Have you heard the news about the North Dakota Access Pipeline? If you haven’t, you’re not the only one. The project has received shockingly little media coverage, given the amount of violence and destruction it is inflicting on Native Americans.
What Is DAPL?
The North Dakota Access Pipeline, abbreviated DAPL, is an oil pipeline which would run from North Dakota to Illinois, a total of 1,200 miles. The Pipeline would go straight through land owned by the Sioux tribes.
Three big oil companies—Energy Transfer Partner, Enbridge Corporation, and Marathon Oil—are executing the project.
DAPL is only a few miles shorter than the proposed Keystone Pipeline, which the Obama administration cancelled last year. DAPL received much less scrutiny than the Keystone Pipeline, because it does not cross an international border, and in the paperwork, it was treated as a series of small construction sites, not one large one.
Federal law requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who approved DAPL, to consult with Native American tribes before approving projects that could violate their sovereignty over their land. However, the Corps of Engineers approved the project “without meaningful consultation,” according to an op-ed by David Archambault II, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
The Protests
The Sioux people have been using both non-violent protests and legal maneuvers to stop the construction of DAPL. Since April, more than 3,000 Native Americans have camped out at the construction site.
On August 4, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed a motion to get a preliminary injunction against DAPL. A federal judge has yet to rule on that injunction. While the Sioux wait for their day in court, the big oil companies continue to destroy their land.
On September 2, the tribe also filed court documents identifying a planned construction area as a sacred Native site. Before the tribe could get legal protection for that site, construction crews bulldozed straight through it on September 3.
Commenting on the destruction, Archambault said,
“These grounds are the resting places of our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings there cannot be replaced. In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground.”
When protesters marched onto the construction site to stop the bulldozing, private security guards (that would be spelled H-I-R-E-D M-E-R-C-E-N-A-R-I-E-S) unleashed attack dogs on protesters and sprayed them with pepper spray. The dogs bit at least six people, including one child. The guards pepper sprayed at least 30 people.
Environmental Concerns
The Sioux tribes are not the only ones who oppose DAPL. Multiple environmentalist groups are opposed to the project, and some federal agencies have also raised concern.
The Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation all say the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has failed to complete an adequate Environmental Impact Statement for DAPL.
The above agencies are particularly concerned with how this project will affect supplies of drinking water. DAPL is slated to cross the Missouri River, which provides drinking water for millions of Americans.
A federal judge is expected to rule on September 9 whether to grant the injunction and stop the big oil companies from constructing DAPL.
Watch this video of protesters being attacked by dogs:
Featured image from Democracy Now video.
