Bakken briefs
Burke County has ‘super’ women
Burke County, on the edge of the oil patch, has three school districts and women are superintendents of all three.
That definitely makes one of the state’s most rural counties a progressive anomaly. The state Department of Public Instruction says there are about 170 superintendents in the state, and just 30 of them have women at the helm
Three of those 30 are Bowbells, Powers Lake and Burke Central in Lignite, Burke County towns all three.
Celeste Thingvold is at the helm in Bowbells, Sherry Lallim in Lignite and Sue Gunderson in Powers Lake.
Thingvold taught in Watford city for three years before moving to Bowbells in 1998. She has been superintendent there since 2013.
Lallim started teach in Bowbells in 1999, moved to Burke Central, then became elementary principal at Divide County in Crosby before returning to Lignite.
Gunderson started as K-12 music teacher at Powers Lake in 1996. She continued teaching and studying, eventually becoming credentialed to do administrative work and taking over this year as superintendent.
Burke County Tribune, Bowbells
Pioneering plant encounters troubles
North Dakota LNG, highly-touted as a pioneering liquefied natural gas processor when it came on line last year, will be issued a cease and desist order after failing to pay for a Tioga building permit issued last January for $39,000.
The company began construction of a plant that converts natural gas feedstock into motor fuel by supercooling methane into a liquid state. The plant uses methane from the nearby Hess facility.
The product is gaining in popularity because it burns cleanly and emits less carbon than other fuels sources.
But Tioga city commissioners were alerted to the unpaid fee by City Auditor Abby Salinas at the last city commission meeting. At that time, the board was unsure whether LNG had paid the permit fee to the county instead of the city.
Salinas received word last week that neither the Williams County Building Department nor the county’s planning and zoning department had received payment.
Commissioners moved to issue a cease and desist order until the fee is paid.
Tioga Tribune
Tioga house numbers needed for emergencies
County dispatch receives the calls one after another – nine 9-1-1 dials and hangups in rapid succession. They come from a cell phone located somewhere in the north end of Tioga.
Police Officer Matthew Ballantyne arrives at the address dispatch calls out, but no buildings display the number given.
The closest building is a three-story housing complex, so Ballantyne responds as he was trained: he clears the entire building, door by door. He finds nothing, but knows that as the responding officer, it’s critical he find the caller immediately.
On a hunch, he moves to the building across the street, a newly erected business. There he encounters the caller, who accidentally hit the emergency dial button on his cell phone.
Houses that aren’t numbered properly, as well as a small lag in newly appointed addresses showing up in county maps, sometimes hamper response times of police and other emergency personnel.
At a recent city commission meeting, Police Administrator Jeff Spivey brought up the issue and requested the city strengthen its ordinance requiring houses to be numbered.
“I think a numbering rule for the whole town is appropriate,” he said.
Tioga Tribune
Dense clay contains spill in Divide County
“We got lucky,” says Jody Gunlock, Divide County emergency manager.
“Really, really dense clay,” about 60 feet thick, kept a recent 4,600-barrel brine spill northwest of Crosby from growing into a more serious problem, he said.
The clay layer also kept the spill from seeping into the ground, possibly contaminating a pothole and perhaps entering underlying aquifers.
The spill was reported Aug. 5 at a saltwater gathering system and was the result of a pipeline leak.
Some 179,000 gallons of brine seeped out of the pipeline before being discovered.
The pipeline has since been repaired, the leak stopped, and Samson has removed more than 1,060 barrels nearly 45,000 gallons of brine from the site.
Samson also excavated about a foot of soil from an 800-foot by 800-foot area around the spill.
Other than where the pipeline channel was, Gunlock said, little brine actually seeped into the ground due to the clay layer.
Gunlock said he was notified by Samson that the company is waiting for the state’s go-ahead to backfill the damaged area with clean topsoil.
But he said the State Health Department has been slow to get around to okaying these efforts.
