A federal judge has ordered a full trial to resolve a long-running North Dakota mineral rights dispute that puts the federal government at odds with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s home state.
Citing a complicated history that includes several pivots by the federal government, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Tuesday said a trial will have to determine who owns the riverbed underlying the portion of the Missouri River inside the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
The state of North Dakota and the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation have staked competing claims on the riverbed. The Justice Department has sided with the tribes’ position that the riverbed is owned by the federal government and held in trust by the Interior Department.
“The question is not merely academic as the geographic area under the Riverbed is rich in oil and gas reserves,” Jackson noted.
