Native American Oil Pipeline Hypocrisy? The Standing Rock Sioux
Apparently Don’t Have a Monopoly on Native American Views of Oil
I should make it clear at the outset of this article that I
do think the state police and affiliated law enforcement response to the
protest at Standing Rock has been too heavy handed. Even though the protesters
have repeatedly broken the law and have been at times unreasonable and combative
I think the situation could have been handled way better and with way more
patience. Kelcy Warren, Dakota Access, and their hired security have generally
not been helpful and have often made the situation much worse. The heavy-handed
responses have especially galvanized support for the protesters. Sympathy for
the oppressed is high as is disgust for the oppressors. Pipeline opposition,
like it or not, is now becoming a standard feature especially of large
infrastructure projects, and needs to be considered and addressed with delicate
and conscientious response actions. I am part Native American so I am generally
quite supportive of Native American interests. However, I think that human
interests, public interests, and global/national interests are more important
than ethnic interests. Things are not always as they seem.
I also find it interesting that apparently most of the
protesters arrested are not part of the Standing Rock tribe and I wonder how
many are simply radical environmentalists in support of the tribe. I know many
are people like me with some Native American blood, that want to be supportive.
Solidarity with the tribe seems to have exploded on social media and I have
seen several misleading and propaganda posts suggesting recent pipeline and oil
spills that actually happened in the past, posts of injured protesters that had
nothing to do with it and are perhaps decades old, and the posts of the bison
herd that suddenly appeared, some pics of which were from the past and/or photoshopped.
The bison were herded by riders on horseback. Such misleading media propaganda
is rallying support for their cause. In fact, as one spokesperson put it the riders were "guiding these buffalo towards the police line in an act of resistance and defiance." At one point apparently people on horseback charged the police line which caused police to shoot and kill a horse, probably an overreaction, but one that could have been prevented by both sides.
The Red Warrior Camp of the Sacred Stone Camp is calling on people everywhere to support their cause. They are calling for “two months of sustained waves of action targeting the Army Corp of Engineers, investors, pipeline companies, security firms, and elected officials that are behind this project.” They are saying it is about more than this one pipeline, that it is about indigenous rights around the world, that it is about protecting water for future generations. They are calling on all ‘protectors’ to come and join them. People with whom I am acquainted are headed that way. A list of other actions recommended include “lock-downs at offices, sit-ins, taking up space, rallies, call-in days, divesting from banks, mass mailings and interruptions.” In a New York times op-ed Bill McKibben just reiterated that such actions are necessary and calls the DAPL the new Keystone, but the Keystone was never begun, was never approved by the State Department. The DAPL is nearly complete with billions spent. As I understand it there was a long review process after the DAPL pipeline route was proposed that included public hearings and public comments as well as environmental and archaeological reviews and surveys by federal, state, and independent agencies. Apparently, the Standing Rock tribe did not take part in much of this process for reasons unknown. The pipeline is now nearly finished with billions of dollars spent. It is scheduled to be ‘in-service’ in a few months. The tribe still contends they are going to prevent it from being completed. Is that even reasonable?
The Red Warrior Camp of the Sacred Stone Camp is calling on people everywhere to support their cause. They are calling for “two months of sustained waves of action targeting the Army Corp of Engineers, investors, pipeline companies, security firms, and elected officials that are behind this project.” They are saying it is about more than this one pipeline, that it is about indigenous rights around the world, that it is about protecting water for future generations. They are calling on all ‘protectors’ to come and join them. People with whom I am acquainted are headed that way. A list of other actions recommended include “lock-downs at offices, sit-ins, taking up space, rallies, call-in days, divesting from banks, mass mailings and interruptions.” In a New York times op-ed Bill McKibben just reiterated that such actions are necessary and calls the DAPL the new Keystone, but the Keystone was never begun, was never approved by the State Department. The DAPL is nearly complete with billions spent. As I understand it there was a long review process after the DAPL pipeline route was proposed that included public hearings and public comments as well as environmental and archaeological reviews and surveys by federal, state, and independent agencies. Apparently, the Standing Rock tribe did not take part in much of this process for reasons unknown. The pipeline is now nearly finished with billions of dollars spent. It is scheduled to be ‘in-service’ in a few months. The tribe still contends they are going to prevent it from being completed. Is that even reasonable?
