Tuesday, January 21, 2014

NDIC to meet on Places of Extraordinary Significance

REVISED AGENDA*
Industrial Commission of North Dakota
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
11:00 a.m. – Pioneer Room
I. North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources Business
A. Discussion regarding proposed rules relating to general drilling permit consideration;
designation of places of extraordinary significance; and additional requirements for
permitting in places of extraordinary significance. (Attachment 1)

II. Adjournment

*Revised January 21, 2014 at 7:45 a.m.

http://www.nd.gov/ndic/

Group wants cooperative to ‘go back to the drawing board’ on project

January 21, 2014

By ELOISE OGDEN - Regional Editor (eogden@minotdailynews.com) , Minot Daily News

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KILLDEER Basin Electric Cooperative is proposing to build, operate and maintain a 278-mile transmission project from near Beulah via the Killdeer Mountains to the Tioga area. The cooperative said it is doing the project for additional electric transmission capacity.

But a citizens' group, Killdeer Mountain Alliance, wants the federal Rural Utilities Service to require Basin Electric to "go back to the drawing board" on the project because the proposed route for the transmission lines is in the Killdeer Mountains, where a historic site is located.

A public hearing was held in Watford City Jan. 16 to assess public response to the supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Basin Electric's proposed project.

Rob Sand, a spokesman for the alliance, said in a news release the alliance's fundamental problem with the supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement is it proposes no alternatives that would avoid constructing eight miles of transmission lines "through the heart of the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield. Consequently, it fails to comply with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act," Sand said.

Curt Pearson, manager of Media and Community Relations for Basin Electric in Bismarck, said the transmission lines, as proposed, would run south of the designated historic site (Killdeer Mountain Battlefield State Historic site) but it would cross a proposed study area. He said the land in the proposed study area is privately-owned.

Pearson said Basin Electric did not know about the proposed study area until August 2013.

The National Park Service awarded a grant for $62,761 to North Dakota State University, Fargo, for a two-year study of the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield according to an announcement by NDSU last fall.

Basin Electric's plan is to build, operate and maintain an approximately 278-mile, 345-kilovolt transmission project from Antelope Valley Station to the Neset Substation near Tioga. The Jan. 16 hearing was held for the public to evaluate an additional transmission line segment that would interceonnect with the previously proposed Antelope Valley Station to Neset project at a switchyard near Killdeer. Called the north Killdeer loop, it includes 60 miles of 345-kV transmission line and two substations that will deliver power into member cooperative McKenzie Electric Cooperative's service territory, according to Basin Electric information.

The alliance also said, in the news release, that the public meeting in Watford City was not well advertised in the local media and should have been advertised a minimum of 15 days in advance so people could have learned about it in adequate time. About 20 people attended the Jan. 16 hearing, according to Basin Electric.

Pearson said the first legal notice about the meeting ran last month, with some of the seven newspapers in the area of the project first running the notice Dec. 22. The notice ran a second time in January. He said Basin Electric also ran a story about the upcoming meeting as well as has information about the proposed project on its website at (www.basinelectric.com).

Pearson said the public can comment on the proposed project until Feb. 3. Written comments on the scope of the Environmental Impact Statement should be emailed todennis.rankin@wdc.usda.gov or mail to: Dennis Rankin, environmental protection specialist, USDA, Rural Utilities Service, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Stop 1571, Washington, D.C., 20250-1571.

Killdeer Mountain Alliance challenges lack of alternative routes for proposed power line

Posted on 20 January 2014 by Pat Ratliff

Citizens group challenges inadequate hearing notice and lack of alternative transmission line proposals that would avoid going through the heart of the historic Killdeer Mountain BattlefieldPosted 1/20/14

The Killdeer Mountain Alliance (KMA), a citizens’ group committed to protection of the Killdeer Mountains of western North Dakota, has asked the Rural Utility Service (RUS) to require Basin Electric to “go back to the drawing board” on its proposed transmission lines in the Killdeer Mountain area.

