North Dakota makes list of sites threatened by oil drilling

21 hours ago  •  Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D. _ Roadless tracts of grasslands, numerous parks, wildlife areas and North Dakota's highest peak at White Butte are among 40 sites in the western part of the state that have been nominated for increased protection from oil drilling.

The list was compiled by the state Industrial Commission with comments from the public, environmental groups and government agencies over the past two years, said Karlene Fine, the commission's director.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple is chairman of the commission, which regulates North Dakota's oil and gas industry. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring are its other members.

The men — all Republicans — are slated to visit most of the sites in western North Dakota's oil patch over the next several weeks.

Jeff Zent, a spokesman for Dalrymple, said scheduling conflicts prohibit the panel from traveling together.

Dalrymple was slated to begin his tour Thursday to see areas identified as having historical, cultural and recreational significance, as well as areas that support unique wildlife and plant habitat, Zent said.

"The governor will be going out west. He already has seen a lot of western North Dakota but he does want to go back out there to look at some specific sites," Zent said. "It may work out best in the long run to have the commissioners go out individually because they may be able to cover more ground."

Many of the sites identified on the list are on state or federal land and several of those are intermingled with private land, Fine said.

Wayde Schafer, a North Dakota spokesman for the Sierra Club, said the mixed bag of land ownership creates a "patchwork of problems" for conservation groups and regulators.

"It's not clear what level of protection the Industrial Commission has for these sites," Schafer said. "Each of these sites will have to have their own set of solutions to protect their historic or ecological significance."

Further complicating oversight of culturally or environmentally sensitive areas is that a tract of land in North Dakota can have separate owners, above and below ground. Surface owners are typically trumped by mineral owners who are allowed to access the land for exploration under state law.

"Mineral owners in this state can develop their minerals," said Goehring, of the Industrial Commission. "We just have to address concerns and minimize those impacts."

Goehring said some examples include requiring companies to build roads or place wells in the least intrusive areas possible, or even requiring companies to paint tanks and other equipment so that it blends with the landscape.

Stenehjem said he often vacations in western North Dakota and has done so as late as last weekend. He already has visited many of the identified sites and intends to look at more of them in the coming weeks.

Of particular concern, he said, is the issue of natural gas flaring in western North Dakota, where about 30 percent of the state's gas production is being burned off or "flared" because development of the pipelines and processing facilities needed to handle it has not kept pace with production.

"We've done a lot but we need to do more," Stenehjem said.

http://bismarcktribune.com/bakken/north-dakota-makes-list-of-sites-threatened-by-oil-drilling/article_c04ff430-0a9a-11e3-8f06-0019bb2963f4.html

Environmentalists react to protected site list

The state has compiled a list of sites it might review for protections from drilling, and while environmentalists say it’s a good start, they caution that it’s not nearly enough.

By: Katherine Lymn, The Dickinson Press

Published August 17, 2013, 12:00 AM

Press Photo by Dustin Monke Oil wells that are tucked into a hillside pump as natural gas is flared along Highway 22 north of Killdeer on June 6 near the Little Missouri State Primative Park site. Environmentalists are asking that the North Dakota Industrial Commission visit sites like the park that they want to see protected from oil and energy development.

Alliance fighting for Killdeer Mountain

The state has compiled a list of sites it might review for protections from drilling, and while environmentalists say it’s a good start, they caution that it’s not nearly enough.
The list of about 40 wildlife management areas, buttes and other significant sites is a tentative selection of where North Dakota’s governor, attorney general and agriculture commissioner, who make up the state’s Industrial Commission, may tour and then consider preserving.
But the list represents how little is left of North Dakota wilderness for Wayde Schafer, organizer of the state’s Sierra Club.
“It’s gotten to the point where they’re all special because it’s all that’s left,” he said.
Representatives from the offices of each commission member didn’t know of much touring the members had done and didn’t know their plans for the future. The Industrial Commission wants to finish the visits by winter.
Many of the list sites were on a preservation proposal from Schafer’s club back in the ’90s. Half of those proposal sites have since seen energy development.
Now the window of opportunity to protect enough Badlands to have a quality wildlife experience is closing, he says, and people are realizing what they’re losing.
“Everybody becomes an environmentalist when their backyard is threatened,” Schafer said, “and that’s what’s happening.”
Badlands Conservation Alliance President and state Sen. Connie Triplett said she thinks the initiative is just a result of public pressure, but she’s glad the state responded.
Still, she said, broader regulations are necessary for all drilling applications on state school lands.
“The notion of just picking a few selected sites is a really short-sighted way to think about this,” said Triplett, a Democrat from Grand Forks.
Alison Ritter, spokeswoman for the Industrial Commission’s Oil and Gas Division, said the commission has maps to compare proposed drill sites with any restricted areas, and it also posts approved permits online for three days of public comment before operators can build.
Triplett and others say they’re also interested in how the list is used, not just what’s on it.
If the Industrial Commission doesn’t actually use the list to inform its decision-making, she said, “it will have been a waste of time.”
Karlene Fine, executive director of the Industrial Commission, said the list is nearly complete but that the commission members are “always open for suggestions.”
Multiple environmentalists said the list is missing significant sites, like wildlife management areas and wildlife refuges in the Oil Patch.
Triplett said she has asked Fine for the original list of citizen suggestions, and for a description of how the Industrial Commission narrowed it down if it did.
The environmentalists say they don’t want to stop drilling — they just want the state to be more mindful about where it’s allowed.
“It’s about making sure that enough voices are heard so that the drilling takes place in a way that doesn’t damage other values that many people care about,” Triplett said.
She said “no-surface occupancy,” noise-reducing equipment and shifting site locations are some ways for developers and land advocates to compromise.
Commission member Gov. Jack Dalrymple has said horizontal drilling can help to avoid sensitive drilling areas.
The governor’s trips are going to be informal visits, spokesman Jeff Zent said.
“(Dalrymple) wants to go out there just to see these sites for himself and to cover all bases,” Zent said.
Environmentalists, like blogger and longtime North Dakota outdoors activist Jim Fuglie, say the state is so far behind with protecting its lands that the list is just not enough.
“The oil’s not going anywhere but there’s just so much money to be made that everybody wants to get it now and that’s the problem,” he said.
“It wouldn’t hurt to slow things down a little bit.”
Triplett, meanwhile, says the list is “better late than never.”

