Construction Resumes on North Dakota Access Pipeline

Construction resumes on Dakota pipeline despite tribe's challenge | Reuters

Reuters said:

The company building an oil pipeline that has fueled sustained public protests said on Thursday it has started drilling under a North Dakota lake despite a last-ditch legal challenge from a Native American tribe leading the opposition.

Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP.N) is building the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) to move crude from the Northern Plains to the Midwest and then on to the Gulf of Mexico, now saying it could be operational by early May.

The project had been put on hold under the administration of former Democratic President Barack Obama, but new President Donald Trump, a Republican, helped put it back on track.
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The federal government this week cleared way for the project to resume, leading the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to file a court challenge on Thursday seeking a temporary restraining order to halt construction and drilling for the pipeline.

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Trump also said he, "hasn't received one call" about the controversial DAPL. Maybe that's because he shutdown the call line when he took office. I love the feigned innocence here. "Oh golly gee, were there people who were angry about this pipeline?." Trump once again sends a message to everyday people. You aren't in the club. You're a nobody. I only listen to the somebody's like Energy Transfer Partners, of whom I was personally invested in. Environmental Reviews??? Give me a break, we don't listen to environmentalists. Drill. Drill. Drill. Oil. Oil. Oil. Money. Money. Money.

Proponents of the pipeline will argue that DAPL creates thousands of jobs. This is not true. DAPL creates 20-30 permanent jobs. Trump is not doing this to benefit American workers. He's exploiting your gullibility and economic vulnerability to push through a pipeline he was JUST invested in.

News of resumed construction on DAPL has angered environmentalists and Native Americans.

Reuters said:

"It angers me. It angers me because people are pushing other people around, breaking laws," Archambault said. "They’re trying to kill us off by contaminating the water. We’ve had enough."

Ptery Light, 55, of Portland, Oregon, who has lived in the main camp since Oct. 31, said he was not giving up hope.

"I just pray that there’s no oil spill," Light said. "This is purely about greed."

For now, their hopes are pinned on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe winning a legal victory.

To obtain the temporary restraining order, the tribe must convince the judge there will be immediate harm suffered and prove it has a strong overall case should its lawsuit to halt the project result in a full trial.

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Thoughts? Anyone who's genuinely surprised about this, just hasn't been paying attention. Trump's already made it abundantly clear that he does what he wants, especially if it can gain him favor among the rich oil barons.

Winston said:

Construction resumes on Dakota pipeline despite tribe's challenge | Reuters



Trump also said he, "hasn't received one call" about the controversial DAPL. Maybe that's because he shutdown the call line when he took office. I love the feigned innocence here. "Oh golly gee, were there people who were angry about this pipeline?." Trump once again sends a message to everyday people. You aren't in the club. You're a nobody. I only listen to the somebody's like Energy Transfer Partners, of whom I was personally invested in. Environmental Reviews??? Give me a break, we don't listen to environmentalists. Drill. Drill. Drill. Oil. Oil. Oil. Money. Money. Money.

Proponents of the pipeline will argue that DAPL creates thousands of jobs. This is not true. DAPL creates 20-30 permanent jobs. Trump is not doing this to benefit American workers. He's exploiting your gullibility and economic vulnerability to push through a pipeline he was JUST invested in.

News of resumed construction on DAPL has angered environmentalists and Native Americans.

I've always boiled this down to the fact that this is not the first route for the pipeline. The first route was just north of Bismark. It was moved due to public outcry about possible pollution of the Bismark water supply. So it is just a matter of whose water is contaminated.
Pipelines are better than rail and rail is better than trucks. But that all depends on the standards of construction, monitoring and maintenance of said pipeline. It has been shown that pipeline companies cannot be trusted to do what they are supposed to do. We should be vigilant and push for tighter standards and regulations, not less.



Thoughts? Anyone who's genuinely surprised about this, just hasn't been paying attention. Trump's already made it abundantly clear that he does what he wants, especially if it can gain him favor among the rich oil barons.

