BISMARCK, N.D. — President Barack Obama says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is looking at whether there are ways to reroute the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline to address the concerns of Native Americans who fear it will desecrate sacred lands and contaminate their water supply if it leaks.

The president was asked about intervening in the four-state, $3.8 billion pipeline during an interview with online news outlet NowThis, an excerpt of which was aired Tuesday on MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.” Related Articles ND angler’s YouTube videos let him quit his day job

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“We’re monitoring this closely and, you know, I think as a general rule my view is that there is a way for us to accommodate sacred lands of Native Americans,” Obama said in the video. “And, you know, I think that right now the Army Corps is examining whether there are ways to reroute this pipeline in a way. So, we’re going to let it play out for several more weeks and determine whether or not this can be resolved in a way that I think is properly attentive to the traditions of the first Americans.”

The corps is withholding an easement required for Dakota Access LLC, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, to drill the pipeline under the Missouri River at Lake Oahe less than a mile north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in southern North Dakota.

On Sept. 9, minutes after a federal judge denied the tribe’s request for an injunction to halt the project, the corps, Department of Justice and Department of Interior announced they would pause construction under the lake until the corps could determine whether it needs to reconsider any of its previous decisions regarding the river crossing permit.

As recently as last week, the Justice Department reiterated its call for Dakota Access to voluntarily stop construction within 20 miles of Lake Oahe until the corps authorizes the lake crossing, but the company has continued construction.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple said Tuesday that construction on the pipeline in North Dakota could be finished by the end of this week, which would leave only the roughly 1,000 feet of corps land under and along the lake to complete.

Hundreds and sometimes thousands of pipeline opponents have been camping just north of the reservation since Aug. 10. Authorities have made more than 400 protest-related arrests so far, including 141 last Thursday as hundreds of law enforcement officers forced protesters from roadblocks and a camp set up in the pipeline’s path.

“Everyone at the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will be hanging on every word of what the president said about that tonight,” O’Donnell said on his show.

The company says the pipeline would safely move 470,000 barrels of Bakken crude daily from North Dakota to a hub in Patoka, Ill.