Bismarck Tribune

By LAUREN DONOVBy LAUREN DONOVAN

An oil company won't hear an end to complaints about water truck traffic any time soon.

Zenergy Inc. trucks water to more than 30 oil wells west of Alexander and ranchers don't like the dust fog the trucks leave in their wake out on the rural roads.

Zenergy had planned to drill water wells out at the oil wells so it could quit hauling water, but an appeal filed by an environmental group puts those plans on the shelf for the next several months.

The Dakota Resource Council told the State Water Commission it wants a formal hearing on whether the commission should issue 20 permits to Zenergy to drill fresh well water.

Water commission spokesman Alan Wanek said an administrative law judge will conduct the hearing, possibly after May 1 when calving season ends, at DRC's request.

The commission approved the well permits a month ago, giving permanent permits to 10 already drilled under temporary permit status.

Council spokesman Don Nelson said the commission hasn't provided assurance that the wells won't harm the underground aquifer, where all the wells have to go. Nelson also wants to know whether oil companies automatically have access to drill for fresh water, or whether they need agreement from landowners to do so.

Some landowners required Zenergy to get their permission to come on their land to drill water in addition to oil. Most didn't include that in their lease.

Zenergy uses the fresh water to pump down oil wells, so the brackish water that comes up with the oil out there near Alexander is less saturated with salt.

Without dilution, the salt water crusts over the oil pump workings and causes expensive work-overs and delays.

Zenergy had a toxic salt water accident in the same oil field a year ago, spilling nearly 1 million gallons of toxic salt water into the Charbonneau Creek drainage.

The company has been cleaning up the site and operations manager Keith Hill said monitoring shows water going into the creek from springs and runoff does meet acceptable standards.

The State Health Department is still negotiating monetary damages with Zenergy over the Charbonneau spill.

The water commission said two months ago that Zenergy could drill the water wells, but it would have to drill them from 500 feet to 900 feet deep so the company's water wells don't deplete shallow ranch wells.

That decision is what's being appealed by the DRC.

Hill said its application has been a "hurry up and wait" situation for the company.

Hill said the company will continue to truck water to most of its 40 oil wells until the matter is resolved following the formal hearing.

He said the company gets more complaints about dust from the water trucks than about water wells.

Zenergy has 40 oil wells in the Foreman Butte field and has plans to drill another 30.

Each of them would have an associated water well under the company's master plan.

Hill said the company will only drill three or four more oil wells this year, partly because of water issues and partly because it wants to take a "step back" and make best use of the company's equipment.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or lauren@;westriv.com.)