Both sides have accused the other of escalating tension and engaging in violence since the protest started last year as a decidedly local affair. The camps ultimately swelled to thousands in the summer and fall, with Native Americans and supporters from across the country gathering in spirited opposition and setting up a makeshift society in the camps, complete with cooking tents and supply areas.

But on Wednesday, months of tension mostly gave way to a somber calm as demonstrators left and a cold rain turned to snow. Some protesters set fire to semipermanent structures before the 2 p.m. deadline.

“It’s an act of defiance,” Nick Cowan, 25, said as he watched a fire burn on Wednesday after living here for more than two months. “It’s saying: ‘If you are going to make us leave our home, you cannot take our space. We’ll burn it to the ground and let the earth take it back before you take it from us.’”

Two youths were injured at the camp Wednesday, apparently from the fires, officials said, including a teenage girl who was hospitalized with severe burns.

North Dakota officials offered meals, lodging, a medical exam and a bus ticket to anywhere in the 48 contiguous states for protesters who left by Wednesday afternoon but needed help getting home.

That approach was at odds with events of recent months, when the demonstrators sporadically clashed with the police, leading to the activation of the North Dakota National Guard and hundreds of arrests. The police sometimes used tear gas and rubber bullets. The North Dakota Guard said on Wednesday that it had spent more than $8 million responding to the protest since August.

Despite the lingering frustrations, tensions seemed to have eased in recent weeks as the ranks of demonstrators declined during the harsh winter. Dave Archambault II, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which has sued seeking to block the pipeline construction, urged protesters to go home.

On Wednesday, many of them did.

“I think people are saying goodbye,” said Ms. Red Bull, who spent about six months here. “I think that’s why people are setting things on fire: as a way of a last homage to what had become many people’s homes. A community was here.”</s>Local law enforcement officers are arresting people who chose not to evacuate federal land near part of the Dakota Access Pipeline north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

The governor of North Dakota had set Wednesday as the evacuation deadline for the largest protest camp, which is on a flat area north of the Cannonball River. He cited flooding concerns.

Protesters supporting members of the Standing Rock Sioux, many of whom believe the pipeline's route under a section of the Missouri River known as Lake Oahe will endanger drinking water, have been living on the land for six months or more. They have erected shelters and organized supply systems for food and water, even as winter brought freezing temperatures and feet of snow.

As the 3 p.m. ET deadline approached, some demonstrators prayed while others took down some shelters and set fire to things they were not carrying out. Rain falling on law enforcement and demonstrators turned to fat snowflakes.

"It looks like a trash pile. But it's getting picked up and every spot is starting to look better and better as we work together," Dotty Agard of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe told Amy Sisk of Inside Energy while sorting through abandoned goods.



"One man used a four-wheeler to help get a car out of the deep mud, and another person rode a snowmobile through the dirt," The New York Times reported from the area. "Some semipermanent structures had been burned, apparently an effort to demolish them ahead of the deadline. A fire burned, black smoke rising in the cold air, while some people roamed the area."

The newspaper reported that "state officials have offered meals, lodging, a medical exam and a bus ticket to anywhere in the 48 contiguous states for protesters who left by Wednesday afternoon but needed help getting home."

According to live video posted to the Lakota People's Law Project Facebook page, a group from the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, which borders the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, leased land a few miles away and were welcoming people who left the evacuated area.

Not far from the area being evacuated, crews for the company Energy Transfer Partners are drilling a hole for the pipeline to carry oil under the Missouri River. Construction had been stalled for months, as lawsuits challenging the permitting process for the pipeline made their way through the courts.

In December, the Obama administration announced it would not allow construction to go forward until the Army Corps conducted a full environmental review of the route. It was a win for the protest movement.

The Corps officially began the review process in January, opening up the pipeline route plan to public comments, but that process ground to a halt when President Trump signed an executive memorandum directing the Corps to expedite the permitting consideration.

The Corps subsequently approved the river crossing on Feb. 7, and suspended its environmental review.

