Police say they are poised to clear Dakota Access Pipeline protesters

Protesters of the Dakota Access pipeline encampment sits Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016, on private property near Cannon Ball, N.D., owned by the pipeline developer, Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners. Both the local sheriff and Energy Transfer Partners have said the protesters are trespassing and must leave. (AP Photo/James MacPherson)

? Law enforcement officials said on Wednesday they are poised to remove about 200 protesters trying to halt the completion of the Dakota Access oil pipeline in North Dakota after the demonstrators refused to leave private land owned by the pipeline company.

Officers with county sheriff’s offices, the state Highway Patrol and the National Guard asked protesters to move off the site on Wednesday morning and were rebuffed. The authorities then left.

Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney later told reporters that authorities don’t want a confrontation but that the protesters “are not willing to bend.”

“We have the resources. We could go down there at any time,” he said. “We’re trying not to.”

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said authorities would continue to try for a peaceful resolution but that “we are here to enforce the law as needed.”

Protesters vowed to stay put, at one point chanting “Stand in peace against the beast.”

“We’re going to hold this ground,” said protester Mekasi Camp Horinek.

“I’m here to die if I have to. I don’t want to die but I will,” said Didi Banerji, who lives in Toronto but is originally from the Spirit Lake Sioux reservation in North Dakota.

About 200 activists moved onto the site last weekend to fight the nearly 1,200-mile pipeline, which they fear could harm cultural sites and drinking water for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.

Energy Transfer Partners, which is building the $3.8 billion pipeline, said Tuesday that the protesters were trespassing and that “lawless behavior will not be tolerated.”

Protests supporting the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s opposition to the pipeline have been ongoing for months, with more than 260 people arrested so far in North Dakota. The pipeline is to carry oil from western North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Illinois, where shippers can send it on to Midwest and Gulf Coast markets. Energy Transfer Partners has said the pipeline is nearly complete other than the work in south central North Dakota.

Local sheriff’s officials had said earlier they didn’t have the resources to immediately remove activists from the private land, which is just north of the main protest camp on federal land near Cannon Ball, a town about 50 miles south of Bismarck. But officers called for reinforcements, and those were arriving from other states.

The tribe has five ambulances on standby Wednesday, along with 32 emergency workers — with no one allowed to take time off, tribal health director Margaret Gates said.

“Our concern is chaos,” she said. “Our concern is for the safety and well-being of everybody. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

One notable clash came on Sept. 3, after construction crews removed topsoil from private land that protesters believe contained Native American burial and cultural sites. Authorities said four security guards and two guard dogs were injured. The tribe said protesters reported that six people were bitten by security dogs and at least 30 people were pepper-sprayed.

The state and pipeline company dispute that any sacred grounds have been disturbed during the construction.

North Dakota’s Emergency Commission approved $6 million in emergency funding for law enforcement costs related to the protest — but as of Wednesday, nearly all of that had been used up. The Department of Emergency Services plans to ask for more, Fong said.

The protest has drawn the attention of activists and celebrities, including actress-activist Shailene Woodley and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson and actor Mark Ruffalo were at the protest camp Wednesday. Jackson said he was there “to pray together, protest together and if necessary go to jail together.”

AP News Guide: New phase for Dakota Access pipeline protest

Activists who have been protesting the nearly 1,200-mile Dakota Access oil pipeline for months ratcheted up the pressure this week by moving onto private land owned by the pipeline developer. Here’s a guide to the latest developments and key background about the protest:


THE ORIGINS

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners got federal permits for the $3.8 billion pipeline in July, about two years after it was announced. The project is projected to move a half-million barrels of crude oil daily from western North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Illinois, where shippers can access Midwest and Gulf Coast markets.

Supporters say the pipeline will have safeguards against leaks, and is a safer way to move oil than truck and trains, especially after a handful of fiery — and sometimes deadly — derailments of trains carrying North Dakota crude.

But the Standing Rock Sioux, other tribes and environmental groups say that the pipeline could threaten water supplies for millions, since it will cross the Missouri River, as well as harm sacred sites and artifacts. Protesters, sometimes numbering in the thousands, have gathered since April at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers in southern North Dakota.


IN THE COURTROOM

The Standing Rock Sioux, whose reservation straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border, are suing federal regulators for approving the oil pipeline. They have challenged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to grant permits at more than 200 water crossings and argue that the pipeline would be placed less than a mile upstream of the reservation, potentially affecting drinking water for more than 8,000 tribal members and millions downstream.

The tribe hasn’t fared well in court so far. A federal judge in September denied their request to block construction of the entire pipeline. Three federal agencies quickly stepped in and ordered a temporary halt to construction on corps land around and underneath Lake Oahe — one of six reservoirs on the Missouri River.

The corps is reviewing its permitting of the project and has given no timetable for a decision. Meanwhile, the tribe’s appeal is still pending in federal court.

Energy Transfer Partners has said construction is nearly complete elsewhere.


THE PROTESTS

The tribe’s fight grew into an international cause in recent months for many Native Americans and indigenous people from around the world, with some traveling thousands of miles to join the protest.

“Divergent” actress Shailene Woodley also protested and was arrested, while “Democracy Now!” host Amy Goodman had charges of rioting and trespassing charges dropped stemming from her coverage of a protest.

More than 260 people have been arrested since the larger demonstrations began in August.

As of Wednesday, nearly all of the $6 million in emergency funding earmarked for law enforcement costs related to the protest had been used up. The state’s Emergency Commission approved the money in late September, and the Department of Emergency Services plans to ask for more.


LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

Nearly half of those arrests came over the weekend, which saw protesters twice blocking a state highway and law enforcement claiming that a drone was flown dangerously close to a police helicopter.

On Sunday, a group of protesters moved onto a private property that had recently been acquired by Energy Transfer Partners, putting them squarely in the pipeline’s path for the first time.

Morton County sheriff’s officials called it trespassing. They said they didn’t have the resources to immediately remove the demonstrators, but that may change. Six states have answered the department’s call for reinforcements, and Energy Transfer Partners on Tuesday called on the protesters to leave.

Actor Mark Ruffalo plans to deliver a pair of Navajo-made solar trailers Wednesday to help power the encampments established to protest the pipeline. The Rev. Jesse Jackson also plans to visit the protests on Wednesday.