N.D. workers return home after Oklahoma tornado

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Amy Dalrymple

WILLISTON, N.D. — Pilot Liz Lillard was in Williston on Monday as she watched a live feed of a massive tornado pass over her children’s day care in Moore, Okla.

“It’s the worst feeling in the world to watch a tornado go over your two kids and there’s nothing you can do about it,” Lillard said.

Lillard, a contract pilot for Hiland Partners of Enid, Okla., flies workers to and from North Dakota, which is where she was when disaster struck Monday.

Lillard’s son and daughter, ages 2½ and 7 months, were safe in a storm shelter at their day care, but phone lines were down, so Lillard didn’t know for two hours that they were safe.

“It was torture,” she said.

Lillard wasn’t scheduled to fly the workers to Oklahoma until Tuesday, but they decided to return early so Lillard could reunite with her family Monday night.

The family’s home is “actually in pretty good condition,” even though houses as close as three doors down were leveled, Lillard said.

Lillard’s husband, who was at work in Oklahoma City during the tornado, came home to find that everyone was safe, including the dog that had been outside during the storm.

“It was mass chaos, but my dog was just sitting in our front yard,” Lillard said.

Jason Kindred, who works as a consultant for Statoil in Williston, also is from Moore and was working in North Dakota on Monday when the tornado hit his town.

Kindred, an employee of MLB Consulting, started driving to Oklahoma and made it to the South Dakota border before he received a text message that his wife and two kids, ages 11 and 4, were safe.

Kindred’s family was in an above-ground storm shelter at his daughter’s school not far from the tornado’s path.

“It basically wiped out everything across the street from where they were at,” he said.

After hearing from text messages that his family was safe, Kindred turned around and drove back to Williston. His company will fly him to Oklahoma today to be with his family and check on his house, which doesn’t appear to be damaged.

“It was very stressful being 1,300 miles away from my wife and kids,” said Kindred, who has been traveling to North Dakota for work for more than a year.

Several oil and gas companies that operate in the Bakken have strong ties to Oklahoma.

Employees of Continental Resources, which is headquartered in Oklahoma City, began collecting donations Tuesday and volunteering with relief efforts, said spokeswoman Kristin Miskovsky. The company will set up a fund for friends and family affected by the tornado and donate to the Red Cross, she said.

“Our employees just want to jump in and help immediately,” Miskovsky said.

ONEOK Partners and ConocoPhillips were among companies that announced major contributions. Spartan Engineering, a company founded by a North Dakota native, said it planned to donate through the Pipe Liners Club of Tulsa.

Individuals can donate $10 by texting “red cross” to 90999.

Tioga crew camp resident airlifted after stabbing

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Amy Dalrymple

TIOGA, N.D. – A resident of the Capital Lodge crew camp near here was the victim of a stabbing and airlifted to Trinity Hospital in Minot, the Williams County Sheriff’s Office said today.

Tioga police notified the sheriff’s office at 6:30 a.m. Sunday that the 30-year-old man was brought to Tioga Medical Center. The man was found walking through the Capital Lodge camp with his wound, authorities said.

The man is in stable condition. Authorities did not release the man’s name.

It’s unclear where the stabbing occurred. This is the second stabbing the Williams County Sheriff’s Office has investigated at the Capital Lodge this year.

Faces of the Boom: Bus driver says traffic danger makes job more important

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Amy Dalrymple

Alexander, N.D., school bus driver Tana Turcotte, pictured Friday, May 17, 2013, in Williston, N.D., works as a bus driver so she knows her three kids will get to school safely. Amy Dalrymple/Forum News Service

WILLISTON, N.D. – Tana Turcotte has figured out a way she can make sure her kids get safely to school in the Oil Patch.

She volunteered to drive the school bus.

The Alexander woman said intense oilfield traffic in the once-quiet town means her job as a school bus driver is not particularly fun. Turcotte has to cross U.S. Highway 85 in Alexander 10 times during her route, a drive she doesn’t take lightly.

“Safety is a huge risk out here driving bus,” Turcotte said. “People are dying left and right.”

Turcotte, who has been driving a school bus in Alexander for four years, said she used to let students come to the front of the bus if they needed to talk to her. Now students are instructed to stay in their seats.

“You cannot take your eyes off the road for a second,” said Turcotte, who brought students to Williston on Friday for a field trip.

School bus drivers now pick up students who are close enough to walk to school but can’t because of the dangerous highway traffic, she said.

Local first-responders recently bought equipment to monitor traffic counts and violations. Turcotte said the monitors found that 80 percent of motorists violated traffic regulations.

Last week she saw a pickup going 45 mph in a 25-mph zone at 7:55 a.m. as students were heading to school.

