Armstrong statement on ND receiving $27.8M for DAPL costs in settlement with federal government

BISMARCK, N.D. – Gov. Kelly Armstrong issued the following statement today after Attorney General Drew Wrigley announced a final settlement in North Dakota v. United States in which the U.S. government will pay North Dakota over $27.8 million for law enforcement and other costs incurred by the state during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in 2016-17.

“This settlement is long overdue and goes a long way toward making North Dakota whole, on top of the $10 million previously paid by the DOJ to the state for protest-related costs,” Armstrong said. “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. We’re thankful for the efforts of the Attorney General’s Office and other attorneys who worked on the state’s behalf to secure a favorable ruling in U.S. District Court and ultimately reach a settlement that removes the financial burden from North Dakota taxpayers and places it on the shoulders of the federal government where it belongs.”

According to testimony at trial two years ago, North Dakota’s emergency response to the DAPL protests lasted over 230 days, involved 178 response agencies, and spanned Morton, Sioux, Burleigh and Emmons counties. During the protests, North Dakota law enforcement made 761 arrests, 709 of which were out-of-state residents. The cleanup of the DAPL camps required over 600 roll-off dumpsters for a total of 9.8 million pounds of garbage and hazardous materials.