BAKKEN BREAKOUT WEEKLY
BAKKEN NEWS
Thursday, April 19, 2012 ■ Page 9 Footnote would protect wildlife
By LAUREN DONOVAN Bismarck Tribune
history, tracts of state-owned mineral acres will be leased with a special foot- note that says an oil well may not be al- lowed there. That footnote intended to protect essential wildlife habitat will appear on about 1,800 acres that will go on the auction block May 1. That’s when the Department of Trust Lands will hold a quarterly sale of mineral acres nomi- nated by companies interested in leas- ing them. The footnote is the result of inter-
vention in February’s massive mineral sale, when the North Dakota Chapter of the Wildlife Society raised the concern that some of the state minerals were in- side a specially protected roadless area of the Little Missouri National Grass- lands.
School Lands agreed to withdraw 3,800 acres of sensitive habitat so the matter could be studied in more detail.
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The state Board of University and For the fi rst time in North Dakota
state school land sections goes into a trust fund for education. The result is that the state Game and Fish Department now reviews all the tracts that are nominated and identifi es tracts that are essential wildlife habitat. It’s up to the land board to attach the
Money from leases and royalties of
Chesapeake, which had been actively leasing and drilling south of Dickinson, recently pulled all of its rigs out of the state and has left some mineral own- ers seeking legal action because they allegedly didn’t receive promised lease bonuses.
restrictive footnote. State Land Commissioner Lance Gaebe said 1,280 of those previously withdrawn acres will be auctioned May 1, but with the footnote. The company, Stratex Oil and Gas, that had nominated those acres — all of them in Golden Valley County — said it was interested in continuing its lease acquisition. Another 2,440 acres in the Little
Missouri National Grasslands in Bill- ings County that had been withdrawn in February will not be auctioned in May.
LLC, a lease company operating for Chesapeake Energy that had originally nominated the acres, and said the com- pany did not want to pursue the leases.
Gaebe said he contacted Blanca Peak
to about 500 mineral acres in Mountrail and McKenzie counties following the Game and Fish Department’s review. Wildlife Society spokesman Mike
The same footnote will be attached
McEnroe said he’s glad to see that the process of evaluating the importance of wildlife habitat before minerals are leased is working, but he doesn’t think it goes far enough. “This is not the guarantee we were looking for in the roadless (National Grasslands) area. We’re looking to have that designated as wilderness, but once it’s violated, you can’t go back,” McEn- roe said. He said 85 percent of the grasslands
Department recommendation should carry more weight in the process. The footnote attached to some lease
descriptions is the result of a Joint Policy on Mitigation of Wildlife Impacts, de- veloped after the February mineral auc- tion by the Department of Trust Lands, the Game and Fish Department and the North Dakota Industrial Commission’s Department of Mineral Resources. The policy says the Game and Fish
Department will develop a registry of essential habitat areas and the agencies will coordinate to minimize impact. The footnote says: “This tract is
are leased and 95 percent are eligible for leasing. Only 5 percent remains rela- tively intact, he said. McEnroe said the Game and Fish
within an area identifi ed as essential wildlife habitat. The lessee or lessee’s operator must contact the commis- sioner prior to any surface activity. Op- erational mitigation measures to reduce impact, including timing restrictions, location adjustments and reduced or restricted surface occupancy may be required. Habitat or terrain consider- ations may preclude locating a well site on this tract.” (Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 701-220-5511 or
lauren@westriv.com.)
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