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.-------------------*

Winston said:

Construction resumes on Dakota pipeline despite tribe's challenge | Reuters



Trump also said he, "hasn't received one call" about the controversial DAPL. Maybe that's because he shutdown the call line when he took office. I love the feigned innocence here. "Oh golly gee, were there people who were angry about this pipeline?." Trump once again sends a message to everyday people. You aren't in the club. You're a nobody. I only listen to the somebody's like Energy Transfer Partners, of whom I was personally invested in. Environmental Reviews??? Give me a break, we don't listen to environmentalists. Drill. Drill. Drill. Oil. Oil. Oil. Money. Money. Money.

Proponents of the pipeline will argue that DAPL creates thousands of jobs. This is not true. DAPL creates 20-30 permanent jobs. Trump is not doing this to benefit American workers. He's exploiting your gullibility and economic vulnerability to push through a pipeline he was JUST invested in.

News of resumed construction on DAPL has angered environmentalists and Native Americans.



Thoughts? Anyone who's genuinely surprised about this, just hasn't been paying attention. Trump's already made it abundantly clear that he does what he wants, especially if it can gain him favor among the rich oil barons.

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It leaves me wondering about studies that said it shouldn't or should be built there.

Something political happened. Either under Obama or Trump. It just seems like somebody somewhere is playing politics with science and I'm not sure who's administration it was.

The thing about pipelines is they are always the lesser of evils when it comes to transporting oil and gas. No one loves them, but if you don't have pipeline, then that oil or gas will be transported by truck or rail, both of which have a much higher risk of spills than a pipeline.

Winston said:

Construction resumes on Dakota pipeline despite tribe's challenge | Reuters



Trump also said he, "hasn't received one call" about the controversial DAPL. Maybe that's because he shutdown the call line when he took office. I love the feigned innocence here. "Oh golly gee, were there people who were angry about this pipeline?." Trump once again sends a message to everyday people. You aren't in the club. You're a nobody. I only listen to the somebody's like Energy Transfer Partners, of whom I was personally invested in. Environmental Reviews??? Give me a break, we don't listen to environmentalists. Drill. Drill. Drill. Oil. Oil. Oil. Money. Money. Money.

Proponents of the pipeline will argue that DAPL creates thousands of jobs. This is not true. DAPL creates 20-30 permanent jobs. Trump is not doing this to benefit American workers. He's exploiting your gullibility and economic vulnerability to push through a pipeline he was JUST invested in.

News of resumed construction on DAPL has angered environmentalists and Native Americans.



Thoughts? Anyone who's genuinely surprised about this, just hasn't been paying attention. Trump's already made it abundantly clear that he does what he wants, especially if it can gain him favor among the rich oil barons.

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SouthernDemocrat said:

The thing about pipelines is they are always the lesser of evils when it comes to transporting oil and gas. No one loves them, but if you don't have pipeline, then that oil or gas will be transported by truck or rail, both of which have a much higher risk of spills than a pipeline.

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What you're saying is ETP is going to keep transporting fracked crude oil to refineries no matter what so, a pipeline is preferable to other methods of transportation. There are still odds that it will burst. It's cruel of us to essentially tell the Natives that our profits are more important than their drinking water. I'm sad that the Native American's sovereignty got trampled over again. I hope they know that not all American's prioritize profits over planet.

poweRob said:

Seattle Cuts Ties With Wells Fargo in Protest of Dakota Access Pipeline

Wells Fargo stands to lose roughly $3 billion in business as a result of Seattle's vote.​

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There's my girl Kshama Sawant in action! Fight the power girl! After seeing the way WF defrauded consumers with the scandal that broke last summer, my already low opinion of them sunk to previously unseen depths.

Winston said:

There's my girl Kshama Sawant in action! Fight the power girl! After seeing the way WF defrauded consumers with the scandal that broke last summer, my already low opinion of them sunk to previously unseen depths.

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She's awesome ain't she?

rocket88 said:

It leaves me wondering about studies that said it shouldn't or should be built there.

