Dakota Access pipeline
Dakota Access Pipeline Upends Oil Transport
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In its first month of service, the Dakota Access Pipeline is already causing major changes to the way oil is transported out of North Dakota.
Inside Energy (https://insideenergy.org/series/protesting-the-pipeline/)
Beginning in late summer 2016, Native American tribes from across the country and their supporters gathered in North Dakota to protest the Dakota Access pipeline, a 1,200-mile pipeline that would carry oil from the Bakken to Illinois. The Standing Rock Sioux sued the Army Corps of Engineers to stop construction, and the case is making its way through the courts. The conflict is reminiscent of earlier conflicts between tribes and the federal government over infrastructure development on tribal land.
In its first month of service, the Dakota Access Pipeline is already causing major changes to the way oil is transported out of North Dakota.
After a year of protests and controversy, oil began flowing through the 1,200-mile Dakota Access pipeline earlier this month. But the pipeline’s ultimate fate is now uncertain after a federal judge issued a ruling on Wednesday that challenges parts of the environmental review completed before the pipeline was permitted. The pipeline can continue operating — for now. But it’s possible the D.C. District Court judge could soon shut it down. Lawyers must submit new arguments on whether the pipeline should continue transporting oil while a federal agency reconsiders parts of its environmental review.
The pipeline protests at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation last year drew national attention. Inside Energy teamed up with the Center for Investigative Reporting’s Reveal to go behind the scenes and meet the young people who started the fight. The program looks at how those protests put at-risk teens on a healthier path, and how other Native American tribes are grappling with energy projects on their sovereign land.
In November of 2016, reporter Nicky Ouellet travelled to North Dakota to cover the Dakota Access pipeline protests for Inside Energy and Prairie Public Broadcasting. This is her radio documentary about the protest camps and the culture they created.
The anti-pipeline protests in North Dakota may not have stopped the Dakota Access pipeline, but they have inspired other protests by native and non-native groups around the country.
A recent Inside Energy story on NPR prompted robust criticism from listeners over a line about “violent protests” over the Dakota Access Pipeline. Here’s our response.
While construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline is underway, the protest camps are clearing out ahead of anticipated flooding.
Inside Energy, in collaboration with Rocky Mountain PBS and Fast Forward Films, presents “Beyond Standing Rock” a documentary exploring the conflict surrounding the Dakota Access pipeline and the struggle for Native American rights against the backdrop of the new Trump administration.
With Donald Trump as president, the Dakota Access Pipeline will get a permit. While North Dakotans welcome the news, the tribe fighting the project promises a legal challenge, and protesters remain defiant in opposition.
From the Fronteras Desk, a series that examines tribes, sacred sites and the conflicts that arise over these issues in the Southwest.