http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/event/article/id/71221/

NDIC to check oil sites individually

August 09, 2013 2:05 pm  •  By Nick Smith

Members of the North Dakota Industrial Commission will be visiting a series of culturally important and environmentally sensitive sites in the oil patch, but not as a group.

The decision to do so was made at the end of the commission’s July 30 meeting.

In May the commission had announced it would set up a day-long tour to visit more than 30 oil patch sites. The sites have been listed as being those that should be considered for preservation and limited permitting of drilling.

NDIC Executive Director Karlene Fine said the decision was spurred by difficulties in getting the three commissioners’ schedules to line up and make a tour work. Fine said the commission members will visit sites individually as their schedules permit. She added that the commissioners plan to visit each of the sites over the next few months.

“They want to do it before (there’s) snow,” Fine said.

The commission is comprised of the governor, attorney general and agriculture commissioner.

D’s talk session in Mandan

A group of Democratic-NPL Party legislators took questions from Bismarck and Mandan area residents Thursday centering on the work both parties conducted during the recent legislative session.

Four lawmakers met and answered the questions of about 20 people at Harvest Grill in Mandan. They also discussed where they felt the Legislature succeeded and failed earlier in the year.

The conversation spurred attacks on the legislative priorities of the Republican Party, which holds larger than two-thirds majorities in both chambers.

House Minority Leader Kenton Onstad of Parshall called the investments in the western oil patch counties “wholly inadequate.” He took aim at the Oil and Gas Impact Grant Fund as an example.

The fund, which totals $240 million, is to help political subdivisions in oil-impacted counties with critical infrastructure needs. Onstad said the dollars are appreciated but not nearly enough to address current demand. During the 2011-13 biennium, the $150 million in funding was passed out for project requests totaling more than $700 million, he said.

“I would say that $700 million in requests … will grow to over $1 billion,” Onstad said of the 2013-15 biennium.

Rep. Ron Guggisberg of Fargo agreed. He said a higher percentage of oil and gas tax revenues need to stay in the oil patch counties. This, he said, would be more effective than sending the dollars to Bismarck and then having it granted back to political subdivisions.

“Grants are good for handing out large checks and having politicians stand in front of them,” Guggisburg said.

Assistant Senate Minority Leader Joan Heckaman of New Rockford was also in attendance. She said more balance is needed in party representation in the Legislature.

Heckaman also called for state dollars to supplement federal dollars for Head Start in future sessions. State dollars to supplement Head Start was voted down during the session.

Rep. Ed Gruchalla of Fargo spoke about the new law for driving under the influence passed during the session. He called the law “watered down” from a bill he’d helped push that contained more stringent penalties than what was passed.

Jason Flohrs, executive director of the North Dakota Republican Party, provided a response to the meeting on Friday.

“While the minority party likes to only talk about only one aspect of state aid to local oil country government, the truth is almost 40 percent of oil taxes flowed back to these cities and counties in a variety of programs designed to help meet the needs of their rapid growth,” Flohrs said.

Flohrs said total oil patch investments over the 2013-15 biennium are approximately $2.5 billion. He said this doesn’t count the more than $1 billion in statewide kindergarten through grade 12 education spending.

“In the end, Republicans aggressively addressed the needs of our people across the state, worked to create an ever stronger business climate and provided thoughtful solutions to the challenges we face,” Flohrs said.