The move came shortly after US District Judge James Boasberg in Washington rejected a request from Native Americans for a court order to block the project. The government's action reflected the success of growing protests over the proposed $3.7 billion pipeline crossing four states which has sparked a renewal of Native American activism.
"This case has highlighted the need for a serious discussion on whether there should be nationwide reform with respect to considering tribes' views on these types of infrastructure projects," the US Departments of Justice, Army and Interior said in a joint statement released minutes after Boasberg's ruling.
Opposition to the pipeline has drawn support from 200 Native American tribes, along with celebrities and activists from across the globe.
The Standing Rock Sioux, whose tribal lands are a half-mile south of the proposed route, say the pipeline would desecrate sacred burial and prayer sites, and could leak oil into the Missouri and Cannon Ball rivers, on which the tribe relies for water.
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Thousands of people have swelled campgrounds near the site of the proposed pipeline, and protesters have included Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein and celebrities including actress Shailene Woodley.
Last weekend, the protests turned violent as demonstrators breached a wire fence and were confronted by security officers and guard dogs.
After Boasberg said in his ruling that a decision by the US Army Corps of Engineers to fast-track the pipeline project was not illegal, tribal leaders quickly filed a notice of appeal.
At the same time, however, government officials were promising to temporarily halt construction of the pipeline on federally owned land.
In their joint statement, the three departments said they would invite Native American leaders to meetings this fall to discuss how the federal government can better consider the tribes' views and respect their land.
The three departments also said they respected protesters' rights to assemble and speak freely.
The US Army Corps of Engineers, which owns some of the land where the pipeline was slated to be built and has been involved in the permitting process, said it would halt construction on its property until after officials had re-examined Native American concerns about the pipeline as well as previous projects.
It called on Dakota Access to halt work on other land, as well. But Dakota Access and its parent company, Energy Transfer Partners LP of Dallas, declined to comment for this story. By midafternoon Friday, the company had not said whether it would comply with the request.
ETP shares fell 3.6 percent to close at $39.14 on Friday.
When fully connected to existing lines, the $3.7 billion, 1,100-mile (1,770 km) Dakota Access pipeline would be the first pipeline to carry crude oil from the Bakken shale, a vast oil formation in North Dakota, Montana and parts of Canada, directly to the US Gulf.
It would carry oil from just north of land owned by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe to Illinois, where it would connect with an existing pipeline and route crude directly to refineries in the US Gulf Coast.
In his ruling Boasberg said he could not concur with claims by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe that the government erred in approving the Dakota Access pipeline.
Canadian light crude prices whipped around on Friday, trading as weak as 80 cents a barrel over US crude futures earlier in the day before rallying to $1.00 a barrel over crude futures after Boasberg's decision. It held steady, however, after the US government moved to halt work on the pipeline.
