Let’s get one thing clear, the Dakota Access Pipeline will be built and will be functional very soon. The pipeline is over 85% complete. Anyone who disagrees with the pipeline is simply delusional. Take the time and look into the facts of what this pipeline will offer in safety, economically, and profit stability. The people protesting the pipeline are the same people who don’t think America should be a nation because we “took” the land from the Native Americans. It’s almost laughable.

Let’s start with the safety features of this new pipeline-

These protesters are up in arms because they are worried the oil will leak into their water supply. Every major engineering project will have complications, but this pipeline is taking major steps to ensure the people and the environment are protected. One way they are ensuring safety is by digging the pipeline 90-115 feet below the river bed to ensure it does not leak into the water. Not only is the pipeline well below the lake, but someone would either have to hit the pipeline while digging or a major malfunction of the structure itself. Extremely unlikely.  

The current way of transporting oil is far more dangerous than a pipeline. Currently, hundreds of train cars, close to 800 a day, carry barrels of oil across the country. These rail cars are prone to accidents of all sorts, whether that be major spills or explosions. Both would be catastrophic for any area. A brand new steel pipeline is going to have very little or zero issues.

The Standing Rock Tribe- 

Another major issue these “protesters”  have is the that the pipeline will pass through land that used to be owned by Native Americans. Yes, let me say that again- USED to be owned by Native Americans. The people building this pipeline did not decide to go though this land last week. It took years to evaluate if this was an appropriate place to put the pipe. The Army Corps of Engineers, the state of North Dakota, the Federal Government, and environmental experts all put a lot of time and money into ensuring this was a safe and appropriate place to build.

Other than the amount of research that has gone into this particular area, the Standing Rock tribe refused to meet with officials regarding the construction of the new pipe on seven different occasions. This was a process made up of 400 meetings on cultural surveying and 11 meetings between the Army Corps of Engineers and the Standing Rock Tribe (Tomi Lahren). Again, this pipeline was looked at in everyway possible to ensure safety for all. 

While the Standing Rock Tribe is protesting something that is safe and reliable, why isn’t anyone pointing out the fact that the Prairie Knights Casino and Resort, that takes in millions of tax free money a year, on the Indian reservation is hosting a water treatment facility that sits right next to the river that flows right into lake Oahe?  A bit hypercritical if you ask me.  

In the photo you can see Fort Yates where the Prairie Knights Casino and Resort is operated and Lake Oahe (protesting site). The resort sits on the Missouri river which  flows into the lake

Economics-

The oil field in North Dakota is the second largest in the United States. Obviously, we should be taking advantage of this and drilling until we can’t drill anymore. The problem is, it costs a lot of money to transport the barrels of oil via train car across the country. According to ETP (Energy Transfer Partners), CEO Kelcy Warren, “it costs about $13 per barrel to do that, where our pipeline it costs more like $6 a barrel.”   In an interview with Tomi Lahren, Warren, it was explained that giving this money back to the state of North Dakota would boost their economy and help everyone down the line.

If you know anything about economics, the cheaper a company can produce a product, the cheaper the product will be to the consumer. This pipeline would lower the cost of production, lowering the cost of oil to the consumers.  

Now that the Army Corps of Engineers has stopped the pipeline production (which will now cost taxpayers even more in wasted environmental statements) the oil companies will have to rely on the more expensive, less innovatived ways of moving the oil–rail cars. While these “protesters” are celebrating their small victory, poor middle-class Americans will suffer the blow from stagnating/rising gas prices.

Not only will middle-class America suffer from the prices of oil, they will also suffer the loss of thousands of jobs that this pipeline would create and millions of dollars of property taxes for the state of North Dakota. Alone, the economic factors of this pipeline should put everyone at ease.

My Thoughts: 

Take a look at the photo of the pipelines in the United States below. Tell me again why this specific one is so upsetting? The reality is, pipelines work and they work efficiently. The only reason these people are making a ruchous is because it is now socially acceptable to do so, and the media encourages it.

As the protesters celebrate, I look foward to January 20th when Donald J. Trump is sworn into office. Not only is Donald Trump a proponent of pipelines, but he has already nominated Oklahoma Attorney General to head up the EPA, Scott Pruitt- a major critic of the agency. Donald Trump will also become our new commander and chief, giving him the final say over the currently weak Army Corp of Engineers. To the protesters; Don’t get too comfortable yet…. Many changes are to come. 

*Much of the research in this story came from Tomi Lahren. You can find a link to her videos and research below:

#1 – https://www.facebook.com/TomiLahren/videos/vb.868219436604578/1152842011475651/?type=3&theater

#2- https://www.facebook.com/TomiLahren/videos/vb.868219436604578/1152667278159791/?type=3&theater

#3- https://www.facebook.com/TomiLahren/videos/vb.868219436604578/1164007500359102/?type=3&theater