“It shouldn’t take that long,” he said, “unless someone dropped the ball.”
The Journal, Crosby
Watford City schools see record enrollment
Preliminary enrollment numbers indicate Watford City schools will see yet another year of record enrollment.
Superintendent Steve Holen said the district Aug. 14 counted 1,396 students, which is 171 more than it had a year ago.
Holen says that the district typically sees some changes in student numbers the first two weeks of school as some students who had registered move to another district, while other students are still registering for classes.
Last year, according to Holen, the district had 1,301 students enrolled on Sept. 10. And he is confident that the district will have more than 1,400 students on Sept. 10 of this year.
While the growth in student numbers this year is slightly smaller than projections, Holen is pleased with the growth.
“Our enrollment projection study forecast we would have an enrollment of 1,540 this year,” states Holen. “But we are still confident in the projected long-term enrollment numbers.
According to the study, the district is projected to have 2,584 students at the start of the 2019-20 school year, and 3,933 students by the start of the 2024-25 school year.
McKenzie County Farmer, Watford City
Bakken briefs
Bakken boom fueled by innovators
The Bakken boom was fueled by innovators who found ways to profitably extract oil from tight rock formations. Now, as low oil prices present the industry with new challenges, the same innovative drive is helping to keep exploration profitable.
Second quarter earnings reports are showing the major operators in the Bakken expect to maintain or slightly increase production rates in the future, all while finding new ways to cut expenses.
“Bottom line: more production and lower costs,” said Continental Resources COO Jack Stark in the company’s second quarter conference call earlier this month.
Continental reported an increase in production of 127,872 barrels per day in the second quarter of 2015. This is an increase of 40 percent over the same quarter last year, and a 5.4 percent increase over the first quarter of this year.
Marathon Oil averaged 61,000 barrels per day in the Bakken during the second quarter, a 22 percent increase over last year and a 7 percent over the previous quarter.
Whiting also reported slight increases over their first quarter of just over 2,000 barrels more per day.
Hess was up 11,000 barrels per day over the first quarter and 36,000 barrels per day during the period last year.
Tioga Tribune
Beulah women’s center scrambles
The Mercer County Women’s Action Resource Center was left scrambling after a state oil impact grant it has relied on for several years was cut from $19,000 to $8,000.
But Mercer County Commissioners this month stepped in to help fill the void, pledging to provide the center with $5,000 a year for each of the next five years.
Lisa Weisz, director of WARC, came to the Mercer County Commission meeting this month seeking assistance.
She said she already has asked the City of Beulah for some help, and plans to approach the city of Hazen as well.
Commissioners were receptive to the idea, voting to make the annual contributions.
WARC is a crisis intervention center in Beulah for women who have been sexually abused or raped. It provides counseling, therapy and support groups, as well as shelter and crisis housing for victims of sexual abuse. The organization also has a food pantry.
Beulah Beacon
McKenzie deputy ‘picks up’ jurors
Many Watford City business employees were caught off guard Monday, Aug. 3.
By a McKenzie County deputy.
Who was looking to pick up some jurors.
“Some of the jurors who were summoned to appear for jury duty on Monday morning did not appear,” said Northwest District Judge Robin Schmidt.
“Without an adequate amount of prospective jurors, a trial cannot proceed. Therefore, I asked the sheriff’s office to bring seven random, qualified jurors to the courthouse so we could move forward with the trial.”
The deputy quickly picked up seven people who were qualified jurors, and the trial went on.
“Monday’s events highlight why it is so important to appear when you are summoned for jury duty,” Schmidt said, noting that when too many prospective jurors fail to appear, it impacts litigants, law enforcement, court personnel and other McKenzie County residents who do appear when summoned for jury duty.
McKenzie County State’s Assistant Attorney Stephenie Davis expressed appreciation for Schmidt’s willingness to use her judicial discretion to dispatch deputies for jury recruitment.
