President Obama Says It's Okay To Frack -- Just Practice Safe Fracking -- March 21, 2015

The story was reported earlier but this is a better source. Rigzone is reporting:

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) released Friday its final rule through which the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would implement new regulations for hydraulic fracturing activity on U.S. and federal and Indian lands. The new rule, which will take effect in 90 days, would require oil and gas companies to validate the integrity of well construction and require companies to disclose the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing to BLM through the website FracFocus within 30 days of completing fracturing operations on a well. It also would ban the use of wastewater pits at drilling sites, requiring companies to use above ground tanks instead, to mitigate the impact of recovered waste fluids on air, water and wildlife. Additionally, companies would have to submit more detailed information on geology, depth and location of pre-existing wells to allow BLM to better evaluate and manage the risks of cross-well contamination with chemicals and fluids used in a fracturing operation that could result in a spill or blowout. 

There is a "laboratory" that will help sort out how these new rules affect the industry. The "laboratory" is the "Bakken laboratory."

I haven't done the math, but it is said that one-third of the Bakken coming out of North Dakota is produced on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

Many companies operating inside the reservation also operate throughout North Dakota. I assume they use the same proprietary cocktails across the Bakken -- the amount of proppant, water, and perhaps even the cocktail will vary -- but I assume those interested will extrapolate what they see in the reservation as likely to be the standard across the Bakken.

I know nothing about this but I have a hunch the natural gas industry (as opposed to oil) was the real target, although I doubt the outcome for either is all that different. 

With regard to waste, I think I've already seen the changes being made in the Bakken; to what extent, I do not know. But there will be entrepreneurs to take advantage of these new rules.

The reservation sits pretty much in the center of the Bakken -- certainly in the center of the Bakken's best locations. Note the location of the reservation relative to Mountrail, McKenzie, and Dunn counties:


These are most of the fields that are completely within the boundaries of the reservation:

Whiting's Sanish oil field is west of EOG's Parshall field; the Sanish is entirely outside the reservation. About one-third of the Parshall sits inside the reservation. I forgot to label Moccasin Creek in the graphic above -- it was a huge field for KOG, not a huge field for Whiting. Moccasin Creek is located just south of South Fork/east of McGregory Buttes.