Last stand

Demonstrators near the Dakota Access Pipeline braced for a showdown with authorities on Wednesday, as protest leaders said at least some would defy a deadline to abandon camp set by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Sacred grounds

The Standing Rock Sioux, whose tribal lands are a half-mile south of the proposed route of the Dakota Access pipeline, say the pipeline would desecrate sacred burial and prayer sites, and could leak oil into the Missouri and Cannon Ball rivers, on which the tribe relies for water. Thousands of people have been protesting at camps located on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land, north of the Cannonball River.

From Bakken to the Gulf

The 1,100-mile Dakota Access pipeline was originally expected to start up in late 2016, to deliver more than 470,000 barrels per day of crude from North Dakota's prolific Bakken shale play through Illinois and toward refinery row in the U.S. Gulf Coast. The project, owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP, is mostly complete except for a segment planned to run under Lake Oahe, less than half a mile north of Standing Rock. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided earlier this month to grant the final easement to finish the pipeline, following President Trump's executive action approving construction.

Source: Thomson Reuters
By Ashlyn Still and Christine Chan | REUTERS GRAPHICS