All language subtitles for VICE S05E19 Crude Reality Between Oil and Water

Oil was first discovered
in the south of Sudan

by Chevron in 1978.

Now, that discovery
quickly ignited

a long-running civil war
with the north.

And for the next 22 years, the
south, which had most of the oil,

fought the government in the north,
which took most of the wealth.

By the time it was over,

more than two million
people were dead

and more than three million,
displaced.

But six years ago,
the people of South Sudan

voted almost unanimously
to break away from the north,

becoming the world's
newest country.

The US played
an instrumental role,

sending close
to $11 billion in aid.

For the first
time, the people of South Sudan

had a chance to benefit from their
wealth of natural resources.

But now, the south
may be falling victim

to the so-called
"resource curse."

How many patients on average
do you have here coming in?

Maker Isaac
is the director

of the main hospital

for South Sudan's
12 million people.

Broken bone? Ooh, that's
a bad break.

He's very skinny.

Yeah.
Is that normal?

Oh, I see.

So, there's no food
at all in the hospital?

That must be difficult

when a lot of people are here
for malnutrition reasons,

or for dehydration and such.
Yes. Yes.

What's she in here for?

It seems like getting
treatment is quite difficult.

Without food,
medicine, or electricity,

South Sudan's largest hospital
is clearly failing its patients.

Do you have enough funding here

for you guys to get paid
and everything? No?

How much?

Less that $30.
Yeah.

And you're the director of the hospital?
Yeah. Yeah.

Why?

While South Sudan struggles
to provide the most basic services,

it's sitting on some of the largest
oil reserves on the continent.

Madding Ngor is a journalist

whose family members
fought and died

in the war for independence.

The economy is struggling,

because the oil prices
are declining.

And South Sudan is a country that is
almost entirely dependent on oil.

It has tremendous effect.

In this oilproducing country,

it's actually almost
impossible to buy gas.

There's a big
fuel shortage here?

It's huge.
It's immense.

Seeing all these people queuing
up, to try and fill up their tanks,

is that how
everyone gets their fuel?

It's crazy. Let
me tell you on record,

I waited for 10 hours.
10 hours?

10 hours,
and I didn't get it.

So, where's everyone
getting their fuel?

There is the black market.

So, these guys are all selling gas?
Yeah. Let's see.

A single bottle
of fuel costs more

than the monthly salary
of most people in South Sudan.

Despite at least three and a half
billion barrels in oil reserves,

the economy is
now completely crippled,

a far cry from what was expected when
the country gained its independence.

- Were you here on Independence Day?
- Absolutely.

I was here, and this place

was filled up with people.

This was the only time
in our history

where we came together,
despite our differences,

whether they were tribal,
whether they were political,

whether they were economical.

All kinds of people where here.

Just like a wedding night,

when the honeymoon fades,
the real problems, they kick in.

And it was just
a matter of three years.

and the country erupted in war.

December 15, 2013, there was
a brewing power struggle.

between Salva Kiir Mayardit,
president of South Sudan...

...and Riek Machar, the
former first vice president.

And of course at the center
of power, is oil, is money.

It became a conflict
along tribal lines:

the Dinka, where the
president comes from,

and the Nuer, where the former
first vice president comes from--

and that engulfed
the whole country.

With the country's
two largest tribes divided

by their loyalty to the president
and the vice president,

the world's newest country
split along ethnic lines.

This is not the
country we fought for.

We were fighting for a future

where there is a peace,
there is a stability,

there is prosperity.

So, indeed, people are upset

about where we have found
ourselves in the country.

In 2016,

a team of investigators

backed by George Clooney--

who's been an activist
in this region

for over a decade--

published a two-year long
investigation

into South Sudan's leaders.

This morning,
we're prepared to give evidence

of massive criminal behavior

by the president of South Sudan

and by his opposition,
the ousted vice president.

They concluded
that at the root

of the power struggle
is a fierce battle

over control
of the state's assets.

They're stealing the
money to fund their militias,

to attack and kill one another.

South Sudan's leaders
and their relatives

were getting rich
off lucrative deals

in the oil and mining industries

while the country was driven
into war and famine.

Fourteen-year-old Bol is among
the nearly two million people

who were forced from their homes

and now scattered
across South Sudan.

How did you get here?

Do you think
about your family a lot?

To find out
how the ongoing war

is affecting civilians
outside of Juba,

we flew north,
crossing ethnic lines

to the tribal home
of the opposition.

More than 120,000 ethnic Nuers

are now living inside
this one barbed-wire camp.

UN peacekeepers protect them
from their own government.

