On Tuesday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it will grant an easement that allows the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.
The Army’s action clears the way for the completion of the controversial pipeline, something President Barack Obama had previously halted.
The Army’s announcement, made after Trump’s executive order ordering the pipeline’s completion, also shortcutted through a public comment process and an environmental impact study, a move, according to Army officials, that was done at President Trump’s request to expedite the process.
The Army also did not wait for Congressional comment before making the decision, noting in a letter sent to Congress on Tuesday that in accordance to Trump’s memo, the agency would “waive its policy to wait 14 days after Congressional notification before granting an easement.”
The official granting of the easement could come as early as tomorrow.
Read the letter to Congress below:
