Native Americans from Washington state arrive at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation after traveling from the headwaters of the Missouri River in a dugout canoe on Dec. 1, outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota.

Scott Olson / Getty Images</s>CANNON BALL, N.D. (Reuters) - U.S. military veterans were building barracks on Friday at a protest camp in North Dakota to support thousands of activists who have squared off against authorities in frigid conditions to oppose a multibillion-dollar pipeline project near a Native American reservation.

Veterans have a demonstration on Backwater bridge during a protest against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S., December 1, 2016. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith

Veterans volunteering to be human shields have been arriving at the Oceti Sakowin camp near the small town of Cannon Ball, where they will work with protesters who have spent months demonstrating against plans to route the Dakota Access Pipeline beneath a lake near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, organizers said.

The Native Americans and protesters say the $3.8 billion pipeline threatens water resources and sacred sites.

Some of the more than 2,100 veterans who signed up on the Veterans Stand for Standing Rock group’s Facebook page are at the camp, with hundreds more expected during the weekend. Tribal leaders asked the veterans, who aim to form a wall in front of police to protect the protesters, to avoid confrontation with authorities and not get arrested.

Wesley Clark Jr, a writer whose father is retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, met with law enforcement on Friday to tell them that potentially 3,500 veterans would join the protest and the demonstrations would be carried out peacefully, protest leaders said.

The plan is for veterans to gather in Eagle Butte, a few hours away, and then travel by bus to the main protest camp, organizers said, adding that a big procession is planned for Monday.

Protesters began setting up tents, tepees and other structures in April, and the numbers swelled in August at the main camp.

Joshua Tree, 42, from Los Angeles, who has been visiting the camp for weeks at a time since September, said he felt pulled to the protest.

“Destiny called me here,” he said at the main camp. “We’re committed.”

“GO HOME”

The protesters’ voices have also been heard by companies linked to the pipeline, including banks that protesters have targeted for their financing of the pipeline.

Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) said in a Thursday letter it would meet with Standing Rock elders before Jan. 1 “to discuss their concerns related to Wells Fargo’s investment” in the project.

There have been violent confrontations near the route of the pipeline with state and local law enforcement, who used tear gas, rubber bullets and water hoses on the protesters, even in freezing weather.

The number of protesters in recent weeks has topped 1,000. State officials on Monday ordered them to leave the snowy camp, which is on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land, citing harsh weather, but on Wednesday they said they would not enforce the order.

“There is an element there of people protesting who are frightening,” North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said on Thursday. “It’s time for them to go home.”

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier spoke by phone on Friday with U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, but assistance for law enforcement and a timeline for a resolution to the situation were not offered, the sheriff’s office said.

Lynch said in a statement that the U.S. Department of Justice has been in communication with all sides in an effort to reduce tensions and foster dialogue. She said senior department officials will be deployed to the region as needed.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday he supported the completion of the pipeline, and his transition team said he supported peaceful protests.

North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple said on Wednesday it was “probably not feasible” to reroute the pipeline, but he would try to rebuild a relationship with Standing Rock Sioux leaders.

On Friday, Morton County Commission Chairman Cody Schulz said his office has been working in conjunction with the governor’s office to meet with tribal leaders soon.

FREEZING COLD

Since the start of demonstrations, 564 people have been arrested, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department said.

State officials never contemplated forcibly removing protesters, and Dalrymple said his evacuation order stemmed mainly from concerns about dangerously cold temperatures.

Slideshow (14 Images)

The temperature in Cannon Ball is expected to fall to 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-16 Celsius) by the middle of next week, according to Weather.com forecasts.

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.

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 to tunnel under the river. The Army Corps has twice delayed that decision.</s>Veterans volunteering to be human shields have been arriving at the Oceti Sakowin camp near the small town of Cannon Ball, where they will work with protesters who have spent months demonstrating against plans to route the Dakota Access Pipeline beneath a lake near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, organizers said.

The Native Americans and protesters say the $3.8 billion pipeline threatens water resources and sacred sites.

Some of the more than 2,100 veterans who signed up on the Veterans Stand for Standing Rock group's Facebook page are at the camp, with hundreds more expected during the weekend. Tribal leaders asked the veterans, who aim to form a wall in front of police to protect the protesters, to avoid confrontation with authorities and not get arrested.

Wesley Clark Jr., a writer whose father is retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, met with law enforcement on Friday to tell them potentially 3,500 veterans would join the protest and the demonstrations would be carried out peacefully, protest leaders said.

The plan is for veterans to gather in Eagle Butte, a few hours away, and then travel by bus to the main protest camp, organizers said, adding that a big procession is planned for Monday.

