Fort Berthold Indian Reservation serves as the ancestral home to the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA). This reservation is uniquely positioned within the Bakken Formation, which is known as the largest shale oil field in all of North America. Nowadays, the area finds itself enveloped in the turmoil of oil exploration and hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The very landscape is marred by the presence of oil pumps, towering fracking rigs, hazardous waste dumps, and an extensive underground network of pipes. Over countless miles of subterranean pipelines, oil is transported from, through, and across the reservation. While the oil industry presents significant economic prospects for certain tribal members, it simultaneously poses grave risks to the cultural integrity and environmental health of the entire community and its land.
At present, Fort Berthold is home to around 6,500 members belonging to the MHA Nation. Spanning one million acres, this expansive reservation contains 21 fracking rigs, 1,400 operational oil wells, and a staggering 1,992 wells that are deemed potentially exploitable. The recent surge in the oil industry has propelled North Dakota to quickly become the second-largest oil-producing state in the United States, achieving an impressive peak of approximately 1.3 million barrels per day from almost 9,000 wells. However, the MHA Nation faces significant environmental repercussions as a result of this extractive industry, with little to show in terms of local benefits; distressingly, the average life expectancy among reservation residents is a striking 57 years, compared to 79 years for the rest of North Dakota. Alarmingly, fewer than 15% of tribal members are reaping the benefits of the oil boom.
The influx of outside wealth triggered by the oil boom has wreaked havoc on the social dynamics within the community, leading to an array of new challenges on the reservation. The rate of suicides and unforeseen deaths has escalated, alongside increased incidents of violent crime, substance abuse, and sex work. Against this backdrop of confusion and instability, tribal leaders, including Chairman Mark Fox, are earnestly striving to safeguard their land and ensure a stable future for their people. For many within the MHA Nation, this latest oil rush is merely a continuation of a long history characterized by the exploitation of their lands and the erosion of their way of life.
This struggle echoes back to the 19th century, when a devastating smallpox epidemic virtually annihilated the Mandan and severely reduced the populations of the Hidatsa and Arikara tribes. Such tragedies led to the three tribes coming together to form one cohesive nation. Later, in the late 1940s, the establishment of the Garrison Dam resulted in the flooding of their lands, creating Lake Sakakawea and forcing numerous tribal members to relocate to less fertile highlands, compounding their existing poverty. Today, fracking and oil drilling continue to represent yet one more formidable obstacle to the peace, health, and sovereignty of the tribe. Chairman Mark Fox’s poignant assertion encapsulates this sentiment: "we are not going to trade revenue for having no place to live."
