The
Bakken Dakota Access Pipeline is slithering down the North Dakota
hills, poised to stick its head directly under the Missouri River.
Thousands of Water Protectors, people from all over the world, have
gathered in and around the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to stop
its descent, and terminate the Black Snake. The Black Snake killer
may come in the most unexpected forms, an obscure court ruling,
legislation which ruined much of the ecology of the Standing Rock
Reservation, and the agency responsible for enacting it - the Army
Corps of Engineers.
The
Missouri River ravaged Omaha, laying waste to the city with
frightening efficiency in 1943. In response, Congress passed the
Flood Control Act of 1944, commonly known now as Pick-Sloan. The Army
Corps of Engineers and Board of Reclamation were assigned
responsibility to enact Pick-Sloan and took control of the river.
Even
for those living right on the Missouri River, the name Pick-Sloan is
obscure but no legislation changed the nature of the Missouri more.
By the time the entire Pick-Sloan plan was enacted, only 1/3 of the
river was in a natural state.
After
Omaha flooded, America was frantic to assure Omaha and selected other
cities’ safety. The government took the opportunity to put a
wider, more comprehensive plan covering other commercial and safety
aspects of the river in place. Pick-Sloan assigned the Army Corps of
Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation the task of caring for eight
categories related to the river: flood control, navigation,
irrigation, power, water supply, recreation, fish and wildlife, and
water quality.
The
Army Corps of Engineers created a gaggle of hydroelectric dams,
including Lake Oahe on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
Lake
Oahe Reservoir and hydroelectric dam was created when the Army Corps
of Engineers flooded the fertile river lands and displaced a village
on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in 1960. A forest was deluged
– lost to the water. Bison died. Burial grounds were submerged.
Homes were lost. However, unlike other tribes who were also displaced
under Pick-Sloan – the Standing Rock Sioux preserved their right to
the Missouri River bed running through their reservation.
Just
a few miles up the river from Lake Oahe Reservoir are the Water
Protector camps. On a hill just above the largest of the Water
Protector camps, Oceti Sakowin, the pipeline the pipeline is near
completion. Energy Transfer Company, the owner of the Bakken Dakota
Access Pipeline (DAPL), is just waiting for a permit from the Army
Corps of Engineers to drill under the river and place their pipeline
under the river.
The
Army Corps of Engineers’ requirements under Pick-Sloan may be the
last weapon the Water Protectors have to stop the drill and the
pipeline.
