What do I know about this pipeline and what relevance does it have to me? I know squat.

But what I do know is that oil pipelines are fairly reliable, I think of the one supplying Alberta oil to Ontario for decades, I do not remember ever having any problems of it destroying lands.

Pipeline uses only a narrow path so it does not take away a lot of land, most being untouched. Same goes for leakages, they rarely happen and it is on land, not at sea, so more easily spotted repaired and cleaned up.
Therefore for so many bands in the US reacting to what I call as no less then plain hysteria is hard for me to grasp.

I think these are just cases of making mountains out of mole hills to grab compensation cash. No cash then no development, period. Sad.