Do you guys remember what you were doing in December 2015? I think I was stressing out about doing the best I could in my junior year of high school and thankful that I just got my braces off. In other parts of the country, the Dakota Access Pipeline was starting its journey. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers drafted and approved the 1,172-mile pipeline route in less than 7 months. Mind you, I will probably be prepping for law school applications for almost that long, so that seems like an extremely short amount of time for such a big project. Even after being advised to consult with the tribal leaders whose land would be affected by the pipeline, the Corps decided to avoid the advice and approve the plans on their own.
:format(jpeg)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/53136879/Pipeline_maps__1_.0.jpg?resize=310%2C310&ssl=1)
After the initial approval by the Corps in July of 2016, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe soon sued the Corps for failing to consult with the tribe and violating the National Historic Preservation Act. A week later the company that was building the pipeline countersues the Standing Rock Sioux because the protests apparently have delayed construction. To me, this is pretty funny because it shows that the people are mad about the situation and are willing to be out there protesting against it. Mid-late 2016 was the time of increased media exposure of what was going on in North Dakota and there was an increase in protestors. This is when the violence started to ensue due to the private security guards. If you read through the events that happened in late 2016, the events seem super confusing and extremely oxymoronic. For example, in early September 2016, Judge James Boasberg temporarily halted construction on a portion of DAPL and two days later the governor of North Dakota put the North Dakota National Guard on the protestors (are we seeing some parallels between what’s going on now and what happened in North Dakota? Most definitely). Throughout 2016 and 2017, you can see that the justice system was siding with the money aka the corporations that wanted to build the pipeline.
After the inauguration of Trump,
the DAPL process was expedited and authorities were pushing out protesters at the Standing Rock camp in February 2017. In mid-2019, Energy Transfer Partners tried to double the pipeline capacity from the previous 500,000 barrels/day to 1.1 million barrels. After three years of the original start of the DAPL usage, a federal judge finally orders a complete and expansive environmental review, and there was the final shut down and removal of oil from the DAPL on July 6. This was a huge win for the tribes that were impacted.
This took almost 5 years for a win by these Native tribes in North Dakota and surrounding areas. I remember in 2017 when there seemed to be no hope for Standing Rock. I was prepared for the worst, but here we are. Although this might not be the end, it seems like this is one giant step in the right direction. Native Americans are the original caretakers of this beautiful land we all appreciate and love, and recognizing their efforts and our contribution to their oppression is important. Even though we cannot go back in time and change the mind of the people in power that pushed out Natives from their homeland, we can try to make them feel seen and heard now.
Sources:
https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/dakota-access-pipeline-timeline-FW2gTraDsE2Jn3tCXYjIyg
Written By Dominique Agnew, Senior at Cornell University and Climate Justice Now Intern