BISMARCK, N.D. – North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong and Attorney General Drew Wrigley today applauded a federal judge’s decision ordering the United States to pay North Dakota nearly $28 million in damages for law enforcement and other costs the state incurred during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in 2016 and early 2017.
U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor found that North Dakota established its claims for negligence, gross negligence, civil trespass and public nuisance against the United States. He specifically noted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave the impression that it had issued a Special Use Permit for DAPL protestors when that was not the case.
“This is a major win for North Dakota taxpayers and the rule of law,” Armstrong and Wrigley said in a joint statement. “As outlined in trial testimony and Judge Traynor’s ruling, decisions made by the Obama administration emboldened protestors and ultimately caused millions of dollars in damage to North Dakota, while endangering the health and safety of North Dakota communities, families and law enforcement officers who responded to the protests.”
In his ruling, Traynor found that the 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,” the ruling states. “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.”
“Rioters repeatedly assaulted law enforcement officers with rocks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails,” the ruling states. Protestors also “left significant observable amounts of garbage and human waste, and a spoiled environment,” Traynor noted, adding Morton County contracted for the cleanup, resulting in the removal of about 10 million pounds of trash and debris.
“The Corps’ negligent actions and inactions created a public nuisance in North Dakota, enabling countless instances of civil trespass to occur during the Protests, subjecting the United States (through the Corps and the actions of other agencies) to liability under North Dakota tort law and exacerbating the harms that were visited upon North Dakota,” the ruling states.