The Dakota Access Pipeline is being built by Dakota Access, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, owned by Texas billionaire Kelcy Warren. The pipeline is designed to carry 450,000 gallons of crude oil daily from the Bakken Oil Fields in North Dakota to Illinois. The rationale behind the pipeline is that this would make the United States less dependent on foreign oil, since North Dakota has become such a major source of domestic oil. The pipeline was proposed in 2014, and would run about 1,134 miles all the way. Complaints have been scattered since the proposal, beginning with farmers in Iowa.

Only in the most recent months has the pipeline become a major source of national contention, however. This is because the Standing Rock Sioux nation has raised concerns about the pipeline running so close to their reservation- just underneath the Missouri Lake at Lake Oahe, which is a major source of drinking water for Standing Rock and surrounding indigenous peoples. For some perspective, the pipeline was rerouted to this area because it was initially deemed to close to the capital's water supplies. That's right, they rerouted this pipeline to indigenous areas because of the threat it could have posed to non-native populations.

Additionally, the pipeline has run through areas where sacred cultural and religious sites have recently been discovered. While this land is not legally part of the reservation right now, the Sioux claim that under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 that the United States is not honoring, the land should be theirs. Now this shouldn't be so hard to believe, since the entire history of the United States is greedy white men introducing the concept of property ownership to indigenous peoples by kicking them off of the land they had used for subsistence for thousands of years.

Now, this argument for the treaty rights of the indigenous nation is important. The fact that the United States forged treaties with indigenous nations (twisted, corrupt, self-serving treaties, but treaties nonetheless), proves that indigenous nations should be given what's called "tribal sovereignty." Treaty-making requires an agreement between two sovereign nation-states. As such, indigenous nations should be treated with the respect due to neighboring sovereign nation-states. The Standing Rock Sioux people are protesting the fact that the U.S. government did not sufficiently consult them on the construction of a pipeline that could have serious environmental affects, and has already damaged cultural artifacts of the people. This pipeline ordeal has proved that the United States is denying sovereignty to indigenous nations, and also denying sufficient support designated to a dependent nation.

As if all of that wasn't good enough, the past few months have shown unwarranted violence being directed at peaceful protestors of the pipeline. Starting in September, Dakota Access hired private security forces to restrain protestors when they placed themselves directly in front of the construction path. This occurred right after the protestors called for an injunction to halt the pipeline while the lawsuit was being reviewed, and Dakota Access responded by attempting to circumvent the pipeline by immediately bulldozing land known to possibly contain sacred artifacts. They used dogs and pepper spray against these protestors, who rightfully call themselves Water Protectors, and have harmed children and pregnant women alike. Protestors have been bitten by dogs and hospitalized because of the violence directed at them. And just recently in October, law enforcement assaulted Water Protectors with rubber bullets and misted them with pepper spray, arrested them, detained them in confinements resembling dog-kennels, and numbered them.

There is good news, however. This awful situation has brought together many indigenous nations for the first time in a very, very long time to fight for the environment. The support for Standing Rock is growing by the day, and the Water Protectors are showing no sign of backing down from this historic fight. Environmental activists have also taken interest and joined the protests, and other supporters have lent their monetary and physical support to the Water Protectors. For these reasons, there is hope, and as long as indigenous nations stand, they will fight to be effective, respectful, stewards of the Earth.