cleanwatertissue-blog1

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US Army Corps of Engineers says it won’t grant easement for the Dakota Access oil pipeline in southern North Dakota! This is a huge win!

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Federal authorities have halted construction of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline amid growing protests that were expected to draw some 2,000 U.S. military veterans.

Read more here.

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Dakota Access pipeline activists set their sights on the Flint water crisis

With their fight at Standing Rock seemingly won, at least for now, Dakota Access Pipeline protesters will refocus their efforts elsewhere: Flint, MI.

The activists plan to take on the city’s ongoing water crisis.

“This problem is all over the county,” Wes Clark Jr., a veteran of the U.S. Army, told MLive. Clark was one of the nearly 2,000-strong group, Veterans Stand for Standing Rock, that formed a first line of protection at the Oceti Sakowin Camp over the weekend.

“It’s got to be more than veterans,” Clark said. “People have been treated wrong in this county for a long time.”

Veterans and activists do not know exactly when they’ll head to Flint and many have vowed to stay until the Standing Rock Sioux ask them to leave. 

But they’re hoping that their presence in Flint can call media attention to the crisis and force meaningful action in the same way their presence did in North Dakota. Read more

follow @the-movemnt

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Introduction

Legal Case: “The tribe claims that the pipeline—which climate activists portray as a sequel to Keystone XL (another massive pipeline that was proposed in 2015)—could threaten their sole water source and that, more importantly, they were not consulted before the pipeline was approved.”

The pipeline could create detrimental effects to the environment, if it were to leak into the major water source it is being built through. The tribe and people protesting are referred to as “water protectors,” for trying to protect their clean water source.

“The Department of the Army announced on Sunday that it would not approve the crossing of the pipeline under the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, signaling a major victory for the tribe following months of protests.

Though legal disputes about water safety, Native American lands and eminent domain have delayed the project, the 1,172-mile pipeline that crosses four states is nearly complete.”

The DAPL is currently haulted and stopped for further review, but this decision could potentially be reversed with a Trump administration...

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/23/us/dakota-access-pipeline-protest-map.html?_r=0

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/09/dapl-dakota-sitting-rock-sioux/499178/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qlv4KN9OtY

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Historical Background

“The Dakota Access Pipeline protests (or DAPL) have sparked a historic clash between Native American protesters (who are called Water Protectors) and law enforcement over a multi-billion dollar oil pipeline that would traverse four states.”

http://heavy.com/news/2016/09/dakota-access-pipeline-protests-video-photos-dogs-map-dapl-routes-north-oil-mace-standing-rock-sioux-native-american-indian-energy-transfer-kelcy-warren-bakken-lawsuit/

The proposed route for the DAPL would be crossing through sacred burial grounds and tribal sites. It would also be very close to the Missouri river- which is the tribe’s main drinking source. 

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/23/us/dakota-access-pipeline-protest-map.html?_r=0

The mass support throughout tribes is also historic. 

“The gathering is “historic,” Judith LeBlanc, director of the New York-based Native Organizers Alliance, told ABC News, adding, “There’s never been a coming together of tribes like this.”

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Call it what you will–coincidence or supernatural sign–but this gave me chills and made me tear up.

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a discussion of any debate on this issue

There is a lawsuit going on between SRST (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe) and the Army Corps of Engineers. (The Corps is the federal agency that approved the pipeline.) and Energy Transfer Partners. In which, the tribe was not aware of the proposed pipeline and are opposed to it being built. 

“In September, the Yankton Sioux Tribe filed a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers, challenging the authorization of the pipeline construction.”

The tribe is very concerned with the effects of water contamination and their sacred lands, if the pipeline were to be continued. 

There has been a lot of altercations and “series of troubling allegations,” throughout the months of protests. 