Protesters began setting up tents, tepees and other structures in April and the numbers swelled in August at the main camp.

Joshua Tree, 42, from Los Angeles, who has been visiting the camp for weeks at a time since September, said he felt pulled to the protest.

"Destiny called me here," he said at the main camp. "We're committed."

Those voices have been heard by companies linked to the pipeline as well, including banks that have been targeted by protesters for their financing of the pipeline.

Wells Fargo & Co. said in a Thursday letter it would meet with Standing Rock elders before Jan. 1 "to discuss their concerns related to Wells Fargo's investment" in the project.

There have been violent confrontations near the route of the pipeline with state and local law enforcement, who used tear gas, rubber bullets and water hoses on the protesters, even in freezing weather.

The number of protesters in recent weeks has topped 1,000. State officials on Monday ordered them to leave the snowy camp, which is on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land, citing harsh weather, but on Wednesday they said they would not enforce the order.

"There is an element there of people protesting who are frightening," North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said on Thursday. "It's time for them to go home."

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier spoke by phone on Friday with U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, but assistance for law enforcement and a timeline for a resolution to the situation were not offered, the sheriff's office said.

"It’s time for more actions from the federal government, not more words,” Kirchmeier said in a statement.

President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday he supported the completion of the pipeline and his transition team also said he supported peaceful protests.

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple said on Wednesday it was "probably not feasible" to reroute the pipeline but he would try to rebuild a relationship with Standing Rock Sioux leaders.

On Friday, Morton County Commission Chairman Cody Schulz said his office has been working in conjunction with the governor's office to meet with tribal leaders soon.

Since the start of demonstrations, 564 people have been arrested, the Morton County Sheriff's Department said.

State officials never contemplated forcibly removing protesters, and Dalrymple said his evacuation order stemmed mainly from concerns about dangerously cold temperatures.

The temperature in Cannon Ball is expected to fall to 4 degrees by the middle of next week, according to Weather.com forecasts.

The 1,172-mile pipeline project, owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP, is mostly complete, except for a segment planned to run under Lake Oahe, a reservoir formed by a dam on the Missouri River.

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 to tunnel under the river. The Army Corps has twice delayed that decision.</s>Hundreds of U.S. military veterans are expected on Friday to join a protest camp in North Dakota where thousands of activists, braving frigid conditions, are demonstrating against a pipeline project near a Native American reservation.

Veterans Stand for Standing Rock will spend the day building a barracks at the Oceti Sakowin camp near Cannon Ball and coordinating with protesters who have spent months rallying against plans to route the Dakota Access Pipeline beneath a lake near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, organizers said.

Some of the more than 2,100 veterans who signed up on the group’s Facebook page have arrived at the camp with hundreds more expected over the weekend. The veterans intend to form a human wall in front of police to protect protesters, who say the $3.8-billion pipeline poses a threat to water resources and sacred Native American sites.

State officials on Monday ordered activists to vacate the camp, on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land, citing harsh weather conditions. Officials said on Wednesday they would not actively enforce the order.

“There is an element there of people protesting who are frightening,” North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said on Thursday. “It’s time for them to go home.”

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday said he supports the completion of the pipeline. Trump’s transition team also said he supported peaceful protests.

Members of the North Dakota Veterans Coordinating Council denounced the involvement of veterans in a protest that has damaged property and asked them not to take part.

North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple has said it was “probably not feasible” to reroute the pipeline, but he would try to rebuild a relationship with Standing Rock Sioux leaders.

State officials never contemplated forcibly removing protesters and his evacuation order was mainly due to concerns about inclement weather endangering people, Dalrymple said. Frigid weather makes some aspects of pipeline construction more difficult, engineers interviewed by Reuters said.

The temperature in Cannon Ball is expected to fall to 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-16 Celsius) by the middle of next week, according to Weather.com forecasts.

The 1,172-mile (1,885-km) pipeline project, owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP, is mostly complete, except for a segment planned to run under Lake Oahe, a reservoir formed by a dam on the Missouri River.

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.</s>Veterans volunteering to be human shields have been arriving at the Oceti Sakowin camp near the small town of Cannon Ball, where organizers say they will work with protesters who have spent months demonstrating against plans to route the Dakota Access Pipeline beneath a lake near the Sioux reservation.

The Native Americans and protesters say the $3.8 billion pipeline threatens water resources and sacred sites.

Some of the more than 2,100 veterans who signed up on the Veterans Stand for Standing Rock group's Facebook page are at the camp, with hundreds more expected during the weekend. Tribal leaders asked the veterans, who aim to form a wall in front of police to protect the protesters, to avoid confrontation with authorities and not get arrested.

