Let’s start with an anecdote...
Imagine your mother. Think of her smile, her warmth, how she fed you when you were hungry, how she held you when you hurt yourself, through all your crying and tantrums and laugher. As she’s gotten older, she’s having a little trouble walking.
She goes to the doctor to see if he can recommend some exercises to restore her mobility, and instead she sees a sleazy, shady surgeon who is pushing her to get a very risky and expensive open heart surgery that could get a marginal increase in her bloodflow.
He doesn’t once talk about other alternatives. Would you do it?
Maybe, if there really were no other option… but probably not.
Now what if this same surgeon has had over 200 accidents in the last 6 years and tries to get the police to arrest anyone who says there are any options other than this surgery.
The surgeon is very, very wealthy and has lots of friends who also make lots of money from all the medications she will have to go on after the surgery. Would you seek another opinion or explore other options?
Absolutely.
The Dakota Access Pipleine (DAPL) proposal is absurdly dangerous to the future of the United States as a whole, not just this one tribe causing a ruckus at Standing Rock.
The Missouri River is THE major artery that powers the entire central corridor of the United States. It the largest river system in North America, 4th longest in the world, and is one of the primary sources of agricultural and drinking water in the breadbasket of the United States. Our agricultural economy, our meat industry, to say nothing of our ecosystem, is dependent on this water.
Our economy and our physical health is dependent on this water.
The route of the DAPL crosses under this lifeline twice, AND goes right through the Oglalla aquafir, one of the largest in the world which provides water to over 4.5 million people. Clearly, there is a real risk here, should something go wrong.
And if past records are any indication of Sunoco’s commitment to safety, something will almost certainly go wrong.
Last year there were over 300 oil spills and 750 “oil field incidents” in North Dakota alone! Sunoco, the company contracted to operate the pipleine, has over 200 pipeline accidents in the last 6 years.
To put it in perspective, would you be allowed to drive your car with 200 accidents in 6 years?
One incident in the Bakken oil fields spilled over 1 million gallons of brine. Fracking brine water is 10x saltier than the ocean and renders the entire landscape completely barren for the foreseeable future. There is no remediation possible. That land, that ecosystem is dead. Irrevocably destroyed.
Is that really a record we want to bet the health and greater economy of an entire region? The safety of the largest water aquafir in the world? Drinking water to millions? The revenue of thousands of businesses, hundreds of thousands of livelihoods? The food supply of our entire nation?
This is bigger than the Sioux of Standing Rock. This is about a few, small-minded profit-driven individuals’ greed and their willingness to put millions of lives and livelihoods at risk to profit from a dying fossil fuel industry.
We are on the verge letting them destroy the underpinnings of US agriculture if we do not actively work together
We can do this. Together, our united efforts defeated the Keystone XL pipeline. We can defeat DAPL. But we cannot do it alone. We need your help.
Spread awareness. Share this article. Tell your friends. Donate to the cause.
If you drink water or eat food in the United States, this is YOUR problem, too. Not just some Native Americans in North Dakota.