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)

Use our resources to learn more about the long history of Native American protest movements in the Dakotas.

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.

Discussion Ideas

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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

Nat Geo: Key Locations in the DAPL Dispute map