The Dakota Access Pipeline is being constructed by Energy Transfer Partners, and is supposed to deliver hundreds of thousands of crude oils between the Bakken fields of North Dakota and Patoka, Illinois. The Dakota Access Pipeline negatively affects North Dakota, native tribes, and is a danger to the environment. The protestors can lay a framework that reflects other nonviolent historical protest that will help end the construction of the pipeline. The pipe line is not directly on the native, Sioux, tribes land, but will be built under Lake Oahe. Lake Oahe is the primary source of drinking waters for the Sioux tribe. The Sioux tribe also claims that the pipeline travels through sacred ground that is not on their reserve. Unfortunately, Energy Transfer Partners has the legal right to build on the lands, although the construction has been delayed multiple times. These delays are due to the insane number of protestors and Native Americans that have gathered to stop the creation of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The protestors are the key to stopping the pipeline, or at least the key to getting Energy Transfer Partners to compromise with the Sioux tribe. 

History has proven that a minority can evoke change in a majority. All they need is a reason, patience, and perseverance. The Sioux tribe have a chance to alter the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, if they consistently demonstrate nonviolent protest. History has already laid the framework on how to win. Martin Luther King Jr. protected the rights of colored people through the act of nonviolent marches. Martin Luther King Jr.’s source of inspiration, Mahatma Gandhi also protected the rights of his people through nonviolent protest. Protest are not always going to bring about legal change. The Women’s March successfully demonstrated a peaceful protest and brought awareness to their cause. Not every demonstration will bring about change but the successful ones bring awareness to the public. Potential protestor can look to the Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual pride parade as an example of a successful protest that showed patience is prominent. Dixieville, a small southern city, still has LGBT pride parades even after Obergefell vs Hodges, the court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage, because they want to bring about social change in their town. They want other closeted LGBT members to feel comfortable coming out. The protestors of the Dakota Access Pipeline should follow in Dixieville’s footsteps. The protestors are unlikely to get help from the law or President Trump at this point so they should instead work to build their forces. They need to focus on bringing more awareness to the lack of respect the Energy Transfer Partners have for the sacred native lands. 

The dangers that come with an oil pipeline are the main reasons people are protesting. The Energy Transfer Partners “insist that they have taken extraordinary measures to safeguard against disaster” (Worland), but all pipelines go through safety checks, and some still leak. The smallest of leaks can contaminate Lake Oahe. Any leaks will leave the Sioux tribe with no source of clean water. Leaks will also be harmful to the wildlife that inhabit Lake Oahe. The pipeline also has the chance to “destabilize or even damage the fragile draining mechanisms necessary to support agriculture throughout the area” (Fagerberg). The pipeline enhances the crippling dependence America has on fossil fuels. The use of these fossil fuels does not only negatively affect the native tribes, but also can have detrimental effect on planet Earth. “As the atmosphere thickens with more greenhouse gases, more heat is held in” (Anonymous), which in turn causes global warming. Most environmentalist in the United States that are aware of the situation in Lake Oahe are against the construction of the pipeline. Former presidential candidate and current Democratic senator Bernie Sanders vows to do “everything [he] can to stop these pipelines and protect our planet for future generations.” Bernie stated that in a time where scientist almost unanimously agree climate change is real “we cannot afford to build new oil pipelines that lock us into burning fossil fuels for years to come.” The pipeline poses a real threat of “water pollution and soil erosion” (Fagerberg). The Energy Transfer Partners continue to ignore the scientific community and their data. 

