Pipeline leak in the US: Native Americans fear groundwater contamination

Because of a leak in the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota (USA), a Native American community now fears that the groundwater from which they draw their drinking water might be contaminated. This was reported by the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) in Göttingen on Friday. “We are very concerned about the leak because we fear that North America’s largest underground freshwater reservoir might be contaminated,” said David Flute, head of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate indigenous community from the Lake Traverse Reserve, after the leak had become known. According to the operator TransCanada, about 795,000 liters of oil leaked into the ground on Thursday, due to a leak in the underground pipeline.

The STP demanded the company TransCanada to explain why it took so long to inform the South Dakota environmental authorities. “Because of this, a lot of time was lost. It might have been possible to limit the extent of the environmental catastrophe,” the STP criticized in a letter to the operating company. According to TransCanada, the company had notified the environmental authorities four and a half hours after the leak had been detected.

“Due to the leakage, the Native Americans now feel encouraged in their criticism of the pipelines,” the STP stated. In late October of 2017, Bear Shield of the Rosebud Sioux and Harold Frazier of the Cheyenne River Sioux had reaffirmed their opposition to new pipelines. The two leading representatives of local indigenous communities had warned that oil spills could lead to serious health consequences. Some of the new pipelines are supposed to be constructed only 15 miles away from their reservations, endangering the drinking water supply of 65,000 Native Americans.

Indigenous communities have been warning about the unmanageable consequences of oil spills due to pipeline leaks for years. Nevertheless, the Trump government is planning to expand the pipeline network. In March 2017, the US government had approved the controversial construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, an extension of the existing Keystone pipeline. It is used to transport oil from Canada’s province of Alberta to Texas. Yesterday’s oil spill comes at a problematic moment for the Trump administration, as the authorities in Nebraska were expected to sign an approval of the Keystone XL pipeline next Monday.

Header Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr