A county sheriff in the US heartland state of Iowa says someone set fire to construction equipment for the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline over the weekend, causing about US$2 Million in damage. 

The fire occurred 800 kilometers to the southeast of the standoff between the pipeline and the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, which has attracted support from indigenous and environmentalist groups across North America.  The Jasper County, Iowa Sheriff's office said this happened on Saturday night near the town of Reasnor, which is close to the spot where other pipeline equipment was set ablaze (leading one to wonder why the sheriff wasn't watching the site a little more closely).  State and federal authorities say they are investigating.

Dakota Access said in an emailed statement it "experienced the intentional burning of construction equipment by unknown individuals.  These illegal actions have resulted in millions of dollars in damage" to the US$3.7 Billion oil pipeline project to send Bakken shale crude oil from North Dakota to refineries and export facilities in the Gulf Of Mexico.  The company is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction blah blah blah.

The problem is that the pipeline crosses the all-important Missouri river several times, including just upriver from the spot where the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation draws its water, and pipelines have a nasty history of leaks.  Hundreds of activists have joined the Standing Rock Sioux indigenous group to stop the pipeline, which for the moment is stalled in that section.  Police have more than one hundred militarized cops with full battle gear and armored vehicles to face off against the unarmed, peaceful protesters.

Police treatment of the protesters started out as rather cordial when demonstrations began several weeks ago.  But it has become increasingly bitter and threatening.  Protesters, whose basic tactic is to stand or walk slowly, have been subjected to legal harassment, and are kept in jail for days and humiliated by jailers.  One of those was actress Shailene Woodley of the "Divergent" movies.  She actually live streamed her arrest on Facebook, and later posted $500 bond to get out of jail.  Standing Rock tribal chairman David Archambault was stripped searched and his braids searched for weapons when he was arrested.

Journalists have been targeted as well.  A judge in Mandan, North Dakota on Monday threw out rioting charges against reporter Amy Goodman from the US public TV news show "Democracy Now!".  Prosecutors originally filed trespassing charges against Goodman days after they realized that she recorded and broadcast video of private security goons siccing attack dogs on peaceful protesters, showing human blood dripping from the mouth of one of the animals. 

But when Ms. Goodman arrived back in North Dakota on Monday to fight the charges in court, prosecutors upped the charges to rioting.  The judge was not impressed and threw that crap out of court.  Goodman said that the dismissal of charges was "a great vindication of the First Amendment".  Prosecutors refused to comment.