Senator Promoting Dakota Access Pipeline Invests In Bakken Oil Wells Named After Indian Tribe

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U.S. Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) recently came out in support of the Dakota Access pipeline, the hotly contestedย Energy Transfer Partners-owned pipelineย envisionedย to move oil obtained via hydraulic fracturing (โ€œfrackingโ€) from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale basin. As the pipeline transports oil across North andย South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois, it will cross farms, natural areas, and perhaps mostย notably, ancestral lands of theย Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which is one of several tribes disagreeing with Sen. Hoeven’s assessmentย that this pipeline is โ€œinfrastructure weย need.โ€ย 

What Sen. Hoevenย โ€” anย outspoken supporter of TransCanada’s Keystone XLย tar sands pipeline โ€” did not mention, however, is his personal investment in 68 different oil-producing wells in North Dakota under the auspices of the companyย Mainstream Investors, LLCย according to his most recent congressional personal financial disclosure form.ย 

Seventeen of those wells are owned by Continental Resources, the company whose CEO Harold Hamm also serves as a campaign energy adviserย to Republicanย presidential candidate Donald Trump. Those wells have a value of between $11,000โ€“$171,000, and 14 of them, namedย Wahpeton, are located within 18 miles of the Dakota Access Watford City terminal site.ย 

In a twist of irony,ย Wahpeton is part of the namesake of theย Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Tribe, whose reservation sits in southeast North Dakota and northeast South Dakota. The tribe passed a resolution in 2014 in opposition to the building of the Dakota Accessย pipeline.

Image Credit: Sisseton Wahpeton Oyateย Tribe

Many Native American tribes have come out against the pipeline. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose current reservation is also within a half mile of the proposed pipeline’s path,ย has filed a lawsuit and requested a court-ordered injunction in the U.S. District Court for the District ofย Columbia.

However, Sen. Hoeven insists he has been supportive and โ€œrespectfulโ€ of tribal concerns about consultation during the pipeline permitting process, despite criticisms from three federal agencies about the processย andย continued complaints and protests from tribalย members.ย 

Hoeven is a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, where heย has the responsibility to ensureย tribal concerns are heard and adequately addressed. However, not all of his constituents feel he is living up to thisย role.ย 

โ€œIt is deplorable that Senator Hoeven, and others like him, sit on the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs,โ€ said Krystal Two Bulls, aย participant in the Red Warrior Camp, which has joined up with the Sacred Stone Camp and is an ongoing encampment situated along the pipeline’s route at the Standing Rock Reservation. โ€œIt’s a Committee that should be comprised of people who will look out for the best interest of Indian country, but has turned into a gateway for predators to take advantage of Native American people andย theirย lands.โ€

Continental has given Sen. Hoevenย $10,200 in campaign contributions during this campaign cycle, and Hamm and his former wife Sue have given himย $8,000 in campaign contributions since 2010, according to Oil Change International’s Dirty Energy Moneyย database.

The senator also hasย hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of investments in 33 North Dakota-based oil wells owned by Whiting Petroleum Corporation and hundreds of thousands of dollars more in investments in seven wells owned by ExxonMobil subsidiary XTO Energy. Both companies have donated generously to his 2016 senateย campaign.

โ€œSenator Hoeven makes his decisions based on the merits,โ€ Hoeven spokesman Don Canton said via email when asked if the investments and campaign money influenced his support for the pipeline. โ€œAs far as his other investments, theyโ€™re all fullyย disclosed.โ€

Photo Credit: Bold Nebraska | Flickr

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Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

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