The List Of Extraordinary Sites Where Drilling Might Not Be Allowed

Bakken.com is reporting:

The sites proposed by Stenehjem are:

• Black Butte in Slope County
• Bullion Butte in Billings County 
• Camel’s Hump Butte in Golden Valley County
• Columnar Junipers (Limber Pines) and Burning Coal Vein, formerly known as the Dakota National Forest, in northwest Slope County
• Confluence of Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers
• Elkhorn Ranch
• Killdeer Mountain Battlefield State Historic Site, Wildlife Management Area
• Lake Sakakawea
• Little Missouri River
• Little Missouri River National Grasslands – areas designated by the U.S. Forest Service as not administratively available for future leasing after July 31, 2002
• Little Missouri State Park
• Pretty Butte in Slope County
• Sentinel Butte in Golden Valley County
• Theodore Roosevelt National Park
• Tracy Mountain in Billings County
• West Twin Butte in Golden Valley County
• White Butte in Slope County
• Wildlife Management Areas

A reader was kind enough to send that story, as well as an interactive link to "Wildlife Management Areas."

One of two things will happen:

• the legislature will push back on this and permits will be considered on a case-by-case basis
• the issue will be settled in court

Some of the "designated" areas seem a bit unclear, like the "entire" Little Missouri River drainage. Wow.  And Lake Sakakawea -- off-shore? The same with the "Confluence." The whole drainage area? Wow.

A very slippery slope at the top of which the attorney general is putting on his skis.

Additional Stories

February 22, 2014: managing editor, The Dickinson Press; property rights above all else

February 21, 2014: farmers/ranchers vehemently against "extraordinary list"

February 15, 2014: state senator representing Dickinson area comes out against "the extraordinary list."