Dakota Pipeline’s Fate May Hinge on Next President After Setback
- Pipeline complies with Historic Preservation Act, judge rules
- Justice Department says Army Corps still has to decide
Members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their supporters opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline confront bulldozers, Sept. 3, 2016, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota.
Photographer: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty ImagesThe Obama administration halted work on a stretch of land where Energy Transfer Partners LP is building its controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline, a move that could threaten to thrust the fate of the project into the hands of the next president.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers won’t authorize construction on its land near Lake Oahe in North and South Dakota until it determines if it should reconsider prior decisions to allow the project, the government said in a statement Friday. Federal officials also asked the company to voluntarily pause activity within 20 miles of the lake.