Final phase of Dakota access construction delayed pending discussion with Sioux Tribe

After nearly 7 months of protests and direct action against the Dakota Access pipeline by Native Americans and environmental activists, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the governmental group that originally approved the controversial pipeline in July, has delayed granting the pipeline’s parent company the necessary easements to drill under Lake Oahe and the Missouri River. The delay will remain in effect until “additional discussion and analysis” can take place with the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which has led the massive opposition to the project. Tensions between protestors or “water protectors” and the pipeline construction company have escalated in recent months with private and state police violently suppressing dissent against the project.