Something political happened. Either under Obama or Trump. It just seems like somebody somewhere is playing politics with science and I'm not sure who's administration it was.

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I'm not sure exactly what happened. But, I know I read when Trump won the election that ETP made statements that pipeline was 100% going forward
CEO Kelcy Warren confident Dakota Access Pipeline will be completed under Trump presidency - CBS News

^Dated 11/11/2016

Trump was invested in ETP at that time.

Meanwhile: Authorities search for dead bodies in massive garbage chunks left at protest site | Fox News

SouthernDemocrat said:

The thing about pipelines is they are always the lesser of evils when it comes to transporting oil and gas. No one loves them, but if you don't have pipeline, then that oil or gas will be transported by truck or rail, both of which have a much higher risk of spills than a pipeline.

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This.

humbolt said:

Meanwhile: Authorities search for dead bodies in massive garbage chunks left at protest site | Fox News

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Strange story with a lot of questions brought to mind.

SouthernDemocrat said:

The thing about pipelines is they are always the lesser of evils when it comes to transporting oil and gas. No one loves them, but if you don't have pipeline, then that oil or gas will be transported by truck or rail, both of which have a much higher risk of spills than a pipeline.

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The problem with pipelines is when something does happen bad it's devastating and has long term environmental effects.

This is what is happening to some of the Canadian landscape to recover some of that oil. This makes strip mining pale in comparison. And you can't convince me that land can be reclaimed after use. I just don't see how.



And as far as pipeline spills a friend has a business cleaning them up. He says they are quite common and he stays quite busy.

poweRob said:

Seattle Cuts Ties With Wells Fargo in Protest of Dakota Access Pipeline

Wells Fargo stands to lose roughly $3 billion in business as a result of Seattle's vote.​

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This just confirmed to me that the city council of Seattle is dominated by liberal ****tards that hate people.

They didn't give a damn when it was shown that WF was creating accounts and management was turning a blind eye to it. They didn't give a damn when it was revealed that whistelblowers were getting fired for reporting it. But you put one tree at risk and boom goes the dynamite. **** Seattle, it's the depth of depravity. It's the West Coast version of New Jersey.

The residents of Seattle have a long history of not giving a damn about their fellow man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Freeze

Winston said:

Thoughts? Anyone who's genuinely surprised about this, just hasn't been paying attention. Trump's already made it abundantly clear that he does what he wants, especially if it can gain him favor among the rich oil barons.

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Most locals are wanting the whole thing over with and welcome this result. The tribe is currently embarking on a legal battle, the state national guard is clearing the camp about a month or two before the usual flood season, the legislature is turning into a budget slaughterhouse--of which the protest has contributed to over $22 million alone. Because the state has a constitutional requirement to balance the budget, the $22 million that the largely out-of-state protesters have contributed has really poured salt in the wound. Services and programs are getting cut or demolished left and right.

So not many care about the protest in a good way--and yes, that largely cuts racial and ethnic lines.

EnigmaO01 said:

This is what is happening to some of the Canadian landscape to recover some of that oil. This makes strip mining pale in comparison. And you can't convince me that land can be reclaimed after use. I just don't see how.



And as far as pipeline spills a friend has a business cleaning them up. He says they are quite common and he stays quite busy.

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I'm opposed to the pipeline. I don't give a damn about the environmental impacts of it.

I'm opposed to the pipeline because we, the U.S., is taking all the risk to carry this oil so that it can be refined and shipped overseas. Canadians know that the oil companies are full of **** and won't pay the full cleanup costs for any spills, but Americans just love spending money we don't have. So there's gonna be a massive spill and the American tax-payer is gonna wind up footing a significant portion of the bill. My only reprieve is that it's gonna affact mostly red Republican states when it happens so they'll get what they deserve when it comes to people who would bear the brunt of the suffering.

And the most ridiculous part is that the American people are going to get little to no benefit from this pipeline at all. We're not gonna get significantly lower oil and gas rates, we're not gonna get a major permanent jobs boom. Nothing. And I HOPE liberals learned a lesson in all this too. Obama being the mealy mouthed two faced coward that he is, shelved the deal instead of killing it.

