Showing posts with label Industrial Commission. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Stenehjem says he'll release list of 'extraordinary places' for protection from energy development soon

Published October 26, 2013, 11:20 PM

Stenehjem says he'll release list of 'extraordinary places' for protection from energy development soon

Killdeer Mountains

An oil pump works near Killdeer, N.D., with the Killdeer Mountains in the background. The Killdeer Mountain battlefield and wildlife management area is one of the places Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said he’d consider for protection from energy development. John Steiner / Forum News Service

BISMARCK – North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has been meeting with people behind the scenes to compile a list of what he calls “extraordinary places” that deserve protection from energy development and other impacts, drawing criticism from a former Democratic Party leader who believes the discussions should be held publicly.
Stenehjem said he has sought input from a variety of people and hopes to have the list ready for the state Industrial Commission, which grants oil drilling permits, for consideration at its Nov. 18 meeting.
“I think there’s a view that we need to do more to assure the public that we’re protecting some of those pristine areas,” said Stenehjem, who sits on the commission with Gov. Jack Dalrymple and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring. “And we do a lot of that now, but it’s not on a formal basis.”
Stenehjem first proposed such a list at a commission meeting in January. The idea gained steam after a public uproar in March when news broke that an oil company had staked out a site near the entrance to the historic Elkhorn Ranch in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
The company, XTO Energy, withdrew its permit application, and on Tuesday the Industrial Commission approved a new permit for XTO that will keep drilling activity about two miles away from the Elkhorn Ranch entrance.
Stenehjem said an oil rig right next to Elkhorn Ranch “was never going to happen,” and he hopes the new list will assure the public that such places will be protected. While the list isn’t finalized, some of the places Stenehjem said he’d like to consider for protection are Bullion Butte, Killdeer Mountain battlefield and wildlife management area, Elkhorn Ranch, White Butte and Little Missouri River State Park.
All of those places were included in a list of about 40 areas of historical, cultural or biological interest that was compiled from various sources earlier this year. It didn’t receive any official designation from the Industrial Commission, but it provided a list of places for commissioners to tour, which they decided to do individually because of their schedules.
To help him compile his own list, Stenehjem has held two meetings in his conference room with what he describes as “kind of an informal grouping,” adding, “I’ve had lots of other meetings just with other individuals.”
Jim Fuglie, a former executive director of the state Democratic-NPL Party who now writes “The Prairie Blog,” has criticized Stenehjem in recent blog posts, referring to the group as a “secret task force” holding “secret meetings.” He questioned whether the state’s open meetings laws are being followed. Fuglie did not return a phone message left at his home Thursday.
Stenehjem said he organized the group and meetings by himself, and the Industrial Commission didn’t delegate authority to him to do so.
“If it were delegated by the Industrial Commission, then of course it would likely be an open meeting,” he said. “But this is just me using people whose judgment and knowledge I respect to offer suggestions.”
Jack McDonald, a lawyer for the North Dakota Newspaper Association, said there must be direction given or an act of creation by the governing body to make it a task force subject to open meetings.
“Of anybody in state government, (Stenehjem) has been so hyper about open meetings and stuff and so vigilant … I just can’t imagine that he’s deliberately violating the law,” McDonald said.
Stenehjem said that after his list is compiled and presented to the Industrial Commission, the idea is to develop a policy and rulemaking process for protecting the extraordinary places.
He said the rules to be considered for development in those areas might include requiring an impact mitigation plan; prohibiting the flaring of natural gas or requiring that pipelines for capturing it already be in place before drilling begins; setback requirements; or painting oil pumps to camouflage them.
While the commission wants to protect the state’s special places, Stenehjem said he’s not talking about an outright ban on energy development.
“Private people own those minerals, and they have a legal right, a constitutional right, to have them developed, and so we have to respect that,” he said. “But at the same time, we also have an obligation to the citizens of North Dakota and the future to make sure that everybody is comfortable that we’re doing what we can to protect these areas as much as possible.”
The concept also will entail a process for public comment on proposed developments “at a meaningful time,” he said.

Readers can reach Forum News Service reporter Mike Nowatzki at (701) 255-5607 or by email at mnowatzki@forumcomm.com.

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/416557/group/News/

Friday, March 29, 2013

Killdeer rancher has muddy spring mess from unwanted wells

KILLDEER MOUNTAINS — Loren Jepson paid an attorney and fought as hard as he could to keep oil wells from being built alongside his Killdeer Mountain ranch.

