Standing Rock Sioux Stands Up to Big Oil

(This article first appeared in the November-December 2016 issue of The American Postal Worker magazine.)

The Standing Rock Sioux, a federally recognized Native American tribe, has taken a stand against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The underground pipeline would span 1,172 miles – across four states (North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois). It is expected to transport 470,000 barrels of oil per day from the Bakken and Three Forks Reservoirs to refineries and markets in the U.S.

Its route would plunge under the Missouri River and cut across sacred native land.

Project developer Dakota Access, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Crude Oil, claims the $3.8 billion pipeline “will help the United States become less dependent on importing energy from unstable regions of the world.” It says, “A pipeline is the safest, most cost-effective and environmentally responsible way to move crude oil, removing dependency on rails and trucks. The pipeline will generate $156 million in sales and income taxes to state and local governments in addition to creating 8,000 to 12,000 construction jobs.”

What Dakota Access doesn’t say is that the jobs the project creates will likely evaporate once the project is complete.

Energy Transfer also reports its “Dakota Access Team has worked with engineers, agriculture experts and farmers to mitigate risks and accommodate the needs and concerns of the land owners along the proposed route.”

But the Sioux Tribe isn’t buying the sales pitch, and rightfully so – neither are hundreds of other U.S. and Canadian tribes. The pipeline travels through the Sioux’s ancestral lands and passes within half a mile of its reservation – just upstream from its drinking supply. The pipeline would destroy landscapes and religious, cultural and historic sites significant to the tribe.

It threatens the tribe’s environment and economic well-being. Digging underneath the Missouri River could affect the quality of their water supply, which would negatively impact their families, their crops and their livestock.

In an effort to protect their land and their way of life, the Standing Rock Sioux filed a lawsuit in federal court this summer to halt construction of the pipeline. The complaint alleged violations of the National Historic Preservation Act and other laws that require the consideration of environmental risks and the protection of Native American historic, religious and cultural sites. Instead, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued permits that fast-tracked the project to meet the company’s ambitious construction schedule.

As opposition swelled, the company proved they are more concerned with profit than the rights and welfare, needs and concerns of indigenous citizens. Bulldozers destroyed and desecrated hallowed burial grounds, and company thugs armed with snarling attack dogs, zip ties and pepper spray confronted marching protesters attempting to stop the tractors. Dozens were injured. Eye witnesses reported pregnant women were maced, and young children and horses were brutally attacked and bitten by security dogs.

Violence, injustice and environmental hazards have led to the largest Native American movement in recent history. As many as 80 protests occurred in major cities and around the world. Thousands of outraged citizens and dozens of environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, have banned together to stand with the Sioux nation in opposition of the pipeline.

Under growing pressure, the Obama Administration announced it would not grant a permit for a key portion of the project near the Sioux land until further, extensive review. The Departments of Justice, Interior and the Army also pledged to reconsider any of its previous decisions. These are small victories, but the fight for justice is not over.

This is not just the fight of the Sioux nation. It is our fight. It is a fight for human and civil rights. Injustice anywhere threatens justice everywhere. 

Resources: CNN, BBC, ABC, Democracy Now, AP, Heavy, Inhabitat, NPR, PRI, Energy Transfer.