Half
of them are children like Isaac,

who fled ethnic slaughter
by government soldiers.

Did you lose anyone?

Have you talked to anyone
about how you feel?

I mean, I can tell you're...

upset and you're thinking
about your brother.

We just climbed up to
the edge of the POC site,

and from up here you can see how
absolutely humongous this site is.

In fact, it's the third
largest city in South Sudan.

And this fence here is the only
thing separating these people

from the attacks and killings and
atrocities that happen right out there.

Even inside the camps,
food is scarce.

Civilians, mostly women,
are forced to leave

the camp every day
to collect firewood,

which they can then sell
to purchase food.

So it takes four or five hours to
reach the place where you're going?

What are the biggest threats
when you go out to collect wood?

Who is it that's
beating and raping?

Both the UN and the African
Union have documented cases

of mass rape of civilians and even
children by government soldiers.

We're with the UN mission
in South Sudan,

just out
with the Mongolian battalion.

The security situation around Nhialdiu
has been pretty precarious recently,

and so, these peacekeepers are
frequently having to head out

on patrols to go
and assess what's going on.

The territory around the camp has changed
hands several times during the conflict.

Right now, it's government soldiers
that are controlling this town.

There are so many soldiers loitering
around this one tiny little village,

and several extremely
young-looking kids with guns.

According to the UN,
there are more

than 17,000 child soldiers
involved in the conflict,

and that number is growing.

With one of the largest
peacekeeping missions

protecting hundreds of thousands

from their own government,
we sat down

with the country's
minister of information.

Michael Lueth belongs

to the small circle
of presidential elites.

The US recent attempted
to slap sanctions on him

for orchestrating
the slaughter of civilians.

Can you explain what the current state
of South Sudan is in your eyes?

Well, the current state
of South Sudan

in terms of human rights
is... is okay.

You say it's okay. I mean, there's...
almost three million people

displaced throughout
South Sudan,

and about 200,000 of those are living
within IDP camps within their own country.

Were they displaced because
of human rights violations?

Yes.
No.

There are widespread reports
throughout the country,

and outside of the country, of
killings, of brutal mass-rapes.

These are reports from independent
people, from individuals,

from humanitarian groups from the UN.

These are not credible reports.

These are reports which are
written here in the hotels.

I mean, it sounds like you're saying that
the government accepts zero responsibility

for any of the atrocities that have
happened throughout your country.

If you don't accept any
of that responsibility,

it's incredibly difficult to see
how peace could ever be reached,

if there's
no accountability at all.

I'm not saying that there had never
been any offenses committed.

Yes, there are
offenses committed.

People are under arrest-- people are
under arrest... By your people.

...and they are
under investigation.

Others have already
undergone trial.

Do you refute the fact
that South Sudan

is one of the most corrupt
countries in the world?

Well, corruption is
all over the world.

South Sudan is
part of the world,

so it cannot be free
of corruption.

I'm asking you on a scale
whether South Sudan

is up there as one of the most
corrupt countries in the world.

South Sudan is one of the
corrupt countries in the world,

not the most.

Are you corrupt?
Me?

No, I'm not corrupt.

While the government denies

the allegations of corruption,
the fact remains

that the same men
who tore this country apart

remain very much in power

while civilians continue
to pay the price.

And it's the international community
that's left with the costly task

of trying to hold the world's
youngest country together.

We're hoping that Bol, the
14-year-old kid that we met in Juba

is on this plane so that he can come
and be reunified with his family.

Bol, who's 14 years old,

hasn't seen his family here
in Bentiu since he was 11.

Does it feel good
to be back in your town?

What are you most excited about?

Who are these people outside?

How long have you
been waiting for this day?

The Dakota Access
Pipeline brought

an intense wave of attention

to the Standing Rock
Sioux Reservation.

After protesting for months,

the opposition successfully
blocked the pipeline,

which they saw as a great danger

to sacred land and fresh water.

Under my presidency,

we'll accomplish a complete

American energy independence.

Complete. Complete.

But President Donald Trump's
pro-energy, pro-pipeline platform,

stands in direct opposition
to practically everything

that the Standing Rock
protest has represented,

which constitutes a new threat

to the future
of America's tribal lands.

By the way, you'll have
to take my word for it,

because I don't know
if you can see me,

but we're in Standing
Rock, North Dakota.

We came here
in early December 2016

at the peak
of the protest movement.

Thousands of people
from across the country--

native Americans,
military veterans,

and environmental activists--

came together here
in solidarity for one cause:

protecting land and water
they say is under threat

from oil and gas development.