Even as protest camps clear out, the Standing Rock Sioux and their allies have doubled down on their legal fight against the pipeline. Since the president's executive action, numerous lawsuits have been filed seeking to halt construction or block oil from flowing through the pipeline should it be completed.

In an amicus brief filed in U.S. District Court earlier this month, the leadership of the 16 federally recognized Indian tribes located in North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska — a group known as The Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Association — wrote in opposition to the pipeline.

The Dakota Access Pipeline, they argued, cannot be understood without considering the history of the federal government abusing tribal sovereignty:



"From this history, a pattern emerges wherein the United States consistently utilizes the legal narrative of the time to segregate, take from, and discriminate against Indian tribes. [The Dakota Access Pipeline] is simply the latest example of Native peoples of the Great Plains being subjected to varying legal standards and shifting political winds to justify the subordination of Indian treaty rights to non-Indian pecuniary interests. "... In addition to the irreparable harm to the free exercise of Native religious beliefs ... there is also irreparable harm in the form of historical trauma and psychological distress which stems from the consistent failure of the United States to live up to its obligations under its Treaties with Indian tribes generally, and under its Treaties with the Great Sioux Nation here specifically. Treaties matter."</s>The Dakota Access Pipeline's route takes it over four states and nearly 1,200 miles, from the Bakken oil fields in northwestern North Dakota through South Dakota, Iowa and down to a terminal in Illinois.

But one Missouri River crossing just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota has become the focal point of a fight over how the pipeline's route was analyzed and approved by the federal government.

In legal challenges and public demonstrations, members of the tribe and their supporters have argued that they were not adequately consulted about the route. Running the pipeline under a Missouri River reservoir called Lake Oahe, member say, would jeopardize the primary water source for the reservation, and construction would further damage sacred sites near the lake, violating tribal treaty rights.

After more than six months of legal wrangling, the Trump administration reversed a decision by the Obama administration and announced it is allowing the pipeline company, Energy Transfer Partners, to drill under Lake Oahe and finish building the last section of the pipeline.

Here are some key moments in the fight over the Dakota Access Pipeline.

This story has developed over many months, and this timeline captures only a portion of the newsworthy developments that have occurred, focusing largely on legal and policy decisions.



The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Omaha District publishes a draft of its plan to approve the Dakota Access Pipeline route under the Missouri River.

The Corps opened the plan up to public comments, including comments on environmental and cultural impacts.



The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office determines that no historic properties will be affected by the pipeline crossing.

A letter from the Corps' senior field archaeologist for the project lists five "recorded cultural sites" within the area that could be affected by construction of the pipeline, and more than 30 others that are thought to be within a 1-mile radius.

The letter supports the determination that "no historic properties will be subject to effect," by the crossing under Lake Oahe, and notes that the Standing Rock Sioux has requested further archaeological survey of the area.



The U.S. government's Advisory Council on Historic Preservation disputes the Corps determination in a letter to the assistant secretary of the Army, citing the need for cooperation with tribal leaders to identify areas of concern to them.

In the letter, the advisory council director asks the Corps to justify its decision.



The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approves the portion of the Dakota Access Pipeline route that crosses the Missouri River at the Lake Oahe reservoir. The crossing is on Army Corps-controlled land.

The 1,261-page report announcing the approval said of the public review process: "No significant comments remain unresolved."

The Omaha district commander, Col. John Henderson, wrote, "I have evaluated the anticipated environmental, economic, cultural, and social effects, and any cumulative effects" of the river crossing and found it is "not injurious to the public interest."



The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sues the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The tribe alleged that the Corps had failed to adequately consult tribe members before approving the pipeline, and had violated the National Historic Preservation Act when it "effectively authorized construction of the vast majority of the pipeline in and around federally regulated waters without any provision to ensure against destruction to culturally important sites."

"There is a high risk that culturally and historically significant sites will be damaged or destroyed in the absence of an injunction," the tribe wrote in its court filing.



Dakota Access LLC, a subsidiary of the pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners, countersues leaders of the Standing Rock Sioux, alleging that protesters near the Lake Oahe river crossing have "halted construction activities" that had been scheduled to begin five days earlier.

