Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D. — Developers of a four-state oil pipeline have agreed to halt construction of the project in southern North Dakota until a federal court hearing next week in Washington, D.C.

The temporary construction shutdown of the $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile project comes amid growing protests and increased tension over the Dakota Access Pipeline that is intended to cross the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border.

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline would carry nearly a half-million barrels of crude oil daily from North Dakota's oil fields through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Ill., where shippers can access Midwest and Gulf Coast markets.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is suing federal regulators for approving the oil pipeline that would be the largest-capacity one carrying crude out of western North Dakota's oil patch.

The tribes' lawsuit filed last month in federal court in Washington challenges the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' decision to grant permits at more than 200 water crossings in four states for the pipeline.

The tribe argues the pipeline that would be placed less than a mile upstream of the reservation could impact drinking water for the more than 8,000 tribal members and the millions who rely on it further downstream.

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The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the tribe by environmental group Earthjustice, said the project violates several federal laws, including the National Historic Preservation Act. The tribe worries the project will disturb ancient sacred sites outside of the 2.3-million acre reservation.

The hearing on the tribe's request for a temporary injunction is slated for Wednesday.

American Indians have for months been staging a nonviolent protest at a "spirit camp" at the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers in the path of the pipeline.

More than a dozen young people from the reservation also ran from North Dakota to Washington to deliver 140,000 petition signatures to the Corps to protest the pipeline.

The protest took a turn last week when law enforcement was called to keep the peace between protesters and armed security guards hired by the company. Twenty-eight people have been arrested since then and charged with interfering with the pipeline construction, including Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman David Archambault II.

Developers on Monday sued in federal court to stop protesters, alleging the safety of workers and law enforcement is at risk.