The federal government bought the ranch in 2007 for $5.3 million. But the purchase of the 5,200-acre parcel did not include mineral rights. Roger Lothspeich and his fiancee, Peggy Braunberger, spent almost five years proving they own the right to remove gravel and other surface minerals beneath the historic ranch land near Medora.
Lothspeich had proposed a 25-acre gravel mine less than a mile from Roosevelt’s historic cabin. He estimated the site holds some $10 million in high-grade gravel that could be sold for road building and other infrastructure needs in North Dakota’s booming Oil Patch.
“I’d like to get going here,” said Lothspeich, a North Dakota native who owns a motorcycle, snowmobile and ATV dealership in Miles City, Mont. “I want to sell gravel to oil companies.”
Sexton said the agency began collecting gravel samples in October at sites in western North Dakota. He said the samples have been sent to a lab to test the rock for erionite, an asbestos-like mineral that has been linked to lung cancer.
Sexton said the land swap will take time.
“I think (Lothspeich) is well aware that this is not the fastest process in the world,” Sexton said. “It would be real nice to find an area that has got what he wants so we can swap it out.”Not the fastest process in the world! Understatement.
My hunch: maybe the grandchildren will see a gravel pit.
The original post can be found here.
[Update, January 7, 2015: link here.]