He lost, and now he says he’ll have another mess on his hands — this one caused by clay mud and silt running off the drill pad into his stock dam less than 50 yards downhill.

“I told the state (Industrial Commission) this would happen,” Jepson said Thursday, while he watched the slow spring melt carry a stream of mud into the water he uses for livestock and to water his yard and garden.

As he stood out on his private road that runs parallel to the construction of Hess Corp.’s multi-well pad, a contractor walked through the muddy ditch to talk about the situation.

The newest idea was to try to slow water on the other side of the pad to hopefully get the melt water to drop silt on that side, he told Jepson.

The same contractor installed several straw wattles and plastic sheet dams to try to tame the muddy water slide, but Jepson said the fix was too little, too late, partly because none of it made effective contact with the cold, thawing soil.

Construction on the massive pad started in February within a day or two of Jepson losing his appeal.

The wells are on the south end of a state school land section and Jepson’s case to the state Industrial Commission was to relocate them to the other end of the section, or farther.

The Killdeer Mountains area is historically and archaeologically important, though an archaeological survey prior to the pad being built didn’t turn up any artifacts, Jepson admitted.

No one from Hess returned phone calls or emails asking for comment. The contractor at the site was busy and the Tribune was unable to talk to him.

Hess’ attorney, John Morrison of Bismarck, said Hess installed erosion control and twice installed additional controls at Jepson’s request.

“Hess is not aware of any mud or silt migrating on Mr. Jepson’s property or into a stock dam,” Morrison said in a letter to Jepson’s attorney dated Thursday.

Jepson said he contacted the company and waited a week for them to show up, while the silt kept running.

“I tried to tell them I’ve got quite a grade coming through here. They can put down all the straw wattle they want to,” he said.

He said he knows in the whole scheme of development, his silted-in stock dam is a relatively small deal.

The water is important to him, but so is the principle of the matter.

“I’ve lived all my life here to build what we got and now to be encircled by wells and then to put up with their mud,” Jepson said. “I knew this mud was going to happen.”

Lynn Helms, director of the Department of Mineral Resources and the state’s primary oil regulator, said he would have an inspector look at the Jepson problem.

He said wells are exempt from certain federal stormwater rules, but under a state drilling permit companies are not allowed to contaminate surface or groundwater sources.

Soil can be a contaminant, Helms said.

Jepson said he enlarged his stock dam last summer because it was so dry and he wanted to catch and hold more water.

“I’m not a tree hugger,” he said. “Someone’s got to stand up to these people.”

http://bismarcktribune.com/bakken/killdeer-rancher-has-muddy-spring-mess-from-unwanted-wells/article_06c4c334-98a7-11e2-b731-001a4bcf887a.html#.UVcC3sfFi8g.facebook

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Killdeer Mountains drilling sparks opposition but gets approval with conditions

The North Dakota Industrial Commission spent more than two hours Thursday listening to discussion on a proposal for drilling oil wells near the Killdeer Mountains, then voted unanimously to approve it.

The 3-0 vote came with a stipulation that Hess Corp. would have to connect the wells it drills to an oil and gas pipeline system as soon as possible to eliminate flaring of natural gas.

Lynn Helms, the state mineral resources director, outlined the drilling proposal to the commission, which also heard from a number of opponents.

Hess is proposing drilling up to eight wells on a spacing unit approximately five miles southwest of Medicine Hole, a site considered sacred to Native Americans. The site also is about three miles west of the Killdeer Mountain Battlefield Historic Site.

“The Department of Mineral Resources’ Oil and Gas Division has dedicated many hours looking at various development scenarios for well locations in order to minimize the potential impact on the landscape as well as any cultural impacts the well locations may have,” Helms said.

He told the commission that the department came up with six options for drilling at the site.

The recommended option would be to allow Hess to drill with a series of conditions.

One recommendation was for Hess to give seven days notice to the State Historical Society prior to well site construction so that an independent archaeologist could be there during that time.

Another stipulation was to only allow hydraulic fracturing between June 1 and Aug. 15 to minimize truck traffic along a rural route near the site during the school year.

The other alternatives, which were not recommended, included:

* Having surface locations to the west of the sections of land under which the oil lies, and drill west to east. Helms said that wasn’t recommended due to poor soil in one section and a rural subdivision in the other.

* Drilling from east to west. It was not recommended due to rugged topography and the nearness to the Killdeer Mountains Wildlife Management Area.

