The Keystone Pipeline leaks massive amounts of oil into the environment

Many of us in the USA protested against the expansion of this oil pipeline. In fact, the protests were so effective that President Obama agreed to stop the building of this pipeline from Canada through the USA. Unfortunately, one of the first things that Donald Trump did, as president, was to OK this pipeline. Since then, there have been two major oil leaks. Part of the pipeline goes through land which is sacred to Native Americans and part of the pipeline goes through the largest supply of underground fresh water in the USA.

Here is an article about this oil spill:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/16/us/keystone-pipeline-leak/index.html

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

to protest - this is when people who disagree with an issue or action come together publicly to express themselves in order to try to change something.

a leak - when a liquid substance escapes from a container or structure that was meant to hold the liquid safely.

to be sacred - to be holy, to be a part of someone's religion.

South Dakota - a state in the American mid-west.

a barrel - a wooden container 

to stretch from - they go from 

to be approved - to be OK'd, to be allowed to happen

to give a permit approval - when a government agency provides a permit (official document allowing something) to allow something to happen.

a thumbs up - an approval, a thumbs down is a disapproval

crude oil - oil in its basic form, before it is refined into gasoline or other products

intense debate - strong arguments for and against something

amid - among, within 

hefty opposition - strong opposition, strong feelings against something

the extraction of - the removal of something

sovereign lands - if land belongs to Native Americans, the US government has no legal right to use it.