The Army Corps of Engineers approved the last remaining portion of the highly contentious Dakota Access Pipeline Tuesday.
The Corps will grant the final easement for the so-called DAPL, according to court filings on Tuesday. It needed a final permit to tunnel under Lake Oahe, an important source of water for Standing Rock Sioux.
Standing Rock said in a press statement following the news that it will continue to fight the DAPL’s construction.
The nearly 1,200-mile line, once completed, will shuttle crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken shale region to Illinois. The tribe has fought a vicious battle against the project, arguing the pipeline could poison its drinking water.
The protests eventually resulted in the Obama administration’s decision to delay a final permit that would allow construction along the Missouri River. The Corps, under Obama’s direction, rejected the pipeline before former President Barack Obama left office.
Opposition to the multi-billion pipeline ratcheted up recently after President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders in January approving the construction of the DAPL and Keystone XL.
Energy Transfer Partners, the company developing the pipeline, took a beating during the protests. The 1,172-mile-long DAPL is losing $20 million every day the project is delayed, an attorney representing Dakota Access to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in December.
Dakota Access reports nearly $500 million in lost profit during the time construction was stopped.
Follow Chris on Facebook and Twitter
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.