Ryan: Pipeline Pause 'Big-Government Decision-Making at its Worst'

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., decried the recent decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to withhold the final permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.

On Sunday night, the Speaker tweeted:

This is big-government decision-making at its worst. I look forward to putting this anti-energy presidency behind us. https://t.co/Qu0nFTmGZv

— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) December 5, 2016 

The Army Corps of Engineers announced earlier Sunday that it would not approve the pipeline, and will instead conduct a review of the 1,170-mile project's impact on the environment, and looking for other routes that don't cross the Missouri River.

Ryan was joined in his criticism by the state's Gov. Jack Dalrymple, who called the decision a "serious mistake that prolongs the dangerous situation" involving the several hundred protesters who are camped on the contested land.

"Although we have had continuing discussion and exchanges of new information with the Standing Rock Sioux and Dakota Access, it's clear that there's more work to do," said Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary for Civil Works, in a press release, Fox News reports. "The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing."

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