UNITED STATES
Conflict between Native American protesters and private security personnel over construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline has turned violent. What is the Dakota Access Pipeline? (NPR and CNN)
Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers Toolkit, including today’s MapMaker Interactive map. Look for our newest updates in italics.

Photograph by Aaron Huey, National Geographic
Discussion Ideas

Map courtesy Energy Transfer Partners


- Hundreds of people in North Dakota are protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. What is the Dakota Access pipeline?
- The Dakota Access Pipeline will transport crude oil from hydrofracked sites in the Bakken Formation in northwestern North Dakota, which holds about 7.4 billion barrels of oil. This oil-rich rock formation gives the pipeline its other nickname, the Bakken pipeline. (Dakota Access, a subsidiary of the Texas-based energy giant Energy Transfer Partners, is the company planning the pipeline and the structure has simply adopted its name.)
- Energy Transfer Partners has completed construction of the pipeline up to Lake Oahe, a reservoir created by a South Dakota dam on the Missouri River. But the company still lacks permission from the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to perform the drilling there.
- The pipeline itself is about 30 inches in diameter and would be installed underground: 140-210 feet below the ground surface of federal lands and approximately 92 feet below the bottom of Lake Oahe. It would carry about 470,000 barrels of crude oil from the Bakken to Pakota, Illinois. From there, the oil could be transferred through an existing pipeline to facilities on the Gulf Coast, where Energy Transfer Partners has a refinery. The oil could also be transported by rail to facilities on the East Coast.
- The pipeline is estimated to cost $3.7 billion. Supporters say will result in $156 million in sales and income taxes, about 40 permanent jobs and thousands of temporary construction jobs.
- Who is protesting?
- Protests are being led by tribes of North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. They have filed an injunction against the USACE, which approved the pipeline, to halt construction.
- The USACE has the legal authority to “to grant permission to Dakota Access to modify federal flood control and navigation projects, provided the modifications are not injurious to the public interest and will not impair the usefulness of the projects.”
- The protests began with a group of teenagers fighting the plague of suicides on the reservation. Fantastic read on how student activism launched a movement here.
- In addition to members of the Lakota and Dakota tribes of the Standing Rock reservation, members of more than 200 Native American tribes have joined the protests.
- Veterans have become a vital part of the protests.
- Hundreds of people have protested in Washington, D.C., and Texas, as well as North Dakota.
- Protests have moved from rural Morton County to North Dakota’s big cities of Mandan and Bismark, because protesters say police barricades have restricted access to construction sites.
- Protests are being led by tribes of North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. They have filed an injunction against the USACE, which approved the pipeline, to halt construction.
- Why are people, especially Native American groups, protesting construction of the pipeline?
- The core protest group is called Rezpect Our Water. It is primarily concerned that installing the pipeline beneath the nearby Missouri River will impact the safety of the reservation’s water supply.
- The USACE released a statement of “no significant impact” in July 2016.
- The original route of the DAPL ran through Bismark, but was re-routed in part due to its feared impact on the North Dakota capital’s water supply.
- Many are concerned that historically and spiritually important Native American sites will be disturbed during construction of the pipeline. Bulldozers have already removed topsoil from an area about 150 feet wide and 2 miles long, prompting Standing Rock Tribal Chairman David Archambault II to say, “These grounds are the resting places of our ancestors. The ancient cairns and stone prayer rings there cannot be replaced. In one day, our sacred land has been turned into hollow ground.”
- Critics say the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not go through the consultation process before approving the pipeline. The Corps and North Dakota lawmakers deny this, saying the Standing Rock tribe was consulted.
- The core protest group is called Rezpect Our Water. It is primarily concerned that installing the pipeline beneath the nearby Missouri River will impact the safety of the reservation’s water supply.
- Why wasn’t an environmental impact report conducted for the Dakota Access Pipeline?
- No federal agency has jurisdiction over oil pipelines. For this project, USACE has jurisdiction over a very small portion of the overall pipeline.
- Why have the protests been in the news all over the world?
- The conflict turned violent as protesters faced off with private security contractors hired by Energy Transfer Partners. (Watch the Democracy Now video above for footage of the initial altercation.) The violence has now extended to law enforcement personnel and private citizens.
- About 75 protesters were arrested after a “rogue” group set up a camp on private property.
- A young woman (a protester) was severely injured and may lose her arm as a result of an altercation between police and protesters. Police say she may have been injured by an explosive device detonated by protesters, while protesters say she was injured by a concussion grenade thrown by police.
- Police doused protesters with tear gas, rubber bullets, and water hoses in subfreezing temperatures. More than a dozen protesters were sent to the hospital, and police defended their actions as defending the bridge the protesters were trying to cross. The bridge blocks access to the pipeline construction site.
- More than 100 protesters were arrested in 2016. Law enforcement personnel say protesters trespassed onto private land that had already been approved for the pipeline, “stampeding over fences with horses, dogs, and vehicles.”
- Perhaps the most famous warrant was issued for journalist Amy Goodman, who was covering the protests for Democracy Now, above.
- Protesters say security personnel unleashed attack dogs and pepper spray against non-violent protesters, and law-enforcement personnel failed to protect the protesters.
- In 2016, a pipeline supporter brandished a gun and drove through the line of protesters. He was not arrested or charged, with law enforcement saying “he must have felt threatened.”
- As large protests have moved from the rural pipeline area to North Dakota’s cities, government and law enforcement personnel have urged protesters not to pursue change through violent means.
- The increased police presence is very expensive. Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren has said publicly that he was interested in reimbursing North Dakota for law enforcement costs incurred.
