Cleanup Finished at Pipeline Protest Camps

Cleanup finished at three Dakota Access pipeline construction project protest camps in North Dakota.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Army Corps of Engineers has finished cleaning up three Dakota Access pipeline protest camps that were on federal land in North Dakota.

The Corps hired a contractor after the main camp and two others were cleared out and shut down late last month in advance of the spring flooding season. They’d operated since last spring and at times held thousands of pipeline opponents.

Corps Capt. Ryan Hignight says a total of 835 industrial-size trash bins were filled and removed in the operation that wrapped up late last week. That doesn’t include materials such as lumber and propane tanks that were set aside for reuse or recycling.

The total cost of the operation hasn’t been tallied yet, but the Corps has estimated that it could cost taxpayers more than $1.1 million.