Issues Update
Highway 85 through the Northern Badlands
The new Long-X Bridge is complete and the wildlife is using the crossings included in the design. BCA and Jan Swenson consistently lobbied to slow down traffic through TR National Park (the North Unit includes land on both sides of the highway north of the Little Missouri River) for reasons of safety, to protect the wildlife, and preserve the wild landscape values of this area. ND DOT needs to be lobbied to decrease the speed to 45-50 through the Park and a big sign north and south of the Park that says “Approaching Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Please Slow Down.” Another good BCA project: Raise the funds for a billboard and lobby ND DOT to allow it. It might take an act of Congress since it would be in violation of Ladybird Johnson’s Highway Beautification Act.
Little Missouri River Crossing
After an outcry from people across the country, federal funds were denied to ND two years ago for this proposed crossing north of Medora in the area of the historic ranches like the Short Ranch and the Elkhorn Ranch Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park as well as the USFS Elkhorn Ranchlands. This item continues to be on the agenda for the Billings County Commission. The imminent building of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library set to open in 2025 has brought fresh eyes to the potential impact of such a crossing to the Little Missouri River corridor. Locals, emergency vehicles, and visitors to the Elkhorn Ranch and the Elkhorn campground on the Maah Daah Hey Trail have been easily accessing these places for years via the gravel roads on the west side of the river. If such a crossing were built, it could accommodate hundreds, perhaps as many as a thousand, trucks a day. Encouraging visitors to take that route to the Elkhorn would place visitors in real danger as they try to navigate the roads around the bridge and the park site. Visitors need to be encouraged to continue to use the little-traveled west route to the Elkhorn.
Davis Refinery
The construction of the proposed Davis Refinery near Theodore Roosevelt National Park remains in limbo. In spite of the fact that the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality has issued a permit to construct the refinery, and extended the permit through September of this year, there has been no activity at the proposed site. Meridian Energy, the company proposing the refinery, continues to seek construction financing on Wall Street, with little success. The company has generated at least $10 million in stock sales to unsuspecting small investors, according to their filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (although one newspaper report a couple years ago said they had raised $40 million) and the money appears to be gone—spent on executive salaries and legal fees from numerous lawsuits filed against them by former contractors and employees.
The company faces an early fall deadline to start work at the site, according to DEQ officials. The DEQ has threatened to revoke the permit if work does not begin soon. The problem with that is, the state of North Dakota will take the blame for investors losing their money if the plant goes belly-up.
Stay tuned for more updates on this really bad idea.
Section Line lawsuit
Within the 1-million-acre Little Missouri National Grasslands (LMNG) lie several exceptional areas that the US Forest Service has designated either Inventoried Roadless (IR) or Suitable for Wilderness (SfW). These areas, which combined are approximately 40,000 acres, receive special protection to preserve their remote characteristics and are free from any surface oil development. Though BCA has not yet been successful in securing wilderness designation for protection in perpetuity, these designations provide protection in the interim and were part of BCA’s work since its first year. In 2012, the State of North Dakota and four western counties (Billings, Slope, Golden Valley, and McKenzie) filed suit against the federal government, claiming that they have the right, pursuant to ND state law, to build roads on all section lines within the LMNG, jeopardizing the integrity of the Inventoried Roadless and Suitable for Wilderness areas.
BCA petitioned to intervene in the case, but the US District Judge ruled that BCA’s interests were identical to the federal government’s interest and would be protected by the US Department of Justice defense of the case. BCA then filed an amicus brief, represented by EarthJustice. In 2017, the district court ruled against the state and counties on the grounds that the statute of limitations – 12 years in this case – for the state to make the claim to section lines had long since expired. The state and counties appealed, and BCA again filed an amicus brief supporting the US DOJ position. The district court’s ruling was affirmed on appeal to the 8th Circuit US Court of Appeals in a decision released April 2022. As a result, areas in the Badlands designated Inventoried Roadless and Suitable for Wilderness remain protected from oil and gas development. BCA members recently hiked to the top of one of these areas, Bullion Butte, in celebration of this significant victory. Although BCA’s involvement in the case was tangential compared to the primary role of the US DOJ in defending against the state and county claims, BCA’s involvement generated considerable statewide media attention when the 8th Circuit ruling was announced.