Compiled by LAUREN DONOVAN, Bismarck Tribune

An oil well about to come off confidential status Monday could mean big things for Divide County.

The well south of Noonan was "spudded" by Mammoth Exploration in September.

Companies get six months to explore without publicizing how the well is producing, but that confidentiality period will soon end.

Lynn Helms, director of the State Oil and Gas Division, said if the well looks good, the area could see a number of rigs moving in.

He said he's already heard of rigs preparing to move down from Canada and other companies that are building new rigs to handle the demand.

The well - called Miller 44-7H - was drilled into the middle Bakken formation in the Williston Basin.

The Bakken formation has already proved highly productive further south across the state line just into Montana.

If it proves to be productive on the North Dakota side, it's likely the region from Belfield clear to Divide County will see activity.

In Divide County, just about every mineral acre has been snapped up for lease within the past year and a half. The action is fueled by expectation that horizontal drilling techniques into the middle Bakken formation will be a success.

Fingers are crossed. A horizontal well drilled last year in the same area near Noonan started out looking good and then production petered into the disappointing range.

- The Journal

Outage hums

The Coal Creek Station power plant near Underwood will be a beehive of activity through April 22.

The plant's Unit 1 is undergoing a scheduled outage, in which it's taken off line for maintenance and upkeep.

In general, the work involves the unit's boiler, turbine and air heaters, and pollution control scrubber and precipitator equipment.

The work is done every three years and requires more than 500 laborers to move in and do the work.

Most of the itinerant workers are from the area, but some come from out of state, meaning they check into motels and use gas stations and local restaurants.

The outage is timed so the plant is in top running condition for upcoming peak demand during the summer months.

Plant spokesman Lyndon Anderson the idea is to avoid downtime in summer, when replacement power demands top dollar.

Plant employees were recently treated to a prime rib dinner when the plant reached a milestone of 200 million megawatt hours of production.

- Underwood News

Simmering over boil

People in Garrison were simmering a little over how they were notified of a boil water order for city water.

The town has had a series of problems with its water starting last year and most recently was told people should boil water for consumption because of problems with the way the treatment plant flushes its filtration system.

Because word got out slow and partly by word of mouth, the city has decided to set out a protocol for notifying the public.

Officials at the hospital and the nursing home said they would have liked direct notification instead of hearing about it from people who heard about the boil order on the town's community access channel.

Hospital administrator Tod Graeber said he has to abide by the State Health Department's order, not assurances from the city that the problem had gone away.

"If the health department says we need to boil the water, we have to, to protect our patients," he said.

Michelle Fuller, Garrison elementary principal, said kids were drinking water all day after the boil order was issued, because no one at the school knew otherwise.

On a personal level, Fuller said she had been mixing her infant daughter's formula with unboiled water.

"I don't think I'll ever use Garrison water for her formula again, since one never knows if it is safe or not," she said.

In response, Garrison Mayor Allen Beierle set up a system of notification, including faxes to Garrison public facilities, word via community access channel and notices to area media outlets.

- McLean County Independent

No more jugs

Kari Staal has a nice collection of water jugs that she won't need anymore.

For years, she hauled drinking water from Watford City to the farm, but those days are finally over.

Treated city water started flowing from taps in the Staal farm home March 16.

It got there through the first leg of a new rural water distribution project that extends two miles west of Watford City and about one-quarter mile south.

Kari Staal said their farm desperately needed water, especially in the spring, when the cattle come in for calving.

The farm well production goes to the cattle, so the family had to go into town to shower at night and haul along light colored laundry for washing so it didn't get rust stains from the water.

The project's been in the works since 2003 and was possible because of a $630,000 loan from the USDA Rural Development program and a $1.5 million federal grant.

Next, the pipeline will go north of Watford City and eventually serve about 90 rural users.

Denton Zubke, chairman of the county water board, couldn't be happier.

"My first word is 'Fantastic,' and my second is, 'It's about time,'" Zubke said.

- McKenzie County Farmer