Construction will advance on the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines following President Donald Trump signing an executive order Tuesday, in a move that directly opposes an environmental action taken by former President Barack Obama.
Energy Transfer Partners, the owner of the 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline, were denied a permit by the Obama administration late last year after months of protests at Standing Rock Indian Reservation, which would be affected by the oil line.
Residents and environmental experts claim that the pipeline threatens their water supply and disturbs sacred burial and archeological sites.
The pipeline will transport crude oil from North Dakota to refineries on the Gulf and East Coast. The pipeline is nearly complete besides a stretch underneath Lake Oahe, where the Standing Rock Sioux tribe gets their drinking water.
Trump’s executive order will not immediately allow construction to occur on the pipeline, but orders the Army Corps of Engineers to quickly consider whether to allow the crossing below Lake Oahe.
Gregory Neme, an assistant professor at the UW-Madison Nelson Institute’s Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment—whose research and teaching focuses on understanding how to expand access to energy services while reducing environmental impacts—said that the pipeline project was “the opposite of what is needed by our environmental system.”
During the official signing of the order, Trump emphasized that the pipeline is “subject to a renegotiation of terms” by the White House and the pipeline would create “a lot of jobs, 28,000 jobs. Great construction jobs.” Trump also stated that if the pipeline is built, the pipes should be manufactured in the U.S.
However, Nemet felt that the pipeline would create “a couple thousand jobs for a few years,” stating that this was not enough of an incentive to make up for the large environmental impact.
Hundreds of anti-pipeline protesters, including many who had come from Standing Rock Reservation, gathered outside of the White House Tuesday after Trump’s executive order. The protest was planned last minute after the announcement to revive the Dakota Access Pipeline project.
The protests of the pipeline that took place last year in Standing Rock drew vast media attention, especially after armed police in riot gear used water cannons in freezing weather conditions in response to peaceful protests.
As of Wednesday, it is unknown whether protesters will return to Standing Rock if Energy Transfer Partners receives approval to finish the pipeline.
