Summary Of A High-Plains Showdown Over The Dakota Access Pipeline

The Time article “A High-Plains Showdown Over the Dakota Access Pipeline” by Justin Worland talks about a controversy over a 1,200-mile pipeline stretching from North Dakota to Illinois. The pipeline is called the Dakota Access Pipeline project and is being built by the Energy Transfer Partners company. Some people are outraged by the pipeline because it contributes to man-made climate change. Others are mainly outraged because the Standing Rock Sioux tribe never agreed to the construction of the pipeline. The leaders of the tribe say that “Washington never considered their concerns, as required by the federal law” (Worland). Tribal activists say that the pipeline could pollute their main water supply and would destroy a historic burial ground.

In the article, the Energy Transfer Partners company is building a pipeline on top of Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s sacred burial ground. Tribal activists say that the construction of the pipeline would destroy their historic burial ground. In the book, Dan says, “Those damn heads are the worst thing that the white man ever did […] Blowing up the sacred mountains to put a bunch of white faces on them” (Nerburn 325). He says this in response to what he thought about Mount Rushmore. This shows that Natives do not like it when white people destroy things that Indians consider sacred. I can not think of examples from our culture today that relates to the theme that white people destroy everything sacred to Natives. I think this is because when someone destroys something sacred to a Native American, more people get outraged now then they did back then. Companies do not want that kind of attention and will usually avoid any conflicts with Natives. Energy Transfer Partners are outliers and seem to not care about what the Native Americans have to say. In conclusion, white people destroying things that are sacred to Natives still happen