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> 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.” </s> Despite the bitter cold and an evacuation order from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the veterans hope to erect enough space to house at least several hundred peers making their way into the Oceti Sakowin Camp here in Cannon Ball.

Veterans interviewed by Reuters gave a plethora of motives for traveling here. Some felt it was their patriotic duty to defend protesters, especially since Native Americans have historically had an active presence in the U.S. military.

For others, coming here offers a sense of purpose they have lacked since returning to civilian society. For all, the camaraderie with those who have also shared military service was important.

"Our commitment has not expired because we took off the uniform," said Charles Vondal, 51, an Army veteran and Native American from Turtle Mountain, N.D. "We understand what it means to put our lives on the line."

The response last month to a call for 2,000 veterans to act as a barrier between activists and law enforcement was much swifter than expected - with organizers having to stop accepting volunteers.

The veterans arriving say their presence will make it less likely that police will resort again to aggressive tactics, after water cannons and tear gas were used on a group of protesters in sub-freezing temperatures two weeks ago.

More than 500 activists have been arrested over the last several months.

“I felt it was our duty to come and stand in front of the guns and the mace and the water and the threat that they pose to these people," said Anthony Murtha, 29, from Detroit, who served in the U.S. Navy from 2009 to 2013.

Local law enforcement said the specter of having thousands of military-trained veterans in the area was of concern, but they were not expecting any melees.

"If (veterans) come to this area and they want to protest peacefully, if that's what they want to do and have their voice heard, then there's absolutely no issues with that," Kyle Kirchmeier, sheriff for Morton County, North Dakota, where the pipeline is routed, said in an interview Saturday.

Some veterans groups are unhappy with those coming to support the protesters, saying they are standing up for illegal behavior. They also note that many law enforcement officers are veterans. North Dakota's state veterans coordinating council, in a letter last week, asked the veterans who want to stand with the protesters not to come.

"We don't want to see veterans facing down veterans," said Lonnie Wangen, commissioner of North Dakota's Department of Veterans Affairs.

But veterans at the camp say pictures and video of water hoses used against Native Americans spoke to their concern of heavy-handed tactics used by law enforcement.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has yet to grant a permit for Energy Transfer Partners to drill under Lake Oahe, a reservoir that is part of the Missouri River.

This one-mile stretch represents the last unfinished portion of the line in North Dakota, which will stretch as far as Illinois.

Native Americans serve at a high rate in the armed forces, according to data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. A 2012 report showed more than 150,000 veterans of Native American descent. U.S. Defense Department data as of 2014 put Alaskan/Native American service members at more than 24,000.

"It's symbolic for people who stood up for this nation’s freedom to stand up for the first inhabitants of this nation," said Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux, on Saturday.

Veterans Stand With Standing Rock, which organized this weekend's rally and other events, has warned veterans they could experience flashbacks to combat experience.

“We’re under constant surveillance with helicopters and planes flying over. There is a military boundary with barbed wire,” said Angie Spencer, 34, a clinical psychologist from Seattle who has worked with veterans.

The surroundings, she said, mean counselors are vigilant for signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.

On Friday, the rally organizers met with law enforcement on the Backwater Bridge, the site of two of the most heated confrontations between police and protesters in the last several weeks. They said they were there to protest peacefully.

The chances that the pipeline will be stopped at this point seem slim. President-elect Donald Trump last week voiced support for the project, which has been delayed twice since September by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Opposing the pipeline, standing with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, was an opportunity to again find a personal mission, some said.

“You kind of lose your purpose when you’re out (of the military)," said John Nelson, 25, from San Diego, who spent seven years in the Navy. "I think that’s why it’s so easy for so many veterans to jump on board." </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> The executive order from Governor Jack Dalrymple came two days after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it would close public access to the main protest encampment, about 30 miles south of Bismark, setting a Dec. 5 deadline for demonstrators opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline to leave the area.

Demonstrators have protested for months against plans to run the Dakota Access Pipeline beneath Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, saying it poses a threat to water resources and to sacred Native American sites.

"Winter conditions have the potential to endanger human life, especially when they are exposed to these conditions without proper shelter, dwellings or sanitation for prolonged periods of time," the governor's order stated.

