North Dakota to receive about $28 million in federal settlement over Dakota Access Pipeline protest costs
North Dakota will receive roughly $28 million from the federal government under a settlement resolving a long-running dispute over costs the state incurred during Dakota Access Pipeline protests in 2016 and 2017.
The settlement ends a lawsuit North Dakota filed in 2019 and resolves a pending federal appeal. The payment is intended to reimburse documented protest-response costs incurred by the state, rather than create a new operating appropriation for state government.
The development, reported June 11, 2026, settles the question of which government should bear expenses generated by the demonstrations. For North Dakota, it means approximately $28 million will return to the state after years of litigation over the financial burden placed on public agencies during the protests.
A dispute over protest-response costs
The costs at issue arose during demonstrations surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota in 2016 and 2017. North Dakota law-enforcement agencies responded to the protests, creating expenses that the state later sought to have reimbursed by the federal government.
North Dakota argued in its 2019 lawsuit that federal agencies had failed to reimburse costs associated with the demonstrations. The state’s claim focused on expenses it incurred while responding to the protests, not on a new request to fund ordinary state operations.
The settlement therefore addresses a specific historical obligation. It does not establish that all protest conduct was unlawful, and it does not by itself determine how every dollar will be distributed among agencies or jurisdictions involved in the response.
Appeal will be dismissed
The agreement followed appeals litigation between the state and the federal government. Under the settlement, the pending federal appeal will be dismissed, ending the case and closing the dispute in court.
That conclusion gives North Dakota a practical result after the state spent years pursuing reimbursement. Instead of continuing the appeal, the federal government will pay the negotiated amount of approximately $28 million.
The settlement also separates the reimbursement from future budgeting decisions. The payment compensates the state for documented costs tied to the earlier protests; it is not described as a new recurring source of operating money.
What the settlement means for North Dakota
For residents, the agreement resolves a dispute over whether North Dakota or the federal government should ultimately absorb the public cost of the protest response. The state had carried those costs while the lawsuit and appeal proceeded. The settlement provides a financial recovery of roughly $28 million for North Dakota.
The amount is a negotiated settlement figure. It should not be read as a complete public accounting of every expense connected to the protests or as a guarantee that the money will be paid directly to each law-enforcement agency that participated in the response.
The agreement’s next practical step is payment and the formal end of the appeal. The reports describing the settlement do not identify a final payment date or provide a line-item accounting showing how the money will be handled after North Dakota receives it.
With the appeal set for dismissal, the settlement brings the state’s 2019 lawsuit to an end. The underlying events occurred nearly a decade earlier, but the agreement determines who will bear the documented state costs associated with the 2016 and 2017 Dakota Access Pipeline protests.
Sources
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