Feds Settle DAPL Protest Policing Suit, Pay North Dakota $28 Million

The federal government will pay North Dakota nearly $28 million to settle a long-running lawsuit over the state's costs of policing the massive Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protests nearly a decade ago, state officials announced Thursday.

Republican Attorney General Drew Wrigley announced the final settlement agreement, which matches the amount a federal judge determined the state was owed after a trial last year. The government also agreed to dismiss all of its appeals and issue a formal statement of acknowledgment regarding the protests' impact.

“We deeply appreciate those acknowledgments. They’re a long time coming,” Wrigley said at a press conference. He said the settlement money will finalize the debts of loans taken from the state-owned Bank of North Dakota, making the state "financially whole."

The settlement stems from a lawsuit North Dakota filed in 2019 concerning demonstrations against the construction of the crude oil pipeline in 2016 and 2017. The state alleged the federal government allowed the protests to grow by unlawfully permitting demonstrators to camp on federal land near the pipeline's Missouri River crossing.

In a statement, the U.S. Justice Department said it disputes the court's legal analysis "but 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." The department recognized the protests included "unlawfulness and confrontational violence" and that the choice not to forcibly remove protesters "had painful consequences for North Dakota and many of its residents."

The settlement comes more than a year after U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor found the federal government liable on all claims, including negligence and public nuisance, and determined it owed the state about $27.8 million. As part of the settlement, the parties asked Judge Traynor to void his 2025 judgment and related orders, which he did in May, according to the sources.

Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong called the settlement "long overdue," saying it "removes the financial burden from North Dakota taxpayers and places it on the shoulders of the federal government where it belongs."

Wrigley emphasized that the settlement prevents both parties from spending more public money litigating the nearly seven-year-old lawsuit. The resolution closes a significant chapter of financial liability for the state related to the pipeline, which remains a critical conduit for Bakken crude oil to reach markets.