AP News Guide: New phase for Dakota Access pipeline protest

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Activists who have been protesting the nearly 1,200-mile Dakota Access oil pipeline for months ratcheted up the pressure this week by moving onto private land owned by the pipeline developer.

The project is projected to move a half-million barrels of crude oil daily from western North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Illinois, where shippers can access Midwest and Gulf Coast markets.

Supporters say the pipeline will have safeguards against leaks, and is a safer way to move oil than truck and trains, especially after a handful of fiery — and sometimes deadly — derailments of trains carrying North Dakota crude.

[...] the Standing Rock Sioux, other tribes and environmental groups say that the pipeline could threaten water supplies for millions, since it will cross the Missouri River, as well as harm sacred sites and artifacts.

Nearly half of those arrests came over the weekend, which saw protesters twice blocking a state highway and law enforcement claiming that a drone was flown dangerously close to a police helicopter.