Protesters began setting up tents, tepees and other structures in April and the numbers swelled in August at the main camp. There have been violent confrontations near the route of the pipeline with state and local law enforcement, who used tear gas, rubber bullets and water hoses on the protesters, even in freezing weather.

The number of protesters in recent weeks has topped 1,000. State officials on Monday ordered them to leave the snowy camp, which is on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land, citing harsh weather, but on Wednesday they said they would not enforce the order.

"There is an element there of people protesting who are frightening," North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said on Thursday. "It's time for them to go home."

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday he supported the completion of the pipeline and his transition team also said he supported peaceful protests.

Members of the North Dakota Veterans Coordinating Council denounced the involvement of veterans in a protest that has damaged property and asked them not to take part.

North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple said Wednesday that it was "probably not feasible" to reroute the pipeline but he would try to rebuild a relationship with Standing Rock Sioux leaders.

Morton County Sheriff Department spokeswoman Maxine Herr said 564 people have been arrested since the start of demonstrations.

State officials never contemplated forcibly removing protesters, and Dalrymple said his evacuation order stemmed mainly from concerns about dangerously cold temperatures. Engineers interviewed by Reuters also said such weather made some aspects of pipeline construction more difficult.

The temperature in Cannon Ball is expected to fall to 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-16 Celsius) by the middle of next week, according to Weather.com forecasts.

The 1,172-mile (1,885-km) pipeline project, owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP ( ), is mostly complete, except for a segment planned to run under Lake Oahe, a reservoir formed by a dam on the Missouri River.

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 to tunnel under the river. The Army Corps has twice delayed that decision.

The pipeline operator said in a legal filing in late November that delays following the projected Jan. 1 startup would cost about $84 million a month.

Trump is due to meet on Friday with Democratic U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who a source familiar with the matter said Trump is considering for either the interior or energy secretary positions in his Cabinet.

Morton County Commission Chairman Cody Schulz said in a statement he hoped Heitkamp would be able to tell Trump about the serious impact that "professional protesters" from out of state were having on residents and the local economy, as well as the national energy economy.

"We have seen nothing but foot-dragging and unhelpful directives from the Obama administration," Schulz said. "I trust Senator Heitkamp will use her meeting and her influence to ensure that help is on the way for the people of North Dakota when the president-elect is sworn in on Jan. 20."</s>For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android.

CANNON BALL, N.D. (Reuters) - U.S. military veterans plan to build a barracks on Friday at a protest camp in North Dakota to support thousands of activists who have squared off against authorities in frigid conditions to oppose a multibillion-dollar pipeline project near the Standing Rock Native American reservation.



Veterans volunteering to be human shields have been arriving at the Oceti Sakowin camp near the small town of Cannon Ball, where they will work with protesters who have spent months demonstrating against plans to route the Dakota Access Pipeline beneath a lake near the Sioux reservation, organizers said.



The Native Americans and protesters say the $3.8 billion pipeline threatens water resources and sacred sites.

Some of the more than 2,100 veterans who signed up on the Veterans Stand for Standing Rock group's Facebook page are at the camp, with hundreds more expected during the weekend. Tribal leaders asked the veterans, who aim to form a wall in front of police to protect the protesters, to avoid confrontation with authorities and not get arrested.



The plan is for veterans to gather in Eagle Butte, a few hours away, and then travel by bus to the main protest camp, organizers said, adding that a big procession is planned for Monday.



Protesters began setting up tents, tepees and other structures in April and the numbers swelled in August at the main camp. 



Joshua Tree, 42, from Los Angeles, who has been visiting the camp for weeks at a time since September, said he felt pulled to the protest.



"Destiny called me here," he said at the main camp. "We're committed. This cause has created momentum."



Those voices have been heard by companies linked to the pipeline as well, including banks that have been targeted by protesters for their financing of the pipeline.

Wells Fargo & Co said in a Thursday letter it would meet with Standing Rock elders before Jan. 1 "to discuss their concerns related to Wells Fargo's investment" in the project. 



There have been violent confrontations near the route of the pipeline with state and local law enforcement, who used tear gas, rubber bullets and water hoses on the protesters, even in freezing weather.



The number of protesters in recent weeks has topped 1,000. State officials on Monday ordered them to leave the snowy camp, which is on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land, citing harsh weather, but on Wednesday they said they would not enforce the order.



"There is an element there of people protesting who are frightening," North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said on Thursday. "It's time for them to go home." 



U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday he supported the completion of the pipeline and his transition team also said he supported peaceful protests. 



