“Water Protector” camps grow as protests continue against pipeline path

World Today

More Protests in the U.S. state of North Dakota, over a controversial pipeline. For months, thousands – many of them Native American – have tried to stop the project.

They said it threatens Indian cultural sites, as well as their drinking water.

CCTV America’s Hendrik Sybrandy reports.
Follow Hendrik Sybrandy on Twitter @hsybrandy

At first glance, it looks like a small town. Scores of tents, teepees and trailers dot the North Dakota landscape. An estimated 5,000 people now call this dusty place home.

The Oceti Sakowin Camp is one of several so-called Water Protector Encampments. These Native Americans, environmentalists and activists want to keep an oil pipeline out of this part of the U.S.

EXPLAINER: Why people are protesting the DAPL?

The Dakota Access Pipeline, some 1900 kilometers long, is a nearly $4 billion investment by the company Energy Transfer Partners. It would transport crude oil from North Dakota to a shipping point in the state of Illinois.

The company would not comment for this story but claims the pipeline is the safest and most cost-effective way of moving oil. Opponents of the project, which would pass near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, strongly disagree.

Several weeks ago, authorities moved pipeline opponents off of private land, and dismantled their highway roadblock. Hundreds of people have been arrested since the protests began. In September, a judge denied the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s bid to block the project but tribe members, who consider this to be sacred area, are undeterred.

The U.S. government has now halted pipeline construction on land near one Missouri River reservoir. President Obama has suggested rerouting the pipeline. The project, originally slated for completion by the end of this year, may not be done for a while. This very determined group said it’s not going anywhere.


Aseem Prakash discusses the Dakota pipeline project

To further discuss the environmental concerns and economic trade offs of Dakota pipeline constructions project, CCTV America’s Mike Walter  spoke with Aseem Prakash, professor at the University of Washington.


Robert Cavnar and Anna Aurilio discuss the Dakota pipeline project

To have a detailed look at the Dakota Pipeline project and its impacts, CCTV America’s Rachelle Akuffo spoke with Energy Industry Expert Robert Cavnar and Anna Aurilio, director of Washington DC Office of Environment America.