Random Update Of Road Conditions In The Bakken Oil Patch

The Bismarck Tribune is reporting:

Williams County road Superintendent Dennis Nelson has a one-word description for the county roads in the oil patch around Williston.

"Terrible," he said.

Last week, the county shut down truck traffic in the oil patch while Nelson pushed his crews to the limit to get the worst roads repaired. They're still terrible, he said.

This week, it was clear that the brief but expensive time-out for the oil industry got everyone's attention. A hastily called meeting Friday in Watford City drew a roomful of state transportation and county officials, road engineers and superintendents and oil representatives to talk about what's next.

Williams County, along with Divide County, achieved the shutdown by setting load restrictions so light only pickups and small service trucks could get around.
At the meeting, the phrase "load restriction" was never raised. Instead, it was replaced with the "private-public partnerships," to describe how counties can work with oil industry to maintain roads.

The oil industry donated equipment and materials to help fix Williams County roads, as it has elsewhere, but Jim Arthaud, a Billings County Commissioner, said the partnerships need a legal framework for liability, licensing and supervision going forward.

Water For Fracking In The Bakken

So, how much water is being released from the Garrison Dam today? Dynamic link here.

The answer: 20,000 cubic feet/second.

A cubic foot of water: 7 gallons.

So, in one second: 140,000 gallons of water released from the Garrison Dam today
In one minute: 8 million gallons of water released from the Garrison Dam today
In one hour: 500 million gallons of water released from the Garrison Dam today

Less then 4 million gallons of water are used to frack a well, but let's keep it simple:
500 million gallons / 5 million gallons = 100 wells

If I did the arithmetic correctly, enough water is released from the Garrison Dam each hour to frack 100 wells.

2,000 wells will be fracked this year. Less than a day's worth of discharge from the Garrison Dam should be enough water to frack all the wells that will be fracked in the North Dakota Bakken this year.

I apologize ahead of time if my calculations are incorrect; I will correct them if necessary.

Bakken City At 13-Mile Corner

For archival purposes.

This is an old story, and there is nothing new. However, this story came up among family members recently and I was unable to find it quickly on the blog, so now it is more easily searchable. The original post was here, but the Bismarck Tribune story link is broken, I believe.

The Williston Herald reported back in April, 2013:

A new incorporated city could be coming to Williams County in the near future.
During Tuesday’s Williams County Commission meeting, a group of developers from South Dakota presented a plan for Bakken Village, a new incorporated city to be placed directly east of the 13 mile corner.

Bakken Village was put together by Four Front Design and the owners of the property that will be developed into Bakken Village.

Under the contract agreed by both parties, about 70 percent of the housing built in the new city will have to be affordable, which representatives from Four Front said would be somewhere between $150,000 and $250,000.

While the idea of incorporating a new city might be new to the residents of Williams County, Four Front has experience doing it before.

Saturday Morning News And Links -- And A Little Fine Art

Snowy Memorial Day weekend for some, I understand. Links to come as stories start to appear.

• Miserable, autumn-like weather frustrating retailers.
• Cold temperatures hit the northeast (dynamic map; correct when posted).

Some unions now upset with ObamaCare. Cue up Connie Francis.

WSJ Links

Section D (Off Duty): somewhat disappointing section today. Not worth linking.

Section C (Review):

• Immunology gets turned on its head. This should be interesting. Sort of.
• Brian Greene: physicist on stage. Superficial report. Disappointing.

Section B (Business & Finance):

Section A

• Turkey thinking prohibition. This will go over well.  

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Sketch From Musical Instruments Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Olivia, Age 6