Without willing volunteers, both those who had been summoned for jury duty and those who were recruited, “this case would not have moved forward.”
McKenzie County Farmer, Watford City
Day care availability worries hit Crosby
Divide County Jobs Development Authority member Robbi Larsen worries that kids in need of day care services will be in college before services are available.
A day care project has yet to find a clear path to completion, and last week Crosby’s City Council put day care backers on notice they will need to undertake a major fundraising campaign before the city can commit any more money to it.
Mayor Bert Anderson said “close to $1 million” should be in hand.
Alderman Wayne Benter said any project would be “a long ways off yet.”
Community Developer KayCee Lindsey has been working with city officials for the last three years to bring a day care facility to fruition.
After abandoning a $3 million plan drawn a couple years back, today the day care at least has the promise of free property.
Of a $1.3 million funding package put together for the original project, about $660,000 remains available, Lindsey said. That includes a state Land Trust grant, a Department of Commerce grant and local sales tax money.
The Journal, Crosby
Bakken briefs
Bakken refineries considered by Houston development company
An energy development company from Houston is considering building four refineries in the Bakken, two in North Dakota and two in Montana.
Quantum Energy Inc. and partner Native Son Refining, LLC have filed an application for an air quality construction permit to build a refinery in the Berthold area.
According to Native Son founder Robert Monday, Native Son is combining its engineering and technical expertise with Quantum’s existing site opportunity to trigger this application.
The permit application, through the North Dakota State Health Department, calls for construction of a 40,000 barrel-per-day crude oil processing facility on land that Quantum has under option in the Berthold area.
Quantum’s news release says it has signed two-year option agreements with landowners in Baker and Fairview, Mont., and Stanley and Berthold for potential refinery sites and is firming relationships with other energy partners.
“Native Son had its engineering completed and an application in hand looking for a site while Quantum has sites ready for the permit process,” Quantum CEO Andrew Kacic said in the release.
The Berthold site is said to be on 340 acres, and have twice the capacity of Dakota Prairie Refinery near Dickinson.
Kenmare News
First man camp kids reunite near former Amerada gas plant
Larry Minnick points to the overgrown field between the Lunge’s farmhouse and KSI’s parking lot.
“There’s our lilac bush right there,” he says, “on the corner of my parents’ bedroom.”
Inching along a construction-choked ND 40, it would be easy to overlook the field, which bears only the faintest traces of its former use. In the 1950s and ’60s, the lot was a neighborhood for workers at the Amerada – now Hess – gas plant. The Amerada camp was the original man camp of the Bakken.
This summer, the children of the camp, now grown, made a pilgrimage to their old neighborhood.
“You look at this and can’t even visualize what all was here,” says Sue Hill Fretland as cars pull up bearing friends not seen in decades. “It was a wonderful place to grow up.”
The Amerada camp opened in the early 1950s to house workers and families of the first oil boom.
Like the oil field hands of today, most of the workforce was brought in from elsewhere Oklahoma and Texas, mainly. To lure them to the remote town of Tioga, Amerada offered inexpensive, all-inclusive housing.
“It was like the ‘Ritz’,” said LeNae Johnson, reunion organizer.
Tioga Tribune
Golf course upgrade tees off at Fox Hills course in Watford City
Work is under way to transform Watford City’s Fox Hills Golf Course & Country Club from a nine-hole course into a top-notch 18-hole course with a state-of-the-art practice facility.
“We aren’t meeting the demand,” says Charles Chandler III, head golf professional and director at the Fox Hills Golf Course.
“We’ve outgrown our course. Our goal here is to really provide the best quality of service to the community.”
According to Chandler, with the growth of Watford City’s population, the time was right to expand the golf course.
“The way it’s designed and the way it’s going to be built will make it one of the top two golf courses in the state.”
According to Chandler, the expansion project will include adding an additional nine holes, renovating the existing nine holes, adding a new driving range, and adding a new short-game facility, all of which will be done in phases.
