Judge rules U.S. owes North Dakota $28M over oil pipeline protests

April 24 (UPI) -- A federal judge has ruled the U.S. government must pay North Dakota nearly $28 million in damages stemming from the Dakota Access oil pipeline protests in 2016 and 2017.

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor issued his ruling Wednesday, siding with North Dakota's claims of negligence, gross negligence, civil trespass and public nuisance against the United States in connection with the protests.

"This is a major win for North Dakota taxpayers and the rule of law," North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong and Attorney General Drew Wrigley, both Republicans, said in a statement in response to the ruling.

"As outlined in the trial testimony and Judge Traynor's ruling, decisions made by the Obama administration emboldened protesters and ultimately caused millions of dollars in damage to North Dakota, while endangering the health and safety of North Dakota communities, families and law enforcement officers who responded to the protests."

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The protests by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe against the pipeline garnered wide public and political attention from August 2016 through March 2017, as they erected encampments on land near the confluence of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers.

The state's claims focused on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers use of a Special Use Permit to allow the protesters to demonstrate on Corps land.

In his ruling on Wednesday, the President Donald Trump appointee said the Corps had not officially granted the SUP despite saying one had been issued, and this so-called de factor permit prevented law enforcement from taking action against the protesters.

Traynor described this action as the Corps having "invited and encouraged the DAPL Protesters and their violent and tumultuous behavior," leaving North Dakota to clean up the mess.

"The State of North Dakota needed the power of the federal government to protect its citizens from danger. The federal government abandoned its duty," he said.

He added that the damage caused by the protests was "unfathomable," highlighting there human excrement pits, makeshift housing structures and violent clashes with law enforcement.

"The bottom line: United States had a mandatory procedure, it did not follow that procedure, and harm occurred to the state of North Dakota," Traynor said.