Central ND News

Cameron Monte Smith, a 49-year-old Canadian national, has pled guilty to shooting an electricity substation in North Dakota and the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota, both linked to protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).

As a part of a plea deal, Smith admitted to shooting the Wheelock Substation in North Dakota on May 13, 2023, causing damages of up to $4 million and disrupting power for approximately 243 people.

At the scene, Smith spray-painted "DAPL" and other symbols, reflecting the ongoing tensions surrounding energy infrastructure. 

The Dakota Access Pipeline is a nearly 1,200-mile pipeline transporting oil from North Dakota to Illinois. It was a focal point of widespread protests by activists and Native American tribes in North Dakota in 2016.

Smith, who was in the U.S. illegally at the time of the incident, faces a potential sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison.  

He is scheduled to be sentenced on December 16.

“This defendant deliberately and very violently attacked our nation’s energy infrastructure,” District of North Dakota United States Attorney Mac Schneider said in a statement announcing the plea bargain. “Our law enforcement partners put an end to those attacks, and this guilty plea provides a measure of accountability for the defendant’s actions and extensive damage he caused.” 

Smith was initially indicted for shooting multiple rounds into the Wheelock substation in North Dakota and was later charged for another act of sabotage dating back to mid-July 2022, near Carpenter, approximately 130 miles northwest of Sioux Falls, S.D. where he is accused of inflicting over $495,000 in damage to the Keystone Pipeline. 

Those cases were consolidated in North Dakota.

Following the 2023 Wheelock substation attack, Smith was arrested at a Williston hotel where police found a .450 Bushmaster rifle, a pistol, magazine and ammunition. 

Smith’s crimes have raised concerns over attacks on critical energy infrastructure amid ongoing debates surrounding pipelines.

Although Smith was initially charged with illegal possession of firearms and ammunition as an illegal alien, the charges related to firearm possession will be dismissed as part of his plea agreement.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Williams County Sheriff’s Office, with prosecution led by U.S. Attorneys from North Dakota and South Dakota and trial attorneys from the National Security Division.

“Cameron Smith orchestrated and executed attacks on critical energy infrastructure in North and South Dakota using a high-powered rifle,” South Dakota United States Attorney Alison Ramsdell said in a statement. “Thanks to our partners in the District of North Dakota, the FBI, ATF, and the National Security Division, this defendant has been held to account for his criminal activity, and he will now be subject to serious time in federal prison.” 

Smith's plea deal is the latest update amid several ongoing court cases stemming from the 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protests that were marked by violence and destruction in the state. 

Parties in the federal lawsuit North Dakota v. United States of America are awaiting the outcome of a bench trial held earlier this year in a case that will clarify liability issues arising from illegal conduct and clashes during the protests.

The lawsuit in the District of North Dakota parallels a state lawsuit brought by pipeline builder Energy Transfer, which is seeking $300 million in damages in litigation filed against Greenpeace International and its U.S. affiliate. That lawsuit argues that Greenpeace is liable for violent attacks on the energy company’s employees, property and infrastructure after it incited protests to disrupt the construction of the pipeline, which now transfers oil from the Bakken region of North Dakota to Illinois.

A trial for the Energy Transfer lawsuit against Greenpeace is scheduled to begin in February, 2025.