March 18, 2024

Judge: No restraining order against pipeline protesters

DES MOINES — A federal judge has refused to issue a restraining order against Iowa protesters planning to risk arrest to stand against a Texas company building an oil pipeline across the land of unwilling farmers. Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger says in an order issued Tuesday that Texas-based pipeline company Dakota Access hasn’t proven there’s an immediate risk of injury or damage by protesters exercising their First Amendment rights. She set a hearing for Friday to consider the issue further.

Ed Fallon, state director of Bold Iowa, a group opposing the Dakota Access pipeline for environmental and property rights reasons, says up to 100 protesters plan peaceful civil disobedience Wednesday at a pipeline construction site in central Iowa.

Dakota Access on Monday sought an immediate restraining order to keep protesters 25 feet away.