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More than 200 Native American tribes pledged their support last year, in the largest coming together of indigenous peoples in the US in decades, perhaps centuries.

At its peak, an estimated 10,000 people joined the campsites in the region to join in the demonstrations.

Among others lending their support were :

Hundreds of US military veterans

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and Democratic presidential primary contender Bernie Sanders

Robert Kennedy Jr, environmental activist and nephew of former president John F Kennedy

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A $3.7bn (£2.8bn) pipeline is planned at nearly 1,200 miles (1,900km) long to transport some 470,000 barrels of crude oil a day across four states, from North Dakota to a terminal in Illinois, where it can be shipped to refineries.

The pipeline would provide a more cost-effective, efficient means of transporting crude, rather than shipping barrels by train.

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The pipelines’ approval demonstrates how much influence environmental groups lost during the transition from former President Obama to Mr. Trump. But there are some elements of the American left, notably labor unions, that have been pushing for these pipelines, among other infrastructure projects. The president’s decision to greenlight the pipelines – and the thanks he received from unions – suggests organized labor may have some real clout within the new administration

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Those who oppose the pipeline, such as environmentalist and 350.org founder, Bill McKibben, say whatever the job gains, they are not worth the environmental impact.  In the case of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the Standing Rock Sioux maintain that, in addition to traversing sacred burial ground, if the pipeline were to leak or rupture it would contaminate the Missouri River, the tribe’s water source.  Oil contamination of drinking water has been linked to elevated cancer risk.  The Chicago Tribune (analyzing AP data) notes that since 1995, there have been “more than 2,000 significant accidents involving oil and petroleum pipelines, adding up to roughly $3 billion in property damage” with at least 121 accidents occurring in 2013 and 2014 each.

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Environmentalists opposing Keystone share spill concerns, but base their concerns largely on the Canadian oil sand production that pipeline expansion would facilitate.  As CNN Money notes, due to the energy-intensive method of extraction that must be used, “oil from the oil sands emit 17% more carbon dioxide than the average barrel of crude refined in the United States.”  Over the course of 50 years, the