BISMARCK, N.D. (Legal Newsline) – A minerals company is suing North Dakota for what it says is an unlawful taking of its property under the State Ownership of Missouri Riverbed Act.
EEE Minerals and The Vohs Family Revocable Living Trust filed suit Dec. 1 in Bismarck federal court against the State and its Board of University and School Lands.
The dispute involves a property in McKenzie County that contains oil, gas and other minerals. The plaintiffs say they have owned the property since at least 1957, when the United States bought surface rights to it from them to create Lake Sakakawea.
But now the State is claiming ownership, the lawsuit says. Its justification – the Ownership of the Missouri Riverbed Act – is unconstitutional, it adds.