Dakota Access Pipeline protests

February 9, 2017 at 4:22 pm,

The Dakota Access Pipeline protests, also known by the hashtag #NoDAPL, are grassroots movements that began in early 2016 in reaction to the approved construction of Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States. The pipeline was projected to run from the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota to southern Illinois, crossing beneath the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, as well as under part of Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Many in the Standing Rock tribe consider the pipeline and its intended crossing of the Missouri River to constitute a threat to the region's clean water and to ancient burial grounds. In April, Standing Rock Sioux elder LaDonna Brave Bull Allard established a camp as a center for cultural preservation and spiritual resistance to the pipeline; over the summer the camp grew to thousands of people.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had conducted a limited review of the route and found no significant impact, but in March and April 2016 the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Interior, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation asked the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a formal Environmental Impact Assessment and issue an Environmental Impact Statement. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed suit against the Corps of Engineers in July, but the motion was denied in September 2016.

The protests have drawn international attention and have been said to be "reshaping the national conversation for any environmental project that would cross the Native American land." In September 2016 construction workers bulldozed a section of land the tribe had identified as sacred ground and when protesters entered the area security workers used attack dogs which bit at least six of the protesters and one horse. The incident was filmed and viewed by several million people on YouTube and other social media. In late October, armed soldiers and police with riot gear and military equipment cleared an encampment that was directly in the proposed pipeline's path.

In late November 2016, many new participants joined the protest; fluctuating numbers of protesters remained in the thousands. Police use of water cannons on protesters in freezing weather drew significant media attention. On December 4, under President Barack Obama's administration the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied an easement for construction of the pipeline under the Missouri River. An environmental impact assessment was to be conducted by the Army Corps, but many protesters continued camping on the site, not considering the matter closed.[5][6][7] On January 24, 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to advance the construction of the pipeline under "terms and conditions to be negotiated". The order would expedite the environmental review that Trump described as an "incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible permitting process.

Dakota Access Pipeline protests

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