At a public hearing on January 16 in Watford City, ND, the group questioned the short notice for the hearing as well as Basin Electric’s failure to propose alternative routes that would avoid the historic Killdeer Mountain Battlefield.

Rob Sand, a spokesperson for the KMA, noted that RUS guidelines require that their public hearings be “’well-advertised in local media outlets a minimum of 15 days prior to the time of the meeting.’”

“Of the small number who made it to the Thursday meeting,” Sand said, “many learned of it only through a posting on the Killdeer Mountain Alliance facebook site.

“Several of us had been watching for a notice, because we knew this hearing was supposed to take place in January.

“Someone finally found an announcement on the Basin Electric website that was posted a week ago. That hardly meets the “well-advertised-in-local-media” standard.”

The hearing’s purpose was to assess public response to the supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) for Basin Electric’s proposed Antelope Valley Station to Neset Transmission Project. The SDEIS was developed to expand the alternatives being considered.

The KMA’s fundamental problem with the SDEIS is that it proposes no alternatives that would avoid passing through the heart of the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield.

“This means it fails to comply with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),” Sand said.

“Basin Electric is requesting Federal taxpayer subsidies for constructing the transmission project,” he explained. “That’s why it requires RUS approval. We want to know why the RUS is even considering using its funds to degrade the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield when its sister Federal agency, the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior, used taxpayer money to study the battlefield site and identified it as a place worthy of protection through inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.”

“Also important is that for the first time the Rural Utility Service and the other cooperating agencies have recognized the extent and importance of the Killdeer Mountain Battle of 1864,” Sand said. “This was an important historical and cultural Civil War site from the perspective of both Union Army forces and the Native Americans who fought and died there. It’s an essential part of American history and key to understanding the U.S.-Dakota Wars.”

The KMA statement at the hearing closed with a question and a conclusion: “What must be done to avoid degrading this unique historical and cultural site on the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Killdeer Mountain, which took place on July 28, 1864? The project must be sent back to the drawing board. Alternatives that avoid crossing the battlefield must be evaluated in a detail comparable to analysis of the present alternatives. It must be demonstrated that it is not practicable to avoid degrading the Battlefield site. Only then will the requirements of the Environmental Protection Act be satisfied, and we as citizens and taxpayers can have confidence that the decisions of government are indeed in the public interest.”

“We call on ND officials to take note of these problems and insist on alternative proposals that avoid crossing the Battlefield,” Sand said. “That is what the National Environmental Policy Act requires.

“It would be a tragedy if a huge transmission line across the Battlefield were approved and under construction just as a major study of the Battlefield has finally been funded, and commemoration ceremonies for this summer’s 150th anniversary of the Killdeer Mountain Battle are being planned. North Dakotans deserve better than this."

http://www.dunncountyextra.com/killdeer-mountain-alliance-challenges-lack-alternative-routes-proposed-power-line/#more-3564

Monday, January 20, 2014

Group Opposes New Power Line

KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson A preservationist group is asking the Rural Utilities Service to send Basin Electric "back to the drawing board" in developing a route for a major new power transmission line. The Killdeer Mountain Alliance wants the proposed "Antelope Valley Station- to- Neset" line re-routed to stay out of a 27-square-mile area set aside for study near the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield. Currently, the proposed route for the 278-mile line runs south of the actual battlefield site, but inside the study area. The Rural Utilities Service held a hearing on the proposal last Thursday, but members of the alliance say it was not well publicized to give members a chance to attend. The group says it would be a tragedy if the line were approved as proposed. Basin Electric officials say the company has been very respectful of the historic site and followed the proper procedure to apply for the needed permits. Construction on the line is scheduled to begin this year.

Basin Electric Develops Alternative Transmission Routes

KFYRTV.COM - Bismarck, ND - News, Weather, Sports

In November, Basin Electric Cooperative spoke about a new transmission line that would cross through the Killdeer Mountain area.

