CANNON BALL, N.D. — Native Americans and activists claimed victory Sunday after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced they will not grant an easement for the Dakota Access oil pipeline in southern North Dakota. Native Americans and activists from around the country have been gathering for months at the Oceti Sakowin encampment on the boundary of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in Cannon Ball, North Dakota.
The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and environmental activists were concerned that the pipeline construction would disturb sacred sites and pollute drinking water on the reservation.