- President Donald Trump has between $500,000 and $1 million invested in Energy Transfer Partners, and $500,000 to $1 million holding in Phillips 66, which will have a 25% stake in the DAPL once it is completed. Last month, a spokesman for President Trump said he sold all of his stock in June, but there is no way of verifying that sale, and President Trump has not provided documentation of it.
- What’s next?
- President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum aimed at reviving the DAPL, as well as another contentious oil pipeline, the Keystone XL. The acting Secretary of the Army was ordered to “to expeditiously review requests for approvals to construct and operate the Dakota Access Pipeline in compliance with the law.”
- The order does not mean construction on the pipeline will immediately proceed. “These initial steps do not mean the easement has been approved,” said Maj. Gen. Malcolm Frost, chief of public affairs for the U.S. Army.
- A status hearing is slated for a hearing in federal court on February 6. The judge is considering answers to two questions: 1) When will the Dept. of the Army have a decision on how to proceed given the memo; and 2) If the easement is granted, how long will it take DAPL to complete the pipeline?
- The USACE is preparing to close the main protest camp entirely. The site is on a flood plain; the Corps says record snowfall may cause flooding and put the protesters in danger.
- The USACE has conducted further review and called for “additional discussion and analysis.” Assistant secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy cited the history of “repeated dispossessions” of the Great Sioux Nation, and called for greater health and environmental considerations for the easement that would allow the DAPL to cross the Missouri.
- Energy Transfer Partners has filed suit against the USACE, seeking a decision that will allow construction to continue beneath Lake Oahe.
- President Donald Trump signed an executive memorandum aimed at reviving the DAPL, as well as another contentious oil pipeline, the Keystone XL. The acting Secretary of the Army was ordered to “to expeditiously review requests for approvals to construct and operate the Dakota Access Pipeline in compliance with the law.”
TEACHERS TOOLKIT
CNN: 5 things to know about the Dakota Access Pipeline
Army Corps of Engineers: Frequently Asked Questions DAPL
Indian Country Today: Dakota Access Pipeline
Energy Transfer Partners: Dakota Access Pipeline Project
Great article, tnx.
I wonder who owns National Geographic because it appears to be very biased in this report. They omitted the one ‘protester’ who was armed and in reality was an ‘instigator’ and a DAPL employee who was talked down by a water ProTECTOR. Also, if you research the report about Sophia Walinsky, the young woman from NY who almost lost her arm during the most violent episode in November 2016, her father said the surgeon found shrapnel in her arm, her clothes were not burned and it appeared to be caused by a concussion grenade. If anyone reading this thinks for one minute that a country as ‘rich’ as America cannot move towards sustainable energy, you are sadly mistaken. the CEO of Energy Transfer Co, Kelsey Warren is having wind turbines built near his mansion in TX and the Caribbean… no pipelines near him. Read from John Bolenbaugh, the Enron whistle blower. read about Fracking that causes earthquakes in OK. And if you THINK pipelines don’t leak… read this… oh but… Natl Geo, and mainstream media and FOSSIL Fuel Companies will not tell you this… they are destroying the land and water. List of pipeline accidents in the United States in the 21st century …
https://en.wikipedia.org/…/List_of_pipeline_accidents_in_the_United_States_in_the_2…
The following is a list of pipeline accidents in the United States in the 21st century. It is one of … On January 21, a Chevron pipeline leaked from a welding flaw near Corinne, Utah, …. The failure was due to an ERW seam failure, with this particular pipeline having had other ERW seam failures in the past in 1987 and 1993.
why could the people of Bismark ND ask them to change the route but the native people can’t?
Very interesting information
The concern over the risks of a pipeline crossing the Missouri are highly inflated. Take a look at a national map of pipelines in the U.S. and see the major rivers crossed (https://www.npms.phmsa.dot.gov/Documents/NPMS_Pipelines_Map.pdf). There are literally thousands of such pipelines. These are the safest way to transport these products (remember the recent crashes of trains carrying oil?) Yes, there are occasional problems, but these are generally small and contained without widespread consequences. These pipelines allow the protestors to travel to ND driving their gas powered vehicles and to stay warm with propane heaters. The seem oblivious to the ironic spectacle they present.
why could the people of Bismark ND ask them to change the route but the native people can’t?
any planning for memorial day weekend ??
Could the Dakota access Pipeline be more beneficial or dangerous to the American people? After doing some research on the Dakota access Pipeline the only benefit I notice is the pipeline will create more jobs and increase revenue for a few states that the pipeline will be passing through. But it seems that there are more negative issues that will come with the Dakota pipeline then there is good. For instance the pipeline construction will increase pollution in the environment along the route of the pipeline harming crop, animal, and human life along with contaminating drinking water. Secondly there is a potential threat that a spill could occur which will damage the environment and harm wildlife, crop, drinking water and humans in the path of the spill. Overall I hope the pipeline is not built and that the company and the government who has the authority to stop it will notice that there are more negatives than positives that will come from this pipeline.
When I was a kid, one of the things I loved about National Geographic were the maps. Could you include a topographic map also showing the reservations, the pipeline, land owned by the company, land leased by the company, springs or underground water sources, and culturally significant sites?
This is a conflict between Native lander and private security contractors ,i can understand people protest for their rights but government should resolve this issue..people are suffering
National Geographic needs their fact checkers back. There is a threat to the water supply as proven many times by other indigenous people’s throughout the world; the Amazon for instance. Water is sacred.
No, there is not a threat to the water supply. No one gets the water from that lake.
The Amazon is more than a lake and uh, yeah, it’s pretty widely used by humans, animals and plants alike. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_basin
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35636738
Nothin’ to see here, just move along kids. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/23/damaged-peru-pipeline-leaks-3000-barrels-of-oil-into-amazon-region
Nothin to see here kids, just move along. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/23/damaged-peru-pipeline-leaks-3000-barrels-of-oil-into-amazon-region