Federal Government to Pay North Dakota $28M Over DAPL Protest Costs

The federal government will pay North Dakota roughly $28 million to settle a lawsuit over law enforcement costs incurred during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, state officials announced. The final settlement, revealed on Thursday, June 11, prevents further litigation and includes a formal statement from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The amount, approximately $27.8 million according to one source, matches a 2025 judgment awarded to the state by U.S. District Court Judge Dan Traynor. The lawsuit, filed in 2019, concerned the 2016 and 2017 demonstrations against the construction of the crude oil pipeline, known as DAPL, in rural south-central North Dakota.

North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley stated the settlement stops both parties from spending more public money on the nearly seven-year-old legal battle. “An important chapter in our state’s history has been rendered indisputable and closed,” Wrigley said at a press conference at the Capitol.

The state's case alleged that the federal government caused the protests to grow by unlawfully allowing demonstrators to camp on U.S. Army Corps-managed land, despite repeated calls from state leaders to evict them. As part of the agreement, the Department of Justice issued a statement holding the Obama administration responsible for harms North Dakota incurred.

The agency said that while it still disagrees with Judge Traynor's legal findings, it “acknowledges in hindsight that, under the Obama Administration, the federal government could have done more to reduce the impacts to the people of North Dakota from the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.” The statement also notes that some protesters engaged in unlawful and violent behavior.

The Department of Justice maintained that the federal government chose not to forcibly remove protesters from federal property at the time "to avoid further escalation of unlawful behaviors." It recognized that "this difficult choice had painful consequences for North Dakota and many of its residents."

Wrigley said North Dakota sought the formal statement as a public acknowledgement of wrongdoing by the federal government. The United States had initially appealed the 2025 judgment to the 8th Circuit Court but agreed to dismiss that appeal as part of this settlement.

For Bakken operators and the state, the settlement concludes a long-running financial dispute stemming from the protests that surrounded a critical piece of midstream infrastructure. The Dakota Access Pipeline is a major conduit for moving Bakken crude oil to market.