The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) is a pipeline that was designed to transport oil 1200 miles from Bakken, North Dakota to central Illinois. However, representatives of more than 200 hundred Indian tribes, who call themselves water protectors, are protesting the DAPL. The protesters feel the pipeline could threaten sacred lands and Indian burial grounds near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. The DAPL was originally planned to pass near the state’s capital of Bismarck. The original route was changed due to the risk of oil leaks near the state’s capital. The protesters feel if the pipeline was not safe enough to be near the state’s capital with the risk of oil leaks, the pipeline is not safe to near the land and water that they hold sacred.
