In Pilot Mound, IA, Mayor Leda Burton and concerned resident Jeff Lass describe that little town's unsuccessful struggle to get answers about safety to its own well-based water supply from the Iowa Utilities Board and Energy Transfer Partners, builders of the pipeline.
Yvonne Scott, a former mid-westerner who is driving through Iowa as part of her journey to travel the length of the pipeline to witness its impact, describes how much the journey has moved her. She also describes how she used the only available map of the pipeline to make her journey; the map was made by Ames resident map maker, Nitin Gadia. Yvnne is documenting the journey with her blog, including photos along the way.
Nitin Gadia explains why he made the only publicly available map of the Bakken pipeline, the power of maps, and how making this map has transformed his perception of the Standing Rock Struggle. Nitin, who works for Mapstory, a cooperative map-building web site, speaks about projects he has been inspired to undertake, including a history of American Indian lands and sacred sites.
David Gradwohl, professor of Anthropology and founding director of the ISU Archeology Lab explains sacred sites and the difficulty in defining and protecting these in white American cultural terms. He describes his experiences with the Army Corps of Engineers, as well as a landmark case of national significance about regulating sacred sites - which occurred in Ames.
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Online Resources:
- Pilot Mound, IA
- Iowa Utilities Board
- Energy Transfer Partners
- only publicly available map of the Bakken pipeline
- Mapstory
- ISU Archeology Lab
- Army Corps of Engineers
Originally broadcast 12/07/2016
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