Hank Carrera North Dakota Assignment

"North Dakota Oil Pipeline Battle: Who's Fighting and Why"
Main Idea: I believe that the main idea of this article was to inform readers about what the people who live near the pipeline and environmentalist feel about this new pipelines construction. The author also included why some people might support the pipeline and what the importance of pipelines are.

Pro Pipeline Main Argument

For the construction of the pipeline 8,000 to 12,000 jobs must be created.

Once the pipeline is finished it will help local economy flourish and thrive.

Companies and government groups such as Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration claim that is much safer to transport oil via pipeline because trains and trucks that would carry oil instead can crash and cause huge fires.

Protesters Main Argument

Some landowners that have been affected by the pipeline crossing their land went to court to claim that the Iowa regulators had no right to grant the building company the power to control the power of eminent domain.

The North Dakota Pipeline as well as all of the other pipelines in the nation pose an environmental threat. Accidents have happened in the past where there are massive leaks of oil that affects the environment in a very bad way. For example, oil has leaked into streams and taking years to fully clean up.

Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe claim that the pipeline will be going across sacred ancestral ground that there ancestors are buried in. They also claim their ancestors hunted upon these ground.

Pipeline Information and Safety

The pipeline will start in North Dakota and end in Illinois and it will be over 1,170 miles long.

Pipelines have a mixed reputation when it comes to safety. They might be safer than train and trucks because of the threat of crashes and massive fires but pipelines are known to have huge leaks that can take a devastating toll on the environment.

The company who is building the pipeline is named Energy Transfer. They claim that that the pipeline is costing a total of $3.7 billion dollars and it will be able to carry 470,000 barrels of oil a day.

"How the Standing Rock Sioux should have been able to stop that pipeline"


Main Idea: The article “How the Standing Rock Sioux should have been able to stop that pipeline” by Naomi Schaefer Riley has a very clear main idea to the story. The Standing Rock Sioux Indians had no power over what the government decided because they didn’t own the land that the pipeline was set to intrude.This left them with no power over what the government decided.

Since they don’t own the land that they are living on the tribe is not able to get a loan for the creation of a small business or get a mortgage to buy the sacred ancestral land that the pipeline is set to intrude upon.

The plan for the pipeline has been changed so it will be avoiding the ancient lands that the ancestors of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe have been buried in.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe are very poor and impoverished and they do not have the means to buy the land.

"Neighbors Say North Dakota Pipeline Protests Disrupt Lives and Livelihoods”


Main Idea: The Article “Neighbors Say North Dakota Pipeline Protests Disrupt Lives and Livelihoods” by Jack Healy is about how the Standing Rock Sioux tribe is affecting the neighborhood. The main idea is very clear in this article. The Protesters of the North Dakota pipeline are affecting the daily lives of the people who live locally in the area. Most residence would say that they are not helping and that they are vandalizing private property and trespassing.

Many local residents are finding that it is a nuisance to travel into town because all of the police blockades and road stops to tell drivers to look out for protesters.

A couple and some friends that were travelling to a casino in the area were planning on camping the night after they saw a concert. They decided not to because all that was happening with the protesters and unrest due to the pipeline.

Local ranchers are out fixing broken fences and looking over their property for anything stolen by the protesters. One farmer was approached by two masked men while in his tractor on a back country road.

Shared Characteristics of the Articles


  1. All of the articles had pictures. Pictures in the articles really helped me visualize what was happening in North Dakota and showed me what the whole site looked like so I could fully grasp what I was reading.


  2. All of the articles I read had long descriptive titles. This helped me understand what I was reading even before I saw the first word. I was able to get my mind moving before I started reading the article which makes you think more deeply.


  3. All of the articles I read spoke about the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and there beliefs. Since I read what three different authors had to say about the tribe I got a really full background of information on the tribe and was able to use prior knowledge to help me as well.


  4. All of the articles that I read were informative articles. Since they were all meant to inform a it was easier for me to piece together what is going on in North Dakota. If one artical was meant to entertain then it would be harder to really put all the information together.


  5. All of the articles I read include statistics and numbers to support their main idea. Statistics make the reader really get a grip on what they are reading and fully understand the text. It also helps the author be able to prove to the reader that whatever they are writing about is true and is happening whether they like it or not.