I've never seen anything like
this in real life.

The closest thing
I can compare it to

is a scene from
Game of Thrones or Mad Max.

You came prepared.
How come you have gas masks?

Their goal was to halt the
construction of the Dakota Access pipeline,

whose
1,172-mile path

runs directly through land

which was once part of
the Great Sioux Nation,

and to some is still
considered sacred.

If the pipeline
were to spill oil,

it could contaminate
the Missouri River,

which provides drinking water for the
Standing Rock Sioux and millions of others.

And with nearly 8,000
major pipeline incidents

in the last three decades,

leaders like Standing Rock
Sioux Chairman

Dave Archambault,
felt the need to act.

How did the protest

against the Dakota Access
pipeline begin?

It wasn't overnight.

2003, 2006, there was
a lot of exploration

going on in North Dakota.

There was
this new Bakken oil play.

The US Geological Survey

is now calling the Bakken
formation the largest continuous

oil accumulation
it's ever assessed.

It led to the biggest
oil boom in American history,

increasing domestic production

by 87 percent

from when President Obama
first took office

until its peak in 2015.

2014, we learned
the Dakota Access pipeline

was being planned,
and we expressed our concerns,

saying, "This pipeline is gonna
destroy a lot of our sacred places."

So, we filed a suit, then they
gave a notice of preconstruction.

There was a
sacred camp that was set up.

And then a week later,
there's maybe six people,

and then 12 people,
and then 30, and then 100.

Images of clashes

between Sioux protesters
and authorities

sparked a wave of support from
other Native American tribes

and environmental activists,
hoping to stop construction.

By December, the camp had
grown to 10,000 people.

What was it about this protest

that became
a kind of phenomenon?

Like, why?
I think it's pretty simple.

We've been treated wrong
for so many centuries,

that it's time to stand up.

A lot of people
recognized that and said,

"We're gonna stand with you."

And it worked.

While we were there,
the Obama administration

halted the pipeline's
construction.

This is a huge victory
for protesters in North Dakota.

The Army Corps of Engineers
announced it will look

for an alternate route for a
controversial pipeline project

near Native American lands.

But once in office,

it only took four days
for Donald Trump to allow

the project to continue
with an action of his own.

This is with respect
to the construction

of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Trump issued
executive memorandums,

which showed support for both the Dakota
Access and Keystone XL pipelines.

Okay?

We are the original
occupants of these lands,

and infrastructure projects
do have an impact on us.

Economic development is
why they took our land.

There's no benefit
to our tribe for this pipeline.

All across the country,

Native American tribes
are concerned

about the risks
of energy extraction.

But in Oklahoma, one tribe has
been reaping the benefits

from their underground resources

for over a century.

Ladies and gentlemen,
I'd like to welcome you

to Osage Minerals Council
regular meeting,

Wednesday, January the 18th.

The Osage Minerals
Council oversees and manages

the headrights to all oil,
gas, and minerals found

underneath the nearly 1.5 million
acres that makes up the reservation.

Everett Waller was elected

council chairman in 2014.

I want the Osages
to be known as an oil tribe.

I sell a product that comes
out of the wellhead

at approximately $50 a barrel,

but every dollar I make
under royalty

is delivered to the owner.

So the Osage are able to dictate
where people can and cannot drill.

Welcome to my reservation, yes.

So, the Osage are pretty unique

in how much control you have
over your mineral wealth.

We give the credit
to my great-great-grandfather.

His name was
Watiankah the Mighty.

He saw this vision
about our future.

He saw metal flying
and then running on the ground.

This was back when there were
Lincoln Logs and stuff like that.

But we had someone
with enough foresight

to ask in our treaty rights

that we wanted everything
under the ground.

We struck oil in 1898.

Once it was found,
everyone come down

to get their fortune
like a gold rush.

More oil has been sold here than
all gold rushes put together.

Figures suggest some 20 percent

of America's fossil fuels
are on reservation land.

Imagine that.

I'm representing one of the
richest tribes in the world.

We own the oil.
We own the gas.

It's worth billions.

We haven't even hit
the helium yet.

That's gonna be worth
a trillion dollars.

Up at Standing Rock, it seems
like the last thing anybody wants

is to be in bed
with energy companies,

and yet, arguably, that's what's
served the Osage so well.

I'm wondering,
what the Osage position is

on reconciling the relationship
with the energy companies

with belief in the sanctity of land,
trying to protect your reservation.

We understand the sacred land.

We are one of the best custodians
there is on the planet

of trying to retrieve
this fossil fuel

and not damage Mother Earth.