“snarling dogs were used against protesters, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe claims burial grounds were bulldozed, a woman’s arm was blown off, another woman allegedly fired a weapon in a struggle with a cop, and law enforcement officials have used an increasingly militarized approach to force mass arrests when protests veer onto private property.”

http://heavy.com/news/2016/09/dakota-access-pipeline-protests-video-photos-dogs-map-dapl-routes-north-oil-mace-standing-rock-sioux-native-american-indian-energy-transfer-kelcy-warren-bakken-lawsuit/

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/23/us/dakota-access-pipeline-protest-map.html?_r=0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz0q4OgWuBw

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any regulations related to this issue and health effects? What efforts have been made to combat the issue?

Regulations: “Except for the last remaining climate change deniers, of which there are still a surprising number, it is generally acknowledged that many of the oil reserves that have already been discovered are “stranded assets.” This means that in order to ensure that global warming does not rise to 2C above pre-industrial levels, the target agreed to in the COP21 Paris Agreement which went into effect on November 4, 2016, these reserves cannot be extracted.

The U.K. nonprofit Carbon Tracker calculates that only 565 gigatons of CO2 from the world’s coal mines, oil wells, and gas fields can be emitted between now and 2050 in order to meet the COP21 benchmark. This is only 20% of the 2,795 gigatons of CO2 in existing reserves. While the market value of these stranded assets is obviously a function of price, in the days following COP21 analysts at Citigroup estimated the potential value of stranded assets at $100 trillion. However much oil ends up being taken out of the ground, much of it will go through pipelines. A corollary of stranded assets is that, in addition to oil reserves, some amount of pipeline capacity will become stranded assets as well.”

This means we really need to watch the world’s emission from coal mines, oil wells, and gas fields in order to make sure “that global warming does not rise to 2C above pre-industrial levels.” Recommended amount to prevent global warming at a higher rate.

Health Effects: The risk of the potential DAPL leaking into the main source of water would greatly impact the environment, thus impacting the population surrounding it (The SRST). 

“The Missouri River is the main source of drinking and irrigation water for the 8,200 residents of the Standing Rock reservation.  The pipeline would pump an estimated 17,000 gallons of oil per minute underneath this water source, which would be devastated by a spill or leak. [4] This project poses serious environmental threats and will disturb burial grounds and sacred sites on the Tribe's ancestral Treaty lands.”

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/special-report-standing-rock-environmental-and-social-justice-consequences-dakota

The Dakota Pipeline has been stopped, temporarily, and “Army Corp of Engineers announced it will look for an alternate route for the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe in North Dakota.”

There is some fear that Trump administration, taking office in January, could potentially reverse the decision that has been made on rerouting the DAPL. Trump is in favor of the DAPL.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/04/politics/dakota-access-pipeline/

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Solutions & Alternatives

There are many alternative routes being considered... Although, a pipeline would still be negatively affecting the environment. The drilling company, ETP and the SRST (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe) have not found any approach to resolve this conflict. The tribe is most worried about their clean water, above all else (i.e destruction of sacred sites and land). The SRST Chairman David Archambault II has said, “At the heart of our grievances is our water. ETP has a terrible water track record, with pending contamination lawsuits in four states. Just last month there was another leak at one of the company’s subsidiary pipelines in Pennsylvania. Would you trust this company with your water?”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/bobeccles/2016/11/22/standing-rock-protest-finding-the-long-term-solution/#59649d635ee9

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Concluding thoughts

Clean water is an issue for many people. If it is an option, it should be secured and protected. The Native Americans have called their land ‘sacred’ and just as their land is to them, so is their supply of clean drinking water. It is important that we honor the wishes of those who want to respect their water and land by keeping it untouched. They do not want to risk their supply of clean drinking water. They have every right to their land and clean water. The people protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline, deserve their clean water and their land, protected. This issue is something we need to look at with great consideration and remember the responsibility we hold in keeping our own land, sacred. The effect that the DAPL and other pipelines have are detrimental to the environment. Do we really want to force a "proposed 1,172-mile oil project that would shuttle half a million barrels of North Dakota-produced oil to refining markets in Illinois."?