Members of the North Dakota Veterans Coordinating Council denounced the involvement of veterans in a protest that has damaged property and asked them not to take part. 



North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple said on Wednesday it was "probably not feasible" to reroute the pipeline but he would try to rebuild a relationship with Standing Rock Sioux leaders. 



On Friday, Morton County Commission Chairman Cody Schulz said his office has been working in conjunction with the governor's office to meet with tribal leaders soon.

Morton County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Maxine Herr said 564 people have been arrested since the start of demonstrations. 

 State officials never contemplated forcibly removing protesters, and Dalrymple said his evacuation order stemmed mainly from concerns about dangerously cold temperatures. Engineers interviewed by Reuters also said such weather made some aspects of pipeline construction more difficult. The temperature in Cannon Ball is expected to fall to 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-16 Celsius) by the middle of next week, according to Weather.com forecasts.

 The 1,172-mile (1,885-km) pipeline project, owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP , is mostly complete, except for a segment planned to run under Lake Oahe, a reservoir formed by a dam on the Missouri River. 

 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 to tunnel under the river. The Army Corps has twice delayed that decision.

 The pipeline operator said in a legal filing in late November that delays following the projected Jan. 1 startup would cost about $84 million a month.

 Trump is due to meet on Friday with Democratic U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who, according to a source familiar with the matter, is under consideration for a Cabinet position in the Trump administration.</s>Wilbur Hilton, a 61-year-old veteran from Flint, Mich., helps to measure two-by-fours for barracks at one of the Oceti Sakowin Camp, a Dakota Access Pipeline protest camp, on Saturday, Dec. 3. Hilton has the help of Sean Mercer, a nonveteran protester. Hilton said the drinking water crisis in Flint motivated him to help the Sioux tribe protect Lake Oahe.

CANNON BALL, N.D. — Army veteran Ryan Kiesling said he can appreciate the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s view on the sanctity of water.

After returning home from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, other veterans suggested Kiesling try surfing to help with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.

“That really helped me,” said the 30-year-old, who served in a cavalry division from 2007 to 2013. “I just go out there in the ocean and sit on the water, and it’s the water that really helps.”

Far from the ocean, Kiesling arrived Saturday at one of the larger Dakota Access Pipeline protest camps in North Dakota to help save another body of water – Lake Oahe.

Several thousand people at the camps are protesting the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline. They claim the oil pipeline, if ruptured, could contaminate drinking water in Lake Oahe, a large reservoir on the Missouri River about one-half mile from Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

The protesters, who call themselves “water protectors,” have developed the mantra “water is life.”

“The ocean, the water, it was my savior,” he said. “The ‘water is life’ thing, it really stuck with me. It’s something I believe in.”

Veterans are gathering at points across the country to travel to Standing Rock Indian Reservation, most of them planning to arrive Sunday. They’re answering a call from organizers Michael Wood Jr. and Wesley Clark Jr. – veterans who have said former servicemembers are uniquely equipped to handle what’s become a tense and sometimes violent standoff between protesters and law enforcement.

In the past two days, veterans have been arriving in the hundreds. More than 2,000 in total are expected Sunday through Wednesday.

The veterans’ arrival comes at a tense time at Standing Rock. It coincides with a deadline set by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for oil pipeline protesters to leave some of the land around the construction site, and it comes just after the governor ordered protesters to evacuate. The situation has prompted response in the last few days from members of Congress and U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

The pipeline would stretch 1,172 miles underground, moving crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois.

In addition to fear of a possible pipeline leak, Sioux tribe members have also said the construction infringes on sacred grounds.

Energy Transfer Partners LP applied in 2014 to build the pipeline. By March 2016, it had secured approvals from the four states in which the pipeline would pass. A group of Native Americans have been protesting since April.

‘Just trying to help'

The Army Corps of Engineers ordered the thousands of protesters living at the Oceti Sakowin Camp to leave by Dec. 5. The camp is on land managed by the Army Corps near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, just north of the Standing Rock reservation.

Soon after the Army Corps’ orders, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalyrmple issued an emergency evacuation order mandating protesters leave the land. The governor and the Army Corps have said they want people out for safety reasons, especially with recent record-breaking snowfall in the area.

A North Dakota Emergency Services spokesman has since said that neither law enforcement nor the National Guard would be used to enforce the order, NPR reported.

Though law enforcement won’t force people out, they are trying to prevent supplies from getting to protesters, Reuters reported. The governor’s office has backed off earlier reports that a physical blockade would be established to prevent supplies from getting into the camp, but state emergency services officials told Reuters that people driving in supplies could be pulled over and fined up to $1,000.

