Federal Government to Pay ND $28M for Dakota Access Pipeline Protest Costs

North Dakota will receive approximately $28 million from the federal government to cover costs incurred during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, according to a settlement announced on June 11, 2026. The amount matches a 2025 award from U.S. District Court Judge Dan Traynor and brings finality to a lawsuit filed by the state in 2019.

The lawsuit centered on demonstrations against the construction of the crude oil pipeline in 2016 and 2017. North Dakota alleged the federal government unlawfully allowed protesters to camp on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land, causing the protests to grow in size and intensity, according to the North Dakota Monitor. Attorney General Drew Wrigley stated the settlement prevents both parties from spending more public money litigating the nearly seven-year-old case.

Governor Kelly Armstrong said the settlement is "long overdue" and helps make the state whole, on top of $10 million previously paid by the Department of Justice for protest-related costs. "The Obama administration not only enabled but in fact encouraged these unlawful protests by failing to evict protestors from Army Corps of Engineers’ land – instead playing politics with a legally permitted pipeline that has now been operating for almost a decade without incident," Armstrong said, according to NewsDakota.com.

As part of the agreement, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a statement acknowledging that, under the Obama Administration, "the federal government could have done more to reduce the impacts to the people of North Dakota." The DOJ maintained its disagreement with the court's legal findings but recognized its choice not to forcibly remove protesters from federal property "had painful consequences for North Dakota and many of its residents."

The state's emergency response was extensive. Testimony at trial revealed the response lasted over 230 days, involved 178 agencies across four counties, and resulted in 761 arrests, 709 of which were out-of-state residents, NewsDakota.com reported. Cleanup of protest camps required over 600 dumpsters to remove 9.8 million pounds of garbage and hazardous materials.

For Bakken operators and the state's oil industry, the settlement represents a final resolution to a major period of disruption tied to a key piece of infrastructure. The Dakota Access Pipeline has been a critical outlet for Bakken crude oil since its completion. The financial recovery shifts the burden of protest costs from North Dakota taxpayers to the federal government, according to state officials.