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The tribe had challenged the Army Corps of Engineers' decision to grant permits at more than 200 water crossings for Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners' $3.8 billion pipeline, saying that the project violates several federal laws, including the National Historic Preservation Act, and will harm water supplies. The tribe also says ancient sacred sites have been disturbed.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington denied the tribe's request for a temporary injunction in a one-page ruling that included no explanation. It ordered the parties to appear for a status conference on Sept. 16.

The ruling said that this Court does not lightly countenance any depredation of lands that hold significance to the Standing Rock Sioux†and that, given the federal government's history with the tribe, the Court scrutinizes the permitting process here with particular care. Having done so, the Court must nonetheless conclude that the Tribe has not demonstrated that an injunction is warranted here.â€

Attorney Jan Hasselman with environmental group Earthjustice, who filed the lawsuit in July on behalf of the tribe, said in the days before the ruling that it'll be challenged.

We will have to pursue our options with an appeal and hope that construction isn't completed while that (appeal) process is going forward,†he said. We will continue to pursue vindication of the tribe's lawful rights even if the pipeline is complete.â€

Energy Transfer Partners officials didn't return The Associated Press' phone calls or emails seeking comment.

The 1,172-mile project will carry nearly a half-million barrels of crude oil daily from North Dakota's oil fields through South Dakota and Iowa to an existing pipeline in Patoka, Ill.

Thousands gathered Friday at the protest over the pipeline, which will cross the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in southern North Dakota. Judith LeBlanc, a member of the Caddo Nation in Oklahoma and director of the New York-based Native Organizers Alliance, said before the decision that she expected the protest to remain peaceful.

There's never been a coming together of tribes like this,†she said of Friday's gathering of Native Americans, which she estimated could be the largest in a century. People came from as far as New York and Alaska, some bringing their families and children, and hundreds of tribal flags dotted the camp, along with American flags flown upside-down...