...[Many] of the remaining 200 or so pipeline protesters — self-described “water protectors” — are gathering their possessions and making plans to get off the 80-acre property, which sits in a flood zone near the Missouri River. The rising waters, and a federal eviction notice for Feb. 22, have forced their hands.

Others say they will stay and fight the Army Corps of Engineers, which decided last week to allow completion of the 1,172-mile pipeline. After President Trump cleared the way, the corps granted an easement to Energy Transfer Partners to drill under a reservoir less than a mile from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation. The drilling began last week... The tribe has argued in court that this short stretch of the $3.8 billion pipeline threatens its water supply, crosses sacred burial grounds, and violates long-standing treaties between the Native Americans and the federal government. But the path forward for the fight is unclear; many are pinning their hopes on court challenges... For the Standing Rock tribe and its supporters, the decision to allow completion of the pipeline without a promised environmental impact study came as one more slap in the face... 

Despite assurances from the pipeline’s owners that it is safe and is using the most advanced technology available, there is almost universal belief among Standing Rock tribal members that an accident is unavoidable and that their drinking water will be contaminated... Some activists have called for more protesters to come out to the site, but the Standing Rock tribe has discouraged that, asking that opposition be directed at the local level and at a March 10 march planned for Native American rights in Washington... The ongoing protest...has led to the introduction of bills in the North Dakota legislature that create severe penalties for protest activities, a move that Amnesty International said “would undermine the rights to peaceful protest and freedom of expression.”