Robert Redford Blatantly Misleads Public on Dakota Access

Recently Robert Redford published a video calling for viewers to call the White House to voice their opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Along the way, he issues categorically false statements about the project and energy infrastructure in the region. The following represents some of his more egregious claims.

“The Standing Rock Sioux are fighting to prevent a giant pipeline from being built that would cut through the Missouri River”

Fact: The Dakota Access Pipeline will be buried more than 90 feet below the river bed, significantly lowering the threat to the water source. Moreover, the pipeline will parallel the preexisting Northern Border pipeline which was laid in the 1980s.

“That would cut through the Missouri River – their clean water supply”

Fact: The water intake facility for the Standing Rock Sioux reservation is scheduled to move 70 miles away from the Dakota Access Pipeline and to within two miles of a far more dangerous crude rail line. Redford and other protestors choose to overlook this fact and continue to frame the Dakota Access Pipeline as the ultimate and unique threat to the region’s water.

“An oil spill is all but guaranteed.”

Fact: The Dakota Access Pipeline will be one of the most technologically advanced and safest infrastructure projects in the country. Redford’s argument, that any pipeline will spill, is both irresponsible and dishonest. For example, not every bridge is made to crumble.  Moreover, without a pipeline, oil in the region will continue to be transported by truck and rail, which has shown to be more likely cause to a spill.