ND Governor Issues Evacuation Order For Pipeline Protest Area

North Dakota and local governments have shouldered most of the expenses.

The state’s latest decision to avoid making spot checks on cars entering the protest site indicates local officials will not actively enforce Monday’s emergency order to evacuate the camp issued by Governor Jack Dalrymple, who had cited a coming blizzard.

A massive campaign of angry phone calls and indignant emails to departments planning to travel to North Dakota succeeded in persuading multiple sheriffs – elected officials – the brutal tactics used against peaceful Standing Rock Sioux and other water protectors have been a gross abuse of power. That order includes the encampment called Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires camp.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said the announcement from the Corps to close the main protest camp on December 5 came as welcome news, but he continues to seek more help from the federal government. “It just escalates and causes more concern for safety for everybody”.

He said the protesters’ temporary dwellings have yet to be inspected and approved, and failure to do so posed serious public safety concerns.

“They are the ones who are bringing the aggression”, he said.

The only thing that might prevent a huge and violent confrontation in North Dakota a week from today, with the Corps of Engineers Eviction Notice set for December 5, will be the members of the United States Senate and Congress who intercede next week.

The Obama administration in September postponed final approval of an Army Corps permit required to allow tunneling beneath the lake, a move meant to give federal officials more time to consult tribal leaders.

The National Lawyers Guild’s Water Protector Legal Collective filed the lawsuit Monday in North Dakota federal court.

The Corps of Engineers announced on November 14 that they would temporarily halt planned pipeline construction under Lake Oahe, a source of water for the Sioux and now the site of intense protests.

Sunoco Logistics Partners, the future operators of the DAPL has spilled crude oil more than any of its competitors, with more than 200 leaks since 2010.

A press conference was held Monday night in response to Gov. Darymple’s emergency order.

It appears that, aside from the fact that protesters have been hosed down in freezing temperatures by private security thugs, shot with rubber bullets capable of ripping into the skin and generally harassed beyond endurance, there is a unusual kind of trouble at Standing Rock.

More than 5.1 million people in the US identify as fully or partially Native American or Alaska Native, according to the US Census Bureau. One police officer was injured during the action.

The Morton County Sheriff’s department has denied using water cannons and concussion grenades, but eyewitness accounts, as well as video footage, reveal they are not being truthful about their tactics. “We’re all in this together – no one is going to be left in the cold”.

“That’s what I’m hoping, or at least cut the number of them”, he added. “Where are you?” he said.

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights offers the following statement regarding the Dakota Access Pipeline. The 71 day occupation resulted in dozens of injuries and two deaths.

The governor of North Dakota says he has not authorized roadblocks or forcible removal of protesters from the area near the route of the Dakota Access Pipeline. They sang and carried the flags of the nations they represented, stopping to knot prayer ties to fences along the site and leave tobacco offerings.