Now, the energy company has come up with two alternative routes but each would still cross through Killdeer. Basin's preferred route would go from the Antelope Valley station in Beulah to a substation in Williston, then north to a substation in Tioga. However, it would make a loop near the Killdeer Mountains.

"That also has a new additional 78 some miles. We're calling the North Killdeer loop, and that additional loop in addition with the originally proposed number gives us some system redundancy and even security against something that might happen like a weather related event," says Curt Pearson, Basin Electric.

The U.S. Forest service, The Western Area Power Administration and Rural Utilities service all have to approve the project separately.

Killdeer Mountain group wants line redrawn

BISMARCK, N.D. — The Killdeer Mountain Alliance wants the Rural Utilities Service to force a power company to redraw plans for a transmission line that avoids crossing the historic Killdeer Mountain battlefield.

The alliance is a citizens' group trying to protect the high butte area west of Killdeer where a Civil War-era battle was waged between the U.S. military and Plains Indians in 1864.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative wants to send more electricity from its Antelope Valley Station near Beulah into the oil patch and is undergoing an environmental review for the project.

The co-op prefers to build two 345-kilovolt lines, one on either side of the Killdeer Mountains, to get power to the oil patch, where the demand is projected to be double earlier forecasts.

The co-op has submitted two alternatives that would put both lines on the east side of the Killdeer Mountains and avoid going near Theodore Roosevelt National Park's north unit, but all three alternatives include construction of a main feeder line through the battlefield area to a main substation by U.S. Highway 85.

Basin plans to borrow up to $500 million from the federal Rural Utilities Service, which is leading an environmental review for itself and the U.S. Forest Service. The Rural Utilities Service held a public hearing Thursday and will hold open the comment period on the supplemental draft EIS until Feb. 3.

Rob Sand, spokesman for the alliance, said Monday it doesn't make sense for one federal agency to degrade the battlefield while another federal agency — the National Park Service — is trying to protect it through the National Register of Historic Places.

The park service also has awarded $90,000 under its American Battlefield Protection Program for a study by North Dakota State University to detail the history and condition of the Killdeer Mountain site.

Sand said the 150th anniversary of the battle will be observed this summer.

"What must be done to avoid degrading this unique historical and cultural site (on the anniversary)?" Sand asked.

Basin already has a line to the substation south of the one planned for construction through the battlefield.

Basin spokesman Curt Pearson said that existing line can't be used to carry the additional capacity.

"An outage on that line would not allow us to meet our member cooperatives' needs. A second line offers redundancy. If one line is out of service, the loads can be served by the second line," he said.

The alliance also is claiming the RUS didn't meet a 15-day requirement to notify the public of last week's public meeting. However, the RUS did publish a legal notice in the Bismarck Tribune on Dec. 21 and again on Jan. 9.

(Reach Lauren Donovan at 701-220-5511 or lauren@westriv.com.)

http://bismarcktribune.com/bakken/killdeer-mountain-group-wants-line-redrawn/article_c8afbc28-8222-11e3-86cd-001a4bcf887a.html

Sunday, January 19, 2014

1930's reproduced map of Bears Arm's drawing

Killdeer Mountains: this is a 1930's reproduced map of Bears Arm's drawing of the geographic area of the Hidatsa. During the January 16, 2014 Dept of Agriculture's RUS public hearing on Killdeer Mountains and Basin Electric, I provided testimony on the DEIS and also submitted a copy of this map for the record, to help substantiate the historic tribal lands. (Bears Arm died in 1936 in Elbowoods North Dakota on the Fort Berthold Reservation, reportedly at the age of 71. Bears Arm would have been born in 1865).

https://www.facebook.com/ThisisMandaree

Friday, January 17, 2014

Killdeer Mountain Alliance statement

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Killdeer Mountain Alliance · 267 like this

January 17 ·

Killdeer Mountain Alliance statement at the Rural Utility Service hearing, presented by Rob Sand and researched by Ed Dickey. Both are Killdeer Mountain landowners. Thank you, Rob and Ed!

