A policy to protect areas of interest from oil development in North Dakota is nearly ready for implementation.
Department of Mineral Resources, DMR, Director Lynn Helms shared how his office plans to administrate the drilling permit review policy for places in the state that the North Dakota Industrial Commission, NDIC, has chosen to protect due to scenic, historic or other similar reasons. Helms dissected the policy into its various parts before the commission on March 31.
To start, Helms clearly delineated what types of locations already get a closer look by his office when an operator has plans to drill near them. The locations have always been reviewed at depth by a qualified permitting manager at DMR, but some do guarantee additional review by the director. Those include a wellhead protection area, a planned bypass route, a city’s extra-territorial boundary, a historic site or a recreation or wildlife area.
“Our permit manager, Todd (Holweger) flags those, so those always come to my desk,” Helms said.
The policy also requires documentation that the applicant has notified applicable county or township leaders for locations near a state or federal highway. Helms added that his office will also require documentation of contact with the state’s Department of Transportation for these types of applications.
Hoping for no ‘quibbles’ on elevation points
The commission requires that each public land site covered by the areas of interest policy be protected with a one-half to two-mile buffer. In the case of the state’s buttes, the center of the buffer is to be at the highest point of elevation. Helms found a case where using that model would actually leave an important part of the butte unprotected. Black Butte in Slope County has its highest elevation on the western edge of the butte, so the two-mile buffer does not reach the eastern edge. Instead, the center point will be set at the next highest level which is more centrally located.
“We will follow the intent of the policy,” Helms said. “So it is not always going to be the highest point, but we don’t want to quibble about it.”
Helms also noted that Sentinel Butte near Beach in Golden Valley County is listed as a protected area under the policy, although it consists of entirely privately owned land. Nonetheless, it will stay on the list.
Computer model will check applications
The permit module of the risk based data management system within DMR is being modified to run a GIS query on each application seeking permission to drill received after May 1. Helms said his office will post an area of interest shape file on the NDIC website showing the boundaries for operators to check prior to submission.
The DMR website will include the applications in its daily reports section within five days of receipt of the application. At the same time, Helms will forward portions of the application by email to the various entities affected, such as the Game and Fish Department, Department of Trust Lands or the Theodore Roosevelt National Park superintendent.
It is also at this time that the public may submit comments about the applications regarding location, visual impact, and other concerns. They will have 10 days to do so, at which time an employee or contractor hired by NDIC Executive Director Karlene Fine will review the comments and summarize them for Helms within three days. Fine said she is seeking someone for the position and said it requires someone with strong attention to detail and the ability to summarize the information.
Since wells are often put on confidential status at the time of permit application, the amount of information available to the public may be limited to operator, well name, location and elevation. Jan Swenson, executive director for the Badlands Conservation Alliance, pulled Helms aside after the meeting to voice her concerns about lack of information available, saying he may not get quality comments from the people of North Dakota without greater detail about the sites. Though Helms told her it would be a felony to release the confidential information, she argued that citizens should have the information to make well-informed, valuable comments on each application.
Helms is not bound to act upon the comments, according to the policy.
Earlier in March, the commission removed a controversial section of the policy which allowed comments on applications for drilling on private lands in the areas of interest.
