Dakota Access Pipeline protests

Dakota Access Pipeline Protests
No DAPL Part of Protests against Donald Trump, Water protectors movement, Indigenous rights
A Lakota man locks himself to construction equipment in protest
Date	April 2016 – February 2017
Location	United States, especially North Dakota, the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, the Missouri River, the Mississippi River, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois
Caused by	Protection of water, land, and religious/spiritual sites sacred to indigenous peoples of the Americas
Status	In courts
Casualties
Death	1
Injuries	300
Arrested	800+

The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests or the Standing Rock Protests, also known by the hashtag #NoDAPL, were a series of grassroots Native American protests against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States that began in April 2016. Protests ended on February 23, 2017, when National Guard and law enforcement officers evicted the last remaining protesters.

The pipeline runs from the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota to southern Illinois, crossing beneath the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, as well as under part of Lake Oahe near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Many members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and surrounding communities consider the pipeline to be a serious threat to the region's water. The construction also directly threatens ancient burial grounds and cultural sites of historic importance.

The protests were not successful and the pipeline came online in May 2017. In 2025, a North Dakota jury found that Greenpeace USA and Greenpeace International had committed trespass, nuisance, civil conspiracy and other acts against Energy Transfer LP, the pipeline's builder. The court ordered Greenpeace to pay $345 million in damages. As of 2026, litigation is ongoing.