The U.S. has millions of miles of pipelines that transport
oil, natural gas, gasoline, jet fuel, and natural gas liquids like ethane, propane,
butanes, pentanes, and condensates. Many large pipelines cross under major
rivers. There are 8 that cross under the Missouri River. This is nothing new.
Many Bakken wells in North Dakota are drilled on land owned by Native American
tribes, by some estimates as much as a third of the Bakken and Three Forks
wells in the state on reservations where the landowners receive significant royalties
– by some estimates that amount to several hundred million dollars ($500
million is one estimate I heard and that dates back to 2012).
“… the 1,300 plus
wells currently on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation produce roughly a third
of North Dakota's daily output … “
Those tribes are well-compensated as landowners according to
the very generous mineral rights given to landowners in the U.S., by far the
best in the world. So, yes, Native Americans are a big part of the profit
structure of the pipelines even if they support the Standing Rock’s “No DAPL”
rhetoric. One might call that hypocrisy but it would be a fallacy to assume all
Native Americans have similar views on the subject. However, one might assume
they do with media reports of massive indigenous solidarity with the Standing
Rock tribe. In fact, in most countries the minerals are owned by governments. While
there are quite a few pipeline breaks and spills, most (but not all) of them
are due to old pipelines which need replaced or taken out of service. Replacing
them is now much harder, even on the exact same routes due to the ubiquity of
pipeline opposition. There are risks with any pipeline but leak detection,
corrosion detection, and monitoring systems are improving. New federal pipeline
safety rules and standards are being developed although current standards are
not considered to be lax. Corrosion has often been found to be the cause of
leaks, some of which involved explosions.
But as some protesters chant: “We can’t drink oil, keep it in the soil,” some Native American Oil
interests have a slogan: “Native Oil on
Native Soil.” Missouri River Resources was formed in 2014 by the Mandan Hidatsi
and Arikara Nation and is fully Native American owned and run. I also know that the MHA Nation has expressed
solidarity with the protestors at Standing Rock. That begs a few questions. Is
their solidarity confined to the particular “sacred ground” defined by Standing
Rock’s tribal archaeologist/historian? Does it include solidarity with the
objection to cross the Missouri River? Does it include solidarity with
anti-fossil fuel rhetoric and the ‘Keep It in the Ground’ movement? If yes to
the last question then that would be in direct conflict to their own oil
production interests. I have seen pics of Standing Rock spokespeople wearing
‘Keep It in the Ground’ tee shirts. Frank A. Verastro, a senior fellow on
energy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted in the
Washington Post article that, “We cannot
afford to keep fossil fuels in the ground for the foreseeable future because
there’s no scalable replacement.” This is rather obvious despite Bill McKibben’s
notion that the movement is based on math rather than ideology. His math
apparently does not understand how fossil fuel reserves are evaluated and
continually change in response to price and technology.
Grey Wolf Midstream is a subsidiary of Missouri River Resources that invests in oil pipelines. Grey Wolf Midstream is wholly owned by the tribe, presumably the MHA nation.
From the Paradigm Energy Partners, LLC website:
“Grey Wolf Midstream,
LLC owns a 12 percent interest in the Sacagawea Pipeline, LLC. The Sacagawea
Pipeline is constructing a 91-mile pipeline to deliver crude oil from various
points in and around Johnson’s Corner and the Paradigm CDP, located in McKenzie
County, to points across Lake Sacagawea.”
The Sacagawea Pipeline will cross under Sacagawea Lake to
deliver up to 100,000 Bbls per day of crude oil, some of which will be
drilled/operated by Native American-owned Missouri River Resources, whose
subsidiary is also 12% owner of the pipeline.
