Judge rules federal government owes nearly $28 million to North Dakota for pipeline protests

FILE - Military veterans walk onto a closed bridge to protest across from police protecting the Dakota Access oil pipeline site in Cannon Ball, N.D., Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016. Photo by David Goldman /AP

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BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday found the state of North Dakota entitled to nearly $28 million for responding to protests of the Dakota Access oil pipeline in 2016 and 2017 — a win for the state in its multiyear effort to recoup the costs from the federal government.

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The state filed the lawsuit in 2019, seeking $38 million for policing the protests. The sometimes-chaotic demonstrations drew international attention for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s opposition to the pipeline’s Missouri River crossing upstream of the tribe’s reservation. The tribe has long opposed the pipeline, fearing an oil spill polluting its water supply.

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A trial played out over several weeks in early 2024 in federal court in Bismarck, the state capital. People who testified included former North Dakota governors Doug Burgum, who took office in December 2016 during the protests’ height, and Jack Dalrymple, whose administration responded to the protests’ early months.

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U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor found the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers liable to the state on all claims and for more than $27.8 million in damages.

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The judge wrote: “The bottom line: United States had a mandatory procedure, it did not follow that procedure, and harm occurred to the state of North Dakota. The law allows reimbursement for this harm. More than that, the rule of law requires this Court to hold the United States liable to remind it of its role in the larger picture of ensuring peace, not chaos.”

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Thousands of people camped and demonstrated against the pipeline near the crossing for months. Hundreds of arrests resulted. Sometimes-violent clashes occurred between protesters and law enforcement officers. Law enforcement officers from around the state and region responded to the protests.

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“It was a violent, unlawful protest. And ‘protest’ is a gentle word,” North Dakota Attorney Drew Wrigley said last year before trial.

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The protest camps were cleared in February 2017. An attorney for the state said the protests ended in a response of more than seven months involving 178 agencies, resulting in 761 arrests and requiring four days of cleanup of the camp to remove millions of pounds of trash.

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“Although the unlawful protest was burgeoning before everyone’s eyes and the damages and dangers were so apparent, the federal government refused to offer assistance and enforce the legal obligations on the people who were encamped,” Wrigley said.

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Attorneys for the government said at trial that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials “acted reasonably given limited options at their disposal” during the protests, and that the state’s claim is “greatly overstated.” The government asked the judge to find a lack of legal jurisdiction for the state’s claims, that the state hasn’t proven its claims and is not entitled to damages.

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The pipeline has been transporting oil since June 2017. Many state government officials and industry leaders support the pipeline as crucial infrastructure in the country’s No. 3 oil-producing state. The pipeline carries roughly 5% of the United States’ daily oil production.