Sioux Tribe Battles Oil Pipeline Plan

The Dakota Access Pipeline, a 1,172-mile long project, has been designed to carry oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois. This $3.7 billion project will transport 470 thousand barrels of oil a day, which will then be shipped to markets in the Midwest, East coast and Gulf Coast regions. The project would decrease reliance on imports and would supply an estimated 12,000 construction jobs and an estimated $156 million in sales and income taxes to state and local governments. However, after the federal government recently denied a permit to build the Dakota Access Pipeline, the residents of the standing rock Indian reservation were filled with joy.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers announced it will consider an alternate route for the pipeline, originally designed to go under the Missouri River and along the standing rock Indian reservation. The 38 miles of the Dakota Access Pipeline would significantly affect the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and reservation. It is designed to cross under Lake Oahe, North Dakota, a large Missouri River reservoir. The Native American people claim the pipeline would endanger their local drinking water and disturb ancient sacred tribal sites dating back 15,000 years. Thousands of protesters from around the world, fearing the consequences of the pipeline, who went as far as marching in blizzard conditions, roared with joy when the project was ruled against.

Although the pipeline has been halted, those who have been fighting the construction and the Standing Rock Indian people worry the decision will be overturned by President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. Trump, a supporter of energy infrastructure, owned shares in the company building the pipeline and has sold them. In addition, Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the pipeline, are determined to complete the plan without rerouting. CEO Kelcy Warren claims she is “100 percent sure that the pipeline will be approved by a Trump administration.”

Even though the Army Corp of Engineers said they will look for alternate routes, any other route would likely cross the Missouri River. The tears of joy may turn into tears of sorrow if Trump decides to continue the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Only time will tell future of the  Standing Rock Sioux tribe and reservation.