From the Missouri River Resources website:
“In the meantime
Native employees are learning the oil business and there are plans in the works
to establish a Native American Petroleum Academy (NAPA) to teach many more all
about the oil business.”
Apparently, the DAPL pipeline was originally routed to go
closer to Bismarck and cross the Missouri River there but according to some,
since the “wealthy” people there opposed it they changed the river crossing
point of the route to go nearer the Standing Rock reservation. Actually, the
proximity to water intakes for large amounts of people was one among several
reasons the route north of Bismarck was not chosen. Others were that it would
go too close to dwellings (500 ft. clearance is the state rule) and cross too
many wetlands, water bodies and roads. The current route is, however, upstream
from water intakes of the Standing Rock reservation and could potentially
affect other communities downstream as well, as the Standing Rock tribe argues. However, the water intake that serves the Standing Rock tribe is scheduled to be moved 45 miles downstream form its current position and to then be 70 miles downstream before the pipeline goes into service.
The Missouri River crossing at Lake Oahe is scheduled to be horizontally
drilled 92 feet below the river bed (significantly further below than required)
with state-of-the-art pipe and monitoring. According to the Army Corp of
Engineers:
“Given the engineering
design, proposed installation methodology, quality of material selected,
operations measures and response plans the risk of an inadvertent release in, or
reaching, Lake Oahe is extremely low.”
According to an article from the Williston Herald accessed from the Standing Rock Fact Checker blogsite:
According to an article from the Williston Herald accessed from the Standing Rock Fact Checker blogsite:
- The pipeline is to be drilled more than 90 feet below the water table—separated from the river by many layers of clay and shale
- The pipeline will have epoxy coatings to prevent corrosion, and its pressure will be monitored round-the-clock
- The pipe will also be thicker under the lake, and there will be block valves at either end so the particular section in question can be isolated in a worst case scenario
“This is the clearest
example of environmental racism in action that you’d ever want to see.”
Is it? Since other tribes are transporting large quantities
of their own produced oil via their own large volume pipeline(s) that cross
bodies of water, does that mean they are committing racism on their own people?
The oil profiting of the North Dakota tribes is well known and long-standing
and I have not heard of any complaints from other tribes about this profiting.
Are the other tribes biased specifically against pipelines that mainly benefit
non-natives? If so, would that not be racist? Also I wonder if the Sacagawea
Pipeline connects to the DAPL. Is this so-called “black snake” making profits
for Native Americans? Likely it is and other “black snakes” most certainly are.
I think there is some small amount of refinery capacity in North Dakota and
there may be some small pipeline outlets to the north and west but much of the
crude is moved via rail and truck, which is carbon and pollution intensive
compared to pipelines and less safe in terms of number of leaks and incidents
but pipeline leaks do tend to be of higher volume.
It is also true that not all of the Standing Rock Sioux are supporting the protest, which has inconvenienced local people, native and non-native. Chairman of the town of Cannonball, Robert Fool Bear is fed up with the protesters. He mentions that no one was interested two years ago when the public hearings were held. He is worried about things getting out of hand and people getting hurt. A horse has already been killed, people injured with rubber bullets and pepper spray, and a woman facing possible attempted murder charges for firing three rounds at police. Others are not worried about the threat to the water.
It is also true that not all of the Standing Rock Sioux are supporting the protest, which has inconvenienced local people, native and non-native. Chairman of the town of Cannonball, Robert Fool Bear is fed up with the protesters. He mentions that no one was interested two years ago when the public hearings were held. He is worried about things getting out of hand and people getting hurt. A horse has already been killed, people injured with rubber bullets and pepper spray, and a woman facing possible attempted murder charges for firing three rounds at police. Others are not worried about the threat to the water.
