Dakota Access Pipeline
The building of the Dakota Access Pipeline needs to be stopped.
Dear Future President:
Please stop the building of the Dakota Access oil pipeline. This pipeline could have drastic impacts on the land and people around it. The waters it crosses under can directly effect the native people of this country.
The Dakota Access pipeline runs through sacred burial grounds of the Standing Sioux nation. This pipeline will also run under three major rivers. An oil spill would result in the destruction of the surrounding environment. A spill would also contaminate the Missouri River. Polluted waters would leave the Sioux with no natural water source.
The burial grounds of the Sioux have already been bulldozed. Artifacts and sacred sites were destroyed. “This demolition is devastating. 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.” Tribal Chairman David Archambault II tells Indian Country Today Media Network.com (Indian Country 1). The land was originally given to the Sioux in the Sioux Treaty of 1868, but the government informally confiscated the land in 1877. This problem is still being disputed to this day.
The burial grounds are the least of the Sioux’s worries now. The pipeline will run under many major waterways, including the Missouri River. Permission was granted by the Army Corps but without any consideration of the effects on the enviroment. “The EPA said the corps should better assess the potential impact of a pipeline leak to drinking water sources for Native American Tribes,” writes phys.org (Pitt 1). If a spill were to happen, the waters would not only be affected but the people too.
Other groups argue that a pipeline in America is needed to boost our economy. The truth is it could, but a spill could have drastic effects. A call for a shutdown on operations could save clean water people need. This pipeline will directly affect the native people of this country, people who are asking us to reconsider.
Respectfully yours,
Savannah McNeal