Tag Archives: Stanley

N.D. energy company cited for safety violations after worker’s death

Posted on by
Reply

STANLEY, N.D. — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited First Choice Energy of Minot with nine serious safety violations following an inspection that was prompted by the death of a worker.

Joshua Hoiland, 31, Minot, died March 14 at a work site south of Stanley after he was caught in the agitator of an oilfield vacuum truck storage tank.

An OSHA inspection found that workers were exposed to unsafe conditions at the oilfield drilling and disposal operation, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Five of the nine citations involve OSHA’s confined space requirements, including lack of atmospheric testing, permitting, signs and emergency response procedures.

Other citations involve not properly protecting workers from open pit fall hazards, lack of energy control and lockout/tagout procedures and equipment, failing to conduct annual inspections of energy control procedures and failing to train workers on such procedures.

OSHA has proposed penalties of $33,000. First Choice Energy has 15 business days to comply, request an informal conference with an OSHA official or contest the findings.

“First Choice Energy failed to develop and implement the most basic of confined space and energy control safety protocols,” Eric Brooks, OSHA’s area director in Bismarck, said in a statement. “Companies have a responsibility to recognize – and train their workers to recognize – hazards unique to their job sites in addition to protecting workers from such hazards.”

‘Hype about Pipe’ public meeting scheduled Thursday in Stanley

Posted on by
Reply

STANLEY, N.D. – Western North Dakota landowners with experience dealing with pipelines and other oil development issues will lead a public meeting in Stanley on Thursday.

The meeting, sponsored by Dakota Resource Council, is at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Mountrail County Fair Building.

Panelists will discuss easements, impacts of pipelines on property, and other oil development related issues.

Panelists are Donny Nelson, Keene rancher and chairman the council’s oil and gas task force, Rose Person, White Earth rancher and member of the task force, and Mark Trechock, regional organizer with the Western Organization of Resource Councils.

Farm wives, others pampered during celebration of women

Posted on by
Reply

Jason Taylor serves a meal Tuesday, April 16, 2013, during a celebration of women event by Farmers Union Oil in Stanley, N.D. Amy Dalrymple/Forum News Service

STANLEY, N.D. — Women here sipped champagne and got pampered Tuesday with men dressed in tuxes doing all of the work.

Farmers Union Oil of Stanley and Tioga held a celebration of women to honor farm wives and other women in the community.

“They’re the ones that always get left out,” said John Knox, operations manager. “It’s always about the guys in the field.”

Jolene Brown, a professional speaker from Iowa who talked to the group, said women in the community in the middle of an oil boom are confronted with many changes.

“In the midst of all the flurry, sometimes you have to pause to applaud,” Brown said.

Women said they enjoyed having an evening to be spoiled and connect with other women.

“We pretty much live in a world of men here,” said Bev Neset of Stanley. “It’s nice to have something just for women.”

Women were greeted at the door with a yellow rose and champagne glass etched with “Celebration of Women.”

Judy Johnson of Stanley said it was rare to have an opportunity to get dressed up.

“We hardly ever go out and eat,” Johnson said.

Keeping their dress clothes mud-free was a challenge. Some women wore rubber boots through the muddy parking lot at the Mountrail County Fair Building and changed into dress shoes.

Steven Jensen, a board member for Farmers Union, put boots over his tux and offered women valet parking so they didn’t have to get muddy.

Steven Jensen, a board member for Famers Union Oil of Stanley and Tioga, greets speaker Jolene Brown at the cooperative’s celebration of women event . Amy Dalrymple/Forum News Service

Brown said women were seated with people they didn’t know to encourage them to meet new people.

“You are all each other’s families right now,” Brown said. “There is nothing better than the sisterhood we have in this room.”

Brown also spent time this week visiting with employees of Farmers Union, a rapidly growing cooperative that will open a second Cenex location in Tioga this spring. Brown said she emphasized finding balance in their lives.

“I don’t want your employees to go bust,” Brown said.

Sara Taylor removes her boots as she arrives at a Celebration of Our Women event. Amy Dalrymple/Forum News Service

Minot man dies in oilfield accident near Stanley

Posted on by
Reply

STANLEY, N.D. – The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the death of a Minot man that occurred last week on an oilfield location near Stanley.

Joshua Hoiland, 31, died Thursday at a site south of Stanley, said the Mountrail County Sheriff’s Office.

Preliminary information indicates that Hoiland was cleaning the inside of an oilfield vacuum truck when the agitator came on and he became caught in the movement of the agitator, said Eric Brooks, area director for the Bismarck OSHA office. He died at the scene, Brooks said.

A report from the North Dakota State Forensic Examiner’s Office said Hoiland died from blunt chest injuries. The injury occurred about 7 p.m. last Thursday, the report said.