The first phase will probably start this year at a cost of $3.5 million to $4 million. Phase two would begin right after the first phase and be completed the following year.
McKenzie County Farmer, Watford City
More divided highway on 67 miles of U.S. Highway 85 studied
The North Dakota Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration are evaluating the four-laning of 67 miles of U.S. Highway 85 from Watford City to I-94 at Belfield.
The project would consist of widening the roadway and either rehabilitation or replacement of the Long X Bridge over the Little Missouri River.
The study of the corridor will evaluate different alternatives and the project feasibility.
“I am relieved to see the study phase beginning,” said Watford City Mayor Brent Sanford.
“Community officials want to see a four-lane divided roadway similar to Highway 83 from Bismarck to Minot.”
Kadrmas, Lee & Jackson is doing a topographic survey, wetland delineation, cultural resource survey, and noise measurements.
Field studies and surveys will begin in August and continue through the fall and winter.
McKenzie County Farmer, Watford City
Rash of recent crimes means Westby scofflaws pursued
Westby, Mont., population about 185, sits about 30 miles equidistant between two county seats in two different states Divide in North Dakota and Sheridan in Montana.
This quirk of geography puts it in a law enforcement no-man’s land. It takes officers from either county seat about a half-hour to reach Westby.
During the last year, the Westby area has seen a rash of crimes vandals moving or shooting out windows on large equipment belonging to both oil companies and farmers; vandals shooting up a communications equipment box; and illegal wildlife killings.
Divide County Sheriff Lauren Throntveit said the illegal shooting of pelicans resulted in charges against three Williston men.
“But until someone says something about the others, there’s not much we can do,” Throntveit said.
Throntveit believes most of the crimes were perpetrated by oilfield workers going to and from Williston.
“How do we catch them, unless someone says something?” he asked. “We can’t patrol in the middle of everything. It’s not practical.”
The Journal, Crosby
Bakken briefs
Refinery proposed south of Columbus
A California company has proposed construction of a refinery in Burke County south of Columbus.
But a public hearing on a request by Ash Inc., of Simi Valley, Calif., to change zoning for the refinery location left the Burke County Planning and Zoning Commission with more questions than answers, and the request was tabled.
Bret Wolz and Albert Howell of Ash Inc. explained the refinery capacity would be 20,000 barrels a day, mostly diesel fuel, with the finished product leaving the facility by rail. They anticipate 40 to 50 trucks a day.
Their office will be at the old man camp site. They foresee 60 full-time jobs once the facility is in operation, which would be in approximately two years.
The refinery will be similar to the Dakota Prairie Refinery that recently opened near Dickinson.
Questions were asked about air pollution, evacuation plans, water utilization, rail spur needed, secured site, turning lanes, where extra rail cars will go.
Burke County Tribune, Bowbells
Tioga picks wastewater treatment plan
Tioga has been wrestling with how to go about increasing its wastewater treatment capacity since the start of the oil boom a task complicated by not knowing how many people will call Tioga home in the coming years.
Last week, the city commission voted to approve a $6.1 million treatment plant, and construction will begin in the next month.
While cheaper options were available, the approved option is seen by commissioners as the most cost-efficient way to approach the problem should upgrades be needed if the town reaches the high-end of the projections. That would be a population of about 6,000 over the next several years.
Going with options costing up to $1 million less, the city would need to discard components of the cheaper system if the population in town got too high. That would basically be throwing away about $1 million.
“We’re trying to be proactive,” said Commission Heather Weflen.
The decision on the $6.1 million plant comes at the end of a series of discussions, with cost numbers continuing to balloon as the conversation went on over what would be needed to satisfy the current wastewater needs and those of the next few years.
Tioga Tribune
McKenzie County waste up 1,000 percent
The McKenzie County Landfill is the fastest-growing facility in the entire state of North Dakota, says Director Rick Schreiber.
