Energy Transfer Partners says it hopes to resume construction soon on a portion of the Dakota Access crude-oil pipeline, located on private lands east and west of Lake Oahe in North Dakota.
Work on a section of the $3.7- billion, 1,172-mile pipeline between North Dakota and Illinois has been under a temporary pause due to a Sept. 9 Obama administration decision that the Army Corps of Engineers must review its previous National Environmental Policy Act-related decisions for the site. The project has been the focus of high-profile protests from members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which opposes the project. The tribe had sought an injunction to stop the project’s construction. But on Oct. 9, a federal appeals court denied the tribe’s request.
A spokeswoman for Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners said, “The decisions by two separate federal courts show that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acted with great care and followed the law with respect to the river crossing permits issued to Dakota Access.”