BAKKEN BREAKOUT WEEKLY


BAKKEN NEWS


‘Pick up the Patch’ starting in the oil fi eld


By LAUREN DONOVAN Bismarck Tribune


Three Watford City women have


come to one conclusion: North Dakota is too beautiful to trash. There’s no getting around the fact


that the countryside in the vast indus- trial zone that is the Bakken has never looked worse. After four years of intense develop-


ment, the roadsides in the oil patch are littered beyond recognition with garbage and trash that’s been tossed out windows or comes loose from pickups and semis. Karen Holte, JoLynn Pelton and MaL-


issa Schroeder have had enough. They got an eyeful on a trip to Dick- inson on March 27. When they got back to work at the courthouse in Watford City on March 28, they decided that talk- ing about the problem just wasn’t going to make it go away. That day, they hatched a trash attack, making posters and phone calls, in hopes that 150 people would join them April 14 to reclaim the beauty of the place they love.


“Everybody is upset with how our


county looks,” Pelton said. “It’s heart- breaking to see our beautiful place so trashed. There’s always been some, but with so many more people, it’s that much worse.”


Their plan is to get people together


at 9 a.m. at the Watford City Elementary School parking lot and fan out along highway ditches in all directions from town. “It’s going to be hard work and we’ll be taking precautions to keep everyone safe,” Holte said. They’ll pick up trash until 4 p.m. that day and the teams that bring in the most will get prizes. They know the heavy traffi c won’t


stop or slow for them. They also know that some of the trash in the ditches will be urine-fi lled soda bottles tossed by drivers who won’t take the time to stop and use a facility. The women said they’ll wear heavy


duty gloves and deal with it. Volunteers have to be 16 years of age unless they have a signed release form. They’re hoping oil industry compa-


nies around town will get involved and that other communities will make the same effort. People in nearby Keene and Arnegard have said they’ll do their part. “We challenge everyone to join in. The cities of Williston and Dickinson are getting hit hard, too. No one has the


Submitted photo


JoLynn Pelton, left, and Karen Holte along with MaLissa Schroeder (not pictured) decided to do something about all the trash and litter along the roads around Watford City. They’ve organized a plan to clean up the oil patch April 14 and invite everyone to get involved.


time, but you have to take the time, or it looks ugly,” Holte said. The North Dakota Petroleum Coun-


cil, well aware that the industry has a big black eye from all the trash, started its own clean up campaign last week called “Pick up the Patch.” Spokeswoman Alexis Brinkman said


the council’s 350 members have been asked to get proactive about cleaning up the patch and keeping it that way. Companies were asked to train em-


ployees about trash disposal and stress it daily with contractors. They were en- couraged to participate in the Adopt- A-Highway program and work with the communities in which they’re located. Brinkman said some oil companies


have plans to pick the garbage up. Marathon Oil cleans Highway 22


ditches near its Dickinson offi ce and is planning a coordinated effort with oth- ers on April 18. SM Energy is starting a Dumpster program at rig sites, sending a roustabout crew to sweep the rig area of litter before moving to another site. Bad- lands Power Fuels plans to empty out the offi ce for a day to clean roadsides. “We’re trying to encourage the mem-


bers to get out the message that trash and litter are unacceptable in the indus- try,” Brinkman said. “We’ve gotten quite a bit of response to this program and if people weren’t talking about it before, they sure are now.” Brinkman and the Watford City


women hope that once the oil patch is picked up this spring, everyone will be encouraged to help keep it that way. “If we all take care of it, it’ll look nice


again,” Holte said. (Reach Lauren Donovan at 701-748- 5511 or lauren@westriv.com.)


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Thursday, April 5, 2012 ■ Page 9


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