FBI Investigating Threats Over North Dakota Pipeline

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into several threats connected to the pipeline dispute in North Dakota. The online threats, which have appeared in YouTube videos, have been made against President Obama, North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple, members of the National Guard, and law enforcement.

The group, “Anonymous Agents” have also made threats against pipeline and construction workers, as well as the executives of Energy Transfer Partners. Speaking with KFGO radio, FBI Special Agent Kyle Loven said that the agency is working with local law enforcement on the issue, adding that law enforcement does not want the situation to “become any more volatile than it already is.”

North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp has asked that the Department of Justice to investigate the source and credibility of the threats.

In the meantime, lawmakers and the oil industry are ramping up calls for the Obama Administration to stand down, after it temporarily suspended construction of the pipeline. The move by the President came last Friday, after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled against the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which has opposed the pipeline for two years.

The tribe wants to block the pipeline because it could cross sacred ground and burial sites and could pose health problems. The decision to block the project, which would span four states and 1,172 miles and is valued at $3.8 billion dollars, has industry leaders and legislators claiming that the federal government has overstepped its boundaries. North Dakota Representative Kevin Cramer commented: “It seems more than a little confusing that moments after a federal judge issued an order stating, among other things, that the Corps of Engineers and the pipeline company did everything the law requires of them and more, the Obama Administration decides to change the rules.”

Energy Transfer Partners records show that the company has moved the pipeline 140 times at its own expense in order to avoid burial sites. Ninety-nine percent of the route crosses private land.

By Lincoln Brown for Oilprice.com

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