* Developing an existing spacing unit from an existing well pad. Helms said that was not recommended because it is inside a rural residential subdivision.

* Creating a 2,560-acre spacing unit and requiring Hess to drill a four-mile lateral well from south to north from the southernmost section of the spacing unit. Helms said that is not possible because the “technology simply doesn’t exist.”

* To allow no additional drilling in the spacing unit, something Helms said is not an option.

“That would leave more than 3 million barrels of oil stranded, which by statute is defined as waste,” Helms said. “Half the mineral acres in the spacing unit are private, for which the right to develop is protected by the state constitution.”

Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring, an Industrial Commission member, asked Helms the value of the oil if left underground. Helms estimated the 3 million barrels to be valued at approximately $250 million.

Nearby landowner Loren Jepson had said earlier that the road near the site by his home has numerous curves, low visibility and has a school bus stop.

“It’ll be traffic deluxe,” Jepson told the Industrial Commission on Thursday.

Rob Sand of the Killdeer Mountain Alliance, a group working to protect the area, urged the commission to consider waiting to allow drilling near the site. Sand said it would be better to wait for technology to advance enough so drilling could be from farther than three miles away.

He also disputed the term “waste” in describing oil being left in the ground.

“What you call waste I call storage,” Sand said.

Dakota Goodhouse, speaking as a citizen, also questioned the need to drill now. He said it took decades before drilling technology advanced enough for much of the current drilling in the state to take place.

“Why couldn’t we wait 40 years or 50 years for the technology to catch up?” Goodhouse asked.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, a commission member, replied that a number of mineral rights owners are aging and probably would like to cash in at some point.

“The oil isn’t going anywhere, but they are,” Stenehjem said.

Anne Marguerite Coyle, an associate professor of biology at Jamestown College, said once the landscape is affected by development, “you can’t buy that back.”

North Dakota Industrial Commission members, from right, Governor Jack Dalrymple, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring listen as Director of Mineral Resources Lynn Helms explains an oil company proposal to drill in the vicinity Killdeer Mountain at a meeting on 1-24 afternoon. The state industrial commission heard of a proposal from Loren Jepson who is request to allow drilling near his property on Killdeer Mountain as well as opposition to the drilling.

http://bismarcktribune.com/bakken/killdeer-mountains-drilling-sparks-opposition-but-gets-approval-with-conditions/article_fb49e930-6679-11e2-b202-0019bb2963f4.html

Oil Drilling Near Killdeer Mountains

Oil Drilling Near Killdeer Mountains |

Video
Jennifer Joas | 1/24/2013

More and more oil wells keep popping up across the North Dakota landscape. But some landowners say the state should be protecting its most sacred areas, such as the Killdeer Mountains. They expressed their concerns to the Industrial Commission, but there may not be a solution.

It started nearly three months ago, when Hess first presented its case for putting a spacing unit near the Killdeer Mountains and the Killdeer Battlefield. Since then, landowners and alliance groups have expressed concern over drilling in that area.

"What we are asking you is to really look at where you do have powerful influence, and that is on the lands controlled by the state. And especially with this area which is so precious," said Sand.

Landowners say the spacing unit is too close to their homes, wildlife habitat and cultural artifacts. They would prefer if Hess moved it farther away, and drilled a longer distance. But the state says that is just not possible.

"The technology simply does not exist. It has not ever been done. There is no technology to drill four mile long laterals and to keep them in zone and to produce the wells," said Lynn Helms, Department of Mineral Resources Director.

Helms says he looked into six other alternatives but he feels the one being proposed has the least impact to wildlife and people. He says if the state decides to do nothing, more than three million barrels of oil will be wasted, which equals about $250 million. But landowners say leaving the oil untouched for the time being is not wasting it.

"The oil is not going anywhere. I do not know why we have to rush to put wells down and extract. Why can we not wait 40, 50 years for the technology to improve?" said Dakota Goodhouse.

"What is the rush? The rush means quick decisions, unplanned decisions and unplanned impacts," said Theodora Birdbear.

"Do we have a price on the impact on tourism? Do we have a price on the impact on scientific research, and all the species you`ll be impacting? I do not see that ever in a budget anywhere. But I always see the cost of oil," said Anne Marguerite.

Helms also suggested placing stipulations on the case to minimize impacts to the roads, the artifacts and to provide better oversight by the State Historical Society.

