I wasn't going to link this story but after reading near the end of the letter Senator Conrad wrote regarding water issues in North Dakota, it was too good to pass up.
Talk about irony and audacity.
As most readers know, the Garrison Dam / Lake Sakakawea displaced Native Americans living on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Some of them moved to a new town, appropriately named New Town, with the flooding of their land.
Most readers also know the story of the lake and the plans to use a trivial amount of water from that lake to frack oil wells in the immediate area, i.e., the wells on the reservation.
After losing the specious argument that there wasn't enough water in the Missouri River / Lake Sakakawea for fracking, the US Army Corps of Engineers agreed to release the water (more than ten times as much as possibly needed) for fracking but for a fee. (The Corps is willing to release enough water to frack 10,000 wells per year; about 1,000 wells are being drilled annually right now.)
Yes, the US Army Corps of Engineers want to charge Native Americans to use the water that flooded their land.
Talk about irony and audacity.
It should be noted that the water the Native Americans would be taking out of the lake would be equal to about the amount that runs off their land in the first place into the lake. So, not only are they going to be charged (if the Corps gets its way) for water that flooded their ancestral homes, they will be charged for their own water.
Talk about a double dose of irony and audacity.
How will the Native Americans on the Reservation be charged for this water? Will they be singled out for a new deduction in their royalty payments for the expense of Lake frack water? Don't you mean that only those Native Americans with working interest will be paying the water fee? How many are there with working interest?
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that all Native Americans, by virtue of living on the Fort Berthold Imdian Reservation, share in royalties. In addition, the Three Affiliated Tribes, i would assume, are engaged in oil services in direct support of the industry. Also, many of the reservation residents have, no doubt, become investors in the oil companies operating in the Bakken. Additional costs in well completion affects all of them.
ReplyDeleteMy gut feeling is that, spread out over many individuals and companies, the additional cost per barrel, will be trivial, if there is a fee for using water from the river. It was the irony and audacity that caught my attention.
The bigger issues are legal and the costs to farmers but that is beyond the scope of this posting.
Search "Hidatsa" on this site for additional background regarding the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
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