North Dakota Access Pipeline Case Study

As non- renewable resources are becoming scarce over time, countries like the United States are increasingly resorting to use their natural resources domestically. Such is the case in the controversial building of the North Dakota Access Pipeline which recently got the green light by an executive order administered by President Trump. While from the surface it appears that this issue is just a matter of building a pipeline in territory that does not cross Native American land, there is more at stake when taking in the historical context of Native Americans continuously being marginalized in the United States despite being the original natives of this land. Given that this event has pushed over to Trump’s presidency, so called “Water Protectors” efforts to block the pipeline may seem to go to waste but through strategic collective action we can harness the results we seek to stop the North Dakota Access Pipeline from being constructed despite having the current legal authorizations in place. To fully understand what this construction means to Native Americans, one has to …show more content…
Under this claim, Earthjustice argued that the Clean Water Act, Rivers and Harbor Act were at risk from being broken by the construction of this pipeline. Drafters of this complaint also stated that ,“under these statutes, in turn, triggers requirements under the National Historic Preservation Act (“NHPA”), intended to protect sites of historic and cultural significance to Tribes like Standing Rock.” In essence, their core argument was that the North Dakota Access pipeline would contaminate the tribes source of water which is suppose to be protected under current implemented laws like the water act. Another rising concern, shared by the Sioux tribe is that the construction of the site would pose a threat to the Tribe’s ancestral