U.S. to Pay North Dakota $28M in Final DAPL Protest Settlement

The federal government will pay North Dakota roughly $28 million to settle a lawsuit over costs from the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) protests, according to an announcement from state officials on June 11, 2026. The settlement amount matches a 2025 judgment from U.S. District Court Judge Dan Traynor and brings a final conclusion to the nearly seven-year-old case.

Attorney General Drew Wrigley announced the settlement at the state Capitol, stating it would prevent both parties from spending more public money on litigation. "An important chapter in our state’s history has been rendered indisputable and closed," Wrigley said, according to the North Dakota Monitor.

The state's lawsuit, filed in 2019, alleged that the federal government under the Obama administration caused the 2016-2017 protests to grow by unlawfully allowing demonstrators to camp on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land. The U.S. Department of Justice, as part of the agreement, issued a statement acknowledging that "the federal government could have done more to reduce the impacts to the people of North Dakota" during that time, while maintaining its actions were a safety choice to avoid further escalation.

Governor Kelly Armstrong said the settlement was "long overdue" and helps make the state whole. "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 stated, according to NewsDakota.com. He noted the settlement removes the financial burden from North Dakota taxpayers.

The protests placed a massive operational and financial strain on the state. Testimony from the trial revealed the emergency response lasted over 230 days, involved 178 agencies across four counties, and resulted in 761 arrests. Cleanup of protest camps required over 600 dumpsters to remove 9.8 million pounds of garbage and hazardous materials.

For Bakken operators and royalty owners, the settlement represents the final resolution of a major period of instability that directly threatened critical energy infrastructure. The Dakota Access Pipeline is a key conduit for Bakken crude, moving over 500,000 barrels per day to market. The prolonged protests and associated law enforcement crisis highlighted the vulnerabilities of midstream assets to coordinated opposition.

The financial reimbursement covers law enforcement and other costs incurred by the state. Governor Armstrong noted this is on top of a previous $10 million payment from the DOJ for protest-related costs, according to NewsDakota.com. The United States had initially appealed Judge Traynor's 2025 ruling but agreed to dismiss that appeal as part of this final settlement.