There comes a time when the people who say the United States government shouldn’t be involved in state rights, or shouldn’t be involved in private or corporate matters, have to maybe look past that and look at what this means in a moral sense.
I am referring to corporations constantly tipping the line of federal law where it concerns our indigenous citizens and the recent clusterfluff regarding the Dakota Access Pipeline. One thing this writer has noticed is there is a lot of talk about the protests from the many tribes this would affect and not about why they are protesting.
According to the Web site of the Dakota Access Pipeline, “the Dakota Access Pipeline Project is a new approximate 1,172-mile, 30-inch diameter pipeline that will connect the rapidly expanding Bakken and Three Forks production areas in North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois.”
Economically, it could be great. It’ll streamline domestic crude oil, transporting “approximately 470,000 barrels per day with a capacity as high as 570,000 barrels per day or more – which could represent approximately half of Bakken current daily crude oil production.”
The estimated tax revenue from this pipeline is $418,000 per year and 800 temporary construction job positions, but only 15 permanent positions.
However, there is a little hiccup; pipelines are not as safe as the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company, LLC, the parent company behind Dakota Access, LLC, would like you to believe.
According to data from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, since 1996 there have been 5,674 significant pipeline spill incidents. Significant incidents involve fatalities, damages costing $50,000 or more, liquid releases resulting in fire or liquid releases of five barrels or more. The data for these incidents do not include first fire incidents or any incidents that are less destructive, but no less harmful to our already fragile environment.
Furthermore, “part of the pipeline would traverse the Sioux’s sacred, ancestral lands and run under the Missouri River, the tribe’s sole water source. The pipeline would run just a half-mile from the Standing Rock reservation, which straddles the North and South Dakota border” (NBC News).
After centuries of exploitation, I don’t believe the Sioux in North Dakota are willing to trade culture, safety and the environment for a few beads or tobacco.
This is why the Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) requested a full archeological investigation into what a pipeline would mean for their lands. They have not received this information since they requested it in February, 2015, which they are entitled to according to the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).
According to the letter, there are nine ancestral sites for the Dakota, Cheyenne and Arikara tribes located within the Dakota Access Pipeline lands, all of which had not been surveyed at that time.
“The head of any such Federal agency shall afford the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation established under Title II of this Act a reasonable opportunity to comment with regard to such undertaking” (NHPA).
In December, 2015, the Army Corps of Engineers published an environmental report stating “Section 106 consultation/coordination with Tribal governments and members, THPOs, the SHPO, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), and other interested parties began in September 2014.”
The report also states there would be no environmental or cultural damage done to the lands the pipeline would go through. Despite the fact the pipeline will travel underneath the Missouri River, the EA report assures “the pipeline will be located under Lake Oahe, and Dakota Access has developed response and action plans, and will include several monitoring systems, shut-off valves and other safety features to minimize the risk of spills and reduce or remediate any potential damages.”
In early August of this year, The Standing Rock Sioux sued the Army Corps of Engineers, attempting to stop construction of the pipeline, which had already started in July, 2016.
It has yet to be seen if protests will ever stop; however, as this is ultimately a public relations nightmare for the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company and the Obama administration has exercised yet another executive order halting construction, it would appear, for now, the environment has won at least one battle in the face of capitalism.
Dakota Access, LLC. http://www.daplpipelinefacts.com/
Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company http://www.energytransfer.com/documents/ETCOP_FactSheet10.pdf
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration https://hip.phmsa.dot.gov/analyticsSOAP/saw.dll?Portalpages
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 https://www.nps.gov/history/local-law/nhpa1966.htm
Mother Jones http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/09/dakota-access-pipeline-protest-timeline-sioux-standing-rock-jill-stein
THPO Letter Feb., 2015 https://puc.sd.gov/commission/dockets/HydrocarbonPipeline/2014/HP14-002/rebuttal/ien/winltr3.pdf
COE Assessment, Dec., 2015 http://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Planning/Project-Reports/Article/633496/dakota-access-pipeline-environmental-assessment/
#TheySayItsGonnaRain 