Gaugingcatenate said:

Strange story with a lot of questions brought to mind.

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This is the first I've heard of it. I wouldn't bet on anything big at the moment. That could change, of course.

Fiddytree said:

Most locals are wanting the whole thing over with and welcome this result. The tribe is currently embarking on a legal battle, the state national guard is clearing the camp about a month or two before the usual flood season, the legislature is turning into a budget slaughterhouse--of which the protest has contributed to over $22 million alone. Because the state has a constitutional requirement to balance the budget, the $22 million that the largely out-of-state protesters have contributed has really poured salt in the wound. Services and programs are getting cut or demolished left and right.

So not many care about the protest in a good way--and yes, that largely cuts racial and ethnic lines.

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I have found that most liberals don't care about the livelihoods or homes destroyed by their policies. They very much live in a "not in my back yard" approach to things when it comes to repurcussions of their policies. That's why liberals wanted Hillary to destroy the jobs of people in West Virginia.

Fiddytree said:

Most locals are wanting the whole thing over with and welcome this result. The tribe is currently embarking on a legal battle, the state national guard is clearing the camp about a month or two before the usual flood season, the legislature is turning into a budget slaughterhouse--of which the protest has contributed to over $22 million alone.

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I suspect the novelty of being a news center wore off and the reality of being under a microscope set in. So.. it looks like the objective goal of stopping the pipeline was not obtained. One can argue subjective goals were met of demonstrating like minded harmony against the corporate coup of democracy. If nothing else, it shows us that Local Governments will detain and use force to intimidate peaceful protestors, at the behest of the oil companies. I think we can draw parallels with the Occupy movement. People give a middle finger to the 1%. The 1% calls on the politicians, the news media, and local law enforcement to drop the hammer on the protestors. With or without Trump, IMO, this pipeline goes through. HRC was silent on DAPL.. because she secretly supported it, even if it enrages her base.

Winston said:

I suspect the novelty of being a news center wore off and the reality of being under a microscope set in.

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Haha, no. In late November and throughout December you had 4 blizzards and -20 to -40 degree weather. As the Obama administration was winding down, taking very little steps to resolving the issue, the Tribe knew it had to deal with the consequences of dragging this out over the next many months thereafter. For one thing, North Dakota winters are not to be trifled with. The roads were regularly in jeopardy. Then during the spring the area regularly floods. From a public safety standpoint alone, the Tribe was needing to push out most of the remaining folks that did not leave during the first batches of cold and snow.

So.. it looks like the objective goal of stopping the pipeline was not obtained. One can argue subjective goals were met of demonstrating like minded harmony against the corporate coup of democracy.

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A circle jerk.

If nothing else, it shows us that Local Governments will detain and use force to intimidate peaceful protestors, at the behest of the oil companies. I think we can draw parallels with the Occupy movement. People give a middle finger to the 1%. The 1% calls on the politicians, the news media, and local law enforcement to drop the hammer on the protestors. With or without Trump, IMO, this pipeline goes through. HRC was silent on DAPL.. because she secretly supported it, even if it enrages her base.

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While the state is badly in bed with oil interests, and the legislature has no sense of ethics whatsoever, the above paragraph resembles nothing what's going on with that protest. A lot of them were peaceful, a lot of them were nice, but there were a lot of them that were anything but. The camps were quite the paradox. For a while they were quite organized--and least with the donations--but in terms of what they wanted to do and how they operated, it was a circus. This was especially true with how they treated the media. They would have the audacity to demand that they get press badges to go on public land, but one could not get the badges. One minute a journalist or photographer or videoographer would be shooting without a bother, then these jabronies in trucks would jump out and start harassing the press and trying to shut them down.

reinoe said:

I have found that most liberals don't care about the livelihoods or homes destroyed by their policies. They very much live in a "not in my back yard" approach to things when it comes to repurcussions of their policies. That's why liberals wanted Hillary to destroy the jobs of people in West Virginia.