"On Wednesday August 10, 2016, representatives of Dakota Access arrived at the Construction Site and were met with resistance by approximately 15 to 30 individuals ... who were protesting the construction of the Pipeline. By the afternoon, the number of individuals protesting at the Construction Site increased to approximately 100," the company wrote.



The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe issues a statement saying Energy Transfer Partners demolished an area that contained "significant Native artifacts and sacred sites" when construction crews bulldozed a two-mile-long area near the Lake Oahe river crossing and north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

"I surveyed this land and we confirmed multiple graves and specific prayer sites," the tribe's historic preservation officer, Tim Mentz, said in the statement. "Portions, and possibly complete sites, have been taken out entirely."

And protests in North Dakota turned violent when private security guards clashed with some protesters.

As reporter Amy Sisk of the public radio collaboration Inside Energy said in an NPR Live discussion on Facebook, "What happened is some protesters who've been camped out near this construction area broke through a fence to access this construction site and were met with some private security guards and guard dogs hired by the pipeline company. ... Law enforcement says the protesters attacked the security guards and the dogs." She added that demonstrators said the dogs "actually bit some of the protesters."



U.S. District Judge James Boasberg temporarily halts construction on the portion of the Dakota Access Pipeline that crosses the Missouri River at Lake Oahe, pending a full decision on the tribe's earlier lawsuit against the Army Corps.



North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple activates the North Dakota National Guard to assist local law enforcement that had been monitoring demonstrations. In early December, a spokesperson for the guard told NPR that more than 500 National Guard members were on active duty and that multiple buses and military vehicles had been used to "aid law enforcement."



U.S. District Judge James Boasberg denies the Standing Rock Sioux's request to stop construction. In his decision, he writes that "the United States' relationship with the Indian tribes has been contentious and tragic." But he went on to say that the Army Corps "likely complied" with its obligation to consult the tribe, adding that the tribe "has not shown it will suffer injury that would be prevented by any injunction the Court could issue."

But the Justice Department, the Department of the Army and the Interior Department announced that construction on Army Corps-controlled land near the Lake Oahe river crossing should not proceed — and asked that the pipeline company honor the request — pending further evaluation and consultation with the tribe.



Energy Transfer Partners proceeds with construction despite the request by the three federal agencies that it voluntarily halt activities near the Lake Oahe river crossing. The Morton County Sheriff arrests 27 people demonstrating at the site.



The chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux, Dave Archambault II, sends a letter to then-U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch requesting an investigation "to protect civil rights" of protesters, citing the "overall militarization of law enforcement response."



Then-President Obama says in an interview that the U.S Army Corps of Engineers is "examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline in a way. So we're going to let it play out for several more weeks and determine whether or not this can be resolved in a way that I think is properly attentive to the traditions of the first Americans."



Law enforcement uses tear gas and sprays water at crowds of demonstrators as the temperature drop below freezing, reports Amy Sisk of Inside Energy.



The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tells protesters to leave some encampments on federal land by Dec. 5, and North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple follows up with an evacuation order for the area, citing "harsh weather." Nonetheless, many people stay.



The Army Corps halts construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline and says it intends to issue an environmental impact statement with "full public input and analysis" before it approves the river crossing at Lake Oahe.



The Army publishes a notice in the Federal Register saying it is preparing the environmental impact statement and soliciting public comments until Feb. 20, 2017, on whether to grant the easement necessary to cross under Lake Oahe.



President Trump signs an executive memorandum instructing the Army to expedite the review and approval process for the unbuilt section of the Dakota Access Pipeline.



The Army says it has been directed to expedite the review process for the easement request, and that "the Assistant Secretary for the Army Civil Works will make a decision on the pipeline once a full review and analysis is completed in accordance with the [president's] directive."



The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers grants the easement allowing the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe, north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The Corps also issues a memo saying it intends to terminate the public comment period and rescind its notice of intent to prepare an environmental impact assessment.

The pipeline company immediately began construction near the crossing under Lake Oahe.



