US Army Corps orders Dakota pipeline protesters to abandon camp
The US Army Corps of Engineers plans to close the area in the state of North Dakota where people have been camping for months to protest the continued construction of a controversial oil pipeline.
The chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe said Friday that the US Army Corps sent him a letter saying that activists protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline must shut down the Oceti Sakowin camp, which is one of the three camps located near the construction site.
"The letter states that the lands will be closed to public access for safety concerns," Dave Archambault said in a statement.
Archambault said the land to be closed includes a sprawling encampment used by activists located on Army Corps land about 50 miles (80 km) south of Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota.
"Our Tribe is deeply disappointed in this decision by the United States, but our resolve to protect our water is stronger than ever," he said. He is asking pipeline opponents to continue to fight the pipeline's construction.
Colonel John Henderson, district commander of the Army Corps of Engineers, wrote in the letter that the decision to empty the camp was to protect the public from violent confrontations between law enforcement and protesters, as well as increasingly harsh winter conditions.
For months, activists opposed to the $3.8 billion pipeline have been camping in the area to protest the pipeline.
The Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Native American tribes are seeking to stop the project because they say it will harm their drinking water and sacred sites.
But pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners disputes that, saying the 1,885-km pipeline is safe and the fastest route to bring Bakken shale oil from North Dakota to oil refineries in the US Gulf Coast.
Protests against the pipeline have spread across the US. More than 560 protesters have been arrested since August protesting the pipeline.
A clash earlier this week near the main protest camp left a police officer and several protesters injured.
Over 300 protesters were treated for hypothermia and other ailments after they were soaked by officers in freezing temperatures. The confrontations erupted Sunday night and continued into Monday.
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