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That cuts both ways. In fact, you will figure out that despite one party or ideological designation having a supermajority, things aren't quite so harmonious between the public and the legislature.

Fiddytree said:

Haha, no. In late November and throughout December you had 4 blizzards and -20 to -40 degree weather. As the Obama administration was winding down, taking very little steps to resolving the issue, the Tribe knew it had to deal with the consequences of dragging this out over the next many months thereafter. For one thing, North Dakota winters are not to be trifled with. The roads were regularly in jeopardy. Then during the speech the area regularly floods. From a public safety standpoint alone, the Tribe was needing to push out most of the remaining folks that did not leave during the first batches of cold and snow.



A circle jerk.



While the state is badly in bed with oil interests, and the legislature has no sense of ethics whatsoever, the above paragraph resembles nothing what's going on with that protest. A lot of them were peaceful, a lot of them were nice, but there were a lot of them that were anything but. The camps were quite the paradox. For a while they were quite organized--and least with the donations--but in terms of what they wanted to do and how they operated, it was a circus. This was especially true with how they treated the media. They would have the audacity to demand that they get press badges to go on public land, but one could not get the badges. One minute a journalist or photographer or videoographer would be shooting without a bother, then these jabronies in trucks would jump out and start harassing the press and trying to shut them down.

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Nice use of the word jabronie.

Virtually all coverage I saw was live-streamed by Shailene Woodley and Jordan Chariton. Democracy Now! Also did some in depth stories on DAPL. Amy Goodman covered the private security companies that were unleashing attack dogs on protestors. Rubber bullets. Arsonists. Then I read pieces that said the seedier underbelly of the music festival scene was treating it like it was a Bonnaroo or Gathering of the Vibes. (GOTV is notorious for ghetto hippy stabbings)

Anywhere you have that many humans gathered in a camp-zone setting for extended amounts of time, it's going to get ugly.

I know a small victory was won after the coalition of veteran's showed up. Obama stayed a permit and the liberal land of facebook and twitter rejoiced. Then I stopped hearing about the protest for awhile. ND winters are incredibly harsh. No doubt. Low temperatures with wind-chill, I am getting frost bite just thinking of it. I had taken for granted that the camps were winterized and ready to handle extreme weather. Weather concerns aside,

Do you find credible the claims that there were paid agitators to discredit the protestors? As far as I know, the only injuries sustained were on the side of the protestors by cops.

Winston said:

Virtually all coverage I saw was live-streamed by Shailene Woodley and Jordan Chariton. Democracy Now! Also did some in depth stories on DAPL. Amy Goodman covered the private security companies that were unleashing attack dogs on protestors. Rubber bullets. Arsonists. Then I read pieces that said the seedier underbelly of the music festival scene was treating it like it was a Bonnaroo or Gathering of the Vibes. (GOTV is notorious for ghetto hippy stabbings)

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Ok here's the thing. The internet and what's going on there was almost completely different. There was this constant thing where they had to control the message, right? The only media they would allow was internet left-wing groups. AP, Reuters, various state newspapers, they would sometimes be "banned" from the area--which is a joke, considering where they were and what authority these protesters had. You could be banned simply by being there, asking the camp attendees basic questions that any normal reporters would do. They would even try to pull that on public property in a city or town. Add in the fact that the national press could only afford to insert someone every once in a while, and the national press seemingly felt compelled to rely on these social media posts.

The social media thing became a joke around those parts.
because people know that protest folks are doing the Facebook livestreaming about being followed by officers while driving down a road and are doing these dramatic videos, while the cop [who local folks know] walks up to them and asks "hey, are you okay? say, if anyone starts bothering you about protesting like us know."

There was a lot of rubbish on both sides. The dogs were not only extraordinarily stupid, but they were not licensed to use them to begin with. Amy Goodman getting arrested was stupid, but also dumb luck. There were plenty of other news media outlets there that didn't get tagged, but she did. That's largely luck. There were other times when regular news reporters had been pushed aside by police. Most often, the reporter has set criteria for when and when not to challenge the authority of the directives. Sometimes you can give them a little grief, but basically, you move move move when they tell you so.

