Pipeline

Pipeline

Komlan Attiogbe and

North Dakota Pipeline Crisis

In this spring of this year, many have started gathering near Cannon Ball, North Dakota in protest of the oil pipeline that was set t0o be built near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. As a result of these protests, there have been violent clashes will the law enforcement. The protest, containing the largest gathering of indigenous people in modern American history, has started an uproar on social media and has lead more people to come out and protest.

The 1,172 mile oil pipeline is designed to run within half a mile as the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation as well as cross beneath the Missouri river. Many people feel that this pipeline would be a great threat to the environment as well as complicate and disturb sacred tribal rituals. The protesters are mainly made up of hundreds of Native Americans from the Sioux Reservation as well as other neighboring reservations. There has been a lot of attention brought to these protests, especially when law enforcement used a water hose to confront protestors in below freezing whether. The use of this water hose could have caused extreme hypothermia and lead to death. Another incident included 21 year old Sophia Wilansky who was injured by a bomb of some sorts of unknown origin. Hearing of the way law enforcement is treating this situation has encouraged as many as 2,000 veterans to come out in support of the protests.

The protesters fear that the pipeline will leak which will then pollute their waters and destroy the environment. As it so turns out, their fears had come true. Although, it was a section of the pipeline far from their reservation. On December 14, 2016, 176,000 gallons of oil had spilled into a creek and went undetected by their system that Usually detects spills. This allowed the spill to spread 5.4 miles from its origin. This massive spill that went undetected might have just proved the protesters’ point in preventing the pipeline from being built. Although, the Sioux Reservation is safe for now, since the US Department of the Army made an announcement stating the crossing of the pipeline beneath the Missouri river would not be approved.