“That irks me,” Turcotte said. “They could wipe them out in a second.”

The Alexander school district enrolled about 125 students this year in grades K-12, with many coming and going throughout the year, said Michelle Simonson, elementary principal.

Three years ago, enrollment was 53, she said.

Turcotte said it’s sometimes a challenge to find new housing developments that are popping up around town. Her route now includes stops at two different crew camps.

While other Oil Patch districts have had difficulties retaining bus drivers, Turcotte said she and many of the Alexander bus drivers continue driving because they also have kids who ride the bus.

Simonson said she’s grateful for the bus drivers.

“I wouldn’t want their job, that’s for sure,” Simonson said.

Turcotte has kids in preschool, first and third grades and said she may continue driving the bus until they graduate.

“If it stays like this, my kids won’t drive to school,” Turcotte said.

Radioactive waste on the N.D. monitor

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Amy Dalrymple

Eric Olson, operator at the Williston landfill, holds up one of an estimated 100 filter socks containing radioactive material that were improperly disposed of in a city of Williston garbage container on Thursday, May 16, 2013. Amy Dalrymple/Forum News Service

WILLISTON, N.D. – Landfill employees here discovered at least two “hot loads” this week, illustrating why a group of North Dakota citizens is worried about the proper disposal of radioactive waste that comes with oil production.

A Williston landfill operator found an estimated 100 filter socks Thursday containing naturally occurring radioactive material. The socks, which look like large tube socks and are used in oilfield salt water disposal wells to filter out the solids, should have been transported out of state but instead were hidden in a city garbage can.

The discovery came a day after the Williston landfill issued a $10,000 fine to a company that illegally brought about 50 filter socks to the landfill, said landfill foreman Brad Septka.

“We’re trying to do everything in our power to catch them,” Septka said.

A newly formed group called the Energy Industry Waste Coalition will meet Sunday in Minot to discuss concerns about radioactive oilfield waste and efforts to influence public policy.

Darrell Dorgan of Bismarck, who helped organize the group, said members worry about what happens to the radioactive material after landfills reject it.

“What’s happening is it’s just being scattered out here in the wind,” said Dorgan, owner of Dakom Communications who reported on radioactive waste in the 1980s while working as a broadcast journalist.

The naturally occurring radioactive material, referred to by the acronym NORM, is brought to the surface as a result of drilling and other oil production activities, said Dan Harman, manager of radiation control and indoor air quality branch with the North Dakota Department of Health.

The material can be found in oilfield waste, such as drill cuttings or tank sludge, Harman said. NORM is commonly found in filter socks, Harman said.

Currently, only low-level radioactive waste can be legally disposed of in North Dakota and the rest must be shipped to approved sites in Colorado, Michigan, Texas and other states.

The North Dakota Petroleum Council, an oil industry group, would like to develop a solution to safely handle the material within the state, said president Ron Ness.

The council is working with the Department of Health and the Energy and Environmental and Research Center at the University of North Dakota to study the issue.

“Unfortunately, if the only disposal options are out of state, I think that creates a bad environment for people to try to sneak bags of it into landfills,” said John Harju, associate director for research with the EERC. “People don’t know what to do with it.”

The first steps of the EERC study, which is expected to begin in the next few weeks, include getting a handle on the nature of the material in North Dakota and understanding it in the context of radioactivity that people are exposed to every day, Harju said.

“We need to get these things into some perspective,” Harju said.

For a comparison, Harman said a worker would have to stand 6 inches from bags of ceramic frac sand for 2,000 hours to get the same dosage of radiation as one dental X-ray.

North Dakota does not accept radioactive waste with levels greater than 5 picocuries per gram, which Harju called “amazingly low radiation.”

Other states accept waste with higher levels, some as much as 10 times higher, Harman said.

When North Dakota officials have asked other states how they determined the rates, most based their answers on what other states did rather than relying on science, Harman said.

The Department of Health has asked the Petroleum Council to bring a science-based proposal that would be open to public comment, Harman said.

Dorgan said he worries that if North Dakota increases the level of radiation it will accept and other states lower theirs, North Dakota could become a destination for the waste.

“We could end up as the dump site,” Dorgan said.

Brad Septka, landfill foreman for the city of Williston, N.D., pictured Thursday, May 16, 2013, has had to crack down on companies that try to illegally dispose of radioactive waste. Amy Dalrymple/Forum News Service

The Williston landfill already has taken steps to prevent becoming a radioactive wasteland.

Septka said the landfill increased fines for bringing in the waste from $1,000 to $10,000. Scale operators use Geiger counters to check every oilfield load and employees give drivers a list of oilfield waste management facilities.

