Dear editor, 

In North Dakota, the Dakota Access Pipeline Company (DAPL) is building a pipeline through federal land, land that the Sioux Tribe has never ceded to the federal government. The pipeline would bring crude oil from the Bakken Formation in North Dakota down south for distribution. The Sioux Tribe, and many other Americans, oppose this pipeline. These protestors at Standing Rock, N.D. have been met with the most ferocious police tactics seen since the Civil Rights Era of the 1960s. Why? It’s a $3.7 billion project.

This pipeline will not bring a great number of jobs to people in North Dakota or anywhere else. It will further our society’s use of fossil fuels, creating more damage to the Earth’s climate. It won’t decrease our country’s dependence on foreign oil, as DAPL will export this crude oil if profitable. It will endanger the water supply for those who live in North Dakota and beyond, as it is routed to run under Lake Oahe, which flows into the Missouri River. Pipeline leaks are not uncommon, and a leak in this pipeline would prove catastrophic for millions — this is no doubt why the original route of the pipeline, which ran near Bismark, N.D., was changed. And this is why the folks protesting in North Dakota call themselves Water Protectors.

Finally, the pipeline will run through land which is sacred to the Sioux people and other Native Americans — a religious minority in a country where we are committed to protecting everyone’s religious freedom.

In my recent conversations with fellow Kentuckians, I have discovered that most people have little or no idea about Standing Rock or DAPL. This may have something to do with the mainstream media’s failure to cover it adequately. Silly as it may seem, we live in the age of “Youtube,” and there’s a lot of good coverage out there if you just put in the right keywords. Standing Rock. DAPL. Look at Wikipedia. Find out for yourself what’s going on in North Dakota. This is the least we can do for our country, our fellow citizens and the Earth that God has given us to protect. 

Harry Fogler III

Wilmore