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The 24-year-old film star was not in court for the brief
hearing in Morton County District Court, in North Dakota, where
her attorney entered the pleas to misdemeanor counts of
trespassing and engaging in a riot, according to the documents.
Woodley, who had been broadcasting the Oct. 10 protest on
Facebook Live at a Dakota Access pipeline construction site
about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the town of St. Anthony, was
seen on camera being taken into custody. The actress narrated
her own arrest, saying she had been heading peacefully back to
her vehicle when, "They grabbed me by my jacket and said that I
wasn't allowed to continue ... and they have giant guns and
batons and zip ties and they are not letting me go."
Police said at the time that Woodley was among the last people
arrested and was taken into custody after she left private
property.
Woodley, who aside from her acting is known for her
environmental activism, has previously joined members of North
Dakota's Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to demonstrate against the
$3.7 billion project.
The 1,100-mile (1770-km) pipeline, being built by a group of
companies led by Energy Transfer Partners LP, would be the first
to bring Bakken shale from North Dakota directly to refineries
on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The group behind the pipeline, called Dakota Access, had planned
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 land vulnerable
to contamination from oil spills and would damage historic and
culturally significant sites.
Supporters say it would provide a safer and more cost-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 shut down
the flow of oil through pipelines carrying crude from Canada to
the United States.
Woodley co-starred in the film "Snowden," which was released
last month. She played Lindsay Mills, girlfriend of former
National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden who leaked
details about the U.S. government's massive surveillance
programs and was granted asylum in Russia after fleeing the
United States in 2013.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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