe and will reduce transport by rail and truck. The pipeline is proposed to make a good economic impact by bringing about jobs and will attempt to make the United States more self-sustaining in the energy sector. Despite these seemingly important benefits, the pipeline is causing a lot of concern for Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Safety.
The pipeline would be routed over two major rivers: the Missouri and the Mississippi. Any leaks or spills would impact all the citizens along the pipeline's route of travel, threaten wildlife on land and in the river, and ruin water quality. Not only do millions of people get drinking water from the Missouri, but it is the main water source to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota.
The construction of the pipeline already started before issuing a full Environmental Impact Statement--which is against the law. They failed to consult with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe about putting the pipeline through their land and landowners are having their property rights seized via eminent domain.
Job-creation benefits are minimal, despite the company's claim, the oil is likely to be sent as an export, and clean-ups for other pipeline spills have costed taxpayers a lot of money. The benefits the company claims are a part of the construction of the pipeline are not being shown to pay off.
Water is sacred, and everyone has a right to clean water! Because the pipeline threatens the Standing Rock Sioux, pipeline protesters have been standing on federal land to try to get the message across: they are urging President Obama to stop the construction of the pipeline. People have been donating to the cause, calling the White House, and speaking out against the pipeline. More than 500 people have been arrested since August, and police have begun throwing tear gas and gas bombs into the crowds of protesters to try to get them off the land.
I stand with Standing Rock because everyone has a right to clean water, because Indigenous lives matter, because we cannot keep being proponents to climate change. Human-induced climate change CAN be stopped. The Dakota Access Pipeline would cause environmental destruction and threaten human health; it's not worth the cost.
