$250,000 requested to study Killdeer Mountain

By: Forum News Service, INFORUM

BISMARCK – A proposal in the state Senate seeks to provide $250,000 to do an archaeological study within the Battle of Killdeer Mountain study area, in part due to the encroachment of oil development.

Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R-Dickinson, testified Thursday to the Senate Government & Veterans Affairs Committee in support of Senate Bill 2341, which would study an area of historical and cultural significance for the state that is also becoming affected by oil activity, he said.
Wardner said he believes oil can coexist with preserving cultural resources using horizontal drilling techniques.

The State Historical Society has surveyed only about 3 percent of the battlefield area, Director Merlan Paaverud told legislators.

Completing a study would allow the Historical Society to work with energy companies so they can avoid disturbing cultural resources, Paaverud said.

Fern Swenson, deputy state historic preservation officer, said there are 39 existing or proposed oil wells to date within the study area.

The North Dakota Industrial Commission recently approved a plan from Hess Corp. to drill up to eight oil wells in an area of the Killdeer Mountains that drew concerns from archaeologists, landowners, Native Americans and others.

http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/event/article/id/63079/publisher_ID/6/
http://oilpatchdispatch.areavoices.com/2013/02/07/money-requested-from-legislature-to-study-killdeer-mountain/
http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/256084/group/homepage/
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/389220/

Thursday, January 24, 2013

SENATE BILL NO. 2341

13.0827.01000
Sixty-third
Legislative Assembly
of North Dakota
Introduced by
Senators Wardner, Andrist, Triplett
Representatives N. Johnson, Onstad, Oversen
A BILL for an Act to provide for an appropriation to the state historical society for archeological
surveys.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF NORTH DAKOTA:
SECTION 1. APPROPRIATION - STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY - ARCHEOLOGICAL
SURVEYS. There is appropriated out of any moneys in the general fund in the state treasury,
not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $250,000, or so much of the sum as may be necessary,
to the state historical society for the purpose of conducting archeological surveys in the Killdeer
battlefield study area, for the biennium beginning July 1, 2013, and ending June 30, 2015. The
state historical society shall reduce its expenditures relating to the general fund appropriations
provided under this section by any grant funds received by the state historical society for the
purposes identified in this section.
http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/63-2013/documents/13-0827-01000.pdf?20130210173423