BAKKEN NEWS


A great divide over oil riches in N.D.


By A.G. SULZBERGER New York Times News Service


STANLEY, N.D. — Just like everybody


else around here, Fred Evans spent his life coaxing a good enough living out of the earth. He grew wheat, ran cattle and, during a couple of short-lived bursts of activity, worked on the drill rigs search- ing for oil across the northern prairie. But unlike his neighbors, Evans was


convinced that the area would someday be home to an epic oil boom. For years he would approach others in the area of- fering to buy or lease the rights to drill on their land, often delivering his pitch at a time of need. More than a few, to their enduring regret, agreed. So it was with pure jubilation that Ev-


ans watched one of the rumbling pump jacks on his property pulling up the oil that has made him a rich man. Money is fl owing by the barrelful into


Mountrail County, transforming a tiny community once proudly situated in the


middle of nowhere into an unexpected oasis of prosperity at the heart of the nation’s biggest oil play. No other county in the state has had a bigger jump in the number of house- holds earning more than $100,000, which spiked to 21 percent from 6 per- cent during the last decade, according to an analysis of census data. But much like the crude below, the benefi ts have spread unevenly, often as a result of decisions made long ago. And as the rest of the nation watched


incomes drop or stagnate, in Mountrail County median income rose more than 50 percent in the last decade, the fi fth- highest gain in the nation. The main driver is the payments that


residents receive for leasing mineral rights. In 2009, the most recent year sta- tistics are available, the signing bonuses and the royalties paid for the oil ex- tracted from private land totaled about $1 billion statewide, according to an in- dustry-fi nanced study by North Dakota


Glen Ullin approves ban on man camps


By LEANN ECKROTH Bismarck Tribune


The Glen Ullin City Council gave fi nal approval Jan. 9 to a ban on man


camps. The new ordinance passed unanimously with a 5-0 vote. It allows rare exceptions to the dormitory style housing for energy workers


in areas of town zoned industrial or commercial. Applicants would be required to seek permission from the city planning


and zoning commission, but city council members still prefer to keep the man camps outside of city jurisdiction. When an application for building or placing man camps inside industrial


or commercial areas is turned in, the planning and zoning commission will hold a public hearing, giving residents 15 days notice before the hearing. City attorney John Mahoney said nothing was changed since the ordi-


nance got preliminary approval in December. “They feel it’s fair and will still give people a chance to apply,” he said. “They hope it works and will help them keep a handle on housing and development.” The ordinance calls for the planning and zoning commission to make a


recommendation about man camp requests to the full city council based on health, safety and welfare of people in town and whether the facility promotes sound and desirable use of the land. Mayor Betty DelaBarre did not vote and Councilman Tony Glasser was


absent. (Reach reporter LeAnn Eckroth at 701-250-8264 or leann.eckroth@bis-


marcktribune.com.)


State University. Though many of those checks go out


of state, more than half stay in North Dakota, helping double the number of state residents earning more than $1 million a year. Evans, 73, is described variously by


neighbors as the richest man and the biggest crook in Mountrail County. Sev-


Associated Press Workers prepare pipes for the newest well on Fred Evan’s property in Stanley, N.D., on Nov. 3.


eral noted that even his sisters took him to court in a dispute over family mineral rights. Evans, who calls himself “a Podunk


from farm country,” brushes it all aside. “I’m defi nitely not a fortune teller,” he said. “But I just knew this thing would take off.”


Thursday, January 12, 2012 ■ Page 5


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