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Boom hits reservation hard Continued from page 1
ting process that took years can now be done in as few as 45 days, said Jeff Hunt, chief of engineering for the Interior De- partment’s energy and mineral develop- ment. A compact that lets the state collect
a unifi ed oil tax and redistribute 50 per- cent back to the tribes made drilling trib- al land more attractive. That distribution is now totaling more than $7 million a month.
Salazar viewed oil drilling on the na-
tional grasslands April 2 and after look- ing at a small, but intense drilling area on the reservation, he said he gets the picture. “With energy comes impact. You can see it in the roads, in the cost of living, but there’s tremendous opportunity. There are no quick answers. It will take a partnership with the federal govern- ment, state and tribe,” he said. Tribal Chairman Tex Hall, his voice
and stature weakened by a recent serious illness, said it will cost more than $100 million to repair the oil damage to the reservation’s BIA road system. The $1.7 million in annual BIA funds “is just a Band-Aid,” Hall said. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said he
agreed more money is needed, but said he doesn’t agree the federal government is standing in the way of development on the reservation. “I don’t know what we’re standing in
“With energy comes impact. You can see it in the roads, in the cost of living, but there’s tremendous opportunity. There are no quick answers. It will take a partnership with the
federal governement, state and tribe.” – Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar
the way of. This is a full-blown boom,” Conrad said. “Instead of sending $1 bil- lion a day to buy oil from the Mideast, we can send it to the Midwest of our own country.”
Some federal regulations are lagging behind the state’s. The federal govern- ment doesn’t require disclosure of frac- ture treatment chemicals, like North Da- kota recently started to, though Salazar said, “We’re working on that.” Hunt, who provides technical assis-
tance for drilling activity, said he and his staff are spending more time in the fi eld, trying to site roads and well pads out in the rough terrain. “The easy sites are gone. We’re en-
couraging multiple wells on a pad,” he said. One operator is planning 12 wells on a pad, while the average is four, he said. Hunt said pipelines will start to catch
up with new wells, but now about two- thirds of the reservation’s oil leaves the well on oil tanker trucks. Fred Fox, who heads the tribal energy
LAUREN DONOVAN/Tribune
TOP: Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, left, and Three Affi liated Tribes Chairman Tex Hall take turns at the microphone on April 3 following the secretary’s tour of oil drilling on the reservation. BOTTOM: A convoy with Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar, state and tribal leaders is shrouded in its own dust April 3 on a Bureau of Indian Affairs road, while touring oil well development.
department, said he expects another 200 Bakken wells will be drilled by the end of the year and up to 900 more in the next fi ve years. (Reach Lauren Donovan at 701-220- 5511 or
lauren@westriv.com.)
BAKKEN NEWS
BAKKEN BREAKOUT WEEKLY
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