Oil trucks blocked on SD Indian reservation

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – Several opponents of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline were arrested for disorderly conduct after standing and blocking two large trucks for six hours on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, but officials for the Canadian company that wants to build the pipeline said Tuesday the vehicles did not belong to their crew.

Protester Debra White Plume told The Associated Press that a group of about 75 people stopped the Canada-bound trucks Monday in Wanblee after local residents complained the trucks were forcing drivers off the road to get through.

White Plume said when protesters asked the drivers why they were going through the reservation, the truckers said they were heading to a Canadian oil field with empty containers for drinking water and were driving through the reservation to save money. The drivers did not know they were on reservation roads and had been given directions by company officials, White Plume added.

“The roads down here are so narrow and so old everyone was concerned it would be forcing cars off the road,” she said.

Tribal police eventually arrested the 57-year-old White Plume, her husband, Alex, and three other people for disorderly conduct. The five were released about three hours later.

Highway Patrol troopers had no involvement in the traffic stop but were called to the scene to escort six trucks – two with oversized loads – and four pilot cars north on state Highway 73 to Kadoka, said Terry Woster, spokesman for the South Dakota Highway Patrol.

A Pine Ridge police officer, who declined to be identified because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media about the incident, confirmed the five arrests to the AP. He said the line of barricading cars blocked the eastbound lane of the highway and that the protesters “were in the wrong.” He directed questions to Chief Richard Greenwald, who did not return phone calls seeking comment.

TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard said the trucks did not belong to the company and pipeline construction has not started.

“There were none of our trucks there,” Howard said. “We're not sure how it was connected to our project.”

David Piller, a Colorado resident and hemp activist, said he wasn't arrested but was among the protesters, who began gathering after 9 a.m. The goal, he said, was to “intercept” oil trucks they heard were passing through the reservation.

He said their barricade started with Alex White Plume's truck. Alex's wife, Debra, arrived a short time later. And a call for backup drew dozens more protesters.

Piller acknowledged that the truck drivers said they weren't connected to the controversial Keystone XL project, but he said, “You never know. That could be their cover story.”

The 1,700-mile pipeline, designed to bring oil from Canada's tar sands region in Alberta to Texas Gulf Coast refineries, has been a hot-button issue. The State Department recently rejected a part of the project, saying the company needed to find a route that would avoid the Sandhills and an aquifer that is a key water source for several states. The president of TransCanada said Tuesday that the company will be ready within weeks to submit plans for a new route.

Debra White Plume said the trucks driving on the Pine Ridge Reservation Monday had the name “Totran Transportation Services” on the sides, with “Calgary and Houston” printed below that.

A spokesman for the Calgary-based Totran Transportation, which hauls heavy equipment, declined to comment.

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Dakotas News Editor Amber Hunt contributed to this report.