Do you remember the generous offer by a North Dakota rancher to swap land near the national park for land of equal value somewhere else? See posts above.
It looks like no progress has been made. I didn't bother to read the entire story, but my hunch is the Feds haven't even begun the search. The whole thing is an example of how the Feds will slow-roll the process. It only gives the activist environmental wackos a chance to organize. I think a lot of folks learned that lesson. Again.
The Dickinson Press is reporting:
A Montana businessman said Friday that he's resuming plans to mine gravel near Theodore Roosevelt's historic North Dakota ranch, saying the federal government hasn't yet come up with other land for him to mine.
Roger Lothspeich and his fiancee, Peggy Braunberger, of Miles City, Mont., signed an agreement in July 2012 with the U.S. Forest Service to work out an exchange for other federal land or mineral rights at a different location. But Lothspeich told The Associated Press on Friday that no trade proposals have been made so he's dusted off his original plan.
“We got no choice but to move forward,” Lothspeich said. “I can't believe it's taken more than a year to find a parcel with gravel on it in the million acres of federal land in North Dakota.”
The proposal to mine 25 acres of land just a mile from Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch cabin is threatening what government agencies and conservation groups have hailed that land as the “cradle of conservation.”If the gravel mine actually comes to fruition, they ought to put a big sign up: "Gateway to the Bakken."
How big is 25 acres? A mile square is 640 acres (one section). Twenty-five acres is less than 4% of one section. Twenty five acres is a million square feet.
And some folks aren't worried about the Feds taking over the process for oil and gas permitting in North Dakota. Wow.
[Update, January 7, 2015: link here.]
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