It added that the area around the protest camp, just north of the Cannonball River, is "not zoned for dwellings suitable for living in winter conditions."

A spokeswoman for the tribe did not have an immediate comment.

Last week local law enforcement sought to disperse demonstrators opposed to the pipeline, many of whom are members of the Standing Rock tribe, by spraying protesters with water in sub-freezing temperatures.

Activists protesting the pipeline have vowed to continue their resistance.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier added to the pressure on Monday by issuing a video statement urging protesters to avoid subjecting themselves to "life-threatening conditions" by remaining exposed to the elements with little shelter.

The National Weather Service has posted a winter storm warning for most of western and central North Dakota, forecasting the possibility of heavy snow through Wednesday.

Protest leaders suggested that a forced evacuation of the camp could prove even more dangerous to the activists.

"We're in the heart of winter now. To even think of a forced removal is terrifying," said Dallas Goldtooth, an organizer with Indigenous Environmental Network, who estimated there were around 5,000 people in the camp.

Demonstrators have protested for months against plans to run the $3.8 billion pipeline, owned by Energy Transfer Partners LP, beneath Lake Oahe, formed by a dam on the Missouri River, about a half mile (0.8 km) from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.

The companies say the pipeline would carry Bakken shale oil more cheaply and safely from North Dakota to Illinois en route to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries than it could be shipped by railroad or tanker trucks.

The 1,172-mile (1,885-km) project is mostly complete except for the segment planned to run under Lake Oahe.

The Obama administration in September postponed final approval of an Army Corps permit required to allow tunneling beneath the lake, a move intended to give federal officials more time to consult with tribal leaders. The delay also led to escalating tensions over the project.

Police drew condemnation from the American Civil Liberties Union and others last week when they used water hoses in below-freezing weather in an attempt to disperse about 400 activists near the proposed tunnel excavation site.

"They don't need to be worried about us in the winter," said Kandi Mossett, from the Indigenous Environmental Network. "We're perfectly capable of being self-sufficient. So using this as an excuse is insulting." </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> Phyllis Young (C) of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe talks with veterans who oppose the Dakota Access oil pipeline and local law enforcement on Backwater Bridge near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S., December 2, 2016. REUTERS/Terray Sylvester

CANNON BALL, N.D. (Reuters) - U.S. military veterans spoke with tribal leaders on Saturday about their shared interest in blocking a multibillion-dollar pipeline project near a Native American reservation, with as many as 3,500 veterans joining protests at the site.

Veterans Stand for Standing Rock members aim to form a human barrier in front of police to assist thousands of activists who have spent months demonstrating against plans to route the Dakota Access Pipeline beneath a lake near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

The group of veterans, including members already gathered at the site, will also finish building a barracks and mess hall near where they constructed a headquarters at the Oceti Sakowin camp about 5 miles (8 km) north of the small town of Cannon Ball.

"Men and women who fought for our nation are now standing up for the first occupants of this land. They're saying enough is enough," said David Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, in an interview. "It's symbolic for us."

He said the veterans intended to avoid violence as they supported their protest over the $3.8 billion pipeline, which opponents see a threat to water resources and sacred sites.

Violent confrontations have flared near the route of the pipeline, with state and local law enforcement using tear gas, rubber bullets and water hoses on the protesters, even in freezing weather.

Some 564 people have been arrested, the Morton County Sheriff's Department said.

"I felt it was our duty and very personally more of a call of duty than I ever felt in the service to come and stand in front of the guns and the mace and the water and the threat that they pose to these people," Anthony Murtha, 29, a Navy veteran from Detroit, said on Friday at the Oceti Sakowin camp.

State officials on Monday ordered the thousands of protesters now present 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. The temperature in Cannon Ball is expected to fall to 4 degrees Fahrenheit (-16 Celsius) next week. [L1N1DX1M7]

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.

"Regardless of what happens with this pipeline, we now know that with unity and with prayer we can make a stand," Archambault said. "I don't think the federal government or corporate world is going to continue to encroach on our lands after this time." </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.
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.