“There’s no reason for it to come to the landfills,” Septka said.

The companies that receive the fines usually claim they didn’t know the items were there, but Septka said the waste often appears like it was hidden.

In 2011, the Williston landfill did its own testing on two filter socks and found that one had a radiation level of 17 picocuries per gram and another had a level of 45 picocuries per gram, Septka said.

The Department of Health now receives information about every load that is rejected at a landfill and follows up to see where the waste goes, Harman said.

In addition to reports from landfills, Harman said there was a confirmed case of a sack of filter socks discovered west of Tioga along U.S. Highway 2 this spring after the snow melted that appeared to have blown off a truck, Harman said.

Edmund Baker, environmental director for the Three Affiliated Tribes, issued a warning to tribal members early this year about radioactive waste, particularly filter socks that he said can resemble fishing nets.

“There’s a risk of children looking at these things not knowing what they are,” Baker said.

During the recent clean-up days on the Fort Berthold Reservation, volunteers found an estimated 30 filter socks, with a third of those concentrated around the Mandaree area, Baker said.

Baker said he’s working with the Environmental Protection Agency and watching what the Health Department does regarding disposal.

Don Morrison, executive director of the Dakota Resource Council, which is also involved with the newly formed coalition, said the group is getting organized to make sure the public has input on policy changes the state would make about radioactive waste.

The coalition will strongly oppose new sites for radioactive storage and increasing the level of radioactivity of material that can be kept in North Dakota, Morrison said.

“It’s time for North Dakotans to have a voice in deciding what’s going to happen,” Morrison said.

Eric Olson, operator at the Williston landfill, sets aside a bag of filter socks containing radioactive material on Thursday, May 16, 2013, to be disposed of properly. Amy Dalrymple/Forum News Service

UPDATED: Body identified as missing rancher; man charged with murder

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Amy Dalrymple

Jack Sjol, a 58-year-old Williston rancher, was identified this week as a homicide victim.

WILLISTON, N.D. — A Williston man is being held on $1 million bond after being charged with murder Thursday in connection with the shooting death of Jack Sjol, a rancher who had been missing for three weeks.

The North Dakota State Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man found by the Williams County Sheriff’s Office as Sjol, 58. A report from the medical examiner ruled the death a homicide and said Sjol died from a gunshot wound to the head and chest from a .300 caliber rifle.

Ryan Lee Stensaker, 33, Williston, is charged with murder, a class AA felony, for allegedly shooting Sjol one or more times, according to court records.

Ryan Lee Stensaker

The report from the medical examiner indicated Sjol was shot at his ranch northeast of Williston, but the body was found in a private dump ground about eight miles away.

Sjol had last talked to his girlfriend at 8:30 p.m. April 24 and was reported missing the next day. Investigators with the sheriff’s office said early on in the investigation that they suspected foul play and several other law enforcement agencies assisted with the search.

The sheriff’s office and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation discovered the body Tuesday morning east of Williston after executing a search warrant.

Sjol is a longtime Williston resident and former employee of the Williston Public Works Department. Family members who attended Stensaker’s bond hearing on Thursday declined to comment.

Williams County Assistant State’s Attorney Nathan Madden asked for Stensaker’s bail to be set at $1 million, citing previous felony convictions from 2004 and 2011 and prior instances of failing to appear for court appearances. Stensaker has prior drug-related convictions, according to court records.

Williams County prosecutors also charged Stensaker this week with being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of drug paraphernalia. Court records say investigators executed a search warrant on Stensaker’s Williams County home on Monday and found firearms and accessories, including a .300 caliber rifle.

His next court appearance is set for June 18.

Oil companies continue Pick Up the Patch campaign

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Amy Dalrymple

Volunteers clean up a ditch near Dickinson, N.D., this spring. Photo courtesy of North Dakota Petroleum Council

TIOGA, N.D. — Volunteers from oil and gas companies will clean up litter from roadways in Tioga today, continuing the North Dakota Petroleum Council’s Pick Up the Patch initiative that has already involved 500 employees this spring.

Dozens of energy companies have helped pick up more than 900 bags of trash and clean 20 miles of roadway in western North Dakota during the past four weeks. Cleanup efforts have been held in New Town, Williston and Dickinson.

Today’s event focuses on the Tioga area and an event Friday focuses on the Minot area.

The North Dakota Petroleum Council launched the campaign last spring to clean up debris left behind after the snow melted. Last year, more than 70 companies and 1,000 volunteers picked up more than 200 miles of roadways.