On Saturday, the temperature at the reservation topped out in the mid-20s, and some snow was hardening into ice. More snow is expected Monday, according to the National Weather Service in Bismarck.

Temperatures are supposed to drop into single digits by midweek, with strong northern winds.

Protesters have reiterated they will stand their ground. And they’re getting some help from the veterans.

As of Saturday morning, the group, dubbed “Veterans Standing for Standing Rock,” had raised more than $1 million through a GoFundMe webpage. Some of the money will be used to help veterans travel to the site, and other money will go toward the purchase of supplies to help protesters withstand the winter.

Sean Strahan, a 33-year-old Army veteran, helped haul firewood from Bismarck on Saturday morning. It was being stored under a tarp next to a tent in the heart of the camp that’s being used as headquarters for the group of veterans.

“I’m just trying to help,” said Strahan, who is from Indianapolis. "People have quit their jobs and moved out here. I think we can offer them a moment of rest and reprieve.”

Across the camp from Strahan, Vietnam War veteran Don Luker of Boston used a table saw to cut pressure-treated wood that would become the floor of a makeshift barracks.

Luker, 66, worked as a carpenter for 40 years before retiring six weeks ago, he said. He’s planning to stay until Friday to help build some infrastructure for the protesters.

Luker said he is part Cherokee. Growing up, he was instructed not to divulge that part of his heritage.

“I was taught never to tell anybody,” Luker said. “Well, here we are now. Let me help my brothers and sisters. That was our job in the military, too: to try to do things that are right.”

Anthony Diggs, a Marine Corps veteran from San Clemente who is acting as spokesman for the the group of veterans, said they would establish resources such as medical and supply tents, lines of communication and heating systems.

The veterans’ presence at the site has drawn criticism the last few days from other veterans.

On Thursday, a North Dakota veterans group sent a letter to organizers Wood and Clark, saying their involvement in the protest would reflect poorly on all veterans.

The letter was written by the North Dakota Veterans Coordinating Council, which falls under the state-run Department of Veterans Affairs and comprises representatives from large veterans organizations such as the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

In the letter, the council accuses oil pipeline protesters of instigating violence, stealing from local stores and restaurants and harming or destroying private and government property.

The letter mentions some specifics, including vandalism at the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. last month. The North Dakota column of the memorial was vandalized with spray paint. Though officials said they weren’t certain what the graffiti said, multiple news outlets reported it apparently read “#NODAPL,” a popular hashtag used by protesters on social media.

“By aligning yourselves with protesters who have committed these atrocities and continue to do so, you are going to greatly diminish the good image of yourself as a veterans, veteran organizations, and veterans as a whole,” the letter reads. “You will also be aligning yourself against the N.D. law enforcement officers and military personnel that you once stood with to defend this nation.”

Another group, the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now, which supports the pipeline, said in a written statement that it was important to remember veterans were on the opposite side of the issue, too.

The alliance's spokesman, Craig Stevens, wrote in an email that more than 60 percent of workers on the Dakota Access Pipeline are veterans, but he would not offer specifics about that number when asked.

“It’s important to remember that there are veterans on both sides of this issue who have served honorably to protect Americans’ right to protest, as well as Americans’ right to work and live in a safe and harassment-free environment,” Stevens wrote in an email. “We respect the service of all veterans, yet the notion that some would descend upon Cannon Ball as self-purported ‘human shields’ is both unnerving and unnecessary.”

One veteran at the Oceti Sakowin Camp – 38-year-old Douglas Concha, an Iraq War veteran – said he wasn’t too surprised at the backlash.

“Whatever you do, you’re going to get criticism,” he said. “You listen to them out of respect, and maybe some of their points are valid, but don’t get caught up in it. I think it’s very natural for veterans and soldiers in general, this idea of defending something good and pure. I think the idea makes sense here.”

As veterans prepare to make a stand at the site – against the cold, the pipeline and the local, state and federal government -- another fight is happening in Washington.

On the House floor Wednesday, North Dakota Rep. Kevin Cramer, a Republican, read the letter from the North Dakota Veterans Coordinating Council. In an impassioned speech, he said outsiders with a “left-wing political agenda” had co-opted peaceful protests and turned them into a “full-fledged riot.”

Another North Dakota lawmaker, Sen. John Hoeven, a Republican, had taken to the Senate floor Wednesday to advocate for President Barack Obama to issue an easement that would allow Energy Transfer to build past the border of Lake Oahe.

The Army, the Department of Justice and Department of the Interior issued an order in September halting construction beyond the border of Lake Oahe until more environmental assessments are conducted. Energy Transfer said at the time that it had already spent $1 billion on the oil pipeline and would not re-route it.

