A US court denied the request to halt the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline.

The Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes argued that the project would contaminate their drinking water and asked for a temporary injunction against construction.

They will now file a lawsuit.

The court said there was time to hear the lawsuit before the pipeline begins operations.

Over 1.4 million people checked in to Standing Rock on Facebook to support protesters and activists who are fighting against the construction of a new oil pipeline in the area.

Standing Rock is a Sioux Native American reservation in North Dakota, USA, and activists are worried that the Sioux Indians might be under threat as the pipeline could contaminate the tribe's water source.

The new Dakota Access oil pipeline is a $3.7 billion project which is capable of transporting up to 570,000 barrels of crude oil a day.

However, the Sioux Indians claim that the pipeline will desecrate their sacred ancestral burial ground, traverse over archaeological sites and contaminate their water source.

Environmental activists are also opposed to it as it will increase fossil fuel emissions.