Helms: Keystone XL would save lives

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Amy Dalrymple

Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, testifies Tuesday, May 7, 2013, to the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. Photo courtesy of Matt Becker

BISMARCK – The Keystone XL Pipeline could mean three to six fewer traffic deaths per year in North Dakota as a result of reduced truck traffic, the state’s top oil and gas regulator says.

Lynn Helms, director of the Department of Mineral Resources, said Wednesday that he spent two days last week testifying in Washington, D.C., and meeting with federal legislators about the Keystone XL Pipeline and other issues.

Although the Keystone XL Pipeline would not go through North Dakota, it would transport 60,000 barrels per day of North Dakota Bakken crude with space for up to 100,000 barrels per day, Helms said.

If the pipeline from Canada to Oklahoma existed today, North Dakota would have 300 to 500 fewer semi trips every day because oil would be transported by pipeline instead of by truck, Helms said.

The Department of Transportation estimates that three to six traffic fatalities each year are associated with that amount of trucking, as well as 80 to 150 traffic injuries, he said.

The Obama administration has twice blocked the Keystone XL, which needs federal approval because it crosses the Canadian border. Supporters urge Obama to approve the 1,700-mile pipeline, but opponents raise environmental concerns.

Helms testified about the Keystone XL Pipeline’s impacts to North Dakota last week to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

“There are some real hard numbers that we were able to provide on Keystone XL to show the impacts to North Dakota,” Helms said.

Helms’ comments came during his monthly update with reporters on oil production.

North Dakota oil production rose 0.5 percent in March to 782,812 barrels per day despite winter storms that at times shut down roads in the Oil Patch, according to preliminary figures the Department of Mineral Resources released Wednesday.

“Considering what the weather was like in March, I’m actually really pleased that oil production rose instead of declining,” Helms said.

The March production figure marks another all-time high for North Dakota oil production, which was 779,050 barrels per day in February.

More than 70 percent of the oil is transported out of the Bakken by rail, said Justin Kringstad, director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority.

Helms also testified in Washington about the impact of the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed rule on hydraulic fracturing.

The Fort Berthold Reservation would feel the most impact from additional requirements on hydraulic fracturing, Helms said. Currently it takes about 180 to 290 days to get a drilling permit on the reservation, compared to 20 to 30 days for state and private lands in North Dakota, Helms said. With the new rule, Helms estimates the time to get a drilling permit on federal lands could double.

Oil and gas operators are picking up the pace in North Dakota, with the rig count reaching 193 in the state Wednesday morning.

Helms said he expects that number to continue climbing, but not to exceed 200 this summer. The all-time high was 218 rigs in May 2012, but operators are switching to higher efficiency rigs capable of drilling wells in an average of 22 days.

Spring road restrictions continue to slow oil activity in some areas, particularly Williams and Divide counties, Helms said. Those are the areas that will likely see additional rigs as restrictions are lifted, he said.

The percent of natural gas that is flared was 29 percent in March, down slightly from 30.4 percent in February. Helms said he expects to see significant progress to reduce flaring in the next few months.

Male body found near Williston

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Amy Dalrymple

WILLISTON, N.D. – Authorities discovered a man’s body seven miles east of Williston on Tuesday while executing a search warrant, said the Williams County Sheriff’s office.

The body was found during the course of the search, which began about 8 a.m. Tuesday involving the sheriff’s office and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

The body is being sent to the North Dakota State Medical Examiner’s Office for identification and cause of death.

Sgt. Detective Caleb Fry said authorities were waiting on positive identification before commenting further.

A rancher from the Williston area has been missing since last month.

It was unknown if authorities believe the body Tuesday is that of the missing man, Jack Sjol.

The sheriff’s office has said foul play is suspected in the disappearance of Sjol, 58, who has not been heard from since April 24.

Demand for library services increases as Oil Patch population grows

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Amy Dalrymple

Patrons use the Williston Community Library on Saturday, April 13, 2013. Amy Dalrymple/Forum News Service

WILLISTON, N.D. – The oil boom has prompted demand for library services here to quadruple, and the Williston Community Library is changing to meet the needs of its new population.

Job-seekers and oil boom workers often stand outside waiting for the Williston Community Library to open.

They come to use the computers or free wireless Internet to apply for jobs online, update resumes or email loved ones back home. At peak times, the patrons – primarily men – fill nearly every seat in the library.

Library Director Debbie Slais said the spike in demand for services has been stressful on staff, but they’ve made some changes to better keep up.

“It’s been quite a wild ride,” Slais said.

Some employees live in city-subsidized apartments, which has helped the library retain staff, Slais said.

The library added more computers and put strict time limits on computer usage to allow everyone an opportunity. Slais has noticed that many workers save up their money and the first thing they buy is a laptop to access the Internet.

