Maranda Compton,a member of the firm's Native Affairs practice group was quoted in the Washington Post today in an article entitled, How the Army Corps of Engineers wound up in the middle of the fight over the Dakota Access pipeline. 

The article examines why the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers holds the power to permit oil pipeline projects, like Dakota Access, to move forward with construction. According to Maranda, "“Crude oil pipelines (like Dakota Access) are constructed without any overarching or centralized permitting scheme — relying instead upon piecemeal state-by-state approval, with federal permits required only where the pipeline crosses federal lands, including tribal lands, or federal water,”