***

Thank you for the opportunity to make a statement at this public hearing concerning this important project. I am speaking on behalf of The Killdeer Mountain Alliance, a group of individuals working to preserve the cultural, spiritual, ecological, archaeological, and historical integrity of the Killdeer Mountains.

We learned of this meeting as a result of a press release dated January 10, 2014 published by Basin Electric and made available on the internet. Apparently the Rural Utility Service limited its notifications to other media as no other information regarding the meeting is available on the internet, which we as a scattered membership must rely upon for timely information.

Yesterday we learned that a Federal Register Notice was published by the Rural Utilities Service on Tuesday, January 14, just two days ago regarding this project. It states: “RUS will hold an open-house public hearing in January 2014 once the SDEIS is published. The time and location of the meeting will be well advertised in local media outlets a minimum of 15 days prior to the time of the meeting.” This commitment was not met; the notice of this meeting appeared in the Dunn County Herald on January 10, just six days ago. This edition of the Herald has not yet even been received by its mail subscribers. The January 14th Federal Register notice further states: “Public Participation: Pursuant to 36 CFR 800.22(d)(3), it is the intent of RUS to use its NEPA procedures for public involvement in lieu of the public involvement requirements of 36 CFR 800.3 through 800.7.” If you pursue this reference, you will find it does not exist; apparently the Rural Utilities Service intended to refer to CFR 800.2(d)(3) which authorizes the use of agency procedures for public involvement under the National Environmental Policy Act.

The rush to hold this meeting is more than contemptuousness of the public input element of the NEPA process, it is reflective of the haste and superficiality of the investigations and analysis of alternatives that support this project in general and the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (SDEIS) in particular.
The SDEIS for the Antelope Valley Station to Neset Transmission Project was developed to expand the alternatives considered because the original ones would not meet the current demand projections for movement of electrical energy in Western North Dakota. Equally important from our perspective was that for the first time the Rural Utility Service and the other cooperating agencies more appropriately recognized the extent and significance of the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield as an important element of America’s Civil War experience. It is truly an important historical and cultural site from the perspective of both the Union Army forces and the Native Americans who fought and died there.

The fundamental problem with the SDEIS is that it develops no alternative that would avoid constructing eight miles (that is right, eight miles) of transmission lines though the heart of the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield. Consequently it fails to comply with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Section 1502.1 of the Council on Environmental Quality’s NEPA implementing regulations states: “The primary purpose of an environmental impact statement is to serve as an action-forcing device to insure that the policies and goals defined in the Act are infused into the ongoing programs and actions of the federal government. It shall provide full and fair discussion of significant environmental impacts and shall inform decisionmakers and the public of the reasonable alternatives which would avoid or minimize adverse impacts or enhance the quality of the human environment.”

Section 1502.14 of The Council on Environmental Quality’s regulations further requires agencies to: “Rigorously explore and objectively evaluate all reasonable alternatives, and for alternatives which were eliminated from detailed study, briefly discuss the reasons for their having been eliminated.” The National Park Service recognizes the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield as a place eligible to be placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Proceeding to degrade a noteworthy historic site without even analyzing alternatives which would avoid doing so is unconscionable and fails to comply with the requirements of NEPA and the Council on Environmental Quality’s Implementing Regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508).

It must be kept in mind that the reason that an Environmental Impact Statement is being prepared is because Basin Electric is requesting Federal taxpayer subsidies for constructing the transmission project. As concerned citizens, we find it to be absurd that one agency of the Federal government, in this case the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utility Service, would even consider using its funds to degrade the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield. After all, its sister Federal agency, the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior, used taxpayer money to study and to identify the battlefield site as a place worthy of protection through its inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

What must be done to avoid degrading this unique historical and cultural site on the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Killdeer Mountain, which took place on July 28, 1864? The project must be sent back to the drawing board. Alternatives that avoid crossing the battlefield must be evaluated in a detail comparable to analysis of the present alternatives. It must be demonstrated that it is not practicable to avoid degrading the Battlefield site. Only then will the requirements of the Environmental Protection Act be satisfied, and we as citizens and taxpayers can have confidence that the decisions of government are indeed in the public interest.

