Dakota Access Pipeline: Public Policy

© 2014 Michael Marek

In my part of the country, the efforts of the Standing Rock Tribe to oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline have been all over the news.  I know people who have been at the site on the upper reaches of the Missouri River and I support their actions.

There are serious legal questions about whether construction approvals to date has been handled properly and in ways that respect tribal sovereignty.

But there are also considerations here that many in the media, and even many who are supporting the activists, miss.


This is about the whole planet, not just Standing Rock 

Global warming is real.

About twice as much carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere as can be processed back out by nature.

The above-ground Alaska Pipeline

People are producing that carbon dioxide, mostly from energy industry use of petroleum and coal.

Therefore, we need to stop, or radically scale back, our use of petroleum and coal.

We need to replace it with renewable energy, such as wind, solar, and geothermal power.

Ergo, we need to stop building new infrastructure that will tend to perpetuate the use of energy sources which produce waste carbon dioxide.


This is about the entire Missouri/Mississippi River watershed

The Sacred Stones Camp is on the upper Missouri River, but the combined Missouri and Mississippi River is the longest river in the world (the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers form the longest tributary of the lower Mississippi River).

Pollution of the river in North Dakota goes all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico.

The pipeline companies have been said to have "lousy leak-detection systems" and all pipelines WILL leak eventually, often with disastrous consequences.

          Freeman, SD

          Yellowstone River

True, there can be spills when oil is transported by train, but such spills are limited in geography and do not pollute thousands of miles of river used as the drinking water source for millions of people in cities along the river.


"Sacred" to a Native American is not the same as in European religions

Much has been made of claims of desecration of sacred sites of the Standing Rock tribe.  But "sacred" in Native American spirituality is different from religions that evolved in Europe.

In Christianity, generally, a place becomes sacred because of its use.  When a church, for example, is no longer used as a church, the place may no longer be considered to be sacred.

In Native American spirituality, however, a place is sacred because of its history, including its role in oral history and origin stories, and because of a people's emotional attachment.  These places do not become less sacred when the people move on. Therefore; land perceived by some to be empty or unused can still be highly sacred to a tribe

Here is a good, detailed analysis:

          American Indian Sacred Places


The oil is for other countries

Crude oil fracked out of the ground from the Bakken Fields is largely destined to be refined in the US and then shipped to other countries.  Like the Keystone XL Energy Pipeline, the oil is largely not intended for domestic American use.

So that means Americans get the earthquakes caused by fracking.

Americans get the contamination caused by crude oil spills (and fracked shale oil is the dirtiest kind of crude oil).

Americans get the pollution from the refineries.

And Americans get little or no contribution to energy independence.


Final thoughts

Everything considered, I think that supporting the Standing Rock tribe is worthy.

We SHOULD be supporting their tribal rights.

We should NOT be building new petroleum infrastructure.

We SHOULD be very concerned about toxic river pollution.

As long as we are still using petroleum as an energy source, we SHOULD conserve it and NOT ship it to other countries.