I know a small victory was won after the coalition of veteran's showed up.

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That was somewhat incidental. The administration was expected to either drag this thing out with complete indecisiveness or give into the protesters. It wasn't a victory. Secondly, while the Vets showed up, the bigger story on the ground was the weather, which was abysmal.

Then I stopped hearing about the protest for awhile. ND winters are incredibly harsh. No doubt. Low temperatures with wind-chill, I am getting frost bite just thinking of it. I had taken for granted that the camps were winterized and ready to handle extreme weather. Weather concerns aside,

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Parts of it were winterized, but it became a dumb place to go after a while. By January, they were telling the press that they were still going strong, but it was obvious that the protesters that were there were doing what they often did--tell enormous fish stories. A few looks around the camp and it became clear what ad hoc infrastructure was left was in shambles. Much of it was a massive trash heap.

Do you find credible the claims that there were paid agitators to discredit the protestors? As far as I know, the only injuries sustained were on the side of the cops injuring protestors.

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Good lord no. Protesters did that themselves. The only paid agitators were the ones who were shipped in to protest the pipeline. Time and time again the conspiracy theories were getting dumb. For a while the big thing was saying that the cops were trying to kill their cell phones with secret spooky technology. It turns out when you stick a ton of people in an area with already terrible cellular reception, your phone is going into overdrive trying to find a signal. And boom, there goes the battery life.

Fiddytree said:

Ok here's the thing. The internet and what's going on there was almost completely different. There was this constant thing where they had to control the message, right? The only media they would allow was internet left-wing groups. AP, Reuters, various state newspapers, they would sometimes be "banned" from the area--which is a joke, considering where they were and what authority these protesters had. You could be banned simply by being there, asking the camp attendees basic questions that any normal reporters would do. They would even try to pull that on public property in a city or town. Add in the fact that the national press could only afford to insert someone every once in a while, and the national press seemingly felt compelled to rely on these social media posts.

The social media thing became a joke around those parts.
because people know that protest folks are doing the Facebook livestreaming about being followed by officers while driving down a road and are doing these dramatic videos, while the cop [who local folks know] walks up to them and asks "hey, are you okay? say, if anyone starts bothering you about protesting like us know."

There was a lot of rubbish on both sides. The dogs were not only extraordinarily stupid, but they were not licensed to use them to begin with. Amy Goodman getting arrested was stupid, but also dumb luck. There were plenty of other news media outlets there that didn't get tagged, but she did. That's largely luck. There were other times when regular news reporters had been pushed aside by police. Most often, the reporter has set criteria for when and when not to challenge the authority of the directives. Sometimes you can give them a little grief, but basically, you move move move when they tell you so.




That was somewhat incidental. The administration was expected to either drag this thing out with complete indecisiveness or give into the protesters. It wasn't a victory. Secondly, while the Vets showed up, the bigger story on the ground was the weather, which was abysmal.



Parts of it were winterized, but it became a dumb place to go after a while. By January, they were telling the press that they were still going strong, but it was obvious that the protesters that were there were doing what they often did--tell enormous fish stories. A few looks around the camp and it became clear what ad hoc infrastructure was left was in shambles. Much of it was a massive trash heap.



Good lord no. Protesters did that themselves. The only paid agitators were the ones who were shipped in to protest the pipeline. Time and time again the conspiracy theories were getting dumb. For a while the big thing was saying that the cops were trying to kill their cell phones with secret spooky technology. It turns out when you stick a ton of people in an area with already terrible cellular reception, your phone is going into overdrive trying to find a signal. And boom, there goes the battery life.

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It really did take off on social media. There's probably hundreds of memes being posted right now about DAPL. It wasn't just idealistic young millenials either, any grandmother out there who shops at world market and listens to Enya seemed to take a stance. I guess, cutting through the bs.. does the Tribe have a claim here? Will the water be rendered poisonous by a spill? Are there sovereignty rights being violated? Is ETP violating treaties by building through their land?