But that wasn't
always the case.

The Osage Tribal Council fired

former environmental inspector
Chris White

in 1995 after he reported

130 potential violations

during his employment.

Do you see where the salt
has come up here

on the edge
around this joint here?

That's a leak.

Most of the operators
in Osage County

on the reservation,
they're good operators.

There are some operators that,
when given the opportunity,

they will take advantage of an
area like this, right here.

It's money to them.
If they can cut corners,

it reduces their overhead, so they're
dumping stuff on the ground,

or not disposing of it properly,

not maintaining their equipment
in a proper working order.

After being fired,

Chris filed a complaint
against the council

under the whistle-blower
provision

within the Safe
Drinking Water Act.

He won the case,
and it was discovered

that the council's grounds
for firing him were unlawful.

How does it make you feel to come
back here after all of that?

It's depressing.

At some point in time,

the chickens are gonna
come home to roost.

But spills are not
the only consequence

of America's
shale oil revolution.

We're in Cushing, Oklahoma.

People often refer to this
as the Saudi Arabia of the West,

because there's more oil
flowing through and stored here

than anywhere else
in North America.

Cushing also happens to be
experiencing a rash of earthquakes.

Since 2008,
the state's gone

from averaging
two a year to two a day.

A powerful earthquake

rattled central
Oklahoma Saturday.

Oklahoma
geological survey experts

have connected
the increase in quakes

to the disposal of wastewater from
a oil and gas production process

known as hydraulic fracturing,
or fracking.

Jake Walter is

the state seismologist

for the Oklahoma
Geological Survey,

and is studying the steady rise

in seismic activity
over the last decade.

What's going on?
What's causing the earthquakes?

There's thousands of injection
wells throughout Oklahoma.

Oklahoma has loads
and loads of faults

in some of the deepest
sedimentary layers.

Because of the high volumes

of water that
have been injected,

that water is working its way
into some of these faults,

so that these faults
are allowed to slip.

How does Oklahoma compare

to the rest of the country
in terms of seismic activity?

Well, with the exception
of Alaska,

Oklahoma is the most seismically
active state in the US.

We're looking at a map
of Oklahoma here,

and the earthquakes are in red,

and the injection wells are
in those black squares there.

You can see that injections
sort of spread

to the north-central part
of Oklahoma,

and the earthquakes
are not far behind.

We're getting to a point where some of
these earthquakes are fairly significant--

the 5.8 that was
in September of this year,

the 5.0 near Cushing,

which is near a nationally
strategic oil pipeline.

These sort of last six years
have been unprecedented.

How worried should people be
about these earthquakes?

The hazard is very, very real.

But the threat

of catastrophic damage
to infrastructure

in Oklahoma has not stopped the
surge in shale oil production,

which has skyrocketed
over thousand percent

since the year 2000.

With the support for a new
oil-friendly administration,

the industry has 32,000 miles

of new and planned pipelines

in the works
across North America,

according to Pipeline
& Gas Journal.

And already, the Dakota Access
pipeline has leaked,

confirming the fears
that brought it

so much attention
in the first place.

Luckily, the leaks
didn't impact drinking water,

but Dave Archambault
showed us just how vulnerable

the tribe could be if they had.

Would you say that this pipeline

is now the biggest threat
to the community?

Today it is.

If you look right here, this
is where the water comes in.

You can see the treatment plant,

the intake, and the water
tower all right here.

And that's the system that
provides the fresh drinking water,

but it all comes
from Missouri River.

This pipeline that threatens
this water supply,

carrying 550,000 barrels

of crude oil with benzene in it,

is gonna have a direct
impact on our people.

And that's not right.

Even though it's legal,

even though
the political system says,

"This is what we're gonna do,"

we can't continue
down this path,

or we're gonna leave
nothing for our kids.

There are currently over 150
proposed oil and gas pipelines

in the works across the country,

many of which could potentially
cross through tribal lands.

but the legacy of
Standing Rock has endured

through numerous
pipeline protest movements

that have sprung up
across North America.

And pipeline divestment
groups have shepherded

the removal of billions

from the balance sheets
of investors.

Seattle is the first city

to have divested
from Wells Fargo.

Despite setbacks brought by
the Trump administration,

these people aren't giving up.

The fight for clean water

is the battle for the soul

of our nation
and of all nations.

Our way of life
is being destroyed.

Instead of expanding
human rights,

the new administration
limits human rights.

Repeat
after me, everybody!

- I...
- I...

...believe...
..believe...

...that we...
..that we...

...will win!
...will win!