The Industrial Commission voted to approve the recommended order, and added another stipulation for Hess to do everything possible to reduce flaring.
http://www.kfyrtv.com/Video_News.asp?news=61663

Killdeer Mountain drilling approved late Thursday

Posted on January 24, 2013

Archaeologist Valerie Bluemle, with the sign, and others attend a meeting of the North Dakota Industrial Commission Thursday involving an oil development proposal in the Killdeer Mountains. Amy Dalrymple/Forum News Service

BISMARCK, N.D. — The North Dakota Industrial Commission unanimously approved late Thursday a plan to drill for oil in an area of the Killdeer Mountains that received widespread opposition, but added several stipulations to address some of the concerns.

Denying a request from Hess Corp. to drill up to eight wells in the Killdeer Mountains would leave 3.5 million barrels of oil in the ground and waste $250 million, said Lynn Helms, director for the Department of Mineral Resources.

But landowners, American Indians, archaeologists and others who attended the commission’s meeting Thursday said the state should also consider the value of the area’s beauty and historical and cultural significance.

The Industrial Commission, which consists of Gov. Jack Dalrymple, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring, discussed the matter for more than two hours Thursday in a meeting attended by about 50 people. They invited public comment even though it was not a public hearing.

Commissioners said they wanted to take the matter under advisement and continued the rest of their agenda from the governor’s conference room, acting on the proposal hours later after members of the public had left.

Dalrymple said after their meeting had adjourned that commissioners needed to get to other items on the long agenda so individuals involved in those matters could get home. Members of the public could have stayed if they wished, Dalrymple said.

Rob Sand, a member of the Killdeer Mountain Alliance who was among the people who spoke during the meeting, said he was disappointed by the outcome.

“There was a lot that we offered that they apparently chose not to consider.”
Sand said he was grateful commissioners heard public comments, but he was surprised they didn’t act on the proposal in front of the interested parties if they knew how they were going to vote.

Among those who spoke during the meeting was Theodora Birdbear of Mandaree who said members of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation use the Killdeer Mountains as an area for prayer and the industrialization of the area would affect the spiritual experience.

“It’s kind of equivalent to having an oil well right beside your Catholic church. It’s parallel to that,” she said.

Several urged the Industrial Commission to delay oil development in the area until technology advancements can allow companies to drill from farther away or until an archaeological study can be completed. The site is about 3 miles from the historical marker for the Battle of Killdeer Mountain and an archaeologist plans to study the area as soon as this year.

But commission members said they also have a constitutional responsibility to mineral owners who would want to see the minerals developed in their lifetimes. Because the section of land is owned by the North Dakota Department of Trust Lands, there also is an obligation to develop the minerals for the benefit of K-12 education, commission members said.

“We’re trying to do everything we can to keep that feeling and at the same time be responsible to our school children and the other people that also have rights here,” Dalrymple said.

The commission approved the request with these stipulations:

Hess would provide seven-day notice to the State Historical Society prior to site construction so an independent archaeologist could be on site during construction.
One pad location that contained a known artifact would be constructed with fill material so no excavation would be needed in an effort to preserve potential artifacts. Helms estimates this would cost Hess an additional $200,000.
Hydraulic fracturing could only occur between June 1 and Aug. 15 to minimize truck traffic on a school bus route, which was another concern raised by opponents.
Hess will eliminate flaring of natural gas as much as possible. Helms said Hess plans to have a system of pipelines to gather crude and natural gas to make flaring minimal and reduce truck traffic.

In addition, Hess will be asked to work with landowner Loren Jepson to develop access to the wells that would minimize impact to residents, Dalrymple said.

During the meeting, Stenehjem said the decision is part of a larger issue he’d like the commission to discuss about how certain areas of the state may be protected.
“They love their area and who can blame them. It’s a gorgeous area,” he said. “I think that’s a bigger issue we need to talk about.”
http://oilpatchdispatch.areavoices.com/2013/01/24/killdeer-mountain-drilling-approved-late-thursday/
http://www.prairiebizmag.com/event/article/id/13473/
http://www.nativetimes.com/news/environment/8358-oil-drilling-approved-in-killdeer-mountains-area

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Saving Killdeer Mountain: Varied interests out to protect potential oil site

Sunday, January, 20, 2013

Saving Killdeer Mountain: Varied interests out to protect potential oil site

KILLDEER — An area of Killdeer Mountain proposed for oil development has rich archeological resources with potential to be added to the National Register of Historic Places, said an archeologist who visited the area.

