The protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline has been a trending topic in the media over the past month. The hashtag #NODAPL has trended on Twitter and Facebook in support of the protestors and members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in North Dakota. Despite the coverage of the protests by multiple news outlets and social media users, there is still a lack of understanding of what’s really going on. So in the spirit of being informed college women, here are four things you need to know about the Dakota Access Pipeline:
1. The Case Against USACE
A lawsuit between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the US Army Corps of Engineers is making its way through the federal court system as you read this article. The suit claims the USACE failed to do a thorough survey of the land by using out-of-state surveyors and consulting only with the tribe on a limited set of potential impacts. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe sat out most of the consultations in protest, which some see as a mistake in protecting the unknown sacred sites that are now in the pipeline’s path. The case against the USACE began because the Standing Rock Sioux tribe believes that it was too hasty in its granting of water permits and ignored significant environmental impacts of the pipeline, including drinking water pollution. Robinson Meyer from The Atlantic does a wonderful job at explaining the legal case more in-depth.
2. The Major Players
There are many organizations involved in the creation, regulation and implementation of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The acronyms and names are easy to confuse, so listed below are the different organizations involved, their acronyms and what their role is in the Pipeline protest:
- Standing Rock Sioux Tribe: Residents of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation and main protestors against the pipeline. They believe that if the pipeline is built, it will be a significant threat to their main water source.
- US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE): A U.S. federal agency under the Department of Defense that is one of the world’s largest public engineering agencies. It regulates and contributes to public works, such as the Dakota Access Pipeline.
- Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPO): Officially designated officers that direct programs approved by the National Park Service with Native American tribes and tribal lands. They work with federal agencies to balance federal and tribal demands.
- Energy Transfer Partners: A US natural gas and propane company and parent company of Dakota Access, LLC, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline from North Dakota to central Illinois.
Mother Jones has an extensive timeline of the protests and progress of the pipeline here, which explains more about how each group interacts with each other.
3. Social Media
Social media users, especially Twitter and Facebook, have shown large amounts of support for protestors of the pipeline. On October 31, you may have seen some of your Facebook friends “checking-in” to Standing Rock, North Dakota and posting about why they checked in. This trend of “checking-in” was believed to be a tactic to confuse the Morton County Sheriff’s Department about where actual protestors and protest camps were located. The sheriff’s department later posted on their Facebook page, claiming they did not use the data from the check-ins to track protestors. Nevertheless, people continue to show their support for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe with protests all over the United States and online with #NODAPL and #Istandwithstandingrock.
4. What happens next?
The events of the past few days, mainly the election of Donald Trump as the forty-fifth president of the United States, lead many people to believe that this pipeline will be constructed, despite months of protests. Trump touched on the issue in his 100-day plan, and also spoke about in his speech in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania at the end of October. During his first 100 days in office, Trump plans to lift all restrictions on production of American energy reserves, this includes oil, natural gas and clean coal. Trump also said he would lift the “Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital infrastructure projects to move forward.” This includes the Dakota Access Pipeline and Keystone XL Pipeline. On November 8, Dakota Access released a public statement claiming that they have not voluntarily agreed to halt construction of the pipeline, despite claims from the USACE. People will continue to protest the pipeline, and Dakota Access will continue to construct it until they run into significant legal trouble. The nation will just have to wait and see.
Photos credits: Energy Transfer, LLC, ewg3d/Thinkstock, Gigaom.com, Tony Webster