Dakota Oil Line Showdown Eases as Tribe Asks Protesters to Leave
- Dakota Access oil pipeline stalled as Army Corps seeks review
- ‘We have a huge victory,’ Standing Rock Sioux leader says
A man looks out over the Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 3, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota, as Native Americans and activists from around the country gather at the camp trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
Photographer: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty ImagesThe head of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe called on Dakota Access oil pipeline opponents to return home after months of protests, in a bid to ease tensions at the site as winter weather arrived.
The 1,172-mile (1,886-kilometer) pipeline, which would bring oil from North Dakota to Illinois, remains stalled after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Sunday refused to grant a requested easement under Lake Oahe, suggesting further environmental review is needed. President-elect Donald Trump’s team has said he supports construction of the pipeline and will review the Corps decision when he takes office.
"We have a huge victory we need to celebrate," Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II said in a video posted to Twitter. "Regardless of the new administration, they can’t overturn that
overnight."