Central ND News

North Dakota officials have welcomed a recent legal decision in which a federal judge has ordered the United States to pay nearly $28 million in damages to the state. The ruling relates to costs incurred by North Dakota during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in 2016 and 2017.

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor ruled that the state had successfully proven its claims of negligence, gross negligence, civil trespass, and public nuisance against the United States. Traynor's decision highlighted that a Special Use Permit for protestors was wrongly implied to have been issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"This is a major win for North Dakota taxpayers and the rule of law," expressed Governor Kelly Armstrong and Attorney General Drew Wrigley in a joint statement. According to them, the circumstances described during the trial and in Traynor's ruling suggest that the actions of the Obama administration encouraged protestors, leading to significant financial damages for North Dakota and putting the safety of the state’s residents and law enforcement at risk.

Judge Traynor pointed out that the United States did not follow its mandatory procedure, resulting in harm to North Dakota. His ruling emphasized the necessity for reimbursement in these situations, as the rule of law holds the U.S. accountable in contributing to peace rather than disorder.

The court documents detailed that law enforcement personnel were targeted with rocks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails, and the protest sites were left polluted with garbage and human waste. Morton County was tasked with the cleanup, which involved clearing around 10 million pounds of waste.

The ruling indicated that the negligent actions and inactions by the Corps allowed a public nuisance to grow, leading to numerous civil trespass incidents and subjecting the United States to liability under North Dakota's tort law.