Comment on Next test for pipeline protesters: the North Dakota winter

Next test for pipeline protesters: the North Dakota winter

CANNON BALL, N.D. (AP) — So far, the hundreds of protesters fighting the Dakota Access pipeline have shrugged off the heavy snow, icy winds and frigid temperatures that have swirled around their large encampment on the North Dakota grasslands. [...] if they defy next week's government deadline to abandon the camp, demonstrators know the real deep freeze lies ahead, when the full weight of the Great Plains winter descends on their community of nylon tents and teepees. The government has ordered protesters to leave federal land by Monday, although it's not clear what, if anything, authorities will do to enforce that mandate. Demonstrators insist they will stay for as long as it takes to divert the $3.8 billion pipeline, which the Standing Rock Sioux tribe believes threatens sacred sites and a river that provides drinking water for millions of people. Increasingly, more permanent wooden structures are being erected, even though the Army Corps of Engineers considers them illegal on government property. A collection of Army surplus tents with heating stoves serve as kitchen, dining hall, medical clinic and a camp-run school. Maxwell put out a call on social media for more donations, seeking four-wheel drive trucks and foul-weather clothing. In a recent clash between police and protesters near the path of the pipeline, officers used tear gas, rubber bullets and large water hoses in sub-freezing temperatures. The perception was so great that it led to a short-lived proposal to change the state's name by dropping "North" and leaving just "Dakota," to dispel the image of inhospitable winter weather. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier, who is heading the law enforcement effort around the pipeline, said he hopes the harsh conditions force people to leave the encampment, something the state and federal governments have so far been unable to do. In addition to the federal order, North Dakota Gov.

 

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