By no means is the Bakken the only play involving Native
American oil and gas investment and tribal oil and gas companies. There is the
Arizona based Navajo Nation Oil & Gas Company active in the San Juan Basin
and their Running Horse Pipeline midstream company that operates crude oil
pipelines running through parts of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. The Navaho
Nation is the largest Native American nation in the U.S. They note in the
Midstream section of their website:
“So many of our daily
activities are made possible by a vast underground network of steel pipelines
that quietly delivers the fuels we need to drive our cars and heat our homes,
as well as raw materials for making items as diverse as medicines and food
containers.”
Their Running Horse Pipeline runs 87 miles pumping crude oil
through three states and across four rivers. The company also operates coal-bed
methane wells and paid the Navajo Nation $22 million in rent and bonuses in
2013. The company has been in business since 1993. According to their website
they contributed $49.6 million in direct and indirect payments to the Navajo
Nation economy in 2013. They also operate gas stations.
There is the Native American Energy Group which leases land
for oil & gas, coal-bed methane, and wind farms. They are involved in oil development
in Montana, including the Bakken, where they own a workover and well servicing
rig. They are involved in coal-bed methane development in Alaska. However, it
is unclear if the company is still active or even existent since the website
press releases stop in 2011. As with the other companies they were striving to
develop resources on Native American lands and provide jobs and economic
opportunities for the tribes.
There is Native American Resource Partners with operations
in Montana, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Their focus seems to be on providing
financing for projects on Native American owned lands with agreements structured
to provide more revenue for the tribes than they had gotten in the past.
There are other companies as well that develop oil and gas
resources on tribal lands for the partial benefit of the tribes. The Southern
Ute Tribe operates several companies in the San Juan Basin of Colorado and
invests in oil and gas development in Texas, Wyoming, and in the Gulf of
Mexico. The Southern Ute Tribe Department of Energy and the Red Willow
Production Company operates multiple oil and gas wells and pipelines and markets
their assets. The Southern Utes operate 1600 wells across four states which
makes them one of the wealthiest tribes. The Utes have been spending millions
lobbying since 2012 for the federal government to ease restrictions on permitting,
drilling, and fracking. Apparently the federal government has additional
regulatory power for drilling and production operations on tribal lands
stemming from outdated notions of tribal management abilities, say the Utes.
Apparently the Bureau of Indian Affairs has a role in permitting which can
delay projects significantly. A tribe drilling and operating wells and
pipelines on land owned by the tribe offers the advantages of so-called fee
acreage where they don’t have to pay royalties to landowners since they own the
land. Since reservations take up large amounts of contiguous land that would
require massive efforts to lease individual tracts to build an ‘acreage
position’ such massive contiguous lands are ideal for development of wells and
infrastructure. Typical landowner royalties range from 12.5 to 25% these days
with 20% being common. In Canada 10% is more common. In much of the rest of the
world the governments own the royalties. While one may hear stories about how
Native Americans were cheated out of royalties and other payments and some of
these may be true, the fact is that their massive land position gives them some
great economic advantages in developing oil, gas, coal, timber, and other
minerals.
The Arctic Slope Regional Corporation is owned by 11,000
Inupiak shareholders and develops oil, coal, and minerals on the 5 million
acres of land they own on Alaska’s North Slope. They too are involved in
lobbying for less federal government interference in their operations. They
have several subsidiary companies involved with energy services, refining,
lubricants, and retail.
In addition there are many Native Americans that are
employed in the oil and gas industry. I suspect also that there are many more
tribes/nations involved in oil and gas production and the proliferation of the
“black snake.” These companies are providing revenue and opportunities for
their people. This is an economic good.
To declare oneself a “protector” is to subtly declare those
protested against as transgressors. The Standing Rock spokespeople have noted
that the very “extractive economy” is a continuation of the violence against
them over the last 500 years. This is a declaration right out of Naomi Klein’s
radical anti-capitalist playbook. She is a fellow board member at McKibben’s
350.org. The tribe is soliciting donations of money and supplies from a now
supportive chunk of the public. They will send them things made of hydrocarbons
that arrive by vehicles powered with hydrocarbons. They will also load up their
gas tanks multiple times to make the drive out to support them. The first level
of hypocrisy is simply the ubiquitous use of the products derived from the
materials they seek to eliminate. The second level of hypocrisy is less obvious
and actually hidden from most, the assumption that all Native Americans support
the Standing Rock tribe and that this is predominantly a Native American issue.
