Actress Shailene Woodley pleads not guilty in pipeline protest

Actress Shailene Woodley pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges stemming from her high-profile arrest with 27 other people while protesting construction of the Dakota Access pipeline, court documents show.

The 24-year-old film star was not in court for the briefhearing in Morton County District Court, in North Dakota, where her attorney entered the pleas to misdemeanor counts oftrespassing and engaging in a riot, according to the documents.

Woodley, who had been broadcasting the Oct. 10 protest onFacebook Live at a Dakota Access pipeline construction siteabout 3.2 kmsouth of the town of St. Anthony, wasseen on camera being taken into custody.

• ShaileneWoodleyprotests pipeline, livestreams arrest

The actress narrated her own arrest, saying she had beenheading peacefully back to her vehicle when, "They grabbed me bymy jacket and said that I wasn't allowed to continue ... and they have giant guns and batons and zip ties and they are notletting me go."

Police said at the time that Woodley was among the lastpeople arrested and was taken into custody after she left private property.

Woodley, who aside from her acting is known for herenvironmental activism, has previously joined members of North Dakota's Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to demonstrate against the $3.7 billion US project.The 1,770-kmpipeline, being built by a group ofcompanies led by Energy Transfer Partners LP, would bethe first to bring Bakken shale from North Dakota directly torefineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The group behind the pipeline, called Dakota Access, hadplanned to start operations in the fourth quarter of this year,
but construction has been hampered by demonstrations.The tribe believes the pipeline would leave its landvulnerable to contamination from oil spills and would damagehistoric and culturally significant sites.

• Dakota Access pipeline work to resume in protest area

• Standing Rock protest grows with thousands opposing North Dakota pipeline

• Army Corps holds off on resuming Dakota Access oil pipeline work

Supporters say it would provide a safer and morecost-effective way to transport Bakken shale to the U.S. Gulf
than by road or rail.

A day later protesters were arrested as they tried to shutdown the flow of oil through pipelines carrying crude from Canada to the United States.

Woodley co-starred in the film Snowden,which was releasedlast month. She played Lindsay Mills, girlfriend of formerNational Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden who leakeddetails about the U.S. government's massive surveillanceprograms and was granted asylum in Russia after fleeing theUnited States in 2013.

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