A child asks their parent for permission to do something that the child knows is harmful, but has utmost intentions of doing it anyway. As the parent understands the risks and the potential outcome of the child’s actions, they answer “no” to the request. The kid gets angry, and storms off with a plan to just ask the other parent for permission when they get home.

Believe it or not, the above paragraph is an analogy for an ongoing battle between the always-imposing oil industry, the contradicting United States government and the underdogs of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.

For the those unaware of what has been going on near Cannon Ball, North Dakota over the past year, here is what you need to know:

• On June 25th of 2014, the Dakota Access Pipeline project was announced to the public. Energy Transfer Partner, the company responsible for the DAPL, intended the 1,168 pipeline to run from North Dakota, through South Dakota and Iowa, ending at an oil farm in Patoka, Illinois.
• The pipeline was put in route to run through the nearly million acre Standing Rock Sioux reservation and under Lake Oahe, the sole source of water for this tribe. The concern from the tribe is contamination to their water as well as destruction to sacred land.
• Since the approval of the building permit in January of 2016 and the beginning of the protests in the following April, an expression of opposition to the pipeline has been at large.
• In early December of 2016, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) brought the DAPL project to a standstill by denying the construction of a crucial part of the pipeline. Energy Transfer Partners released a statement stating the approval for the completion would be tried again under the Trump administration.
• Days after President Trump was sworn in, he signed an executive order approving the advancement of the DAPL.
• On February 13th, 2017, the Cheyenne River Sioux and Standing Rock Sioux tribes were denied a restraining order that would once again halt the construction of the pipeline.

With reports of North American pipeline spills appearing week after week, some less than 100 miles from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, these tribes live in constant fear that the land they survive off of may destroyed due to a method of energy that continues to be proven to be much less efficient than other alternative methods. The United States dwindled down Native American land to concentrated areas for them to live on, and now it is attempting to take even more. Protests continue to occur and don’t appear to slow down soon.