The Energy Transfer Partners have a history of making mistakes that hurt the environment. Since 2005 the company has “lost at least 18,845 barrels of crude oil through pipeline spills across the country” (Belanger). That means the Energy Transfer company has lost approximately four barrels are environmentally threatening barrels of crude oil a day. A company that has “taken extraordinary measures to safeguard against disaster” (Worland), loses on average four barrels of oil a day. The company has also been fined by the government for “more than $22 million for environmental and other violations” (Belanger). Of course, some of the leaks are not all caused by the Energy Transfer Partners, but the company chose to take blame for uncontrollable factors when they built the pipelines. With the company’s history of spills, they should not be allowed to build under Lake Oahe. One of the company’s pipelines previously “leaked 55,000 gallons of gasoline into a Pennsylvania creek” (Belanger). If 50,000 gallons of gasoline leaked into Lake Oahe, the Sioux tribe would have no source of clean water. The wildlife that call Lake Oahe home would cease to exist. The Sioux tribes in Standing Rock are trying to prevent an accidental spill. The only way to make sure the pipelines never leak into Lake Oahe is to never build the pipelines.

Donald Trump’s government would rather fight defenseless protester then fight climate change. The media should also bring attention to the way protestors and objectors are being mistreated. There have been reports of police allowing “their dogs to charge protestors” (Justin Worland). Police officers are reportedly using rubber bullets and pepper spray to attack the unarmed demonstrators. Some reports have even stated that police officers have gone as far as to use “concussion cannons” (Worland) to disrupt the peaceful demonstrations by native protestors. Police officers have been known to unfairly attack minorities in the past, but the use of “concussion cannons” (Worland) on Native Americans trying to protect their sacred lands is inexcusable. Although there are multiple reports of mistreatment by the law enforcement towards the demonstrators at Lake Oahe, protestors must not turn to violence. They must instead rise above the hate and mistreatment. People against the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline must kill opponents with kindness. When wandering if violence will help the protestors cause, think about the Black Lives Matter movement. The police consistently mistreated black people. People of color were fed up with their mistreatment and began to protest. Their protest did not follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. Instead of staying peaceful when attacked by the police, members of the Black Lives Matter movement resorted to violence. The media then spread videos of the destruction caused by the movement. The movement became labeled by some as a terrorist group. Violent demonstrators in the Black Lives Matter movement inadvertently discredited their entire crusade. Violence will only hurt the native tribes that fight for the protection of their sacred lands and drinking water. 

Native Americans are capable of seeing sacred sites and plants used in rituals that an archeologist is not capable of identifying. Just because the land the Dakota Access Pipeline runs through are not marked native lands by the government, does not mean the Energy Transfer Partners have the moral right to destroy it. Archeologist also make mistakes and miss sacred landmarks. On March 8, 2016, a member of the Sioux tribe “showed U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff important cultural resources – a cemetery, ancient village and sacred stone.” (Colwell) The archeologist that traveled with the member of the Sioux tribe claimed to be “unaware of some of these cites.” (Colwell) This begs the question: How many more cites have been overlooked? In fact, later that year Dakota State Preservation Office went to the other areas that the Sioux tribe member had suggested, and found “82 sites and 27 burials” (Colwell). These sites can be tremendously difficult to spot. Some sites are as simple as a semicircle of rocks, meaningless to the average person, but meaningful to the Sioux tribe and other surrounding tribes. The semicircle was “likely a shrine used to bless and protect the ancient village” (Colwell). Although it sounds crazy, Native American tribes believe in these shrines, the same way Catholics believe in Ash Wednesday, and Jewish people believe in the New Testament. Native Americans have been forced to give up so much because of the American people. North Dakota should set an example for the rest of America. For once the American people should leave the Native American’s land alone. Supporters of the pipeline will argue that the American people have already given the Natives their reservations. Did they? Or did the American people kill the Native Americans, take their lands, and leave the natives with a small portion of what was already theirs?

