Date: February 8, 2017
Agency: Office of the Governor
Contact: Mike Nowatzki (701) 328-2424
BISMARCK, N.D. (Feb. 8, 2017) – Gov. Doug Burgum issued the following statement today after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted the easement needed for the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross Army Corps land at Lake Oahe. Col. John Henderson, commander of the Army Corps’ Omaha District, informed the governor’s office that the final easement had been issued.
“This easement allows for completion of an important piece of infrastructure that will provide a safe means of moving North Dakota crude oil to market while protecting the Missouri River for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and other downstream users,” Gov. Burgum said. “Public safety remains our No. 1 concern. We ask for everyone’s cooperation and restraint to ensure that the pipeline is completed in a safe manner and that the massive clean-up effort to remove tents, structures, garbage and other debris from the protest camps is completed and the camps are vacated before potentially life-threatening spring flooding occurs.”
“We continue to call upon federal officials to send additional law enforcement resources, including Bureau of Indian Affairs and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, to assist state and local authorities in keeping the peace during construction,” Burgum said.
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