It is a temporary halt, but the one ordered by Barack Obama's American administration marks a decisive step for the Native American Sioux protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) project. A decision that came just after the Washington court had opted for the opposite course, namely to reject the appeal filed by the Native Americans.

The position of the tribes, according to which the pipeline would have crossed archaeological and sacred sites, was deemed rather questionable given that the majority of these sites are located on privately owned land. "Mindful of the indignities suffered by the tribe over the past centuries, the Court examined the authorisation process with particular care. […] The Court must nonetheless conclude that the tribe has not demonstrated that an injunction is warranted," the court had concluded. According to Judge James Boasberg, the United States Army Corps of Engineers — whose land the pipeline crosses and against which the Native tribes' appeal was directed — had followed federal law to the letter when approving the pipeline.

Pipeline: construction will not go ahead

Yet with a press release written jointly by the Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior, and the Army, the government delivers a welcome surprise to the Standing Rock Sioux — the Native American reservation leading the protest — averting what had been shaping up as a bitter defeat. "Construction of the pipeline on Army Corps land or under Lake Oahe will not go ahead at this time," the official communication reads. "We ask that the company voluntarily halt all construction activity within 20 miles east and west of Lake Oahe."

That is not all. The statement also says that the Army Corps will reconsider "its previous decision." As a result, the future of the pipeline looks increasingly uncertain: although most of the conduit is planned to pass over private land owned by Energy Transfer Partners, Army Corps approval is required to cross federal waterways. If it is cancelled, it will be the second pipeline rejected within the space of a year, following another mega pipeline project, Keystone XL, designed by Canadian energy company TransCanada to carry, at full capacity, up to 830,000 barrels of bitumen per day (currently around 600,000) to be converted into crude oil at dedicated refining facilities.

Involving Native tribes, like the Sioux

The Obama administration has also promised that all tribes will be 'consulted' so that from now on national infrastructure projects — such as the Dakota Access Pipeline — respect the rights of Native peoples. The possibility of reforming or even proposing new legislation to Congress in this direction will therefore be examined.

Meanwhile, the Standing Rock Sioux has announced on Facebook that their lawyers have returned to studying the legal options available: a new injunction could soon force the company to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline altogether.