Standing Rock protests
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What were the Standing Rock protests?
The Standing Rock protests, running from 2016 to 2017 in North Dakota, were a campaign against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe initiated the resistance, fearing threats to sacred lands and water supply, but the protests gained nationwide support.
The Tribe argued that the pipeline would run through land that belonged to them under the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie and near sacred burial sites, posing a threat to the reservation’s water supply.
The protests faced violent responses, including the use of attack dogs, rubber bullets, Tasers, and water cannons by security personnel and police. Although President Obama's administration temporarily halted construction, President Trump reversed this decision, and the pipeline was completed in 2017. Despite the pipeline's completion, the protests are seen as a significant moment of civil disobedience and Indigenous resistance.
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Where did the Standing Rock protests take place?
The Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) primarily took place in North Dakota, near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The protests began in April 2016, when members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe established the Sacred Stone Camp near the Missouri River, where the pipeline was planned to cross.
The proposed route of the DAPL was near the reservation, raising concerns about potential water contamination and the destruction of sacred burial grounds. The protests drew thousands of supporters from across the United States, including representatives from over 300 Native American tribes. The main protest site was cleared in February 2017, but the original Sacred Stone encampment within the Standing Rock Reservation remained.
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Why did people protest at Standing Rock?
The Standing Rock protests (2016–2017) in North Dakota were sparked by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The tribe argued the pipeline threatened their water supply and sacred lands, as it was slated to run less than a mile from their reservation, through land they claimed under the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie.
Thousands of supporters, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, joined the protests, leading to clashes with law enforcement and private security. Protesters, who called themselves "water protectors," physically blocked construction, resulting in numerous arrests and injuries. Although the Obama administration temporarily halted construction, the decision was reversed under President Trump, and the pipeline was completed in 2017.
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Who participated in the Standing Rock protests?
The Standing Rock protests, which took place in North Dakota in 2016 and 2017, were initiated by members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. They argued the pipeline would threaten sacred land and their water supply.
Over time, the demonstrations attracted thousands of supporters from across the United States, including both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Representatives from 300 Native American tribes, along with other activists, joined the Standing Rock Sioux to demand that pipeline construction be halted. The protests grew into the largest single gathering of Native Americans in over a century, with members of more than 100 tribes represented. Activists, lawyers, and scholars also participated in the protests.
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What actions did protesters and law enforcement take during the protests?
During the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, actions taken by protesters and law enforcement varied. Protesters, including members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and allies, physically blocked construction, sometimes using horses, leading to temporary shutdowns. They also launched online campaigns, like the #NoDAPL hashtag, and filed lawsuits. Law enforcement and private security responded with arrests, attack dogs, pepper spray, rubber bullets, Tasers, and water cannons. By mid-August 2016, at least 28 protesters had been arrested. By November 14, 2016, at least 473 individuals were arrested.
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What were the results and impacts of the Standing Rock protests?
The Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in North Dakota, beginning in April 2016, united members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and thousands of supporters who opposed the project due to potential threats to sacred lands and water supplies.
Initially, the Obama administration paused the pipeline's construction, but this decision was reversed when President Trump took office, and construction was completed in April 2017. Although the tribe's request for a court injunction was rejected in September 2016, several federal agencies asked Energy Transfer Partners to voluntarily pause the project. By February 23, 2017, police and national guard members cleared out the main protest site by force. The pipeline began carrying oil in June 2017.
Despite the pipeline's completion, the protests are celebrated by many activists, lawyers, and scholars. A historian at Arizona State University, concluded that they constituted the largest gathering of Native people in U.S. history.
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Standing Rock protests, campaign undertaken in North Dakota in 2016 and 2017 to halt the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. Early resistance to the oil pipeline was launched by members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, who argued it would threaten sacred land as well as their water supply, but over time the demonstrations drew thousands of supporters from all across the United States. The protests culminated in numerous acts of violence, with security workers siccing attack dogs on the demonstrators and police shooting them with rubber bullets, shocking them with Tasers, and blasting them with water cannons. In response to the campaign, Pres. Barack Obama’s administration stopped the pipeline’s construction, but this decision was reversed after Pres. Donald Trump took office, and construction was finished in 2017.
Opposition to the pipeline
Resistance to the oil pipeline started as early as 2014, when the representatives of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe met with Energy Transfer Partners, the Texas-based company behind the project. The company’s plan was for the pipeline to run more than 1,100 miles, from a section of the Bakken shale formation in northwestern North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa and into Illinois. It would run less than a mile from the Standing Rock Reservation, through property that many tribe members said still belonged to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe under the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie. It was set to run through a dammed section of the Missouri River that some believed was near sacred burial sites. Many also feared that the location of the pipeline would threaten the reservation’s water supply.
Construction plans moved ahead despite their concerns, and North Dakota’s government gave its approval in January 2016. On April 1 members of the tribe launched a protest camp called Sacred Stone. Later that month, they also launched an online campaign under the hashtag #NoDAPL and a petition for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop the project. It ultimately received nearly 560,000 signatures.
Nevertheless, the Corps of Engineers approved the project that July, claiming it would have minimal impact on the environment. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sued the agency in federal court, and meanwhile, thousands of supporters of the protesters—both Indigenous and non-Indigenous—started flocking to the protest sites. They physically blocked construction, sometimes with horses, and in August they managed to shut the project down temporarily. By mid-August, at least 28 had been arrested. Greg Wilz, North Dakota’s homeland security director, ordered the removal of state-owned trailers and water tanks that were supplying protest camps with drinking water.
The conflict continued to escalate in the late summer and fall. By early September, it had grown into the largest single gathering of Native Americans in over a century, with members of more than 100 tribes represented. Tribal leaders reported that in one incident, six people were bitten by the dogs of a private security firm and at least 30 were pepper sprayed. By then construction had resumed and had destroyed Indigenous burial sites, according to the leaders of the protest. The presidential candidate Jill Stein was arrested for participating in the protests, and the journalist Amy Goodman was charged with trespassing while she covered them.
Outcome
The tribe’s request for a court injunction was rejected in September 2016. Several federal agencies, including the Department of Justice, asked Energy Transfer Partners to voluntarily pause the project. Obama’s administration also took more forceful measures to stop the project, including denying a federal easement for the pipe to run beneath Lake Oahe in central North Dakota.
In January 2017, just four days after taking office, President Trump signed executive orders both to let construction on the Dakota Access pipeline resume and to begin work on a previously denied Keystone XL pipeline extension. Journalists noted that Trump had received more than $100,000 in campaign donations from Energy Transfer Partners’s chief executive and was himself an investor in the company. North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum set February 22, 2017, as the deadline for the main protest site to be cleared out. On February 23 police and national guard members marched into the camp and cleared it by force. The original encampment, Sacred Stone, was within the Standing Rock Reservation and remained intact.
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Construction on the pipeline was finished over the following months, and it began carrying oil that June. Nevertheless, many activists, lawyers, and scholars have celebrated the protests. Daniel Fixico, a historian at Arizona State University, concluded that they constituted the largest gathering of Native people in U.S. history. Writing for the American Bar Association’s website, the attorney Ariadne S. Montare argued that the protests “may well signal a new paradigm for civil disobedience in the modern corporate age.”