× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

The increasing coverage of the Dakota Access pipeline has led many national news outlets to travel to North Dakota. Unfortunately, too much of that press coverage has focused on a narrow sliver of the Great Plains populace. There are others here who are worried that our voices are not being heard — I am one of them.

Throughout the Midwest and country there is an opportunity to embrace energy independence and chart our own path toward economic growth. By constructing the Dakota Access Pipeline the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois gain as many as 12,000 local jobs, $129 million in tax revenues, and access to an invaluable American-produced natural resource. It was the benefits of this project to millions of people throughout our region, and throughout the country that gave the North Dakota Public Service Commission, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, Iowa Utilities Board, and Illinois Commerce Commission rationale to approve this project and legally allow it to be constructed.

But now the future of this project is jeopardized by national environmental groups that have latched onto a Native American protest as a last-ditch effort to stop a project that they could not prevent through a regular, orderly review process. These actions attempt to disrupt the very rule of law that was established by these state regulatory organizations.