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Hoeven calls on protestors to go home

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Hoeven took to the Senate floor Wednesday to call on Dakota Access Pipeline protesters to leave their encampment near Standing Rock and spare North Dakotans who live and work in the area further disruption.

The senator also emphasized the need to respect the rule of law and take a fact-based approach to the Dakota Access Pipeline situation in moving forward. The senator called for more federal law enforcement assistance and personnel to help state and local law enforcement in North Dakota.

“Now that the Obama administration has made its decision, protesters should move from their unlawful site on Army Corps of Engineers land. Even Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault has finally said that protestors need to leave and return home, and the Obama administration needs to do the same,” Hoeven said. “So it is time – it is past time – for the protestors to stand down and to recognize that the Courts – and the next administration – will resolve the issue.”

He stated an estimated 5,000 protestors remain on Corps of Engineers land in violation of the Corps’ Dec. 5 eviction notice as well as an evacuation order from Gov. Jack Dalrymple.

“To avoid this kind of situation in the future – the kind of standoff we have with the Dakota Access Pipeline – we need to focus on ways to improve the regulatory process. We need to improve the process to help ensure that all stakeholders engage and all people’s voices are heard in a timely way. When companies make large investments in costly infrastructure projects they need the regulatory certainty to know they can complete the project. This should be done prospectively – not retroactively – looking for ways to better streamline procedures, reduce duplicative hurdles, and improve methods for public input,” Hoeven said.

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