Remember those encampments by Indian and environmental protesters at the Dakota Access Pipeline 8 years ago?
They shouldn’t have been allowed, ruled a federal judge as the state of North Dakota rested its case in its lawsuit to recover $38 million in law enforcement costs.
U.S. .District Court Judge Dan Traynor said at a hearing in Bismarck, admonished the Army Corps of Engineers for allowing the protesters to camp on Corps land without a permit. He said it could have prevented North Dakota suffering significant costs had the regulations been properly followed.
“Permits are required for a reason,” he quipped, reported South Dakota Searchlight.
The judge’s comments came at the end of a three-week bench trial in which North Dakota charged the federal government not only with held necessary assistance from the state but acted to encourage some of the protesters.
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