By: Amy Dalrymple, Forum News Service

Archeologist Richard Rothaus took a preliminary survey of a section of state land where Hess Corp. proposes drilling up to eight oil wells and found numerous artifacts that may be related to the Battle of Killdeer Mountain.

Rothaus, along with a diverse group of landowners, Native Americans, hunters, historians and others, are urging the North Dakota Industrial Commission to preserve the section of land about 45 miles north of Dickinson, which is owned by the North Dakota Department of Trust Lands. The commission is scheduled to act on Hess’ permit request on Thursday.

“It’s a type of natural resource. It doesn’t make money like oil does, but it’s something that’s of value to the local citizens, to the Native community,” Rothaus said.

A recently formed group called the Killdeer Mountain Alliance suggests that Hess position its wells further south and drill four miles horizontally to access the minerals.

“This whole area is a state treasure,” said Rob Sand, a landowner in the area and member of the alliance. “We should do what we can to keep it from turning into an industrial area.”

But the alliance’s suggestion is not a technique being used in North Dakota currently, said Alison Ritter, spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Mineral Resources.

Typical Bakken wells are drilled two miles down and two miles horizontally. The state has two wells that have been drilled three mile horizontally near Lake Sakakawea, Ritter said.

No companies are drilling four miles horizontally in the state, which would require a rig capable of drilling to a total depth of six miles.

In a statement, a Hess spokesperson said the company is committed to meeting the highest standards of corporate citizenship and seeks to minimize the company’s impact on the environment.

“We are aware of the concerns and have made every attempt to address the issues raised with regard to our drilling program,” the statement read. “We design every well taking into the specific environmental considerations for that location.”

Lynn Helms, director of the Department of Mineral Resources, will make a recommendation to the Industrial Commission during its meeting on Thursday.

The issue was initially going to be on December’s agenda, but pushed back to allow more time to review the numerous comments submitted, Ritter said.

“There are so many interests that we have to look out for: surface owners, mineral owners, oil and gas operators,” Ritter said. “We have all these different parties that we have to protect. Every piece of this case has been gone over immensely.”

The Industrial Commission consists of Gov. Jack Dalrymple, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring.

Anne Marguerite Coyle, a Jamestown College biology professor who did a study of golden eagles in the Killdeer area, is serving as a liaison for the groups who oppose the drilling proposal. A diverse group of people from neighboring landowners to hunters to Native Americans to biologists and others plan to attend Thursday’s meeting to show their opposition, Coyle said.

“We’re not against development, we’re against irresponsible and greed-driven development,” Coyle said.

Killdeer Public Schools Superintendent Gary Wilz was among the many people who wrote a letter expressing concerns about the proposal. Wilz asked the Industrial Commission to consider finding an alternate route to access the proposed wells because the additional traffic would make an already “precarious and worrisome bus stop” more hazardous.

There is oil development nearby, including some on the mountain, on privately owned land.

Rothaus, a Sauk Rapids, Minn., archeologist who owns consultant firm Trefoil Cultural and Environmental with an office in Fargo, also submitted his findings. Rothaus was contacted by people with concerns because of his expertise in studying history and archaeology of battlefields of the U.S.-Dakota War.

He was planning to study the Battle of Killdeer Mountain in 2014, but he’s now moving that up due to the oil development. Rothaus and North Dakota State University history professor Tom Isern submitted a grant application to the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program.

While the section of land being considered for oil development is nearly 3 miles from the historical marker of the Battle of Killdeer Mountain, the actual battlefield extended over a broad area, Rothaus said.

Rothaus, who holds a permit for cultural resource investigation from the State Historical Society of North Dakota, walked around the section of land in November and found numerous artifacts that indicate there’s a good chance than an encampment related to the Battle of Killdeer Mountain was located in that section. However, the actual nature of the archaeological sites require formal survey and evaluation, he said.

It’s unknown if the area could contain burial grounds of any of the approximately 150 Native Americans estimated to have died in the battle, Rothaus wrote in a letter.

In addition to the historical significance of the area, that section of land has soils that are unusually deep and intact, Rothaus said.

“I can assert that Section 36 has some of the highest potential for the presence of significant archaeological sites I have seen in North Dakota,” Rothaus says in a letter to state officials.