Basin Electric members and tribal members testify at RUS hearing

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The proposed north Killdeer loop will deliver power into member cooperative McKenzie Electric Cooperative’s service territory.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative - January 17, 2014


John Skurupey, McKenzie Electric CEO and general manager, testifies in favor of Basin Electric's proposed north Killdeer loop transmission line segment.

Representatives of Basin Electric member cooperatives testified in favor of a proposed Basin Electric transmission project in the Williston Basin at a public hearing held by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Jan. 16 in Watford City, ND.

Basin Electric plans to build, operate and maintain an approximately 278-mile 345-kilovolt (kV) transmission project from Antelope Valley Station (AVS) to Neset in western North Dakota. The RUS, an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is considering funding the project and is preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project.

The Jan. 16 hearing gave the public an opportunity to comment on a supplemental draft EIS that evaluates an additional transmission line segment that would interconnect with the previously proposed AVS to Neset project at a switchyard near Killdeer, ND. The project, called the north Killdeer loop, includes 60 miles of 345-kV transmission line and two substations that will deliver power into member cooperative McKenzie Electric Cooperative’s service territory.

About 20 people attended the Jan. 16 hearing. Representing Basin Electric Basin Electric were Curt Pearson, manager of media and community relations; Kelly Suko, property and right of way project coordinator; and Cris Miller, senior environmental project administrator. Basin Electric members Claire Vigesaa, Upper Missouri G & T Electric Cooperative manager, and John Skurupey, McKenzie Electric CEO and general manager, testified at the hearing.

Skurupey said that the cooperative’s rapid growth warrants construction of the additional line segment.

“Without this additional north Killdeer loop, members who may want additional electricity or new members wanting electricity at a new home site, water well or commercial location will eventually be refused service for the sake of keeping the lights on for those who are currently being served,” Skurupey said. “This is not a futuristic prediction but rather a road we’re traveling and a stop sign we’re already slowing down for.”

Several members of North Dakota Native American tribes and a member of the Killdeer Mountain Alliance spoke against the proposed route of the AVS to Neset line at the hearing. As proposed, the line would run south of the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield State Historic Site, though cross about 27 square miles of a proposed study of privately-owned lands near the designated historic site.

The north Killdeer loop project requires authorization from the North Dakota Public Service Commission and several federal and state agencies to move forward in the federal EIS process. Basin Electric plans to start construction on the transmission line segment in 2016, with the line in service in 2017.

The public comment period ends Feb. 3. Written comments on the scope of the EIS should be sent todennis.rankin@wdc.usda.gov or:

Mr. Dennis Rankin, environmental protection specialist
USDA, Rural Utilities Service
1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Stop 1571
Washington, DC 20250-1571

The supplemental draft EIS is available at www.rurdev.usda.gov/UWP-AVS-Neset.html.

http://www.basinelectric.com/News_Center/Publications/News_Briefs/basin-electric-members-and-tribal-members-testify-at-rus-hearing.html

The Final stages for Basin Electric's Transmission Line

Posted: Jan 17, 2014 12:06 PM CSTUpdated: Jan 17, 2014 12:27 PM CST

Last November, we visited the Killdeer Battlefield historical site, which is at the center of a new controversy. Basin Electric proposed to run a transmission line from its coal power plant in Beulah to Williston.

But that route would place the transmission line within 2 miles of that site, and run near the Killdeer Mountains.

Basin Electric and USDA Rural Utility Services, has already met with the public in Watford City, on the proposed transmission line. But if you couldn't make it to the meeting, the USDA still wants to hear your comments.

"There's still time. There are a lot of ways people can do that. They can email and give information but what's really important is that there are alternatives and I think people need to talk about and tell the agency and Basin Electric that there are other ways to do this," says Dakota Resource Council director, Don Morrison.

