REUTERS/Stephanie Keith
A woman cries during the sunrise in Oceti Sakowin camp as "water protectors" continue to demonstrate against plans to pass the Dakota Access pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S. December 3, 2016.
"Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not be granting the easement to cross Lake Oahe for the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline," the tribe said in a statement. "Instead, the Corps will be undertaking an environmental impact statement to look at possible alternative routes."
The 1,172-mile (1,885-km) Dakota Access Pipeline, owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP, is mostly complete, except for a segment planned to run under Lake Oahe, a reservoir formed by a dam on the Missouri River.
The Department of the Army had announced in November it was exploring alternate routes for the pipeline after high-profile protests gained national attention.
"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," Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy said in a statement.