Despite the positive efforts that have been made to stop the Dakota Pipeline, Donald Trump is moving forward after only four days in office. He is expected to sign executive orders regarding both the Dakota Pipelines and Keystone XL projects this morning, in spite of the Obama administration rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline in November 2015, and denying a permit for the Dakota Access project late last year.
Native American activists and environmental advocates fought against these projects, citing that they would have a negative impact on the areas in which they were built. In Standing Rock’s case, it would not only damage cultural sites, but their water supply as well. Protestors argued that there were safer ways to transport oil across the country. The Keystone XL would carry oil sands crude 1,179 miles from Canada to US refineries on the Gulf Coast. The Obama administration halted that project in 2015. In 2016, after several protests, it was decided that other routes would be explored for the Dakota Pipeline.
“Instead of pushing bogus claims about the potential of pipelines to create jobs, Trump should focus his efforts on the clean energy sector where America’s future lives,” said Greenpeace executive director Annie Leonard in a statement.
Donald Trump has been in office for four days and he’s already proving to be the dangerous threat to our climate we feared he would be,” says Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune. “Simply put, Donald Trump is who we thought he is: a person who will sell off Americans’ property and Tribal rights, clean air, and safe water to corporate polluters.”
