Protesters halt Dakota Access pipeline work by blocking chemical dumping site

MONTROSE - A group protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline blocked a small roadway right off U.S. 61 by setting up a barricade and locking themselves to it.

The roadway leads to a site that is a dumping area for the pipeline to dispose of sludge resulting from their drilling under the Mississippi, according to protesters. The protest group, Mississippi Stand, put up wooden barricades and parked a large RV along the highway, blocking access to the property. They started on Sunday afternoon and were still there Monday evening.

One person attached themselves to the top of the RV and was arrested Monday, according to Lee County police. Another who did not wish to be named climbed under the RV and locked themselves to it, preventing it from being towed. Two more, Netha Morgan of Rockford, Illinois, and Logan Stone of Austin, Texas, are locked to a 'lockdown box” device just behind the RV.

Morgan and Stone each had one arm in a barrel that's affixed to the ground and covered in piping. It's unclear what inside was holding their arms in place. They sat atop blankets and pillows with a service dog lying on a dog bed beside them. Food and water was scattered around, and they hid from the sun under a large umbrella.

'We may lay down, but we're laying in their path,” Morgan said.

Morgan wore a T-shirt with an image of her son, David Badie, printed across the front in his military uniform. Badie was killed in service in Afghanistan in 2008 on the day after his 23rd birthday. Morgan blames her son's death on the influence oil companies have on the U.S. Military. 'He was killed defending big oil and private interests,” Morgan said.

She said her son and others were forced to take a dangerous dirt road because the main, secure road was being used by oil tankers.

'We keep buying their gas at any cost,” she said. 'And that cost is our lives. Lives like my son's.”

Alongside Morgan, Stone offered his body to the cause simply to fight corporate interests. They both said that they could not pull their arms from the device even if they wanted to.

'I'm tired of watching corporate interests supersede the rights of people,” Stone said.

On Monday afternoon, a Montrose Fire Rescue truck and several police vehicles sat along the highway as their drivers waited for a Department of Transportation representative to arrive and point out where public property ends and private land begins.

Allen Gray with the DOT arrived and marked out the property line. It lay well behind the protesters, putting their protest on public state property. A gate, seemingly put up by the private property owner, actually lays on public land according to Gray's assessment.

Montrose Fire Chief Jason Dinwiddie stood by 'to assist the sheriffs office.”

'We have the tools here to cut these people out of their contraptions,” Dinwiddie said.

Lee County Chief Deputy Scott Bonar said the protest was a potential road hazard. He was clearly frustrated with the protesters.

'One of them is under the trailer wrapped around an axle,” Bonar said. 'Then there are two in the back. We're watching in conjunction with the DOT.”

When it became clear that the protesters were on public property, police seemed unsure how to proceed.

Other protesters passed food and water to those who were chained down. According to one of the group's leaders, Alex Cohen, their protest had shut down drilling for the day. He said the workers need to continually dump there in order to keep digging, and that chemicals from the dumps were potentially leaking into groundwater.

'Pipeline boring never happened today because of this action,” Cohen said.

Cohen said that the site will now be a main area of operation for the protesters, but that they will continue their actions in other local spots near the drilling. He also said that they had collected samples from the dumping site and sent them off for testing.

Bonar said he wasn't sure of the name of the woman who had been arrested, but that her name would be available on Tuesday. The RV was clearly visible from U.S. 61, though it was blocked from view by a firetruck. It was just north of Montrose and has NODAPL spray painted on its side.