Renewed Dakota Access pipeline review draws protesters’ ire

CANNON BALL, N.D. - Activists protesting the interstate Dakota Access oil pipeline expressed alarm Wednesday after federal lawmakers said the final permit for the project has been granted, a statement later contradicted by the Army, which issues such permits.

The Army Corps of Engineers said Wednesday it has started a review for the permit, but that the easement had not been granted.

'The Assistant Secretary for the Army Civil Works will make a decision on the pipeline once a full review and analysis is completed in accordance with the directive,” it stated.

The crude oil pipeline, which traverses Iowa diagonally from northwest to southeast on its way from North Dakota to Illinois, is nearly done.

But there is a missing link under dispute in North Dakota as the route is intended to bore deep under the Missouri River, not far from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation.

Native Americans and activists expressed anger after two lawmakers said late Tuesday that final right of way for the pipeline was a done deal.

In a statement, activists at the Sacred Stone camp, the original protest camp on Standing Rock Sioux land, called on other activists to return for prayer and 'direct action.”

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, along with other Native American groups, environmentalists and other activists have argued that the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline led by Energy Transfer Partners would damage sacred lands and could leak oil into the tribe's water supply.

Thousands of protesters from around the nation gathered last year near the contested North Dakota segment, but most have disbanded. At Iowa pipeline construction sites, several dozen protesters were cited with trespass charges.

Proponents believe the pipeline is necessary to transport oil safely and that it would create jobs.

The Standing Rock Sioux won delays from the Obama administration for further environmental review, but last week President Donald Trump signed an executive order telling the Corps to expedite its review of the project.