The Cheyenne River Sioux tribe asks the U.S. District Court to issue a restraining order to block construction of the final piece of the pipeline. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe officially joins the request a few days later. Both reservations get their water downstream of the Lake Oahe crossing.



U.S. District Judge James Boasberg denies the tribes' joint motion, noting that oil is not yet flowing under the reservoir. In his decision, Boasberg requires Dakota Access LLC to update the court on Feb. 21, "and every Monday thereafter as to the likely date that oil will begin to flow beneath Lake Oahe."



The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux tribe request a summary judgement against both the Army Corps and Dakota Access LLC, a subsidiary of the pipeline company.

The plaintiffs cite tribal land rights under the 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaty and argue that the Corps decision to grant the easement was "arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law."



The Corps formally terminates its environmental review in a notice published in the Federal Register.



North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum sets this date as a deadline for the remaining protesters to leave an encampment on federal land near the area of the pipeline company's construction site.</s>Protesters Leave Dakota Access Pipeline Area; Some Stay And Are Arrested

Local law enforcement officers have arrested some people who chose not to evacuate federal land near part of the Dakota Access Pipeline north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Most protesters had left earlier. At dusk, police moved back, and said they would not enter the camp at that time.

The governor of North Dakota had set Wednesday as the evacuation deadline for the largest protest camp, which is on a flat area north of the Cannonball River. He cited flooding concerns.

Protesters supporting members of the Standing Rock Sioux, many of whom believe the pipeline's route under a section of the Missouri River known as Lake Oahe will endanger drinking water, have been living on the land for six months or more. They have erected shelters and organized supply systems for food and water, even as winter brought freezing temperatures and feet of snow.

As the 3 p.m. ET deadline approached, some demonstrators prayed while others took down some shelters and set fire to things they were not carrying out. Rain falling on law enforcement and demonstrators turned to fat snowflakes.

"It looks like a trash pile. But it's getting picked up and every spot is starting to look better and better as we work together," Dotty Agard of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe told Amy Sisk of Inside Energy while sorting through abandoned goods.

"One man used a four-wheeler to help get a car out of the deep mud, and another person rode a snowmobile through the dirt," The New York Times reported from the area. "Some semipermanent structures had been burned, apparently an effort to demolish them ahead of the deadline. A fire burned, black smoke rising in the cold air, while some people roamed the area."

The newspaper reported that "state officials have offered meals, lodging, a medical exam and a bus ticket to anywhere in the 48 contiguous states for protesters who left by Wednesday afternoon but needed help getting home."

According to live video posted to the Lakota People's Law Project Facebook page, a group from the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, which borders the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, leased land a few miles away and were welcoming people who left the evacuated area.

Not far from the area being evacuated, crews for the company Energy Transfer Partners are drilling a hole for the pipeline to carry oil under the Missouri River. Construction had been stalled for months, as lawsuits challenging the permitting process for the pipeline made their way through the courts.

In December, the Obama administration announced it would not allow construction to go forward until the Army Corps conducted a full environmental review of the route. It was a win for the protest movement.

The Corps officially began the review process in January, opening up the pipeline route plan to public comments, but that process ground to a halt when President Trump signed an executive memorandum directing the Corps to expedite the permitting consideration.

The Corps subsequently approved the river crossing on Feb. 7, and suspended its environmental review.

Even as protest camps clear out, the Standing Rock Sioux and their allies have doubled down on their legal fight against the pipeline. Since the president's executive action, numerous lawsuits have been filed seeking to halt construction or block oil from flowing through the pipeline should it be completed.

In an amicus brief filed in U.S. District Court earlier this month, the leadership of the 16 federally recognized Indian tribes located in North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska — a group known as The Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Association — wrote in opposition to the pipeline.

The Dakota Access Pipeline, they argued, cannot be understood without considering the history of the federal government abusing tribal sovereignty:</s>The last activists at the Dakota Access Pipeline protest camp torched their tents and the entrance to the site Wednesday in the final hours leading up to an Army-ordered evacuation deadline — one last act of defiance to end the 10-month-long protest at Standing Rock.

The final protesters occupying the North Dakota land of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe were forced to disperse Wednesday afternoon ahead of impending spring floods.

