To the editor:
The protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (by the Standing Rock Sioux and others) are a demand for safety, and an insistence on reducing risks for current and future generations. As I support these demands for prioritizing the protection of public health and the environment; let me begin by saying I don’t dispute the claims of huge financial gains that the pipeline will provide to a large number of businesses and people. I recognize this is on top of the mega-billions of revenue made in prior years by the oil industry from other similar projects.
However, I am also not blind to or unaware of the over 3,300 oil and gas spills that have occurred between 2010 and 2015. Over 1,000 of those were crude oil spills or leaks. The 2010 Kalamazoo River spill cost well over $1.2 billion to clean up, and took four years to reach the current level of “monitoring” for ongoing risks.
Taking up a talking point of the pro-pipeline folk, one could say that the $1.2 billion spent on that river cleanup created all sorts of jobs and economic benefits to the area. I wonder if those local river residents, as well as the residents of Flint, Michigan, appreciate and value the vast amounts of money that flowed into their communities dealing with the environmental and public health crisis forced upon them. Do you think that the vast amount of money spent has bought back their health, their trust, their peace of mind?
I actually believe that most of them would have preferred if some “water protectors” had stubbornly stood up for them and helped avoid both those disasters from ever happening.
Make no mistake, the risk taking in both Michigan and the Dakotas is purely and simply for the sake of saving money to make more corporate profits. We can do better for ourselves and for our children. Please show your support for all “water protectors’’ wherever and whoever they are.
