Pipeline Protesters Vow to Remain at North Dakota Site Despite Orders from Feds to Leave

 

Now a potential fight and standoff with the Dakota Access Pipeline protesters is developing with the federal government. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has ordered the protesters off the federal land where they created an encampment over the past several months while protesting the $3.8 billion pipeline that will carry oil from North Dakota through South Dakota, Iowa and to Illinois.

The Corps sent a letter to the Native American leaders of the protest movement, ordering them to leave the federal land by Dec. 5.

Standing Rock SiouxTribal leader Dave Archambault says he will defy the order and will remain  in the Oceti Sakowin camp. It is one of three camps near the construction.

“We are wardens of this land. This is our land, and they can’t remove us,” protester Isaac Weston, an Oglala Sioux member from South Dakota, told The Associated Press on Saturday. “We have every right to be here to protect our land and to protect our water.”

The federal government cited the growing violence between the protesters and law enforcement plus the approach of cold and harsh winter conditions.

Col. John Henderson, the Army Corps’ district commander, asked Archambault in a letter to tell members of his tribe, along with supporters there, to move from the property north of the Cannonball River.

Henderson said the decision was made to protect the public from violent confrontations between law enforcement and protesters, who call themselves “water protectors,” as well as the “harsh North Dakota winter conditions.”

Oklahoma Native American leaders have visited the protest site as a show of support and environmentalists from the state have also joined the group at various times since protesters created the encampment in April.