North Dakota challenges awarding of mineral rights

North Dakota is challenging the federal government’s awarding of lucrative mineral rights under a Missouri River reservoir to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, otherwise known as the Three Affiliated Tribes.

The state attorney general’s office said it filed notice with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., that it plans to intervene in the tribes’ lawsuit against the federal government. It said its motion “preserves the state’s position while also allowing discussions to continue with the tribes and the United States to reach an amicable resolution.”

The Interior Department ruled in February that the tribes own the mineral rights, in what has been a long-running dispute. An Obama appointee affirmed the tribes’ ownership of the rights in 2017, but a Trump appointee ruled in the state’s favor in 2020 before the Biden administration scrapped that ruling last year.

At stake is an estimated $100 million in unpaid royalties held in trust and future payments certain to come from oil drilling beneath the river.