The Associated Press reached out to Texas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners for comment Monday. The company maintains the pipeline is safe, but the Cheyenne River, Standing Rock, Yankton and Oglala Sioux tribes in the Dakotas fear environmental harm and are fighting in federal court, hoping to convince a judge to shut down the line.

The Dakota Access pipeline will move North Dakota oil 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) through South Dakota and Iowa to a distribution point in Illinois. ETP plans to begin commercial operations June 1.

North Dakota Environmental Health Chief Dave Glatt said the Health Department lists such incidents in its online database, but typically doesn't otherwise notify the public of oil spills smaller than 150 barrels unless the oil contaminates water.

The pipeline leaked 84 gallons of oil in South Dakota on April 4. That spill at a rural pump station also was quickly cleaned up and didn't threaten any waterways. The state's Department of Environment and Natural Resources posted a report in its online database but didn't otherwise notify the public. Its policy is to not issue news releases on spills unless there is a threat to public health or water.

Tribal leaders and attorneys say the leaks bolster their demands for further environmental review of the pipeline.

"We have always said it is not a matter of it, but when," tribal attorney Jan Hasselman said after the South Dakota leak. "Pipelines spill and leak. It's just a fact."

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