I could be wrong, but I believe the number of active rigs in North Dakota was 169 yesterday, significantly below the all-time high of 179. This morning the count is up to 174 which is much more respectable.
On Friday night (June 10, 2011), the "only" highway through the North Unit of the Badlands (just south of Watford City) was abruptly closed due to "slides," ground shifting and tons of earth cascading over the highway. It probably closed about 4:00 p.m. -- I was driving through at 6:45, and was held up in a line of oil truck traffic for about 15 minutes. Highway patrolmen were helping truckers find alternate routes to their destinations. State highway 22 (Killdeer area) has been closed for quite some time due to slides and detours around this area were already constrained. Closing US Highway 85 south of Watford City obviously made things much worse.
I have no idea if US Highway 85 is open yet. There are ways around but I assume there are some wells that will not be reached if this portion of the highway is closed.
Slides in North Dakota are not uncommon (as noted in the link above). One can download maps showing where the slides have occurred at this site. When there, the best map to start with is the Watford City area, and then zoom in on the area in the Badlands, along the Little Missouri River.
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