ND Governor orders evacuation of pipeline protest camp

The Army Corps has insisted, however, that it has no plans to forcibly remove protesters, many of them members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

Supporters say the pipeline will have safeguards against leaks, and is a safer way to move oil than trucks and trains, especially after a handful of fiery – and sometimes deadly – derailments of trains carrying North Dakota crude.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Dave Archambault II said late Monday the most unsafe thing would be to “force well-situated campers from their shelters and into the cold”. The tribe’s chairman, Dave Archambault, denounced the governor’s order as a “menacing action meant to cause fear”.

It also specifically notes the evacuation order will remain in effect even if the corps rescinds their designated restricted areas.

Dalrymple’s order allows additional executive capabilities by the governor including not providing emergency services to those who insist on staying, such as ambulance services, said state Department of Emergency Services spokeswoman Cecily Fong. “We’ve got folks from all over the country out there and I don’t know what they know about North Dakota winters”.

Racism is a “powerful instrument that is being used to divide people”, Tom Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network told Hedges. The Army Corps has insisted, however, that it has no plans to forcibly remove protesters, many of them members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

The governor’s order states that state emergency services will not be made available to the protest camp.

The letter makes it clear that the land will be closed to the public and that anyone who enters it will be considered trespassing and could face prosecution under federal, state and local laws.

Citing increased violence between protesters and law enforcement and the increasingly harsh winter conditions, the Army Corps said it chose to close its land to the protesters who have been there since early April.

The Morton County Sheriff’s Office said protesters set fires while officers tried to disperse the crowds with tear gas, rubber bullets and water sprayed from hoses attached to fire engines.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said Kirchmeier is in “an incredibly hard position”. “You can see the the force increasing and they’ll come up with every reason, every excuse, for them to use the the force and that’s escalating and as escalates and there’s more and more people, I think everyone’s concerned for safety”.

“We stand in solidarity with standing rock”, Potter said.

Sarah Talley, 19, poses for a portrait during a small gathering, in which people prayed for the Dakota Access oil pipeline protesters in Cannon Ball, ND., on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2016 at Ingress Yugen. That’s in addition to the $10 million the commission has already authorized.

Energy Transfer Partners, which is building the pipeline, has trumpeted that the project will create jobs – 8,000 to 12,000 for construction – but little in the way of permanent positions to monitor it. Zent says that is “not the governor’s intent”.

“It is unconscionable that law enforcement gives its unswerving protection to the pipeline developers”, the chapter said.

The $3.8bn, 1,172-mile (1,885km) pipeline project is complete except for a segment that is supposed to run under Lake Oahe, a reservoir formed by a dam on the Missouri River.