Letter: Sioux tribes have right to be upset

The April 2 Gazette article 'Spiritual meets political” described a protest against the Bakken pipeline by two Sioux tribes. Their chairmen arrived by horseback to the 'spirit camp,” the protest site they plan to occupy indefinitely along the Cannonball River near where it meets the Missouri River.

I can understand why they are upset. The Standing Rock Sioux Reservation lies 1,000 feet from where the Bakken pipeline will pump up to 570,000 barrels of oil daily underneath the Missouri River-Lake Oahe. The pipeline crossing will be upstream of several important water uptakes, and it violates the sacred nature of the Cannonball River to the Sioux.

Think the Sioux are over reacting? Think back to 1990, when an Exxon pipeline leaked 500,000 gallons of oil into New York's Harbor. Can't remember back that far? How about 2010, when a ruptured pipeline dumped nearly 1 million gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River. Another leak that same year let loose 250,000 gallons underground near Chicago. In 2011, 63,000 gallons were dumped into the Yellowstone River in Montana. Remember the mess in Mayflower, Ark., in 2013 when the Exxon pipeline ruptured?

According to federal regulators, between 2003 and 2013, a pipeline 'incident” occurred an average of every other day. I don't think the Sioux are being unreasonable at all. One of their chairmen said it well: 'A barrel of water is more valuable than a barrel of oil. You can live without oil but not without water.” That strikes a spiritual chord with me.

Kimberly Williams

Marion