The pause in construction is unnecessary because the company had already gone through appropriate legal processes to start work, Hoeven said.

“The ongoing protest activities, which at times have turned violent, are being prolonged and intensified by the Obama administration’s refusal to approve the final remaining easement at Lake Oahe,” he said. “This inaction has inflamed tensions, strained state and local resources, and, most importantly, is needlessly putting people at risk, including tribal members, protesters, law enforcement officers, construction workers and area residents.”

He also called for federal law enforcement agencies to augment state and local law enforcement.

On Friday, the Morton County Sheriff’s Office – the main law enforcement agency at the site – echoed Hoeven’s request. Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said in a written statement that he asked Attorney General Lynch for federal resources Friday during a phone call.

“While I appreciate the Attorney General taking the time to reach out to me, neither assistance for law enforcement nor a timeline for resolution was offered,” Kirchmeier said.

Lynch released her own statement Friday night. In a video, she said the Justice Department has attempted to reduce tensions and strengthen the relationship between law enforcement and tribal leaders.

“Let me stress that violence is never the answer and that all of us have a responsibility to find common ground around a peaceful resolution where all voices are heard,” Lynch said.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, has been a supporter for the oil pipeline protesters and stated early on that she would join the veterans at Standing Rock this weekend.

Gabbard, who is a veteran of the Hawaii Army National Guard, arrived in Bismarck on Friday night. She will be part of a news conference that the group of veterans is planning Monday morning.

“This weekend I'm joining thousands of veterans from across the country at Standing Rock to stand in solidarity with our Native American brothers and sisters,” Gabbard said on the House floor Thursday. “Together we call on President Obama to immediately halt the construction of this pipeline.”</s>CANNON BALL, N.D. — 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.

But 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. Life-threatening wind chills and towering snow drifts could mean the greatest challenge is simple survival.

“I’m scared. I’m a California girl, you know?” said Loretta Reddog of Placerville, Calif. a protester who said she arrived several months ago with her two dogs and has yet to adjust to the harsher climate.

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.

The pipeline is largely complete except for a short segment that is planned to pass beneath a Missouri River reservoir. The company doing the building says it is unwilling to reroute the project.

For several months, the government permitted the gathering, allowing its population to swell. The Seven Council Fires camp began growing in August as it took in the overflow crowd from smaller protest sites nearby. It now covers a half square mile, with living quarters that include old school buses, fancy motorhomes and domelike yurts. Hale bales are piled around some teepees to keep out the wind. There’s even a crude corral for horses.

The number of inhabitants has ranged from several hundred to several thousand. It has been called the largest gathering of Native American tribes in a century.

Increasingly, more permanent wooden structures are being erected, even though the Army Corps of Engineers considers them illegal on government property. The Standing Rock Sioux insist the land still belongs to their tribe under a nearly 150-year-old treaty.

Nate Bison, a member of South Dakota’s Cheyenne River Sioux, came to the camp after quitting his job in Las Vegas a week ago. He said he intends to stay indefinitely, a prospect that may cause him to lose his house in Nevada.

“But since I’ve lived in these conditions before, to me it’s not all that bad,” he said.

Camp morale is high, he added, despite the onset of winter.

“Everybody I’ve talked to, you hear laughter and people just having a good time, enjoying the camaraderie and the support from each other,” Bison said. “And the love. People are taking the shirts off their own backs for other people. No one is left out that I’ve seen.”

On Thursday, the camp near the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers was shrouded in snow, much of it compacted by foot and vehicle traffic. Temperatures hovered in the 20s. Next week’s forecast calls for single digits and subzero wind chills.

Camp dwellers are getting ready for the hardships of a long stay. Mountains of donated food and water are being stockpiled, as is firewood, much of which has come from outside of North Dakota, the least-forested state in the nation. A collection of Army surplus tents with heating stoves serve as kitchen, dining hall, medical clinic and a camp-run school. Many of the smaller tents have become tattered by the wind.

Thane Maxwell, a 32-year-old Minneapolis native who has been living at the camp since July, said North Dakota’s bitter cold will not deter protesters committed to fighting the pipeline, or “black snake” as they call it.

Tribes from the Great Plains states are adept at surviving brutal winters, he said. Others from warmer climes are being taught how to endure the frostbite-inducing temperatures that are sure to come.

“A lot of these people have been living in this climate for hundreds of years,” said Maxwell a member of Minnesota-based Honor the Earth Foundation. “It’s a skill set that can be learned. The danger is escalating from law enforcement, not the weather.”

