Dakota Access Pipeline Protests
The Dakota Access Pipeline protests were a significant movement aimed at halting the construction of a crude oil pipeline intended to transport oil from North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields to Illinois. The proposed route crossed under Lake Oahe, a reservoir that poses a potential risk to the drinking water supply of the nearby Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Protestors, including members of the Sioux Nation, expressed deep concerns over the pipeline's impact on water safety and its passage through land considered sacred, including an ancient burial ground. The protests began in April 2016 and gained national attention, drawing thousands of participants and support from various human rights activists.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers initially approved the project, but after widespread protests and legal challenges, the Obama administration halted it in December 2016 for further review. However, the project was subsequently revived under President Trump in early 2017, leading to the clearing of protest camps by February. Despite the completion of the pipeline in August 2020, the protests highlighted broader issues of environmental justice, Indigenous rights, and cultural preservation, as demonstrators continued to advocate for their concerns to be heard at the national level.
Dakota Access Pipeline Protests
Date: April 1, 2016–February 23, 2017
Place: Standing Rock Indian Reservation, North Dakota, and adjoining regions
Summary
The Dakota Access Pipeline protests were an attempt to stop the construction of the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline, a crude oil pipeline intended to transport oil from North Dakota's Bakken oil fields to Illinois. The proposed route for the pipeline crosses under Lake Oahe, a reservoir on the Missouri River in North Dakota. Protestors said the pipeline threatened the drinking water supply of the nearby Standing Rock Indian Reservation, whose residents also objected to the pipeline's path through an ancient burial ground for the Sioux people. Partly in response to the protests, the administration of US President Barack Obama halted the project in December 2016 pending further environmental review. Still, his successor, Donald Trump, cleared the way to restart the project, and the protest camps were cleared in February 2017.
Key Events
- April 1, 2016—Two hundred American Indians gathered to protest the North Dakota pipeline.
- July 26, 2016—US Army Corps of Engineers approves final easements for the project.
- July 27, 2016—The Standing Rock Sioux tribe sues the Army Corps of Engineers, asking for the project to be halted.
- September 9, 2016—A federal judge rules against the Standing Rock Sioux proposed injunction.
- November 2016—Protest goes nationwide with sympathetic demonstrations in Washington, DC.
- December 3, 2016—The group Veterans Stand for Standing Rock arrives at the protest camp to join the protest.
- December 4, 2016—US Army Corps of Engineers denies easement allowing the pipeline to pass under Lake Oahe, halting work on the project.
- January 24, 2017—President Donald Trump signs an executive memorandum calling for a resumption of the project.
- February 7, 2017—US Army Corps of Engineers grants the easement for the pipeline to pass under Lake Oahe; construction resumes.
- February 22, 2017—Deadline set by state officials for protest camps on federal land to be cleared.
- February 23, 2017—Police remove the last protesters from the camp.
Status
With the protest camp outside Standing Rock Indian Reservation cleared, thousands of American Indians and their allies took their protest to the nation's capital, gathering in Washington, DC, on March 10, 2017, to continue their demand that the government listen to their concerns about water safety and the preservation of sacred cultural sites. The tribe's court challenges continued as well. Meanwhile, Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, said the project was expected to be complete and online in a couple of weeks.
In-Depth Overview
The Dakota Access Pipeline is a $3.8 billion oil pipeline project that began in 2014 when Energy Transfer Partners LP applied for permission to build the pipeline between North Dakota's Bakken oil fields and a transfer point in Illinois. The pipeline is intended to transport between 470,000 and 570,000 barrels of crude oil daily. The North Dakota Public Service Commission approved the project on January 25, 2016, with a planned route that included a portion of the pipeline passing under the Missouri River at the Lake Oahe reservoir in North Dakota. Numerous environmental agencies opposed the projects and noted the danger to drinking water supplies in the case of a leak. As part of the land needed for the pipeline belongs to the federal government, the US Army Corps of Engineers needed to provide easements—permits allowing one entity to use land owned by another. On April 1, a group of two hundred Sioux from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, which abuts Lake Oahe, arrived on horseback at the pipeline's planned location near the reservation to protest the project, beginning an action that would last nearly eleven months and swell to thousands of participants at its height.
On July 26, the Army Corps of Engineers approved the final easements for the project, and the following day, the Standing Rock Sioux sued the Corps of Engineers, seeking an emergency stop to the construction. In addition to concerns over the possible pollution, the Sioux objected to the construction passing through a Sioux burial ground and, thus, was seen as a violation of their cultural heritage. The federal government has owned the territory for the proposed pipeline since the Flood Control Act of 1944, which claimed land from the Sioux for the construction of the Oahe Dam on the Missouri River, which created Lake Oahe, flooding more than fifty thousand acres of Standing Rock Reservation.
As protesters gathered at the construction site on August 24, a federal court heard arguments on the issue. Then, on September 3, private security, using guard dogs, attacked protestors who broke through a fence to get to the pipeline construction site. The conflict became national news as representatives of the tribe and their supporters petitioned the government to protect their right to protest. On September 9, Federal Judge James Boasberg of the US District Court in Washington, DC, ruled that the tribe had not demonstrated that it would suffer an injury preventable by an injunction. However, the Department of Justice, Department of the Interior, and Department of the Army filed a joint statement indicating that the Army would only allow construction once conducting further consultations with the Sioux.
On October 9, the courts denied the Sioux's attempt to appeal the earlier decision. Chairman of the Standing Rock Reservation David Archambault II pledged to continue the protest despite the court's ruling. On October 27, police clashed with protestors as protestors erected a roadblock that closed down a state highway. After firing into crowds of protestors with beanbags and teargas, 141 protestors were arrested, according to North Dakota's Morton County Sheriff's Department, bringing the total number arrested to over 400. In the wake of this event, the protests grew as human rights activists traveled to North Dakota to support the Sioux. The protesters' clashes with police became national news. On November 15, supporters held a national "day of action," with the senator and former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders joining a protest on the issue outside the White House. On November 20, as temperatures plummeted, police used water cannons and rubber bullets to remove protestors from the site. On November 25, the Army Corps of Engineers appeared to have made a decision, ordering protestors to clear the camp by December 5.
At the end of November, a group of up to two thousand US military veterans arrived at the protest camp, where they formed a peaceful human shield to protect protestors from police. The group was organized by former Baltimore police officer and Marine Corps veteran Michael A. Wood Jr. and activist Wesley Clark Jr., son of retired General Wesley K. Clark, who was responding to widely publicized videos and media reports showing police attacking protestors at the site. The involvement of the veterans' organization came just before the Army Corps of Engineers announced on December 4 that they would deny the easement for construction across Lake Oahe and would search for an alternative route. The project remained at a standstill until President Donald Trump's January 2017 executive orders. In early 2020, operations were put on hold pending an environmental impact study, but by August, the pipeline resumed operations.
Key Figures
David Archambault II: Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
James Boasberg: Federal justice who ruled against the injunction proposed by the Standing Rock Sioux.
Bibliography
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