A dispute over ownership of mineral rights under Lake Sakakawea is now before the North Dakota Supreme Court.
Attorneys for the William Wilkinson family believe the state illegally took the family’s mineral rights from property flooded by the closing of the Garrison Dam.
Attorney Josh Swanson told the court the family sold the surface acres, but not the mineral rights.
"This court can decide whether the district court erred as a matter of law in ruling that the state's actions were not an unconstitutional taking of the Wilkinsons' property," Swanson argued.
Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Verlager represents the state Board of University and School Lands. She argued the mineral rights are under the original Missouri River bed, meaning the state owns those minerals.
"As such, the state only wants to claim what it rightfully owns," Verlager said. "We also have a fiduciary responsibility under the public trust doctrine to claim what we rightfully own."
The Supreme Court has taken the cause under advisement.
The 2017 Legislature passed a bill saying the state does not own minerals under land flooded by Lake Sakakwea, but sets up a process to determine where the earlier Missouri River channel is. That bill has not yet become law.