U.S. controversial North Dakota oil pipeline project halted

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have decided to halt an underwater pipeline project in North Dakota that environmentalists warn may damage local water qualities.

The decision was made after a long standing protest prevented the Dakota Access Pipeline, set to channel oil through Lake Oahe, from construction.

"Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it's clear that there's more work to do," the Army's Assistant Secretary of Civil Works Jo-Ellen Darcy said Sunday.

The decision to postpone further construction means that President-elect Donald Trump would need to address the issue soon after taking office.

A Trump spokesman said Monday "That's something we support construction of, and will review the full situation in the White House and make an appropriate determination at that time."

The project have ignited a debate among many groups whether the benefit brought by the project can outweigh its risks.

The environmental conservation community have largely refuted the pipeline, saying soil and water contamination and air pollution may damage the environment and wildlife along the pipeline route, a concern shared by many farmers in the region.

The fact that the Lake Oahe is located in Indian reserve land also prompted the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to object, saying the project threatens the tribe's "way of life, water, people and land."

But proponents of the pipeline says giving up would bode ill for Trump's tenure, which he promised to dedicate sizable resources to updating infrastructure.

"Roads, bridges, transmission lines, pipelines, wind farms and water lines will be very difficult, if not impossible, to build when criminal behaviour is rewarded this way," North Dakota Congressman Kevin Cramer said in a statement.

The controversial project is an approximately 1,900 km pipeline that connects the Bakken and Three Forks oil production areas in North Dakota and Patoka Illinois, the 3.78 billion U.S. dollar project was planned to function by Jan.1, 2017, nearly 90 percent is reported to have been completed.