BISMARCK, N.D. — North Dakota’s Republican-led and largely oil-friendly Legislature is quickly introducing a raft of bills spurred by the bitter dispute between Dakota Access protesters and law enforcement, from restricting face coverings at protests to requiring the state to sue the federal government as a means of recouping millions in policing costs.
Sen. Kelly Armstrong, R-Dickinson and the state GOP chairman, said the measures are motivated by residents’ frustration with the ongoing protests in the southern part of the state, which at one point in the summer saw a thousands-strong encampment opposing the $3.8 billion, four-state pipeline.
“When people are having their lives disrupted, you’re going to see things move up here,” said Armstrong, an oil company executive and a former defense attorney. “It’s very difficult to write ‘protest laws.’ We need to make sure there is reasonable application of the law in all circumstances, whether protest-related or not.”
Faced with protest-weary constituents, lawmakers have put forth several bills in the young biennial session — and more may be coming. Among them are: making it a crime for adults to wear masks in most cases — similar to one that lasted for nearly 50 years that was aimed at the Ku Klux Klan — and exempting a driver from liability if they unintentionally injure or kill a pedestrian obstructing traffic on a public road or highway. Another, now-withdrawn measure would have had the state try to claim land and valuable mineral rights in the pipeline’s path under the Missouri River as reimbursement for state law enforcement costs.
