Dakota pipeline protest held in downtown Dallas

Hundreds of protesters in Dallas rallied against the controversial Dakota Access Oil Pipeline on Tuesday.

Native American tribes accuse the Dallas-based pipeline builder of threatening water supplies and violating sacred burial grounds. The company said it's following federal guidelines and accuses the White House of blocking a legally-approved construction project.

The Dallas protest made of more than 300 demonstrators was noisy but peaceful. Marilyn Berryhill says she just returned from North Dakota, where there have been frequent clashes between authorities and protestors.

"What made me so proud was the unity of people throughout the United States and even from other countries,” she said.

Protestors got some good news Monday when the Army Corps of Engineers in Dallas called for more study and input from the Standing Rock Sioux before it decides where to allow the pipeline to cross under a Missouri River reservoir.

On Tuesday afternoon, two members of the Society of Native Nations said they were asked to meet with a deputy commander of the corps inside the Earle Cabell Federal Building in downtown Dallas. A woman said corps officials offered no assurances but were attentive to what they had to say.

Dallas-based Energy Transfers asked a federal judge on Tuesday to step in and help get final approval for the plan to lay pipe under the reservoir -- arguing that further delays will add millions of dollars to the cost.

In a letter, Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren denounced the engineers’ decision to delay as a sham process “motivated purely by politics at the expense of a company that has done nothing but play by the rules it was given."

Last week in Austin, the Society for Native Nations called for Kelcy Warren to resign his position on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Board. He refused but agreed to meet with the group. The society says it has yet to set a meeting date.

The 1,200-mile long pipeline to carry North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois is largely complete except for the stretch that skirts the Standing Rock reservation.

Tuesday's rallies and marches were coordinated in cities from North Dakota to Texas.