Federal officials carted away nearly 1,000 dumpsters of garbage from the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protest campsites on government land in North Dakota.
The Army Corps of Engineers completed its $1.1 million cleanup at the Sacred Stone campsite last week. Sanitation crews hauled away 845 dumpsters of trash remaining at four sites devoted to housing opponents of the multi-billion oil project.
A total of 8,170 cubic yards of debris was removed from Sacred Stone, Oceti Sakowin and Rosebud, according to Army Corps Capt. Ryan Hignight. The Corps does not know the condition of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, where anti-DAPL activists are holed up.
“In total, there were 835 roll-off dumpsters of trash and debris removed from the three camps together,” Hignight said in an email to reporters Monday.
A local animal shelter also rescued another six dogs to bring the total number of dogs and puppies found at the sites to 12.
“We are happy to report that all animals have been accounted for throughout the Dakota Access Pipeline protest sites,” Furry Friends Rockin’ Rescue of Bismarck-Mandan said in a statement on its website. “The dogs will be vetted — vaccinated, exam, dewormer, and bath — prior to being posted for adoption.”
Officials began cleaning up the areas in February to prepare for ice melt that risked washing the debris into the nearby Missouri River.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a Republican, issued an emergency evacuation in February to give the state room to clean up the massive amount of trash that has accumulated at the site.
Officials used taxpayer dollars to house and feed the pipeline’s opponents while their makeshift campsites are cleaned to avoid an ecological disaster.
State agencies in charge of cleaning up anti-DAPL campsites offered transportation services, food vouchers, and paid hotel stays to activists leaving the area.
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