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Public Comment on the Dakota Access Pipeline
"...it was the rough equivalent of knocking over a couple of dozen churches and maybe a corner of Arlington Cemetery."
What if the Great Sioux Nation decided to build a project through Arlington Cemetery?
Since 1986, pipeline accidents have killed over 500 people, injured more than 4,000, and cost nearly $7 billion dollars in property damages. Pipelines break for many reasons – from slow deterioration from corrosion, to equipment or welding failures, to construction workers hitting pipes with their excavation equipment. Corrosion in pipelines has already caused between 15-20% of all reported deaths, injuries or extensive property damage(s). Unforeseen natural disasters also lead to multiple incidents each year.
Little government regulation and oversight currently requires less than half of all hazardous liquid pipelines to be subjected to rigorous and regular inspection. According to the GAO, close to 90% of the currently 230,000 miles of pipelines are not federally regulated. The government does not collect data on ruptures or spills in most remote areas. High-tech monitors often miss hundreds of leaks each year, and federal data shows local residents discover leaks far more often than paid operators.
Even if the pipeline does not leak, which it most inevitably will with time, the burning of the fossil fuel that flows through it will most definitely poison the air and water with pollution (such as known pollutants CO, CO2, mercury, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and lead.)
In the United States, lakes and navigable-in-fact streams are maintained for drinking and recreation purposes under the public-trust doctrine. The public trust doctrine declares public property rights originally and inherently reserved through the citizens’ social contract with the U.S. government. The public trust remains an attribute of sovereignty that cannot be alienated by any government legislature. This principle designates government as trustee of crucial natural resources and obligates it to act in a fiduciary capacity to protect such assets for the beneficiaries of the trust, which include both present and future generations of citizens. Agency trustees hold an unwavering duty of undivided loyalty to the public (both present and future generations) and must abide by the highest fiduciary standard of commitment and care.
According to UNICEF, 600,000 children under age 5 die worldwide every year from diseases caused by or exacerbated by air pollution. Air pollution also hurts children it doesn't kill, including the unborn: "Pollutants don't only harm children's developing lungs, they can actually cross the blood-brain barrier and permanently damage their developing brains, and, thus, their futures. No society can afford to ignore air pollution." Those who allow the destruction of natural resources to advance singular and corporate interests, or to serve their own political or bureaucratic interests, act in violation of their civic duty.
No matter which side people choose to stand on the front lines of any pipeline, nor even the security dogs being used for so-called "protection"; no living being, nor any generation ahead, is exempt from the build-up of toxins taking place in our bloodstreams from the public and global health hazard of burning of fossil fuels.
The protest is not about a reroute. Work with communities along the pipeline to transform efforts and construction into renewable energy. Rerouting the pipeline will continue to exacerbate air pollution and harm to public health, and potentially leak directly into the water supply of millions. Both violations of your civic duty.
Look at air pollution levels across the U.S., witness the increase in vector-borne diseases, loss of water supply to algal blooms, deforestation and loss of farmland due to drought.
"All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth."
Long Live EVERYONE'S Freedom of Voice.
In Good We Trust.
Kevin
Altruist
#NoDAPL
What if the Great Sioux Nation decided to build a project through Arlington Cemetery?
Since 1986, pipeline accidents have killed over 500 people, injured more than 4,000, and cost nearly $7 billion dollars in property damages. Pipelines break for many reasons – from slow deterioration from corrosion, to equipment or welding failures, to construction workers hitting pipes with their excavation equipment. Corrosion in pipelines has already caused between 15-20% of all reported deaths, injuries or extensive property damage(s). Unforeseen natural disasters also lead to multiple incidents each year.
Little government regulation and oversight currently requires less than half of all hazardous liquid pipelines to be subjected to rigorous and regular inspection. According to the GAO, close to 90% of the currently 230,000 miles of pipelines are not federally regulated. The government does not collect data on ruptures or spills in most remote areas. High-tech monitors often miss hundreds of leaks each year, and federal data shows local residents discover leaks far more often than paid operators.
Even if the pipeline does not leak, which it most inevitably will with time, the burning of the fossil fuel that flows through it will most definitely poison the air and water with pollution (such as known pollutants CO, CO2, mercury, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and lead.)
In the United States, lakes and navigable-in-fact streams are maintained for drinking and recreation purposes under the public-trust doctrine. The public trust doctrine declares public property rights originally and inherently reserved through the citizens’ social contract with the U.S. government. The public trust remains an attribute of sovereignty that cannot be alienated by any government legislature. This principle designates government as trustee of crucial natural resources and obligates it to act in a fiduciary capacity to protect such assets for the beneficiaries of the trust, which include both present and future generations of citizens. Agency trustees hold an unwavering duty of undivided loyalty to the public (both present and future generations) and must abide by the highest fiduciary standard of commitment and care.
According to UNICEF, 600,000 children under age 5 die worldwide every year from diseases caused by or exacerbated by air pollution. Air pollution also hurts children it doesn't kill, including the unborn: "Pollutants don't only harm children's developing lungs, they can actually cross the blood-brain barrier and permanently damage their developing brains, and, thus, their futures. No society can afford to ignore air pollution." Those who allow the destruction of natural resources to advance singular and corporate interests, or to serve their own political or bureaucratic interests, act in violation of their civic duty.
No matter which side people choose to stand on the front lines of any pipeline, nor even the security dogs being used for so-called "protection"; no living being, nor any generation ahead, is exempt from the build-up of toxins taking place in our bloodstreams from the public and global health hazard of burning of fossil fuels.
The protest is not about a reroute. Work with communities along the pipeline to transform efforts and construction into renewable energy. Rerouting the pipeline will continue to exacerbate air pollution and harm to public health, and potentially leak directly into the water supply of millions. Both violations of your civic duty.
Look at air pollution levels across the U.S., witness the increase in vector-borne diseases, loss of water supply to algal blooms, deforestation and loss of farmland due to drought.
"All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth."
Long Live EVERYONE'S Freedom of Voice.
In Good We Trust.
Kevin
Altruist
#NoDAPL