Hoiland worked for First Choice Energy of Minot. This is the seventh workplace fatality investigated by the Bismarck OSHA office since Oct. 1, the fourth from the oil and gas industry, Brooks said.

Partnership proposed to fund new Stanley City Hall

Posted on by
Reply

A preliminary rendering shows what a new Stanley City Hall could look like under a proposal for a public-private partnership. Courtesy of DJR Architecture.

STANLEY, N.D. – A group that includes Earl Pomeroy is proposing to build a much-needed City Hall in Stanley using a public-private partnership funding model.

Potential investors, an architect and Pomeroy, the former North Dakota Congressman who now works for a Washington, D.C., law firm, met with Stanley City Council members Tuesday to outline their idea.

Under the proposal, private investors would finance the construction of a new City Hall and lease the building to the city, said Pomeroy, legal counsel for Alston & Bird LLP. The agreement would allow the city the option to buy the building at some point in the future, Pomeroy said.

“It’s a way of easing some of the upfront costs for them,” Pomeroy said.

The architect who is part of the proposal is Dean Dovolis, whose company Annabelle Homes has developed housing and commercial projects in Stanley.

Infrastructure needs are significant in oil-impacted communities, but the property tax base and sales tax base in the communities haven’t caught up to support the growth, Dovolis said.

“It’s like the growth got ahead of the infrastructure,” he said.

Stanley Mayor Mike Hynek said the City Hall is nearly 100 years old with serious roof and heating and cooling problems that would be costly to repair.

“We feel we’re better off pursuing a better structure,” Hynek said.

If the city takes on the project itself, city leaders would likely issue bonds to finance it, Hynek said.

City Council members agreed Tuesday to move forward with studying the feasibility of the public-private financing.

Dovolis said the next step will be to determine the scale of the project and analyze the best financial model to deliver it.

One of the greatest advantages of the public-private partnership is “you can move fast,” Pomeroy said. In this case, the City Hall construction could begin as early as April, he said.

“There’s no way a project funded through any other means publicly developed could get a timeline like that,” Pomeroy said.

City Council member Dennis Lindahl said another advantage is the city wouldn’t be obligated to go through the traditional bidding process.

A preliminary rendering of City Hall includes apartments that would be aimed for city staff, hospital employees and other critical employees who struggle to find affordable housing in the Bakken.

Hynek said one of the questions for city leaders is whether they want to be involved with a building that has apartments.

Leaders also need to evaluate costs and determine if it’d be cheaper for the city to do the project on its own, Hynek said.

“I don’t think either way we’re putting the city out on a limb at all,” Hynek said. “I think it’s a very viable option. We just need to learn more.”

The Elion Fund, a national equity fund, is committed to financing the project under the partnership, Dovolis said.

Alston & Bird LLP would handle the legal arrangements for the partnership, Pomeroy said.

If the public-private partnership moves forward, the Stanley City Hall could become an example for other communities in the Bakken to follow, Pomeroy said. The model could potentially be used for school projects as well, he added.

“In those areas where there’s more present need than present cash, if there’s a very solid long-term prospect for financial cash flow, the public-private financing solution can be very helpful,” Pomeroy said.

Project improves water, allows Oil Patch towns to grow

Posted on by
Reply

Crews work on installing pipeline for the Western Area Water Supply Project. Photo courtesy of AE2S.

WILLISTON, N.D. – Crosby Mayor Les Bakken sums up the appearance of his city’s water like this: “It looks like you need to flush the toilet all the time.”

The yellowish tint to the city’s water is something residents have been accustomed to, he said.

“It is perfectly safe to drink, but it makes lousy coffee,” Bakken said.

Residents are hopeful that will soon change as Crosby and eight other northwest North Dakota communities begin benefiting from the Western Area Water Supply Project.

The project will bring high-quality, treated drinking water from the Missouri River to residents of Burke, Divide, McKenzie, Mountrail and Williams counties, where water quality is poor and in short supply.

Crosby leaders will turn the valve on its new water supply on Thursday. Watford City celebrated a similar milestone last week.

Soon the communities of Wildrose, Ross, Columbus, Fortuna, Ray, Tioga and Stanley will begin receiving the high-quality water as well.

Many residents of those communities have experienced water restrictions due to rapid growth related to the oil boom, and the Western Area Water Supply Project aims to meet those demands, said Executive Director Jaret Wirtz.

A lack of water has been a huge factor to limiting cities’ ability to build housing and expand to keep up with growing populations, he said.

“This will really help those communities grow,” Wirtz said.

For Watford City, the project is a “godsend,” said Mayor Brent Sanford.

For the city to build its own water treatment plant, it would have been costly and difficult to manage for population growth and increased demand from the oil industry, Sanford said.