Public Service Commissioner Brian Kalk says the project is in the final stages before a decision can be made. He says it's just a matter of finalizing an environmental impact study.

"The commission held three different hearings around the state and during those hearings we received in put from the public the computer made their case as to why this power line is needed so we completed the hearings. After the hearings we were quite honestly waiting for some information from some of the different concerned groups we received all that information now and we have work sessions set up in early February and I'm anticipating a decision sometime this spring, it will make for a very detailed process," says Public Service Commissioner, Brian Kalk.

The PSC has a draft of the environmental impact statement. Once that's finalized, the commission will use it, along with public testimony and other materials, to make its decision.

Tribal members speak out against power line plan near Killdeer Mountain Battle site

Published January 17, 2014, 09:05 AM

Tribal members speak out against power line plan near Killdeer Mountain Battle site

By: Amy Dalrymple, Forum News Service

LaDonna Brave Bull Allard speaks in opposition to proposed transmission line

LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, speaks Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014, in opposition to a proposed transmission line that would run through the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield area. She spoke during a hearing in Watford City, N.D. Amy Dalrymple/Forum News Service

WATFORD CITY, N.D. – Members of North Dakota Native American tribes spoke in opposition Thursday to a proposed transmission line that would run through the Killdeer Mountain Battle site and urged that it at least be postponed until the battlefield can be studied.

But representatives of local electric cooperatives said delaying Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s proposal could mean turning out the lights for growing communities and oil and gas development projected to require more electricity.

About 15 people participated in a public hearing in Watford City to accept comments on a draft environmental impact statement on the project, hosted by Rural Utilities Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is considering funding the project.

The 345-kilovolt transmission line would start at the Antelope Valley Station near Beulah, head west through Killdeer, north through Williston and end at a substation near Tioga.

The environmental impact process considers three slightly different alternatives, but all three would affect an eight-mile area in the heart of the Killdeer Mountain Battle area, said Rob Sand, a spokesman for the Killdeer Mountain Alliance.

“The project must be sent back to the drawing board,” Sand said.

Basin Electric’s preferred route runs along U.S. Highway 85 and could be seen from up to 30 percent of the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, said Park Superintendent Valerie Naylor. The other two alternatives would not affect the park, but all three would affect the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, she said.

LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe whose relatives fought in the Killdeer Mountain Battle and are buried there, said the project should wait for a North Dakota State University study to define the boundaries of the battle area.

“I’m not saying stop it, I’m saying do better planning,” she said.

Sara Jumping Eagle of Bismarck said she and other Native Americans consider Killdeer Mountain a sacred area for prayer, similar to a church.

“I don’t think that many people really understand the significance of that,” Jumping Eagle said. “If we tried to run pipelines and transmission lines through your church, I’m sure you’d have something to say about that.”

The battlefield area is primarily privately owned land. Craig Dvirnak, who owns the property that has been designated as the state’s historic marker for the battle, said he and all but one of his neighbors who live in the battlefield study area support the project. Dvirnak said Watford City needs the power for development such as new grocery stores, a proposed new school and a new hospital.

John Skurupey, general manager of McKenzie Electric Cooperative, said without the proposed transmission line, the cooperative will not be able to provide reliable electricity to meet the needs of residents and commercial development in the rapidly growing area. The cooperative will be forced to refuse service to current and future customers, Skurupey said.

“This is not a futuristic prediction but rather the road we’re traveling,” Skurupey said.

Claire Vigesaa, general manager for Upper Missouri G&T in Sidney, Mont., said project delays would lead to severe transmission limitations that would affect farmers, ranchers and residents in the region.

Several participants said they had little notice about Thursday’s meeting and that more would have attended if it had been advertised better. The Dakota Resource Council had called for the meeting to be delayed.

Curt Pearson, a spokesman for Basin Electric, said the meeting was advertised twice in newspapers along the route of the proposal at the end of December and beginning of January.