The Dickinson Area Public Library has seen a similar increase in demand, with oilfield workers using the library’s Internet for everything from job searches to taking online safety courses, said Assistant Director Tina Kuntz.

The library has added some part-time staff to help keep up with the demand, Kuntz said.

At the McKenzie County Public Library in Watford city, it’s not uncommon for every table to be full.

Earlier this year, Nate Jeffries, a public works employee for Watford City, had to sit at the kids’ table because no other chairs were available. Jeffries, who moved to North Dakota from Colorado, uses the library for its free wireless Internet in his free time.

Brent Siu, who moved from Tennessee to Williston earlier this month, is one of the library’s frequent Internet users.

Siu, a truck driver, lives in a camper about 30 miles outside of town with limited cellphone reception and no running water. He spent one Saturday at the library video chatting with a friend.

“There’s nothing else to do in town,” Siu said.

Workers also frequently use the libraries to send faxes, make copies or scan documents.

“Our front service counter is just busy all the time,” Slais said.

In March, 1,600 people used the Williston library’s computers and 3,100 people accessed the library’s wireless Internet. The same individual could be counted more than once.

In both Williston and Dickinson, new families who have moved to the communities are getting library cards and using the services.

The Williston library now offers six story hours each week, up from one each week before the oil boom. The story hours are especially important for families that can’t find day care in Williston, Slais said.

“It’s a really good place for these new mothers and new kids to come and meet people,” Slais said.

The Williston library also is seeing a need for materials in Spanish and is ordering bilingual books and a bilingual learning station for elementary students. Circulation for the bookmobile is up throughout Williams County, with some rural schools depending on the bookmobile to help serve their growing enrollments, Slais said.

But one aspect of the library hasn’t increased much – its budget. The library’s revenue is based on property taxes, but so far the new housing being built hasn’t had much of an effect on the library’s budget, which is about $500,000 for this year, Slais said.

“Our income doesn’t rise in proportion to what our expenses are,” Slais said.

The library is usually open seven day a week but will be closed on Saturdays starting Memorial Day weekend and through the summer. Slais said she often gets asked why.

“I don’t have the money to do that,” she said.

The library in Dickinson also gets requests to stay open longer, Kuntz said. But the facility is already open 68 hours per week.

“We’re trying to accommodate everyone, but we can’t be open 24/7,” Kuntz said.

Faces of the Boom: Chiropractor follows patients to the Oil Patch

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Amy Dalrymple

TIOGA, N.D. – After Las Vegas chiropractor Stephen Alexander had 65 patients relocate to North Dakota, it wasn’t long before his phone started ringing.

The men who moved to northwest North Dakota to work in the Oil Patch struggled to find chiropractors available and called “Dr. Steve” for help.

“The area’s been so overrun with so many men, there’s not enough practitioners up here to serve those needs,” Alexander said.

Alexander, 43, who practiced for 12 years as a chiropractic physician in Las Vegas, decided to develop a chiropractic rehab clinic on wheels. He invested $200,000 in a 57-foot RV that is customized with a digital X-ray machine, examination room and other technology.

Alexander has been working in North Dakota full time since last October, primarily serving residents of the Target Logistics crew camps in Tioga, Williston, Watford City and Dickinson.

He parks his MaxHealth Mobile unit in the camp parking lots and takes appointments as early as 6:30 a.m. and as late as 11:30 p.m. to accommodate the workers’ long hours and different work shifts.

Alexander also provides on-site care for employees of energy service companies. He estimates he’s seen more than 2,000 patients from more than 40 states since October.

Many men have told Alexander that they would postpone seeking treatment because it was too difficult for them to take time off from work to drive to the closest town for an appointment.

“I’ve come across quite a few men living off a bottle of aspirin a week. That’s just not a lifestyle,” he said. “That’s a chronic, chemical Band-Aid, and I’m here to help.”

Alexander said he’s seen a significant number of men who have had surgeries before or who have herniated discs or other complex conditions.

“There’s a lot of men with bolts and rods and they’re out here working 13 hours a day,” Alexander said. “Some of these men, I’m in awe of because I can’t believe they get up every morning.”

In addition to chiropractic evaluation and treatment, Alexander performs drug testing, offers massage rehab and provides health exams for truck drivers who need to renew their commercial driver’s licenses.

Alexander plans to bring additional doctors to North Dakota and eventually expects to have four or five mobile clinics to serve the workers.

“This is a very satisfying professional pursuit to be at the right place at the right time and be needed,” Alexander said.

Alexander doesn’t have a website up yet but can be reached at (702) 630-1055 or maxhealthmobile@gmail.com.