Watford City water is hard, high in phosphates and has more sodium than recommended levels, said Wirtz, who lives in Watford City.

“It’s going to be a really big change,” Wirtz said of the new water supply.

The Legislature created the Western Area Water Supply Authority, which is made up of several western North Dakota water districts. The project was funded with $110 million in loans which will be repaid through the sale of water to the oil industry.

Another $40 million in loans will be requested during the upcoming legislative session, which officials anticipated asking for, Wirtz said.

Due to additional demand for water, Wirtz will request another $80 million for the project in a combination of grants and loans.

“The reason we need more is the amount of growth that just keeps coming,” Wirtz said.

By 2025, the project is anticipated to serve more than 80,000 people in five counties.

Faces of the Boom: Rancher’s rocky land suddenly finds value

Posted on by
1

Rancher Dallas Moore of Blaisdell, N.D., has a large gravel mine on his property. The material is in high demand in northwest North Dakota for building roads and infrastructure, as well as for oil well pads. Amy Dalrymple/Forum Communications

BLAISDELL, N.D. – Dallas Moore doesn’t have oil wells on his ranch, but that doesn’t mean his land isn’t rich.

His property along U.S. Highway 2 just east of Stanley has a 120-acre gravel mine that is providing materials for road work and construction projects in northwest North Dakota.

Moore’s land has too much gravel to be suitable for farming, but now that rock is a hot commodity.

The mine opened in 2008 to supply material for a North Dakota Department of Transportation project, said Max Schriock, materials engineer and safety director of Aggregate Construction of Minot, which operates the mine.

At that time, there wasn’t other demand for the material.

“It started slow,” Moore said.

Aggregate Construction began mining again in 2010 for another road project. That year, the demand for material was so intense that contractors would pull off the highway to buy piles of aggregate.

“Since that time it is just growing by leaps and bounds,” Schriock said.

Now tons of gravel are weighed on location and trucked out to concrete vendors throughout the region. It’s primarily used for road base and concrete, but some is sold to oil companies for well pads, Schriock said.

Moore said he receives a royalty payment for the material after it is sold.

“I came up with a price that I could live with and they could live with,” Moore said.

Schriock said he’s seen landowners receive annual royalties in the $50,000 to $60,000 range and all the way up to $250,000 or $500,000.

Moore, 66, said he’s working to make improvements to the ranch that has been in his family since 1951. He and his wife hope to build a new home next spring.

“I want to leave everything better than how I got it,” Moore said.

Moore was 5 when his father bought the 1,760-acre ranch and recalls it was all bare ground without so much as a fence post.

Today Moore and his two sons have about 300 cattle. The property is also home to the grounds of the Blaisdell Rodeo, which celebrated its 55th year last June.

“The place is important to me,” Moore said. “It’s got a lot of me in it.”

Oil companies have not expressed interest in leasing the property, Moore said.

His land also has a small sand and clay pit, and a company is exploring the quality of rock in a third area.

In addition, Moore had received so many inquiries from people wanting to park campers on his land that he opened a camp with space for 100 RVs. He contracts with someone to manage the park. Moore’s next venture will be to add some truck parking along the highway.

The gravel mine will eventually be reclaimed and seeded for alfalfa, Moore said.

He’s not sure how much longer his ranch will have such a flurry of activity.

“I don’t envision it lasting more than a few more years,” Moore said.

Survey: Many longtime Oil Patch residents not happy about boom

Posted on by
2

WILLISTON, N.D. – A survey of Oil Patch residents bears out the old saying that money can’t buy happiness.

Sixty percent of longtime northwest North Dakota residents say they have benefited economically from the oil boom, but the majority say their quality of life has not improved, according to a new survey by University of North Dakota faculty.

UND geography faculty gathered perceptions of the oil boom by sending surveys to residents of Williston, Stanley and Watford City who have lived in their communities for six years or more.

“We wanted to understand how people who have lived in the area pre-current boom perceive economic, social and environmental impacts on their communities,” said Bradley Rundquist, UND geography professor.

About 17 percent said the oil boom has improved their quality of life. Fifty-two percent said they disagree or strongly disagree, and about 30 percent were neutral on the question.

The survey project also asked for written comments from respondents. Many participants wrote that the state should limit the number of drilling permits to allow communities to catch up with housing, law enforcement and other infrastructure.

“I would like the oil boom to slow down! It is too much, too fast,” one respondent wrote.

Faculty received responses from 237 people, with the most responses coming from Williston. Eighty-five percent of those who responded are between the ages of 41 and 80. The median number of years the respondents have lived in North Dakota is 50.