The project needs several permits to move forward, including the approval of the North Dakota Public Service Commission.

The U.S. Forest Service would have to grant a special use permit for the route that runs along Highway 85 because it affects public land, said District Ranger Jay Frederick.

“We don’t know which way we’re going to go just yet,” Frederick said.

The public comment period ends Feb. 3. Written comments on the scope of the environmental impact statement should be sent to dennis.rankin@wdc.usda.gov or Dennis Rankin, Environmental Protection Specialist, USDA, Rural Utilities Service, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Stop 1571, Washington, DC 20250-1571.

The supplemental draft environmental statement is available at www.rurdev.usda.gov/UWP-AVS-Neset.html.

- See more at: http://www.prairiebizmag.com/event/article/id/17451/#sthash.fmVDJUld.dpuf
http://www.bakkentoday.com/event/article/id/36041/

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Statement of LaDonna Brave Bull Allard at USDA-RUS public hearing

Statement of LaDonna Brave Bull Allard at USDA-RUS public hearing

"I greet you each with a warm handshake from my heart as we come together to give comment on this sacred site “Tahca WaKutepi Paha” a place where my relatives came to pray and bury their dead.

"The SDEIS Supplemental DEIS for the Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s (Basin Electric) Antelope Valley Station (AVS) to Neset Transmission Project needs to be postponed, until a full Archeological Survey is completed by archeologist and our Native Monitor’s to define the border of the site. It seems premature for this project to be pushed though because of the need of a few.

"We need to be thinking of the future generations as look at these sites, there is more for us to learn about the land and the history it hides within.

"I am speaking for my relatives Red Thunder, Bear Face, Iron Horn, and Rain in the Face, Shaved Head, Little Bear, and my Ihunktonwana relatives who fought here at Kill Deer. They lived, fought, prayed and died and were buried at this sacred site for many generations. The 'Tahca WaKutepi Paha' Killdeer Mountain- this site was known as prayer and ceremony site before the Great Battle of Kill Deer Mountain.

"The Killdeer Mountain Battle is the most important America’s Civil War battle in North Dakota. As other states protect Civil War Battle Sites, does North Dakota destroy their sites or is it because these are Native sites? As we approach the 150 year Anniversary of this battle do we stand in protection of the site or do we destroy the integrity of the site? We as Native People and Americana are just now understanding these sites and what really happened at this site. It time to come together to protect these sites for the future so that we can learn to live as human beings again.

"The major problem with the SDEIS is that it develops no alternative that would avoid constructing eight miles of transmission lines though the heart of the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield.

"I believe it fails to comply with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Section 1502.1 of the Council on Environmental Quality’s NEPA implementing regulations states: “The primary purpose of an environmental impact statement is to serve as an action-forcing device to insure that the policies and goals defined in the Act are infused into the ongoing programs and actions of the federal government. It shall provide full and fair discussion of significant environmental impacts and shall inform decision makers and the public of the reasonable alternatives which would avoid or minimize adverse impacts or enhance the quality of the human environment.”

"Section 1502.14 of The Council on Environmental Quality’s regulations further requires agencies to: “Rigorously explore and objectively evaluate all reasonable alternatives, and for alternatives which were eliminated from detailed study, briefly discuss the reasons for their having been eliminated.”

"The National Park Service recognizes the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield as a place eligible to be placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. I believe that continuing with this process fails to comply with the requirements of NEPA and the Council on Environmental Quality’s Implementing Regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508).

"I want to say that in my heart that this project need to be postponed instead of rushing it though without clear planning for the future."

Basin lists alternate routes for power lines

January 16, 2014 10:13 pm • By

WATFORD CITY — A power company went back to the drawing board and came up with two alternate routes for a massive new transmission line. It solves some issues, but not the primary one of crossing the Killdeer Mountain battlefield.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative plans to send nearly 700 kilovolts of much-needed electricity to the Bakken oil patch from its power plant near Beulah.

On Thursday, Basin unveiled two new routes for getting there along with one the public has already seen.