Reddog said she has confidence in the camp community. “Everybody’s really stepping up and taking care of each other,” she said.
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• Hundreds turn out in Bismarck, N.D., to support law enforcement

Maxwell put out a call on social media for more donations, seeking four-wheel drive trucks and foul-weather clothing. He also asked for gas masks and protective baseball and hockey gear to shield protesters from any future skirmishes with police.

More than 525 people from across the country have been arrested since August. 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. Organizers said at least 17 protesters were taken to the hospital, some for hypothermia and one for an arm injury. One officer was hurt.

North Dakota has often conjured images of a wind-swept, treeless wasteland. 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. Jack Dalrymple issued a “mandatory evacuation” for the camp “to safeguard against harsh winter conditions.” But he said Wednesday that the state has no intention of blocking food and supplies from coming into the camp.

Doing so would be a “huge mistake from a humanitarian viewpoint,” the Republican said.

The federal deadline probably will not have any immediate effect on the camp either. Soon after it was set, the Army Corps of Engineers explained that the agency had no plans to forcibly remove anyone, although violators could be charged with trespassing.

Back at the camp, about 75 people lined up Thursday to draw propane for heating and cooking from a fuel truck. The driver, Rodney Grant, said it was his seventh trip in a week. The propane was free to campers. Grant said he did not know who was paying for it.

Dani Jo McKing, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux, was among those in line. She and her husband have been sharing cold-weather tips with people who are not from North Dakota. She said people with out-of-state license plates, including California and Nevada, have been seen driving away from the camp. The cruel winter is bound to induce others to head home, she said.

The cold weather has never bothered her.

“This is where I live. I’ll stay until the end. This is God’s country,” she said.

Summer Moore arrived last week from Paintsville, Kentucky, and quickly learned the power of the whipping North Dakota wind. When a snowstorm rolled in Monday, it ripped her tent to shreds.

“It wasn’t that cold, but the wind was so bad it knocked me down three times,” Moore said.

She hitched a ride to the casino on the Standing Rock reservation and rode out the storm in a hotel room.

A carpenter named Joel Maurer came from California last month. He’s been building small shed-like bunkhouses that will sleep seven people each with room for a stove.

“I know things are going to get real here real quick,” he said.</s>Some 2,000 veterans, including a convoy scheduled to leave Friday from Seattle, vow to be human shields between police and “water protectors” fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline.

As winter bears down on the Great Plains, a showdown also looms as thousands of veterans from around the country head to North Dakota vowing to be human shields between police and opponents trying to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Their deployment as a nonviolent, unarmed citizens’ militia, as Veterans Stand for Standing Rock calls it, comes as the governor of the state of North Dakota has ordered mandatory evacuation of a protesters’ camp near the pipeline construction site in Cannon Ball, N.D., south of Bismarck.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which leases the lands for grazing, has also ordered the camp closed to all public access as of Dec. 5. Both explained that the threat of winter to public safety required their action.

The Corps has stated it won’t forcibly roust the camp — grown to an estimated 10,000 people. However, if campers stay, it is at their own risk, officials say. Winter temperatures can plunge into single digits during the day and below zero at night. Snow and cutting wind also arrived this week.

Emergency services to the camp will not be guaranteed per the evacuation order from Gov. Jack Dalrymple, unless approved on a case-by-case basis by the state Highway Patrol or the Morton County sheriff.

Protesters vow to stay, and some 2,000 veterans are expected to arrive Sunday to join the fight by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its allies against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The $3.8 billion oil pipeline through four states is almost entirely built except for the last portion, where it would cross under the Missouri River, less than a mile from the border of the reservation of the Standing Rock Sioux. Developer Energy Transfer Partners of Houston has yet to obtain the easement it needs from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to cross under the river and finish the project.

A fight over the easement is tied up in federal court, and the company has stated in federal court documents that it can’t finish the project on schedule by Jan. 1 as it promised in long-term contracts to shippers. The company says it is losing about $2.7 million a day as the project is delayed, and its shippers may cancel their contracts.

No construction or drilling work is under way on either side of the river, said Gary Sanders, sheriff for Emmons County, across the river from the protest camp. The only people on site now at the drilling pads are security, as Dakota Access waits for the easement to let it get drilling under the river, Sanders said. “It’s a waiting game.”

Opponents want to stop the project altogether.

In their operations order posted on Facebook, the veterans group outlined one possible tactic, to walk in an unbroken line shoulder to shoulder through police to reach the drill pad for the pipeline’s crossing under the river, and encircle it.

Some fear more violence, even death, as confrontations have escalated, most recently on Nov. 20 when police clashed with demonstrators, sending 26 people to the hospital.

“I have always considered the police to be friends, but to be on the front lines that Sunday night was the closest I have ever been to war,” said Victory Lonnquist of Seattle, who has been working as a volunteer medic at Standing Rock since last summer.