In addition to the historical significance, Killdeer Mountain is rich with cultural traditions for Native Americans and continues to be used for prayer and reflection, said Dakota Goodhouse, a program officer for the North Dakota Humanities Council and an enrolled member of Standing Rock Sioux tribe.

Goodhouse said because of the significance of the area, he’d like to see oil companies wait until technology advancements allow them to access the minerals with less disturbance to the area.

“The oil isn’t going anywhere,” Goodhouse said.

Lance Gaebe, commissioner for the North Dakota Department of Trust Lands, said if the wells are permitted, the department develops a surface impact agreement with Hess to make sure the wells have a minimal environmental impact.

The locations that are proposed are positioned in an area that’s flat, won’t create erosion, won’t impact drainage and doesn’t affect known historical resources, Gaebe said.

“They are in the best location they can be within that square mile,” Gaebe said.

Under the agreement, if an archaeological find is discovered during development, operations would cease and follow the guidance of a historical preservation office, Gaebe said.

Under law, state lands officials have a fiduciary responsibility to manage the minerals for the benefit of public schools and other public land owners.

Coyle said she understands the fiduciary responsibility to develop minerals on state lands, but preserving the area for purposes such as tourism should be another fiduciary responsibility.

“What’s the price of wildlife and what’s the price of archeology? There is no price. You can’t replace it,” Coyle said.

Rob Sand, member of the Killdeer Mountain Alliance, looks out at the area he and other landowners are trying to protect from oil development on Thursday.

http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/event/image/id/18894/headline/Sand/

This arrowhead was found by an archaeologist on Killdeer Mountain in an area proposed for oil development. Photo courtesy of Richard Rothaus

http://www.bakkentoday.com/event/image/id/600/headline/Arrowhead%20found%20on%20Killdeer%20Mountain/publisher_ID/82/

Oil development is proposed for an area of Killdeer Mountain, pictured here on Nov. 24, 2012, that an archaeologist says is rich with artifacts and historical significance. Photo courtesy of Richard Rothaus
http://www.bakkentoday.com/event/image/id/599/headline/Oil%20development%20planned%20for%20this%20area%20on%20Killdeer%20Mountain/publisher_ID/82/

One concern about oil development on an area of Killdeer Mountain is that truck traffic would create hazards for this school bus route pictured Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013. Amy Dalrymple/Forum News Service
http://www.bakkentoday.com/event/image/id/601/headline/Some%20say%20oil%20development%20would%20impact%20safety%20on%20this%20school%20bus%20route/publisher_ID/82/

http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/event/article/id/64937/

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Parts of North Dakota can be saved

Published November 17, 2012, 12:00 AM

Letter: Parts of North Dakota can be saved

The economic boom that North Dakota is experiencing is at a cost.

We recently protested drilling on the Killdeer Mountains in front of the Industrial Commission.
The global view depicted in the dramatic aerial rig photos in the hearing room does not represent what takes place on the ground.

Our contributions to the hearing in October were limited due to lack of expert witnesses in the areas of topography, transportation, archeology, fire services and wildlife management. As local residents, we experienced a sense of fatigued frustration.

A lawyer for Hess Corp. asked that letters of support and testimony be disregarded as hearsay.
Expert witnesses from Hess Corp. were unable to answer basic questions brought forth by the Industrial Commission. They noted that the oil pad locations were selected due to serious topography issues and the selected placement would maximize the economic recovery, prevent waste, prevent unnecessary drilling and preserve the pristine environment.

These statements, however noble, are reiterated verbatim at the close of each proposal leading me to think they are lip service rather than real concern.

As non-experts, we can address the statement promised by the experts.

School Superintendent Gary Wilz, my husband and son identified serious topographic issues with the road.

The intersection is partially blind and the grade steep. The hazard would be multiplied by the dramatic increase in traffic with the proposed well sites for all travelers and especially for children waiting at this intersection for the bus.

Currently, staked sites would prevent easy access for fire control. The number and proposed sites would affect wildlife habitat. This school land is open to the public and would be irreparably altered.
Economic recovery was noted, but we asked the commission to consider local industry: ranching, farming, tourism, hunting as well as oil recovery as economic gain for North Dakota.

With alternate sites reviewed, our question to the board would be — who looks out for the interest of North Dakotans.

Conversations with Game and Fish, the Historical Society and legislators lead me to believe that we can save parts of North Dakota. Hopefully this protest creates a more collaborative decision-making policy and that this area would be considered worthy of further attention.

Lori Jepson, Killdeer