Pipeline company offers to help pay costs to police protests

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – The Texas company developing the Dakota Access pipeline says it’s offered to help pay law enforcement costs related to protests.

Energy Transfer Partners says in a statement Friday that it’s made the offer to the state “but it has not moved beyond that at this time.”

A spokesman for Gov. Jack Dalrymple said the governor’s office hadn’t seen the offer yet and wouldn’t speculate on whether the state would accept.

North Dakota’s shouldered most law enforcement expenses to date, even paying for officers from elsewhere. North Dakota already has approved a $10 million line of credit with its state-owned bank to cover the costs.

The pipeline’s designed to carry oil from North Dakota to a shipping point in Illinois. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and its supporters argue that it threatens drinking water and cultural sites. The company insists it’s safe.