The group — which has demanded an end to the Dakota Access Pipeline, an under-construction North Dakota–to–Illinois oil line they say poses environmental threats — had more than 1,000 occupiers at the peak of the protests, but that number had been whittled down to between 200 and 300 by Wednesday.

The demonstrators set their teepees, tents, and other campsite structures on fire Wednesday morning, calling the blazes a “ceremonial act.” Most of them walked out of the camp at 1 p.m., an hour ahead of the deadline to leave.

At least one person was burned in the fire, police said, although the extent of the female victim’s injuries was not immediately clear.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers ordered the evacuation, saying the area would soon become flooded by melting winter snow. They also warned that the camp could pose an environmental threat if the floodwaters washed garbage and other debris into nearby rivers.

Hundreds of arrests and $2 million in destroyed equipment

Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) first asked the government for permission to build the pipeline through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois in December 2014. While there was some immediate backlash, the first organized protests didn’t come until April 2016, after Iowa approved construction, becoming the last of the four states to approve the pipeline.

Over the past 10 months, hundreds of protesters have set up camp in North Dakota. Many were Native Americans who argued that the pipeline would dirty their tribes’ water and disrupt sacred lands.

In July, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which greenlit pipe construction work on federal waterways, a move that prompted more demonstrators — Native Americans, environmentalists and other allies alike — to flock to the camp in support of the tribe. A second tribe, the Cheyenne River Sioux, signed on to the suit in August.

As more people converged on the campsite protest, the once-peaceful demonstrations turned violent. In August, protesters set fire to construction sitting along the Iowa stretch of the pipeline route, causing some $2 million in damages.

Over the 10-month course of the protests, more than 700 people were arrested, including Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and actress Shailene Woodley.

In December, the Standing Rock Sioux asked the protesters to evacuate the camp, insisting they’d continue to fight the pipeline in court instead of on the ground. Nevertheless, about 300 protesters stayed behind.

As the protesters disperse, the legal battle over the pipeline is ongoing.

After President Donald Trump signed a January executive order approving work on the final stretch of the pipeline, the Standing Rock Sioux and the Cheyenne tribes filed an emergency request to halt construction, maintaining that the pipe will damage their waters and land.

Since oil will not begin to flow through the still-under construction pipe until spring at the earliest, a judge denied the motion on Feb. 13, arguing that as long as there isn’t oil in the pipe, there’s no damage done. He promised to reevaluate his decision in another hearing set for Monday.

If the second hearing to block construction fails, the tribes’ hope their original lawsuit can still stop the pipeline from ferrying oil below their land. ETP CEO Kelcy Warren said the pipeline could be ready to use in three months, meaning that the tribes have that much time left to fight the pipeline in court to block the oil from flowing.

Alongside the construction, there will also be a massive cleanup effort to remove debris from the protest campsite.

The activists themselves began tidying up and removing debris from the area several weeks ago, and now Army officials will join in. The goal is to remove all trash and debris before the melted-snow floodwaters hit, potentially sending the litter into the rivers the campers fought to protect from the pipeline.</s>Dakota Access Pipeline Protest Camp To Be Cleared This Afternoon

The Army Corps of Engineers' plan to close a Dakota Access pipeline protest camp isn't likely to end on-the-ground opposition in North Dakota.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – The Army Corps of Engineers’ plan to close a Dakota Access pipeline protest camp isn’t likely to end on-the-ground opposition in North Dakota.

It also may not spell the end of heavy law enforcement presence near where the Dallas-based developer is finishing the last big section of the pipeline. When completed, the pipeline will carry oil from North Dakota through the Dakotas and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois.

The protest camp has been around since August and at times housed thousands of people. The Corps has told the few hundred who remain that they must leave by 2 p.m. Wednesday. The Corps says it’s concerned about potential flooding as snow melts.

