North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple ordered protesters Monday to evacuate their encampments where they have been waging a protracted campaign to oppose the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
The Republican governor issued his order just days after the Army Corps of Engineers said it would be closing the area to protesters on Dec. 5. Both cited concerns over the harsh North Dakota winter, where protesters will be cut off from basic services.
“Any person who chooses to enter, reenter, or stay in the evacuation [zone] does so at their own risk, and assumes any and all corresponding liabilities for their unlawful presence and occupation of the evacuation area,” the Dalrymple order said.
Both the governor’s office and the Army Corps said they would not forcibly remove activists that decide to stay to continue their protest against the nearly 1,200-mile long, $3.8 billion project. But that they will bare the consequences of their decisions.
The Army Corps said it negotiated closing the encampments with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe that has been leading the protest in North Dakota. The tribe claims the pipeline would harm its only source of fresh drinking water at Lake Oahe.
The protests have witnessed some of their most violent clashes with police in the last week, including police shooting rubber bullets and water cannons at protesters in sub-freezing weather.
Senate Democratic leader Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada on Monday implored the Trump administration to reroute the project after President Obama steps down next year.
“I encourage the new administration and the Army Corps of Engineers to continue finding alternative routes,” said Reid who retires at the end of the year. “There is one out there. It should not be hard. There is no reason that this situation cannot be remedied in a manner that’s fair to all.”
Reid met with President Obama Monday evening at the White House for a private dinner. It is not certain if the Dakota Access issue came up, but it has been an issue that the president has been tracking.
Responding to news reports that President-elect Trump owned shares in the company building the pipeline project, Reid expressed doubts that the incoming administration would deal fairly with the Sioux.
“Can the Standing Rock Sioux tribe depend on the man who is financially invested in the Dakota Access Pipeline? Probably not,” Reid said. “This is about more than President-elect Trump or fossil fuel profits.”
