BISMARCK, N.D. – Supported by the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, the Standing Rock Sioux’s effort to block a four-state oil pipeline got a lifeline when the federal government temporarily stopped the project, a move some say likely may forever change the way all energy infrastructure projects are reviewed in the future.

“I want to extend our sincerest gratitude in your plight for the protection of the waters in which we all share and have a common interest,” KBIC President Chris Swartz said in a letter to the Sioux tribe last month accompanied by $2,500 and the tribe’s resolution: “KBIC supports the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe situated in North and South Dakota in their opposition to a pipeline that does not enhance their available habitat and which contaminates water, endangering the public health, causing detrimental effects to the fish and wildlife of their land, and threatens treaty rights and cultural lifeways of tribal nations.”

Just minutes after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg denied the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s attempt to halt the construction of the Dakota Access oil pipeline that skirts the reservation in southern North Dakota, three federal agencies appealed to the pipeline company to “voluntarily pause” work on a segment that tribal officials say holds sacred sites and artifacts.

Tribal officials challenged the Army Corps of Engineers decision to grant permits for the $3.8 billion pipeline for Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners intended to carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois.

Friday’s ruling by Boasberg, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, came amid growing protests over the pipeline, which would cross the Missouri River less than a mile upstream of the reservation.

The statement by the Departments of Justice, Army and Interior said it would “reconsider any of its previous decisions” on land that borders or is under Lake Oahe, one of six reservoirs on the Missouri River and the drinking water source for the tribal members on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

The statement from the federal departments also said the case “highlighted the need for a serious discussion” about nationwide reforms “with respect to considering tribes’ views on these types of infrastructure projects.”

Troy Eid, a former U.S. attorney in Colorado who now specializes in Indian law, said the action was unprecedented and a “significant setback” for the pipeline’s builders.

“Everywhere in Indian Country, people are talking about this,” said Eid, who spoke by phone Saturday while on horseback during a parade at the Navajo Nation Fair in Window Rock, Arizona.

He said the lack of tribal consultation on the Dakota Access pipeline “is a textbook example of how not to do a project.”

Historically, tribes only have been consulted on energy infrastructure projects, with the federal government making the actual decisions, said Eid, a Republican.

The Obama administration’s action Friday likely changed that, he said.

“Tribes want to be able to influence the outcome in a substantive way,” Eid said.

Industry consultant Brigham McCown, a former acting administrator for the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, said the Obama administration’s involvement has “changed the lay of the land forever” for infrastructure projects.

“This could bog down or delay every single infrastructure project moving forward,” he said. “I don’t think they even realize the can of worms they’ve opened.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.