A supplemental draft environmental impact statement was released at a public hearing in Watford City. It’s required because so many federal agencies are involved and the two alternatives are new.

The public can comment on it until Feb. 3.

All three alternatives will still cross eight miles of the Killdeer Mountains foothills west of the town of Killdeer. The path tracks through an area short-listed by the American Battlefield Protection Program as the most at-risk of all Civil War-era Indian battlefields. It is under study by a North Dakota State University heritage group to detail its history and condition.

The piece through the battlefield area can’t be avoided because Basin has to connect to a major substation called Charlie Creek near U.S. Highway 85 to the west, said Cris Miller, the co-op’s senior environmental manager.

Two strong voices of opposition were from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which was engaged by the U.S. military in the 1864 battle.

LaDonna Allard, the tribe historian whose ancestors were engaged with Brig. Gen. Alfred Sully in 1864, said she wants the project postponed until the battlefield boundaries are defined by the study.

She called the environmental document “appalling” for its lack of knowledge.

“This is a Civil War battlefield,” she said. “Why doesn’t North Dakota know its own history?”

She said Sioux burials remain there, including those of her relatives.

“We know where they are,” she said.

“Are we going to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the battle in the middle of this development?” she asked.

Sioux historic preservation officer Waste’ Win Young called the environmental study biased and incomplete.

“How can you in one document dispute the boundaries of the battlefield and then say, ‘Oh, this is where they buried their (war) dead?’” she said.

Heading north

The difference in the alternatives is how to move the power north and across Lake Sakakawea.

Basin wants to build two new power lines and load 345 kilovolts on each one — one traveling north along U.S. 85 from the substation and another backfeeding and then going north along N.D. Highway 22.

In two other alternatives, new in this study, it would use the backfeed route and either build two parallel lines along N.D. 22, or one that’s double-circuited on one support structure.

Each of the alternatives eventually would cross the Little Missouri River, on to Williston and then east toward Tioga.

Miller said Basin prefers two routes because of reliability. The miles between them could prevent both being involved in an outage at the same time, he said.

But Basin may not get what it wants.

The U.S. Forest Service, the Western Area Power Administration and the Rural Utilities Service all have to approve the project in separate records of decision.

The route Basin wants — the one with two distinct lines — would cross eight miles of U.S. Forest Service land and head past the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where it would be visible, but only with binoculars.

Jay Frederick, local ranger for the Forest Service, said the new alternatives changed the discussion for his agency.

The one Basin prefers would affect the agency’s Lone Butte roadless area and the national park. The other two don’t, he said.

The two new alternatives cross much more private land, financially benefiting individuals rather than the government — and the project’s bottom line. Frederick said his agency could decide whether it would issue a permit in as soon as a month.

“If we say ‘no,’ they have to go to the other routes,” he said.

Basin will spend about $500 million to construct the lines, Miller said. The electricity would add to about 270 megawatts of recently constructed power from three gas-fired turbines in the oil patch.

The company is trying to meet a demand for electricity that has doubled in recent projections.

Theodore Roosevelt Park Superintendent Valerie Naylor said industrial development is cumulative and she cautioned against too much.

“You reach a tipping point where you’ve changed the landscape so much, you’ve lost the value of it,” Naylor said

She said she’s glad to see alternatives that don’t visually impact the park, but said she’d prefer a project that didn’t affect the battlefield area.

The American Battlefield Protection Program is a National Park Service program.

Jan Swenson, director of the Badlands Conservation Alliance, represented her group at the sparsely attended hearing.

“I’m delighted to see two alternatives that avoid going past the national park,” she said.

As for the battlefield route remaining in play, she said: “One step at a time.”

Miller said Basin hopes to have a decision by mid-year. It is also awaiting a permit from the Public Service Commission. He said the PSC hasn’t seen the new alternatives and the co-op would have to make another route application for those.

Reach Lauren Donovan at 701-220-5511 or lauren@westriv.com.

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