Growth from 2006 to 2014 has led the state, he said.
The landfill received 3,650 tons of municipal waste in 2006 and shot up to nearly 66,400 tons by 2013 an increase of 1,719 percent.
The amount of waste fell back to approximately 39,300 tons in 2014. While that signifies a drop of about 41 percent from the previous year, it still marked an increase of about 978 percent of more incoming garbage than before the oil boom.
“Basically, we are up 1,000 percent since 2006,” said Schreiber.
“That’s amazing. And I think we can expect to see these numbers for a long time.”
To handle the waste stream, a number of improvements have or will be made.
Among them is a new compactor that is expected by late summer.
“It’s the heaviest compactor on the planet,” Schreiber said.
“The heavier it is, the more compaction we will get, thus saving space in the landfill.”
McKenzie County Farmer, Watford City
Three Affiliated Tribes’ wells now flowing
A historic milestone was reached in March when Missouri River Resources LLC drilled four tribally owned oil wells.
Now those wells are flowing at 4,000 barrels per day.
“That is better than the 3,000 barrels we predicted,” said Dave Williams, president and CEO of Missouri River Resources, a company chartered by the Three Affiliated Tribes
“We have chosen to choke them back (close down valves) and allow them to free flow in order to do more testing and keep the pressure constant,” he said.
“We plan to allow them to flow on their own for the next six months and then go to pumping units.”
The wells are located one mile east of Mandaree, where four lateral horizontal legs were drilled from a single well pad.
Williams said the tribal oil company is all about “drilling native oil on native soil.”
Mountrail County Record, Parshall
Earnings make oil producers change focus
First quarter earnings reports from the top oil producers in the Bakken show that operators are weathering low oil prices by focusing on rig efficiency and some reductions in activity.
In its first quarter report, Hess reduced its rig count in the Bakken from 12 in the first quarter to eight. This is “where we expect to remain for the balance of the year,” said Hess COO Greg Hill, speaking in a conference call about the company’s first quarter earnings.
Continental Resources likewise reduced its activity in the region.
“Continental significantly reduced its completion crew count in the Bakken during the first quarter of 2015, as planned. The Company has three completion crews active, down from 10 at year-end 2014, and plans to maintain approximately three crews throughout 2015, based on current market conditions,” the company wrote in a press release on the first quarter earnings.
Marathon Oil has reduced its rig count in the area to one.
The companies are also focusing on the core areas of Williams, McKenzie, Mountrail and Dunn Counties. In these areas, the initial well output is significantly higher than on outer regions.
The Tioga Tribune
Bakken briefs
Home grown Crosby trucking firm sold
Gibson Energy has purchased T&R Transport of Crosby, the trucking company Ross “Chico” and Tonia Eriksmoen built from a single semi-truck in 2008 into a fleet that, at its zenith, had as many as 185 trucks hauling water and oil field services.
Brian Recatto, Gibson’s president of U.S. operations, called Gibson’s acquisition of T&R a “great fit.”
He said Gibson first became interested in T&R when the two companies crossed trails at a Gibson waste facility in the Williston Basin.
“We’re a Houston-based company, traded on the NYSE and in Canadian markets, with other assets in the Williston Basin,” Recatto said. “Our first acquisition here was WISCO, in Williston.”
WISCO remains one of the largest oil field service companies in the Williston Basin.
T&R Transport is Gibson’s second acquisition, Recatto said.
“We love the area and we’re committed to the community,” he said.
“We like the way the company works. We love the management team they’re entrepreneurial, just like we are. This is a complete package,” said Recatto.
He declined to disclose any financial details of the purchase.
The Journal, Crosby
Despite arrest, vandals still plague Tioga
Despite an arrest last week in a graffiti case, the vandalism in Tioga continues.
“It’s getting old,” said Ray Crain, who manages Tioga’s parks.
