Bismarck, ND – A federal judge found on Wednesday the state of North Dakota with the right to almost $ 28 million for responding to the protests of Dakota Access Oil Wixine in 2016 and 2017, a victory for the State in its effort of several years to recover the costs of the federal government.
The State filed the lawsuit in 2019, looking for $ 38 million to monitor the protests. Sometimes chaotic demonstrations attracted international attention for the opposition of the Sioux Standing Rock tribe to the Missouri River of the river pipe above the tribe’s reserve. The tribe has long opposed the pipeline, for fear of oil spill contaminating its water supply.
A trial was held for several weeks in early 2024 in a federal court in Bismarck, the state capital. The people who testified included the former Governors of North Doug Burgum, who assumed the position in December 2016 during the height of the protests, and Jack Dalrymple, whose administration responded to early protests.
The American district judge Daniel Traynor considered that the United States was responsible to the State on all claims and for more than $ 27.8 million in damages.
The judge wrote: “The final result: the United States had a mandatory procedure, that procedure did not follow, and the damage occurred to the North Dakota state. The law allows the reimbursement of this damage. More than that, the rule of law requires that this court hold the United States to remember its role in the broader image of guaranteeing peace, not chaos.”
Thousands of people camped and demonstrated in the pipe near the crossing for months, which resulted in hundreds of arrests. Sometimes, violent clashes were produced between protesters and law agents. The agents of the law of the entire State and the region responded to the protests.
The protest camps were eliminated in February 2017. A state lawyer said the protests ended up in a response of more than seven months involving 178 agencies, which resulted in 761 arrests and required four days of cleaning the camp to eliminate millions of garbage pounds.
In a joint statement, Governor Kelly Armstrong and Attorney General Drew Wrigley said: “As described in the testimony of the trial and ruling of Judge Traynor, the decisions taken by the administration of Obama emboldened the Protestants and finally caused millions of dollars in damages to the North Dakot and the agents of the law of the law of protests to protests to protests to protests to protests.
State statements included negligence, serious negligence, civil transfer and public discomfort.
Government lawyers said at the trial that the officials of the US Army Engineers. The government asked the judge to find a lack of legal jurisdiction for state claims, that the State has not demonstrated its claims and has no right to damage.
Associated Press sent an email to a lawyer who advocated the federal government in the trial for comments.
The pipeline has been transporting oil since June 2017. Many state government officials and industry leaders support the pipe as a crucial infrastructure in the country producing state number 3 in the country. The pipe has approximately 5% of the daily production of the United States.
In 2017, the pipeline company, Energy Transfer, donated $ 15 million to help cover response costs. That same year, the United States Department of Justice granted a $ 10 million subsidy to the State for reimbursement. The judge considered that the first was a gift and reduced the second of the total state recovery.
The then President Donald Trump denied a 2017 request from the State for the Federal Government to cover the costs through a disaster statement.
The pipe is operating while an environmental review ordered by the court of the river crossing is carried out.
A North Dakota jury recently found Greenpeace responsible for the defamation and other statements filed by the pipe builder in relation to protest activities, with damages exceeding $ 660 million against three Greenpeace organizations.
