I'm quite ashamed that it's taken me this long to write about the Dakota Access Pipeline; it's been on the cards for a while but I haven't been able to properly construct my thoughts into a post. Although it was necessary to emphasise the fact that indigenous groups are on the front line of environmental change, I feel the need to change tone and talk about indigenous resilience. The recent news that the permission for the oil pipeline to cross Lake Oahe has been rejected by the US Army of Engineer Corps is the perfect example of this.
Facebook newsfeeds and twitter timelines have been awash with the hashtag #NoDAPL for quite some time now- but what is it all about? The Dakota Access Pipeline is an oil pipeline that has been proposed to cross four states, passing through Illinois, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota. If approved, it would have passed under the Missouri river and Lake Oahe- half a mile upstream of the Standing Rock reservation, home to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and near sacred burial sites. The protests largely revolved around the estimation that oil could contaminate the tribe's water source within hours, if a spill were to ever happen.
Oil spills resulting from inland pipelines in the U.S are not unheard of. In 2010, a pipeline rupture released around 1.1 million gallons of crude oil into Michigan's Kalamazoo River. It was one of the largest inland oils spills recorded in U.S. history, with long term effects on the environment, and by 2014, 1.2 billion dollars had been spent on clean up operations. People have been gathering at Standing Rock since April, when the pipeline proposal was first announced, to prevent such a catastrophe happening at a sacred site. Events escalated in August, when construction began, and the #NoDAPL movement gained traction around the world. However, yesterday, news spread that easement for the pipeline to cross Lake Oahe will not be granted.
Despite the victory, the fight is not over. While the pipeline will not pass under Lake Oahe, the Corps will be 'undertaking an environmental impact statement to look at possible alternative routes'. Further adding insult to injury, during the negotiations in Paris, the U.S. committed to cut greenhouse emissions to 26%-28% below 2005 levels by 2025. According to research by Greenblatt & Wei, this target is unlikely to be met without extra greenhouse gas reduction strategies, even if all proposed policies are implemented. Potentially building a 1172 mile oil pipeline, while simultaneously undermining indigenous rights in the process, doesn't seem to be the way to meet this target. Nevertheless, with the president elect once claiming that global warming is a hoax invented by the Chinese, and neither presidential candidate mentioning the Dakota Access Pipeline in their campaigns, the success and willpower of the Standing Rock tribe represents an even greater achievement.
"We especially thank all of the other tribal nations and jurisdictions who stood in solidarity with us, and we stand ready to stand with you if and when your people are in need."- Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II
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