Native Americans and Keystone Pipeline

In recent discussion of Native American oil and mineral rights, a controversial issue has been whether the decimation of Native territory is acceptable because of the rising desire for fuel. On one hand, the oil extracted from the Keystone Pipeline XL, which lies on Lakota Nation’s land, would destroy the land and have an adverse effect on the environment. From this perspective, it will be very harmful to their sacred land. It will pollute the water and cause problems with the animal that live there and raise carbon emissions. On the other hand, some argue that the pipeline is a good idea for the reason that most people nowadays, including Indigenous people, rely heavily on oil ad would create more job opportunities. In the words of Captain Richard Pratt, one of this view’s leading proponent, “Kill the Indian, and save the man!” According to this view, people do not care about what happens to the Lakota people that live on the land that they want oil from. In sum, then, the issue is whether drilling for oil and potential leak in the pipeline on Lakota territory is justified or if it has a greater impact on the environment and lives of the people on the land.

My own view is that the hydro fracking and the pipeline itself which crosses Lakota land, will have a major environmental impact on the surrounding area, as well as lowering the population from exposure to the chemicals. Though I concede that, there is a rising need for oil, I still maintain that the environmental impact outweighs the rising need for fuel. For example, the extraction would pollute the surrounding waters along with many other problems. Although some might object that the surrounding water isn’t important, I would reply that the water is important to the Lako...

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...land which turned out to be extremely oil-rich. Once the settlers needed the oil from the land, they began trying to give them money for extracting the oil from the land. The government did not protect the Natives because they allowed the settlers to convince the natives that it was worth less than it actually was. As for the Keystone Pipeline XL, the Nez Perce tribe used a treaty against the transportation of mining equipment through their land. They said that it was violating one of the treaties, so they had to go around the border of the Nez Perce tribe to get the equipment to Alberta Canada.

The environmental effects of the Keystone Pipeline on Indigenous people outweigh the positive effects of the transportation of crude oil. It can destroy the sacred land in many different ways. Therefore the chances of pollution and health problems is greatly increased.