Confusion as 1.4million Facebook users check in to Native American reservation in North Dakota
People nowhere near the area are checking in to the remote location — but why are they doing it?
IN recent weeks violent clashes have erupted at the site of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline as hundreds of protesters square off against cops.
Now, activists are also using Facebook to confuse police - by encouraging more than a million people to 'check-in' at the site of the demonstrations.
They believe the local police department is using Facebook’s location feature to compile a list of people who are against the pipeline.
A Facebook post called users to action on Monday: "The Morton County Sheriff's Department has been using Facebook check-ins to find out who is at Standing Rock in order to target them in attempts to disrupt the prayer camps.
"So Water Protectors are calling on EVERYONE to check-in at Standing Rock, ND to overwhelm and confuse them.
"This is concrete action that can protect people putting their bodies and well-beings on the line that we can do without leaving our homes. Will you join me in Standing Rock? Check in publicly."
The post was shared by Facebook groups including Stand Against Dakota Access Pipeline, though it is not clear who the original author is.
However, despite their best efforts - and more than 1.4million people checking-in to the location - the activists don’t seem to have thrown the officials off their scent.
“The Morton County Sheriff’s Department is not and does not follow Facebook check-ins for the protest camp or any location. This claim / rumour is absolutely false,” the police department wrote on its Facebook page on Monday.
Officials say the 1,172-mile, $3.7bn (£3bn) pipeline – due for completion in January – is a safer way of moving oil from fields in North Dakota to Illinois.
Meanwhile, officers in riot gear clashed again with protesters yesterday, hitting dozens with pepper spray as they waded through waist-deep water in an attempt to reach property owned by the pipeline's developer.
The confrontation came hours after North Dakota regulators criticized the pipeline company for not immediately reporting the discovery of American Indian artifacts and a day after President Barack Obama raised the possibility of future reroutes to alleviate tribal concerns.
Public Service Commission Chairwoman Julie Fedorchak said she was "extremely disappointed" that Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners waited 10 days before reporting last month's discovery of stone cairns and other artifacts.
The panel could decide to levy fines of up to $200,000, Fedorchak said, though she said such a high amount would be unlikely.
After an inspection, company consultants decided to divert the construction by about 50 feet, even though they determined there was a "low likelihood" any additional artifacts were buried nearby.
The State Historic Preservation Office did concur with the company's plan on how to proceed after the artifacts were found.
Although that change was relatively minor, Obama said it was possible the Army Corps of Engineers could eventually examine much larger ones that would reroute the pipeline in southern North Dakota to alleviate tribal concerns.
He made the remarks during an interview Tuesday with the online news outlet NowThis.
Dakota Access Pipeline: What's the problem?
The 1,172-mile, $3.8 billion pipeline being built by Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners would carry oil from North Dakota through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point at Patoka, Illinois.
It will skirt the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border.
The Standing Rock Sioux object to the project, saying it could threaten drinking water and destroy sacred sites.
About 350 miles of the pipeline would pass through North Dakota at a cost of about $1.4 billion, making it the longest and most expensive leg of the project. It crosses the Missouri River twice and the Little Missouri once in North Dakota.
Construction of the pipeline is nearly done across North Dakota, with the exception of about a mile-long section across federal land and beneath Lake Oahe, a Missouri River reservoir. The company is still awaiting an easement from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to start work there.
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