North Dakota
Port: President Obama should apologize to North Dakota
MINOT — It’s been a long time coming, but North Dakotans are getting some justice for what was perpetrated on them by left-wing extremists during violent protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
First, a jury in Morton County found Greenpeace civilly liable,
to the tune of some $660 million,
for assisting the frequently unlawful protests. The plaintiff in the case was Energy Transfer Partners, the company that built and operates the pipeline.
Now, a federal judge has found the federal government, then under the control of President Barack Obama,
liable for more than $37 million in costs
incurred by the state of North Dakota while responding the protests (the court awarded roughly $28 million, subtracting a $10 million grant awarded during President Trump’s first term in office).
Judge Dan Traynor excoriated the federal government in his ruling. “The United States left North Dakota alone to defend itself from the violent and tumultuous protests,” he wrote.
“While North Dakota was drowning in the chaos of the Protests, the United States dropped an anvil into the pool and turned up the turmoil,” he continued.
The Obama administration “encouraged [and] supported protesters to remain and be at the DAPL Protests,” and because of these things, the federal government is liable for the heavy costs incurred by North Dakota taxpayers as a result of the months-long demonstrations.
Traynor found that the federal government allowed protesters to occupy federal land illegally, against its policies, despite being fully aware that the land was being used to launch violent and unlawful attacks against the pipeline project and law enforcement.
The Obama administration did not intervene to assist our state in putting a stop to the violence, despite apparent unlawful activity and a clear federal nexus. They didn’t enforce the law when protesters used federal land as a launch pad for their attacks. The Obama administration even
refused to send federal law enforcement resources to assist.
This was a dereliction of duty on par with President Donald Trump watching,
on television,
his supporters violently assault Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. But the Jan. 6 riot went on for a day. The Dakota Access Pipeline protests lasted for months.
Nor was it only the Obama administration that chose to stand aside while North Dakota burned. Our state’s law enforcement resources were completely overrun, yet when our state put out a call to other states for personnel, many states with Democratic leadership refused to assist,
bowing to pressure from left-wing activists.
“Early on, we had a number of states support our request for peace officer support,” Maj. Gen. Al Dohrmann of the North Dakota National Guard
told me in a December 2016 interview
. “Unfortunately, all jurisdictions that supported us were subject to protest in their own cities and capitols for providing support to North Dakota, along with intense pressure from various groups to not support North Dakota’s efforts to maintain the peace and rule of law.”
President Obama could have helped put an end to the protests swiftly and peacefully, but he didn’t.
As the nation’s top elected Democrat, he could have urged state-level Democrats to put politics aside and help, but he didn’t.
For that, he owes North Dakota an apology.
FARGO, N.D. (KELO) — The Sioux Falls Stampede staved off elimination with a 2-1 overtime win over the Fargo Force in game four of the USHL Western Conference Finals Saturday night.
Thomas Zocco scored the game-winner 12 minutes into the extra period. Arseni Marchenko put Fargo on the board first in the first period. Noah Mannausau tied the game for the Herd in the second period.
Sioux Falls outshot Fargo 53-49, including 9-5 in overtime. Linards Feldbergs made 48 saves.
Three of the four games of the series have gone to overtime. The winner-take-all game five is Tuesday at the Premier Center.
New ballot measure guide to be mailed to North Dakota voters ahead of election
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BISMARCK (North Dakota Monitor) — A federal district court judge indicated he will nullify a nearly $28 million judgment against the federal government related to costs North Dakota incurred during the Dakota Access Pipeline protests so the parties can reach a settlement.
North Dakota is still set to receive a payment Attorney General Drew Wrigley described as satisfactory, but attorneys would not disclose the amount during a Friday hearing.
Attorneys for the United States and North Dakota said the settlement would allow the parties to avoid litigating the case in appeals court,putting the nearly seven-year-old lawsuit to rest.
“We’re hoping we really don’t need to fight any further,” Department of Justice attorney Jonathan Guynn said during the hearing.
The lawsuit, filed in 2019, concerns demonstrations against the construction of the crude oil pipeline, also known as DAPL, that took place in rural south-central North Dakota in 2016 and 2017.
North Dakota claims the federal government caused the protests to grow in size and intensity by unlawfully allowing demonstrators to camp on federal land. The state says it had to pay millions of dollars on policing and cleaning up the encampments as a result. The United States denies the state’s allegations.
North Dakota U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor in April 2025 sided with the state and ordered the executive branch to pay North Dakota the $28 million sum, a decision the U.S. Department of Justice later appealed to the 8th Circuit.
If the settlement moves forward, North Dakota would receive a “substantial monetary payment” from the United States, attorneys said Friday. As a condition of the agreement, the Department of Justice wants Traynor’s judgment and three other orders in which he ruled against the United States to be voided. That includes the court’s 120-page ruling from April 2025.
Both parties said Friday that having the rulings nullified wouldn’t have a significant negative impact on the public, since the documents could still be cited even if they no longer hold the weight of court orders.
At the same time, Guynn said the Department of Justice wants the orders vacated because it doesn’t want the legal conclusions Traynor made to influence the outcome of future lawsuits.
“The downstream consequences of keeping these on the books is troublesome for the United States,” he said during the hearing. If Traynor does not agree to axe the rulings, the United States would likely no longer be willing to settle and move forward with its appeal instead, Guynn added.
Traynor’s orders make findings about the federal government’s responsibility under the Federal Tort Claims Act — the law North Dakota filed the suit under — which the state noted previously in court filings “could have utility holding the federal government to account” in the future.
Still, attorneys for the state said they believe this trade-off is outweighed by the time and money the public would save by not going through the appeals process. North Dakota would also avoid the risk of having Traynor’s judgment overturned by higher courts.
Wrigley said the settlement will be made public once it’s finalized.
The United States’ appeal of Traynor’s decision has been on hold since last summer, when the state and federal government informed the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals they had started settlement negotiations and wished to pause the case.
The 8th Circuit will have to first send the case back to Traynor before he could grant the parties’ requests.
The case went to trial in Bismarck in early 2024. During the four-week trial, the court heard from witnesses including former governors Doug Burgum and Jack Dalrymple, Native activists, federal officials and law enforcement.
The Dakota Access Pipeline carries crude oil from northwest North Dakota to Illinois. It crosses the Missouri River just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, which prompted the tribe to begin protesting the pipeline on the grounds that it poses a threat to its water supply and sovereignty.
North Dakota’s lawsuit originally requested $38 million in damages from the federal government. Traynor ordered the executive branch to pay $28 million since the U.S. Department of Justice previously gave the state $10 million as compensation for costs it spent related to the protests.
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