Written comments from participants varied greatly. Many don’t like how their communities have changed:

“Take it all back! We miss our old city of Stanley. The quiet, clean, happy, respectful, caring community! We hate it here now!” one participant wrote.

“The only way I can see things getting better is for the whole mess go BUST!!” another wrote.

Others were more optimistic:

“This oil boom is a great thing – will even be a greater thing – when issues are resolved, which will make residents happier, feel safer, and can be proud of their surroundings,” said one respondent.

“I have worked in the oil field for 34 years and it has kept our family farm in the family,” commented another.

Here are some of the other findings:

• Fifty-seven percent of participants said the oil boom is good for the community, and 53 percent said it’s good for families.

• Fifty-seven percent said their community is a safe place to live.

• Forty-six percent say their community is a good place to raise a family. Forty-one percent disagree or strongly disagree.

• Sixty-seven percent of participants said there are too many newcomers. Forty-one percent said the community welcomes newcomers.

• The most unified responses were in the topics of litter (95 percent say there’s too much), housing (97 percent say costs have increased) and roads (96 percent say roads are less safe.)

On questions about the environment, 68 percent say their community is a less environmentally sound place than it was five years ago, but only 14 percent said they’d like to see environmental groups such as the Sierra Club get involved. Sixty-two percent said federal agencies such as U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the EPA are too powerful.

The survey also covered media issues and political impacts of the boom.

Fifty-nine percent of participants said the federal government should play a larger role and 64 said that state offices should do more to help local residents. Half of respondents said state representatives are aware of the problems.

“Politicians in (the) eastern part of the state only care about the millions of dollars coming in and not what’s happening to the west,” one wrote.

This survey was a first step in a broader research effort about the Oil Patch, Rundquist said. Faculty plan to analyze the attitudes and views of different groups in the sample, such as men and women, youth and elderly, employed and retired, and political affiliation.

Researchers also plan to do field work and site visits. Rundquist plans to study the impact of oil-related infrastructure on the landscape. Another group of researchers led by UND faculty is studying North Dakota man camps.

“There are so many interesting research topics related to what’s happening there,” Rundquist said. “This is our first attempt to gather some data.”

Oil Patch schools in state of emergency

Posted on by
1

WILLISTON, N.D. – Oil Patch school districts seeing an influx of new students are in a state of emergency, superintendents told legislators Thursday during a meeting here.

Stanley Superintendent Kent Hjelmstad identified more than $200 million in needs for northwest North Dakota schools that anticipate as many as 3,000 new students next year.

Hjelmstad said the emergency needs include new buildings, additional staff, more buses, support for a growing special education population, teacher housing and equipment.

As housing becomes available in northwest North Dakota, more oil workers are going to bring their families and “the kids will now come in droves,” he said.

“There are literally kids standing there saying ‘Where are you going to put us?’” Hjelmstad said.

Members of the Education Funding and Taxation Committee met jointly this week in Williston with the Energy Development and Transmission Committee to tour the area and hear about the needs in oil country.

The Williston Public School District projects an enrollment increase of as many as 1,200 students next fall.

Superintendent Viola LaFontaine said modular classrooms are creating a temporary solution, but those will soon be maxed out. About one-third of the district’s classrooms are modular, including some that are from 1981 and one that has sunk into the ground, LaFontaine said.

“I don’t think that’s OK,” she said.

The Williston district would like to build a new elementary school and a new middle school and is working with an architect to guide the process, LaFontaine said.

School officials said the changes are happening so rapidly that they can’t wait for the next legislative session to get some relief.

“These are right-now issues because we have to have the teachers by August. We have to have a place to them to live by August,” said Marlyn Vatne, superintendent for Ray Public Schools. “We can’t look for money two years down the road.”

Hjelmstad suggested North Dakota consider creating a commission similar to one that Wyoming established to help schools respond quickly to growth related to coal.

McKenzie County Public School Superintendent Steve Holen said districts in Beulah and Hazen received funding in the 1970s and 1980s for the impact of coal development.

Holen suggested several possible solutions, including reevaluating districts’ debt limits, providing low-interest construction bonds and adjusting how oil and gas production tax revenue is distributed.

Committee chairwoman RaeAnn Kelsch, R-Mandan, said she has suggested that cities assess a fee for new homes that are being built that could be designated to new school buildings.

Several legislators questioned why the increased property tax base in the communities wouldn’t be able to support the growing school districts.

Superintendents said that eventually the property tax base will provide more support, but currently many of the students they serve live in temporary housing.

“Stanley is not benefiting much by those campers and those RVs in terms of taxes,” Hjelmstad said. “But they are benefiting because of the children.”

Holen said some may fear that the districts could overbuild, but school officials said they are being conservative.

“We are not coming in asking for more than we need,” Holen said. “We need some help though and we’re asking for some attention to that.”