My Arts Editor draws my attention to a new pipeline under construction in North Dakota. NPR.org provides coverage:
Protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota turned violent on Saturday.
Demonstrators supporting the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe faced off with private security officers from Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners.
Video from the scene showed security officers threatening protesters with dogs.
As All Things Considered reported, hundreds of Native Americans from tribes across the country have set up a camp near the construction site in North Dakota. The Army Corps of Engineer approved the oil pipeline in July allowing it to run under the Missouri river close to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation.
Protesters worry that the $3.8 billion pipeline, which is slated to run through four states, could disturb sacred sites and affect the reservation’s drinking water.
A video of the clash is also provided.
Given the constricted future of fossil fuels, it’s a little frustrating to hear of new pipelines under construction, as well as the failure to consider the concerns of local American Indian residents. It’s tempting to suggest that an alternative energy grid would not cause such uproar, but that unfortunately would not be true. Growing up in Minnesota, I recall the popular health concerns about high voltage lines (as covered in this Forbes article in their Fighting PseudoScience column) and the vandalism occasionally committed against the lines.
Over on LinkedIn, Chevron’s CEO & Chairman, John Watson, makes the case for the continued future of fossil fuels. I suspect the renewables folks would disagree, but certainly there are applications for which the energy profile of fossil fuels is far more appropriate than the electricity produced by renewables. That said, my inclination would be to believe he overstates the case.
