Standing Rock Sioux Have Every Right to Worry About their Water

Sign at the Water Protectors Camp near Cannon Ball, ND

People living on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation have something in common with people living in Bismarck, North Dakota’s Capital City: None of them apparently want a crude oil pipeline running near their water source.

As noted in the Bismarck Tribune: “An early proposal for the Dakota Access Pipeline called for the project to cross the Missouri River north of Bismarck, but one reason that route was rejected was its potential threat to Bismarck’s water supply…” So if it is too dangerous for the Capital City, why would it be any safer, or more acceptable, near the Standing Rock Reservation?

Then of course there is the history of an increasing number of oil pipeline spills.