The Dakota Access pipeline, which sparked a protest movement in the northern Great Plpipeline, now transporting crude oil. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI June 1 (UPI) — Oil is now flowing through the controversial Dakota Access pipeline , carrying crude from Canada and North Dakota south to Illinois, its developer said Thursday. The pipeline , which sparked a months-long protest by Native Americans and environmental groups, is 1,172 miles long. It carries oil pumped out of the Bakken oil formation in Canada and parts of the northern U.S. plains south to a major pipeline hub, where it can be sent to Gulf Coast refineries. The Sioux nation first protested the pipeline during the Obama administration, arguing it ran close to the Standing Rock Sioux reservation and over land they consider historically sacred. Calling themselves the water keepers, protesters noted the potential danger to the Missouri River and its […]