Protest leader Phyllis Young says many will just go to new camps on private land.</s>On February 21 and 22, the Morton County Sheriff’s Department evacuated the remaining water protectors protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock. Though several Democrats praised the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision on December 4 to conduct an environmental impact assessment, they have been silent on the issue since construction of the pipeline has moved forward under the Trump administration. The decision to stop the pipeline is now in the hands of the courts, as the Standing Rock Sioux tribe attempts to force the Army Corps of Engineers to enforce their December 4, 2016, decision.

The water protectors at Standing Rock faced a barrage of smear campaigns from the Morton County Sheriff’s Department and companies in charge of the pipeline construction. At the behest of pipeline security, they were attacked by dogs, pepper sprayed, tear gassed and hosed with water in subfreezing temperatures. Some protectors suffered severe injuries, including a 21-year-old girl who nearly lost her arm due to police throwing a concussion grenade at the peaceful protesters. Nevertheless, the Democratic establishment failed to acknowledge the protests. The mainstream media largely avoided the conflict as well, basing their limited coverage on the issue solely on law enforcement sources. Throughout the water protectors’ protests, establishment Democrats stood up for Standing Rock only after a small victory was achieved.

The Democrat Party, an ostensible ally, continuously offers weak opposition to the Republican Party and corporate powers that oppress and infringe on human rights.

The Democratic establishment’s resistance to Trump ignores his policies that don’t provide political expediency, like the Dakota Access Pipeline. Though the battle against the pipeline lasted months, very few Democrats spoke out. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard were the greatest opponents of the pipeline. Supposedly progressive icon Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who claims Cherokee heritage, largely ignored the issue—apart from December 4, 2016, when she tried to take credit for the protesters’ small victory.

The Democratic Party not only needs to mobilize against Trump—it needs to fight for marginalized groups, like Native Americans. But instead, the Democratic establishment is trying to restore political power without making reforms. They continue to partner with wealthy and corporate donors and refuse to join progressives on key issues.

Sanders has reiterated that the Democratic Party cannot market the interests of billionaires and Wall Street while also representing working class, middle class, and low income Americans. Democrats must choose a side. Unfortunately, when given the opportunity, they consistently side with their donors, who are deeply invested in the Dakota Access Pipeline.</s>The Dakota Access Pipeline could begin operations as early as next month as construction runs ahead of schedule and newly inaugurated President Donald Trump facilitates the removal of administrative obstacles to its launch.

In a court-ordered status report, Energy Transfer Partners, one of the company’s constructing the pipeline, said the last 1,100-foot piece of the project is nearly completed and would be ready to install soon.

“Dakota Access reports that the pilot hole is complete,” said the report filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, according to The Washington Times. “The company is currently reaming the hole — i.e., making it larger in order to accept the pipe. As of now, Dakota Access estimates and targets that the pipeline will be complete and ready to flow oil anywhere between the week of March 6, 2017 and April 1, 2017.”

The Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux have both filed lawsuits to force the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct an in-depth environmental impact study – which the corps had agreed to do under President Barack Obama’s administration. They also argue that the pipeline will pass through sacred lands and pose a threat to their drinking water supply as it would pass under the Lake Oahe.



Related: Combined Compliance For OPEC, Non-OPEC Hits 86%

U.S. District Court Judge Kames Boasberg, who is presiding over the case, green-lighted an expedited hearing schedule on Thursday, giving Energy Transfer Partners until March 23rd to respond to the tribes’ request for summary judgement.

Images of the ruins of the Oceti Sakowin camp, the main gathering site for Native American and allied protestors from around the country, have circulated social media since Wednesday, when police forces forcibly evacuated the area citing a growing risk of floods from the Missouri River as spring begins and ice starts to melt.
• None U.S. Oil Rig Count Rises – Up 125 Since OPEC Deal</s>On the eve of the deadline for anti-Dakota Access Pipeline protesters to vacate camps in North Dakota, the company in charge of construction said in a court filing on Tuesday that oil could start flowing in as early as two weeks, beating previous estimates.

Texas-based developer Energy Transfer Partners, the builder of the pipeline whose construction has sparked protests since last August over its location, said in the filing to the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., that the company “estimates and targets that the pipeline will be complete and ready to flow oil anywhere between the week of March 6, 2017 and April 1, 2017.”

