The Standing Rock Sioux Challenge the Dakota Access Pipeline
According to the company building it the Dakota Access Pipeline created 12,000 temporary construction jobs They had come to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe After praying and singing people in the camp drove over dirt roads to a nearby construction site Giant pieces of pipe lay on bare ground Workers were constructing a pipeline that would stretch 1,200 miles 1,900 km from North Dakota to Illinois The construction was set to go through land that was sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux 6
The pipe would eventually go under the Missouri River But if the pipe leaked it would pollute the drinking water for the Standing Rock Reservation People from the camp planned to stop progress on the pipeline Some had already chained themselves to construction equipment early that morning That way workers wouldn’t be able to build the pipeline The newcomers set up and decorated a tipi They prayed and danced But before long the police began to arrive They arrested people who didn’t move back to the road The protesters returned to the camp but they weren’t going home They were taking a stand THINK ABOUT IT Would you risk arrest to support a cause you believed in Why or why not 7
THE BLACK SNAKE In In April 2016 the Army Corps of Engineers was busy studying a proposal A company called Energy Transfer Partners was building the Dakota Access Pipeline DAPL This massive pipeline would take oil from wells in North Dakota and carry it to Illinois to be purified When finished the pipeline would cross four states It would carry at least 470,000 barrels 75,000 cubic meters of oil per day A child protests the Dakota Access Pipeline also known as the black snake 9 CHAPTER 2
