Bismarck, ND (AP) – A federal judge on Wednesday found that the state of Northern Dakota was entitled to almost $ 28 million for responding to Dakota demonstrations access to oil oil in 2016 and 2017 – a victory for the state in its multi -year effort to recover the costs of the federal government.
The state filed the trial in 2019looking for $ 38 million for the police of demonstrations. Sometimes chaotic demonstrations have drawn international attention to the opposition of the Sioux tribe standing at the Missouri river in the pipeline upstream of the tribe reserve. The tribe has long opposed the pipeline, fearing that a oil spill polluting its water supply.
A trial took place At the beginning of 2024, at the beginning of 2024, at the Federal Court of Bismarck, the capital of the State. The people who testified included the former governor of Northern Dakota Doug Burgum, who took power In December 2016 lived with protests, and Jack Dalrymple, whose administration responded to the Protes from the first months.
US district judge Daniel Traynor found the United States responsible for the state on all complaints and for more than $ 27.8 million in damages.
The judge wrote: “The main thing: the United States has had a compulsory procedure, it did not follow this procedure, and damage came in the state of Dakota in the North. The law authorizes the reimbursement of this damage. More than that, the rule of law requires that this court hold the court.
Thousands of people camped and demonstrated against the pipeline near the crossing for months, causing hundreds arrests. Sometimes violent clashes have occurred between demonstrators and police officers. Agents of the application of laws of the whole state and the region responded to the demonstrations.
Protest camps were Authorized in February 2017. A state lawyer said that the demonstrations ended with a response of more than seven months involving 178 agencies, resulting in 761 arrests and requiring four days of camp cleaning to eliminate millions of pounds of waste.
In a joint declaration, Governor Kelly Armstrong and Prosecutor General Drew Wrigley said: “As indicated in the testimony of the judge Traynor, the decisions taken by the Obama administration have embraced the demonstrators and finally caused millions of dollars in communities and health and families of health.
State allegations included negligence, serious negligence, civil intrusion and public nuisances.
Government lawyers have declared to the trial that the corps of American army engineers “reasonably gave limited options at their disposal” during demonstrations and that the state complaint is “greatly overestimated”. The government has asked the judge to conclude a lack of legal competence for state claims, that the State has not proven its complaints and is not entitled to damage.
The Associated Press sent an email to a lawyer who pleaded for the federal government to the trial to request comments.
The pipeline was Oil transport since June 2017. Many representatives of the government government and the industry leaders support pipeline as a crucial infrastructure in state 3 of the country. The pipeline carries around 5% of the daily production of the United States.
In 2017, The Pipeline Company, Energy Transfer, made a donation of $ 15 million To help cover response costs. The same year, the United States Ministry of Justice gave a 10 million dollars grant to the state to reimburse the answer. The judge noted that the first was a gift and reduced the second of the total recovery of the state.
So President Donald Trump refused a 2017 request to the State So that the federal government covers costs through a disaster declaration.
The pipeline works while the court Environmental examination of the river crossing is achieved.
A northern Dakota jury recently found Greenpeace responsible For defamation and others complaints presented by The manufacturer of the pipeline in relation with protest activitiesWith damages exceeding $ 660 million against three Greenpeace organizations.
