More than 2,000 U.S. military veterans
plan to form a human shield to protect protesters of a pipeline project
near a Native American reservation in North Dakota, organizers said,
just ahead of a federal deadline for activists to leave the camp they
have been occupying.
It
comes as North Dakota law enforcement backed away from a previous plan
to cut off supplies to the camp – an idea quickly abandoned after an
outcry and with law enforcement’s treatment of Dakota Access Pipeline protesters increasingly under the microscope.
The
protesters have spent months rallying against plans to route the $3.8
billion Dakota Access Pipeline beneath a lake near the Standing Rock
Sioux reservation, saying it poses a threat to water resources and
sacred Native American sites.
Protesters include various Native American tribes as well as environmentalists and even actors including Shailene Woodley.
State officials issued an order on Monday for activists to vacate the Oceti Sakowin camp, located on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, citing harsh weather conditions.
The
state's latest decision not to stop cars entering the protest site
indicated local officials will not actively enforce Monday's emergency
order to evacuate the camp issued by Governor Jack Dalrymple.
Dalrymple
warned on Wednesday that it was "probably not feasible" to reroute the
pipeline, but said he had requested a meeting with the Standing Rock
Sioux Tribal Council to rebuild a relationship.
"We need to begin now to talk about how we are going to return to a peaceful relationship,” he said on a conference call.
The 1,172-mile (1,885 km) pipeline project, owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP.N),
is mostly complete, except for a segment planned to run under Lake
Oahe, a reservoir formed by a dam on the Missouri River.
Veterans
Stand for Standing Rock, a contingent of more than 2,000 U.S. military
veterans, intends to go to North Dakota by this weekend and form a human
wall in front of police, protest organizers said on a Facebook page.
Organizers could not immediately be reached for comment.
"I
figured this was more important than anything else I could be doing,”
Guy Dull Knife, 69, a Vietnam War Army veteran, told Reuters at the
main camp.
Dull
Knife, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe from the Pine Ridge
Reservation of South Dakota, said he has been camping at the protest
site for months.
Morton
County Sheriff's Office spokesman Rob Keller said in an email his agency
was aware of the veterans' plans, but would not comment further on how
law enforcement will deal with demonstrators.
Former
U.S. Marine Michael A. Wood Jr is leading the effort along with Wesley
Clark Jr, a writer whose father is retired U.S. Army General Wesley
Clark.
U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat from Hawaii and a major in the Hawaii Army National Guard, has said on Twitter she will join the protesters on Sunday.
The Army Corps, citing safety
concerns, has ordered the evacuation of the primary protest camp by Dec.
5, but said it would not forcibly remove people from the land.
Local
law enforcement said on Tuesday they planned a blockade of the camp,
but local and state officials later retreated, saying they would only
check vehicles for certain prohibited supplies like propane, and
possibly issue fines.
Dalrymple on Wednesday said state officials never contemplated forcibly removing protesters and there had been no plans
to block food or other supplies from the camp. "That would be a huge
mistake from a humanitarian standpoint," he said on the conference call.
He
also warned protesters that while emergency responders will try to
reach anyone in need, that would be contingent on weather conditions.
Protesters,
who refer to themselves as “water protectors,” have been gearing up for
the winter while they await the Army Corps decision on whether to allow
Energy Transfer Partners to tunnel under the river. That decision has
been delayed twice by the Army Corps.
(Additional reporting by Ernest Scheyder in Houston and Alex
Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Writing by Ben Klayman; Editing by Jeffrey
Benkoe and Matthew Lewis)
Source: Reuters.com