Following months of what became violent protests, calm has returned to the site of the Dakota Access oil pipeline in North Dakota and it’s allowed Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners to no longer have private security on the scene.
Spokeswoman Vicki Granada with ETP told the Associated Press, “We continue to have security measures in place in North Dakota, just no longer need boots on the ground.”
One of those no longer carrying out security for the company was TigerSwan, a firm that state regulators claimed was operating illegally without a license. North Dakota’s Private Investigative and Security Board asked a judge last week to block the North Carolina-based company’s armed workers from monitoring the pipeline system.
TigerSwan said it ended work for ETP near the end of June and Granada said much the same. The company’s founders were retired military special forces members and its guards carried semi-automatic rifles and handguns as they protected workers and equipment at the construction sites.
They also carried out intelligence on protesters and attempted to put undercover operatives within the protest groups. Now the state wants to fine the company president James Reese at least $1,500 for operating without a license.
A court hearing has yet to be scheduled in state district court in Bismarck.