The court filing was required as part of an ongoing legal battle that is challenging the construction at the site by Lake Oahe.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum last week called for the Oceti Sakowin protest camp — located on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation — to be evacuated by Wednesday, Feb. 23., claiming ecological damage at the camp and rising post-winter floodwaters.

The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, which is part of the Great Sioux Nation, has joined the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s lawsuit against the pipeline, filing a motion at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Feb. 9 seeking a temporary restraining order “to halt construction and drilling” under and on either side of the land surrounding the lake.

The tribe argued that the pipeline “will desecrate the waters upon which Cheyenne River Sioux tribal members rely for their most important religious practices and therefore substantially burden the free exercise of their religion,” according to a court document obtained by ABC News.

Last Monday, the court denied that motion seeking a temporary restraining order. On Tuesday, the pipeline company said that the Cheyenne River Sioux legal claim under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act “has no chance of success on the merits.”

The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe filed a separate motion seeking a preliminary injunction directing the Army Corps to withdraw the easement issued to the pipeline company on Feb. 8. The tribe alleges that the easement granted is “entirely unlawful,” according to court documents. A further hearing on the Cheyenne River Sioux’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the pipeline is set for Feb. 27 in Washington, D.C.

After receiving the easement to build the pipeline across land on both sides of Lake Oahe, Energy Transfer Partners announced it would resume construction immediately, and indeed work has resumed.

The Dakota Access Pipeline, which would connect oil production areas in North Dakota to an existing crude oil terminal near Patoka, Illinois.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has been at the forefront of massive and prolonged protests over the four-state crude oil pipeline. The demonstrations have drawn thousands of Native Americans, environmental activists and their allies to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation.

Kelcy Warren, the CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, has said that “concerns about the pipeline’s impact on local water supply are unfounded” and “multiple archaeological studies conducted with state historic preservation offices found no sacred items along the route.”

In the final days of President Barack Obama’s administration, Jo-Ellen Darcy, the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, announced on Dec. 4 that an easement would not be granted for the pipeline to cross under the large reservoir on the Missouri River.

The move to deny the easement was hailed by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other pipeline opponents as a major victory. But on his second weekday in office, President Trump signed a memorandum aimed at advancing the Dakota Access Pipeline, as well as one directed at the Keystone XL pipeline.

ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Darren Reynolds, Evan Simon and Catherine Thorbecke contributed to this report.</s>CANNONBALL, North Dakota (CNN) — A handful of people were arrested Wednesday at a protest site near the Dakota Access Pipeline after a deadline to leave the camp expired. Authorities have also closed the camp.

Lt. Tom Iverson of the North Dakota Highway Patrol said nine people were arrested at the Oceti Sakowin camp after the 2 p.m. deadline set by Gov. Doug Burgum. The nine people had refused commands to leave the area, Iverson said.

“We knew this day was going to come,” Iverson said, referring to the state deadline to close the camp for environmental and safety reasons.

Iverson said authorities had given a group of protesters who agreed to be arrested an additional two hours but that group did not materialize.

He said law enforcement were confronted by “agitators” who approached the law enforcement line “provoking them.” He said authorities were patient and gave people multiple warnings to back up and leave the roadway outside the camp entrance. Some people backed off, he said.

“This camp is closed,” Iverson said, adding that no vehicles will be allowed into the camp.

Iverson said about 50 to 75 protesters remained in the camp. It is unclear how and when those protesters will be removed.

“With darkness coming, we’re not going to be entering that camp right now,” Iverson said. “It’s not a safe situation with people potentially hunkered down in the camps.”

Last week, Burgum signed the emergency evacuation order of the property to allow private contractors to remove waste from the Oceti Sakowin camp area, which officials say is in a flood plain. The order said warm temperatures have accelerated snowmelt and increased the risk of flooding, and that those in the flood plain are at risk of personal danger.

Burgum’s order comes as the project moves closer to completion after the US Army Corps of Engineers recently granted an easement for the last stretch of the 1,172-mile pipeline bitterly opposed by Native Americans and environmentalists.

