N.D. mulls reservation drilling rules

N.D. mulls reservation drilling rules

	Published : Wed, 21 Mar 2007 17:10 By : Agencies Print this Story

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Newly introduced legislation should help encourage oil exploration on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, which covers a substantial chunk of the oil-producing Bakken geologic formation, the state Senate's majority leader said.

The bill would allow state regulators to monitor oil production on a North Dakota Indian reservation and give Gov. John Hoeven authority to negotiate agreements to share tax revenues with a tribe. It limits the tribe's share to 50 percent.

The measure was drafted with the Fort Berthold reservation in mind, said Sen. Bob Stenehjem, R-Bismarck, the Senate majority leader. North Dakota's other four reservations are not considered likely prospects for oil production.

Hoeven said Marcus Wells Jr., the chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes, suggested the legislation and has been involved in drafting it.

'The concept right now is that the governor would negotiate an agreement with the tribe to provide not only for the tax collection but also regulatory certainty, so that oil companies would come in and drill on the reservation,' Hoeven said.

Oil companies are presently exploring western North Dakota's Bakken formation for oil, a task they describe as expensive and fraught with technical difficulties.

If the same set of rules apply both on and off the reservations, companies are more likely to drill on the reservations, Stenehjem believes. 'That's the whole purpose of this is to encourage oil production,' he said.

Deadlines for introducing bills in the Legislature passed in January. Any new Senate bills or resolutions must be approved by a Senate delayed bills committee, which agreed Tuesday to allow the introduction.

Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, a committee member, said the new bill's provisions were offered as an amendment to existing legislation in the Senate Appropriations Committee. Introducing it as a separate bill will give both the House and Senate a chance to have hearings on the proposal, Mathern said.