North Dakota takes federal government to trial over costs to police Dakota Access Pipeline protests
By JACK DURA
Associated Press
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A trial is scheduled to begin Thursday in North Dakota’s years-old lawsuit seeking $38 million from the federal government for policing protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016-17. The state filed the lawsuit in 2019, followed by years of legal wrangling before a judge set the trial date in December. The lawsuit relates to the state and local law enforcement response to the sometimes chaotic protests that occurred from about August 2016 to February 2017. The oil pipeline’s controversial Missouri River crossing upstream from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation drew thousands of protesters who camped and demonstrated nearby.