Dakota Access Pipeline Stopped, For Now

Protests continue as Native American nations and environmental advocates face off with Energy Transfer Partners in an effort to block construction of the company’s Dakota Access Pipeline. This $3.8 billion project, which is 60 percent complete, would carry crude oil for 1,134 miles from North Dakota to Illinois.

The Standing Rock Sioux hope to block construction of the pipeline near their reservation on the grounds that it threatens their cultural heritage and their drinking water supply. As of press time in late September, more than a thousand people were gathered at an encampment in protest.

On Sept. 9, the Obama administration halted construction of the pipeline near the Missouri River to allow time for the courts to decide on injunctions before them.

— Elizabeth E. Payne