The Dakota Access Pipeline is an underground pipeline built to transfer “crude oil from domestic wells to American consumers” from the Dakota Access Pipeline Facts website.

It is said to be “one of the safest, most technologically advanced pipelines in the world” which is from the government owned site. It also repeatedly states that “The Dakota Access Pipeline does not cross the stand Rock Sioux reservation, however there are already “eight other pipelines” in Lake Oahe that all operate “adjacent to the path of the Dakota Access Pipeline.”

David Ritsher and Rachel de Leon are two reporters who investigated the Dakota Access Pipeline. They produced The Land Beneath the Lake from Reveal and spoke with Candance Ducheneaux who has lived in Lake Oahe who lived there since she “was a young girl.”

Ducheneaux spoke about her father who “was a negotiator for the tribe in settlement talks” when they were building the dams in Lake Oahe. It was a very similar situation to what was happening with the pipelines. Ducheneaux said that it was “the gutting of our reservation” and that it “was [their] home and that was [their] way of life.”

With how the government was portraying the pipelines, it seemed fruitless for the people who lived there to protest or negotiate with the government. With this $3.8 billion project, it would affect all the people who live in Lake Oahe even though it may be positive for other Americans.

“Oil was placed in the Dakota Access Pipeline” in “March 2017” with Trump’s go which shows the little influence they held.