Here is a small history lesson to help successfully answer the previous question. Over thirty thousand years ago, tribes that would eventually become known as Native Americans traveled from Asia to the Americas. They followed the migration of their primary source of food, the bison. One group of these tribes was known as the Sioux Indians. The Sioux Indians got their name from “a rival tribe, the Chippewa, the word Sioux meaning ‘Little Snake’” (3 Anonymous). Sioux Indians can be recognized by their straight black hair and physical feature that “genealogically connect them with the Japanese and Chinese. The Sioux tribe thrived off the land and wildlife. Fast-forward thousands of years and Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492. Shortly after the discovery of America, Europeans invaded. The Europeans brought disease with them that the Native American people had never experienced. Diseases like measles and smallpox spread throughout the native tribes like a wild fire. These diseases “wiped out the populations of many [native] cities” (1 Anonymous). Columbus and his crew began taking anything and everything, including the Native Americans themselves. Native tribes were enslaved and forced to manual labor or were sent back to Europe. The Native Americans never had a chance, because the European fought with guns, while the natives had bow and arrows. European settlements grew at a rate that they “eventually outnumbered the [natives]” (1 Anonymous). The expansion of America eventually lead to the construction of roads through native Sioux lands. The leader of the Sioux at the time, Red Cloud, fought alongside the remaining Sioux warriors in attempt to drive out the “white men, as well as burn down their structures” (3 Anonymous) The Europeans gathered the remaining Native Americans and forced them to move into “specific areas, called reservations” (1 Anonymous).

These reservations are not like the fancy casinos and rich lands in the popular Family Guy episodes either. Reservations like the ones the Sioux tribe reside in today are “comparable to third world countries” (2 Anonymous). In 2008 the American Indian Census discovered that the “overall percentage of American Indians living below the federal poverty line [in the reservations] is 28.2%” (2 Anonymous). The United States poverty line is “4.5%” (Worstall). That means the Native Americans have six times as many members under the poverty line. Obviously, those numbers are relative to each nationalities population. The change in traditional life to western life has severely impacted the Native Americans health. It has created a “terrible epidemic of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, tuberculosis, and cancer” (2 Anonymous).  The living conditions on Native American reservations are already inadequate, yet the American people still insist on building an unnecessary pipeline that will cause more problems for the Native Americans.  The Energy Transfer Partners state that they “have great respect for the concerns of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe” (Warren), but are still threatening their water supply, food source, agriculture and the surrounding wildlife by building the Dakota Access Pipeline. Protestors need not listen to the Energy Transfer Partners, as they clearly only care about the money the Dakota Access Pipeline will make them. Every human deserves basic human rights, and this Pipeline compromises the rights of the Native Americans.

Equality and freedom are basic human rights. Minorities have been fighting for these rights since the birth of America. The fight will not stop until to equal rights has been won for all people. The native tribes around the Dakota Access Pipeline are asking for their basic right to be protected. They are asking for the Energy Transfer Partners to stop meddling with their water supply. They are asking for the Energy Transfer Partners to stop meddling with their loved one’s final resting place. All of those who have fought for equality are probably rolling over in their graves. Martin Luther King Jr marched for the equal treatment of all people no matter color and religion. The Bill of rights was created to protect the basic human rights. Amendment 14th was created to protect civil rights. The Energy Transfer Company Does not and should not have the power to undue all the good that came with the creation of the 14th Amendment and hard work of the civil rights leaders. The power of a united people will be able to stop the destructive construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. All native people, all environmentalist, all civil rights activist, and all Americans should join together to prevent the Energy Transfer Company from completing their dangerous pipeline.   

If the Energy Transfer Partners refuse to stop the construction of this hazardous pipeline, then the government should step in and force the Energy Transfer Partners to stop. As the great Martin Luther King Jr once said “Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.” If the government refuses to help the people of Little Rock, South Dakota, then all of America needs to stand together to block the little bit of pipeline The Energy Transfer Partners have yet to construct. The Dakota Access Pipeline is not worth the money that it can potentially make. This pipeline cost The Energy Transfer Partners approximately 3.8 billion dollars and the pipeline has costed tax payers 33 million dollars in law enforcement fees. The Dakota Access pipeline, a pipeline that attacks the basic human rights of the Sioux tribe, potentially endangers a planet that has 7 billion inhabits, and destroys the ecosystems of wildlife cost over 4 billion dollars (Energy Transfer Partners and Nicholson). In conclusion, the Dakota Access Pipe Line is a threat to our societies’ values and livelihood. The construction of the pipeline must be stopped no matter the cost.  