About 100 people voluntarily marched out of the protest camp near Cannon Ball ahead of Wednesday’s deadline. The protesters chanted, waved flags and played drums as they left.

A handful of tents were set ablaze Wednesday morning. Tribal member Kaooplus Enimkla Thunder and Lightning said some of the tents were frozen into the ground and had to be burned to be removed.

The few protesters who had refused to budge said Tuesday they didn’t believe the fight was over.

“I’m not going anywhere. I carry a knife with me all the time. But I am handing that over so that I have no weapons on me. I will stay and pray, even if they come to remove us,” Valerie Armstrong, 36, of Sherman, Texas, said Tuesday.

Instead of leaving, Armstrong was busy building a tiny wooden house.

Oceti Sakowin was the main camp closest to where the pipeline will go underneath the Missouri River. At the peak of protests, the camp’s population climbed to as many as 10,000 people. A couple of hundred remained Tuesday as heavy equipment hauled away materials. Some campers also helped clean up.

North Dakota officials had strongly encouraged the remaining protesters to leave.

North Dakota officials, including the North Dakota Department of Health, had partnered to bus protesters to a travel assistance center, where they would be able to receive water and snacks, health assessments, a hotel lodging for a night and bus fare home.

On Tuesday, Morton County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Maxine Herr said: “Women, children, elderly and any other protesters that want to take the opportunity to leave the camp can do so at that time.”

She added: “We are seeking to take the moral high ground and help them gracefully exit.”

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe has said many times that the fight belongs in the court system and repeatedly has asked protesters to leave for safety and environmental reasons.

‘Keeping out all the evil’

Some protesters on Tuesday seemed to be bracing for the worst.

Dean Dedman, a member of the Dene Nation, had both hands wrapped around a post hole digger trying to gouge out a hole in the frozen ground. Several other young men joined him, digging holes in a line across the tallest hill inside the Oceti Sakowin camp.

“We are building our fortress of solitude,” Dedman said.

He said the barrier they were building was to keep out sheriff’s deputies as well as the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

“We are keeping out all the evil. If you want to talk about it in a spiritual way, it’s keeping out all the negativity,” Dedman said.

The $3.7 billion pipeline is slated to stretch through four states — from North Dakota into South Dakota, winding through Iowa and ending in southern Illinois. It is expected to move 470,000 barrels of crude oil a day across the Midwest. The project is completed except for the contested portion under North Dakota’s Lake Oahe, half a mile upstream from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s reservation.

Tribe members are concerned the once-stalled project would affect their drinking water supply and place downstream communities at risk of contamination from potential oil spills.

The pipeline moved forward last month after President Donald Trump signed executive actions advancing its approval. Trump’s actions cast aside efforts by former President Barack Obama to block the pipeline’s construction.

Soon after, the corps granted the easement. The move was enthusiastically greeted two weeks ago by Energy Transfer Partners, the pipeline’s developer. The company has said it’s ready to proceed.

But the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and its allies claimed then that the easement shouldn’t have been granted without the issuance of an expected environmental impact statement.

The tribe said it plans to argue that the impact statement process was wrongfully terminated.

Burgum’s order to evacuate isn’t the first mandate to leave the camp.

Last fall, protesters also vowed to stand their ground despite growing calls for them to leave. Then-Gov. Jack Dalrymple ordered them to clear out immediately, citing the harsh winter conditions.

At the time, the Army Corps of Engineers also said activists who refused to leave could face arrest. Officials later backtracked, saying they had no plans to remove forcibly those who stayed.

Earlier this month, the corps also ordered people to leave to prevent injuries and significant environmental damage in the event of flooding.

The North Dakota National Guard said $8.7 million had been spent since August on responding to the protests.

CNN’s Sara Sidner reported and wrote from Cannon Ball, North Dakota, and Darran Simon wrote from Atlanta. CNN’s Eric Levenson and Sara Weisfeldt, Mayra Cuevas contributed to this report.
The protestors in the area of the Dakota Access Pipeline are evicted, clearing the way for the oil pipeline through Canada and the United States to be built.