NEW YORK, Dec 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has denied an easement for the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline, according to a statement from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which has been protesting the project, saying it could contaminate water supplies.

"Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not be granting the easement to cross Lake Oahe for the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline," the tribe said in a statement. "Instead, the Corps will be undertaking an environmental impact statement to look at possible alternative routes."

The 1,172-mile (1,885-km) Dakota Access Pipeline, owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP, is mostly complete, except for a segment planned to run under Lake Oahe, a reservoir formed by a dam on the Missouri River. (Reporting By Ernest Scheyder in North Dakota, Writing by Jessica Resnick-Ault in New York; editing by Diane Craft)

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