Forty Iowans were arrested for protesting in Sandusky, Iowa, on September 17th, 2016 against the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline.  Forty. More than 150 protesters were there that day and authorities still had the audacity to take forty citizens, who were only trying to gain public attention saying that what the government is doing isn’t morally right, into custody. People who have lost their land to eminent domain are working tirelessly to gain back what they have worked so hard for, just to be met by dead ends.

    The Merriam Webster Dictionary definition of eminent domain is “a right of a government to take private property for public use by virtue of the superior dominion of the sovereign power over all lands within its jurisdiction.” So how is it right that an oil pipeline that has a high risk of spilling is built diagonally across Iowa for a private company. Dakota Access isn’t a government-run business, yet they still hold the power to take citizen’s land by eminent domain.

    According to energytransfer.com, Dakota Access stated, “As an operating principle, Dakota Access Pipeline is committed to working with individual landowners to make accommodations, minimize disruptions, and achieve full restoration of impacted land.”  But how is that possible when Dakota Access did not answer all of the landowners’ questions and were so sure that they would be able to start construction early, that they moved their equipment onto the first Iowa jobsite before all of the construction was completely approved?

    Who gets to decide these matters? Each state’s Utilities Boards, of course. The Iowa Utilities Board considered the pipeline’s offense minor and basically told them to never do it again. But construction of the Bakken Oil Pipeline isn’t a child, and the Iowa Utilities Board isn’t its caregiver. I believe that it is ridiculous how overlooked these issues have become.

    You may be wondering why oil pipelines are so controversial, and if you are, you’ve come to the right article. Oil is a highly flammable substance, and even though oil pipelines may grant the United States a little more independence with their once imported goods, it can be devastating for the environment.

    Oil spills happen, they’ve been on the news for events such as the 2013 spill of Mayflower, Arkansas which left homeowners bombarded when they woke up to oil all over their properties, or the 2015 spill within the Yellowstone River of Montana. Spills can not only pollute bodies of water, farmland, and communities, but they can also kill off native wildlife.

    Oil is a fossil fuel and fossil fuels are bound to run out and are hazardous. There are many other alternatives to energy, but they are not being used to their full extent at this point in time because we haven’t run out of fossil fuels yet. Plus, according to the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter, the oil being produced from the Bakken Oil Pipeline will be transported to Texas, with no guarantee that it will be redistributed to the United States.

    The Bakken Oil Pipeline has no benefit directly to Iowa, except for the promise of jobs that will end immediately after construction is complete. This is what happened with the Keystone XL Pipeline that was set to run from Canada to Texas last year. The promise of America being an independent oil producer without having to go overseas for oil looked so good, that people actually voted for the pipeline to run across the Ogallala Aquifer.

    The Ogallala Aquifer is one of the biggest agriculturally important bodies of water in the United States. If it is polluted, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma will be out on a crucial water resource to help nourish the land. Maybe there is no giant body of water underneath Iowa, but there is still farm ground that can be destroyed by an oil spill.

    Eminent domain can be used in good ways, but it isn’t always. The government uses it to build highways and interstates across states to make access easier, but the difference between that and this is that roads benefit the human population. Roads are used by hundreds of humans every single day, but never once have I heard of more than one company benefiting from oil pipelines.

    Maybe everyone should be more focused on putting new water pipes in Flint, Michigan instead of unnecessary oil pipelines in eighteen Iowa counties.

Sierra Club Iowa Chapter. “Stop the Bakken Pipeline.” Sierra Club. Web. 23 Sep 2016.

“Quick Fact About the Dakota Access Pipeline.” Energy Transfer Partners LP. Web. 23 Sep 2016.

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