Neither is true, although at first I did think it was predominantly a Native
American issue.
Another issue involving hypocrisy is the damage done by
protesters, much in Iowa, such as burning vehicles and construction equipment,
slashing tires, putting dirt in fuel tanks, and ironically even cutting fuel
lines causing spills. Multiple fires were set in the Standing Rock’s claimed
camp on Dakota Access property as well including burning multiple tires which
causes toxic air pollution.
The Fort Berthold Reservation, which hosts many Bakken wells
had the same complaints as the other tribes about BIA red tape (with industry
assistance) but eventually got some really good lease terms with total payment
of over $500 million (and that is from back in 2012). In addition, the Obama
administration recently announced in mid-September a total payment of $492.8
million to 17 tribes for government mishandling of funds associated with native
natural resources, some dating back a century. This is a big part of
reparations so tribal issues are being dealt with by government. “Sovereignty
by the Barrel” is another slogan of pro-oil Native American companies and
tribes, who have made billions from the oil on their lands and continue to
profit. And yet few if any articles about the Standing Rock dispute note any of
this profiting and suggests that all tribes are in solidarity with their
anti-oil stance
References:
North Dakota Tribe to Drill Its Own Oil
Wells – by Josh Wood, Associated Press. Nov. 4, 2014
Why Hollywood, Environmentalists, and Native
Americans Have Converged on North Dakota – by Steven Mufson, in Washington
Post, Oct. 28, 2016
A Tale of Two Tribes: Colorado’s Southern
Utes Want to Drill as Sioux Battle Pipeline – by Katherine Traywick, Bloomberg
News, In Denver Post, Oct. 15, 2016
Pipeline Route Plan First Called for
Crossing North of Bismarck – by Amy Dalrymple Forum News Service, in Bismarck
tribune, Aug. 18, 2016
Why Dakota is the New Keystone – by Bill
McKibben, in New York Times (op-ed), Oct. 28, 2016
Estimated $10 Million in Damage Done to
Construction Equipment by Dakota Access Protesters – by Rob Port, in Say
Anything Blog, Sept. 14, 2016
US to Pay 17 Indian Tribes $492 Million to
Settle Long-Standing Disputes – by Sari Horwitz, in the Washington Post, Sept.
26, 2016
The Other Bakken Boom: A Tribe Atop the
Nation’s Biggest Oil Play – by Sierra Crane-Murdoch, Edited by Shawn Regan,
Case Study
www.perc.org
Standing Rock Drinking Water Intake at Heart of #NoDAPL Protests is Scheduled to Be Shut Down - by Rob Port, sept. 2, 2016, in Say Anything Blog
www.sayanythingblog.com/entry/standing-rock-water-intake-process-moved-away-dakota-access-pipelines/
Not All Standing Rock Sioux are Protesting the Pipeline - by Jessica Ravitz, CNN, Oct. 31, 2016
https://www.google.com/amp/s/
Standing Rock Drinking Water Intake at Heart of #NoDAPL Protests is Scheduled to Be Shut Down - by Rob Port, sept. 2, 2016, in Say Anything Blog
www.sayanythingblog.com/entry/standing-rock-water-intake-process-moved-away-dakota-access-pipelines/
Not All Standing Rock Sioux are Protesting the Pipeline - by Jessica Ravitz, CNN, Oct. 31, 2016
https://www.google.com/amp/s/
Paradigm Midstream
Sacagawea Pipeline
Missouri River Resources
Navaho Nation Oil and Gas Company
Native American Resource Partners
Red Willow Production Company
Arctic Slope Regional Corporation
The Global Solidarity Campaign