The Tioga City Commission last week supported strict police enforcement of an existing curfew ordinance to combat vandals.
A memorial bench donated by the family of the late Dorothy Dahl is the latest target of vandals.
Last month, vandals tagged several buildings with graffiti depicting male genitalia. Fortunately for police, the perpetrators were so proud of their work, they bragged to friends, leading to juvenile citations for those responsible.
However, it appears there are more people involved in the ongoing acts of destruction, said Police Administrator Jeff Spivey.
A couple weeks ago, police found graffiti on a gazebo at one of the city parks, and early Friday morning, vandals broke a granite memorial bench.
“It’s quite certain it’s more than one party involved,” Spivey said.
Damage to the bench could exceed $2,000, which would make it a felony.
Several other vandalism incidents, all involving public property at the parks, have been reported since last fall.
Tioga Tribune
Watford City seeks bigger post office
With Watford City’s population still booming the U.S. Postal Service is looking for much bigger digs in the community.
“Because of the continued rapid population growth in the Watford City area, it has left the Postal Service needing additional space to process and deliver mail and properly serve our retail customers,” said USPS spokesman Peter Nowacki.
The current postal facility contains 4,290 square feet. A new one will need at least 7,043 net interior square feet and parking for 66 vehicles, Nowacki said.
The Postal Service hopes to find a suitable existing building close to the site of the current downtown post office.
“At this time, we are concentrating our effort on finding an existing building,” says Nowacki. “We’d like to lease an existing building. If none exists, we may have to reevaluate our plans at a future date.”
If the proposal for relocation and expansion is approved, Nowacki says they would like to be in the new location some time next year.
McKenzie County Farmer, Watford City
Mountrail law center construction starts
Groundbreaking ceremonies for the new Mountrail County Law Enforcement Center were held on the front lawn of the Mountrail County Courthouse July 14.
The date is significant for Mountrail County because 100 years ago to the day the courthouse was dedicated.
The new facility will be an addition to the historically significant courthouse building.
Architect Anthony Enright of Klein/McCarthy said he has worked with commissioners to make sure the new center will be unique while also fitting with the existing building.
The addition will include 40-bed jail facilities, a 911 dispatch center and law enforcement center, as well as a court room, judge’s chamber and jury room.
Mountrail County Promoter, Stanley
Ray affordable housing moves forward
A 47-unit affordable housing project on Ray’s east side could break ground this year if the project can piece together the funding it needs for the project and the infrastructure to support it.
The project consists of two three-story buildings with a total of 47 units between them. Of those, 24 will be set aside for essential service workers at reduced rents. This includes firefighters, police, nurses, and teachers.
The $8.2 million project has about $2.5 million in support from the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency through its Housing Incentive Fund.
“That’s a grant to keep the apartment rents affordable,” said developer Tom Serie, who spoke at a Ray City Commission meeting earlier this month.
To secure the monies, Serie must match the award with commitments from people willing to commit to the Housing Incentive Fund in exchange for state income tax credits.
Another hurdle is the curb, gutter, water and sewer infrastructure costs, which are not part of the $8.2 million. These costs amount to about $500,000.
Serie asked the Ray Commission for a tax exemption to cover these costs. The developer would pay the money up front for these costs. That money would then get paid back through the tax exemptions over five years.
The Tioga Tribune
Kenmare Municipal Airport gets funds
It appears the Kenmare Municipal Airport will get all the upgrades it needs by this fall following the announcement July 13 of a $350,000 federal grant.
The airport has already received energy impact funds, but this new grant provides enough money to get all the needed work done, according to airport manager Hank Bodmer.
That means new LED lights, a new beacon and a new building to house the electrical transfer, Bodmer said.
And that, he said, will amount to nearly $550,000 when it is expected to be completed in October.
“All of us on the board were shocked with a $500,000 cost, but we’re doing a first-class job,” Bodmer said. “We have one shot to do this for the next 20 years.”
Kenmare News