"It's disgusting what happened to my people, bro, and we're still being treated that way," he said. Standing Rock wins in court 
 
 The tribe filed a federal lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers during the summer shortly after the agency signaled its intent to approve an easement for drilling under Lake Oahe, a more than 200-mile-long reservoir on the Missouri River that extends from South Dakota into North Dakota. Stopping work would cause “grave and irreparable impacts to DAPL (the Dakota Access Pipeline), its workers, the landowners, economy, both the state and federal government and the environment.” 
 
 Travelers arrive at the Oceti Sakowin camp where people have gathered to protest the Dakota Access oil pipeline as they walk into a tent next to an upside-down american flag in Cannon Ball, N.D., Dec. 2, 2016. For the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and tribes across the country, the $3.7 billion pipeline is an affront to native water rights and cultural heritage, the latest in a long history of assaults on tribal sovereignty. The pipeline, which crosses four states, is 92 percent complete — a key exception being the contested water crossing near the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota. “It’s pretty clear they’re not going to have oil flowing on Jan. 1,” said Lorne Stockman, research director of the non-profit outfit Oil Change International. The final stretch required a permit from federal authorities but on Sunday, the US Army Corps of Engineers refused to grant it so it could undertake "an environmental impact statement to look at possible alternative routes". Hanigan believes the Iowa case, which will be heard later this month, has the potential to shut down the project, but he doesn’t think either side has a clear path to victory — in Iowa or anywhere else. In the biggest blow yet to the much-contested pipeline, the Corps denied an easement for the pipeline to cross Lake Oahe, a Corps reservoir on the Missouri River in North Dakota and the major source of water for the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. Stephanie Keith / Reuters People celebrate in Oceti Sakowin camp as "water protectors" continue to demonstrate against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Pipeline owner Energy Transfer Partners and its backers don’t think so — four states and the Army Corps of Engineers granted permits for the pipeline, and construction is more than 92% complete — but opponents remain hopeful.
– After months of protests by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and their supporters, the US Army Corps of Engineers on Sunday said it would consider alternate routes for the Dakota Access pipeline that didn't travel under North Dakota's Lake Oahe, effectively putting the brakes on the nearly finished pipeline's construction. What that means, how the news was received, and where we go from here: The Huffington Post had a photographer on the scene, and shares images of "what victory ... looks like." Mic similarly shares a dozen photos that show how the win was received. So what's next? The Argus Leader focuses on some protesters' cry to get the 92%-complete pipeline shut down for good, and looks at the challenging ways that could come to pass: via the tribe's court effort, due to the financial impact of a delay, or via a court battle somewhere else entirely—Iowa. The protesters could be dealt a blow in short order, though, reports Bustle, which looks at what's next through the lens of the Environmental Impact Study the Army has ordered. There's a court hearing this Friday related to a claim brought by the company constructing the pipeline, and one possible outcome is that the court could override the Army’s decision. At the BBC, James Cook points out that the Army Corps' memorandum "might strongly suggest that the pipeline will be re-routed but it does not actually say that will happen." He briefly digs into the language, and is pretty unequivocal in his expectation that a President Trump will try to reverse the Corps' move. The BBC also has reaction from Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics, two companies involved, who accuse the White House of attempting to "curry favor with a narrow and extreme political constituency." For deep reading, head to Mother Jones and dig into "How a Movement Was Born at Standing Rock." There, Wes Enzinna writes for the Jan/Feb issue, "Many at Standing Rock saw the threat of environmental catastrophe as inextricable from racial injustice," noting that a preliminary plan to take the pipeline through Bismark was turned down by the Army Corps over worries about that city's water supply. "Bismark's population is 92% white," notes Enzinna. More deep reading: The Minneapolis Star Tribune looks at the "long complicated road" and goes back to the start: "The dispute is rooted in the fracking revolution that transformed North Dakota."