Courts order North Dakota to pay landowners’ legal fees in carbon-storage permit lawsuits

North Dakota has been ordered to pay landowners’ legal fees in two lawsuits challenging state government action, including an Industrial Commission decision that granted permits for Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed underground carbon-dioxide storage project.

The ruling, reported July 27, 2026, creates a direct financial consequence for the state from litigation over its permitting program. The available reporting does not state the dollar amount North Dakota must pay.

Challenge centers on state permit decision

One of the lawsuits challenges the North Dakota Industrial Commission’s decision to grant permits connected to Summit’s proposed project. The project would inject carbon dioxide collected from five states into underground storage in North Dakota.

The court action concerns alleged government overreach in permitting and the resulting consequences for landowners and the state. The fee orders concern legal costs incurred by landowners in the two lawsuits; the available material does not identify the full case names or docket numbers for both cases.

The ruling is at the court-review stage. It is not described in the available reporting as a decision invalidating all North Dakota carbon-storage permits, and the source packet does not establish that it stops Summit’s proposed project. Nor does the fee order establish that the state admitted wrongdoing.

Proceedings are in Bismarck

The underlying litigation is tied to federal court proceedings in Bismarck. A June 24 order in a federal case, Meilstrup v. Standing Rock Sioux Tribe et al., identifies proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota and set a settlement conference for July 8, 2026, before Magistrate Judge Clare R. Hochhalter.

The approved materials do not specify whether that settlement-conference order was one of the two fee-award cases, so it does not establish a further procedural deadline in either lawsuit. The precise date the courts issued the legal-fee orders also is not provided.

Why the ruling matters

The legal-fee orders document a cost to North Dakota arising from challenges to decisions by a state regulatory body. For landowners involved in the litigation, the orders address recovery of legal fees after bringing the suits. For the state, they add a financial component to ongoing court scrutiny of its carbon-storage permitting actions.

The scope of the orders remains limited by the information available: the reporting identifies two lawsuits and a permit challenge involving Summit’s proposed project, but does not provide the award total or the complete procedural history of both cases.