Some 300 people were treated for chemical contamination and hypothermia after being tear-gassed, hit with pepper spray and rubber bullets, and sprayed with fire hoses in freezing weather. Lonnquist said she fears worse to come.

“I am worried someone’s going to die,” Lonnquist said. “I wouldn’t have said that two weeks ago. But being on that bridge and watching them purposely give us hypothermia not once but for six hours, I would grab a patient by the jacket and just crunch through a sheet of ice. … it scares me, what could come.”

Veterans Stand for Standing Rock will take its direction from tribal elders, said Marshal Hunter of Seattle, who coordinated veterans scheduled to leave from Seattle on Friday night in a convoy to North Dakota. “We are there to be peaceful, and there to be nonviolent, and we are there to protect the water protectors,” Hunter said.

A Navy veteran, Hunter, 53, works at Boeing as a computer-systems administrator, and lives in Edmonds. Like other veterans turning out for this volunteer muster — who have raised more than $900,000 in a week online to pay for transportation, equipment, medical supplies and other costs — he said he feels called by the oath he took to protect citizens of the United States from enemies, foreign or domestic.

“I have been out of the military 30 years, but the oath we swore to defend the Constitution and the citizens doesn’t go away,” Hunter said. “What is happening at Standing Rock is a travesty. These are United States citizens who are practicing their First Amendment rights that are guaranteed under the Constitution.”

Police have said demonstrators have been “aggressive,” “militant,” broken the law by trespassing, vandalism, arson and thrown rocks, and damaged a bridge when they burned vehicles.

“I think most people would agree with the ideology of trying to protect the water,” said Sanders, the sheriff. “But trying to enforce your ideology with committing acts of crime, trespassing, arson, vandalism is not acceptable. There is not an issue with peaceful protest. Because someone doesn’t agree with your ideology, it doesn’t give you the right to commit crimes.”

But Hunter said the show of force against demonstrators is way out of line.

“It’s morally wrong and a terrible repetition of things that have happened in the past to Native Americans by people under the color of government,” he said.

The leader of Washington State Veterans for Standing Rock is Jim Petersen, 60, a Navy veteran from Bellingham. He had been thinking about going to Standing Rock for some time, but the Nov. 20 clash, where police used water hoses, pushed him over the edge.

“If not me, then who?” Peterson said. “If not now, then when?”

So many veterans around the country have volunteered for this trip after the national call went out that another is already being organized for Dec. 10. The effort may become a rolling deployment as long as the Standing Rock Sioux want the help.

“We are there to stand at the front line to protect the water protectors. That is the whole deal, we are willing to take the bullets, take the water, lay down our lives,” Peterson said. “Like we did when we served.”

Veterans participating are instructed to bring no weapons or ammunition and to remain nonviolent no matter what comes.

The Morton County Sheriff’s Office won’t discuss its tactics or the equipment it intends to deploy if there is a clash. In the past, it has called in reinforcements from Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming in addition to cities and counties throughout North Dakota to defend the pipeline project.

The state borrowed another $7 million this week from its emergency fund for policing demonstrations against the pipeline, on top of the $10 million it has already spent.

However, the county sheriff will likely not be using any more officers from outside the state, according to Cecily Fong in the Sheriff’s Department, in part because of “political pushback in some of the states that have provided law enforcement,” she wrote in an email to The Seattle Times.

Meanwhile more support from Washington tribes, fighting fossil-fuel projects of their own, continues to pour into the camp.

Tribal members from Lower Elwha arrived Wednesday to plant the tribe’s flag; 10 Colville tribal veterans were blessed in a special ceremony Friday before heading to Standing Rock, and paddlers from the Kalispel and Colville tribes arrived in Standing Rock on Thursday in two dugout canoes all the way from the source of the Cannonball River in Montana — paddling the last 20 miles through 8 inches of slush.

A delegation of tribal leaders, drummers and singers from the Quinault Indian Nation, including tribal president Fawn Sharp, is to arrive Monday. That’s the supposed eviction day from the protest camp.

“ … it also happens to be the birth date of George Armstrong Custer,” Sharp said, referencing the Army colonel killed at Custer’s Last Stand fighting the ancestors of the Dakota-Lakota people.

“No one has the right to evict tribes from their sacred lands,” Sharp said. “Custer didn’t have the right in 1876, and the Army Corps doesn’t have the right today.”
Groups of U.S. military veterans join the protest as human shields against possible clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement when the United States Army Corps of Engineers' eviction deadline expires on Monday. They are building barracks for shelter in North Dakota's winter weather.