Dakota Access pipeline decision unlikely until early 2017

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge likely won’t decide until early next year whether to give the developer of the Dakota Access oil pipeline permission to finish the $3.8 billion project, according to court documents.
That leaves open the possibility that a resolution to the matter might still come through federal regulators rather than the courts. But it also creates the potential for many more weeks of protests in southern North Dakota, where opponents have started digging in fo