A company that wants to drill fresh water wells in an oil field in western North Dakota can drill them, but only if it's prepared to go fairly deep.

The State Water Commission recommended approval for Zenergy Inc. to drill 20 water wells west of Alexander to use in oil production.

Ranchers told the commission last fall they worried that intense use of underground water for oil production would harm ranchers who need well water for cattle.

Most ranch wells are fairly shallow at about 150 feet. The commission said Zenergy's wells will have be between 500 and 900 feet deep so they tap into the Tongue River aquifer and stay out of the local ranch use zone.

Nine of Zenergy's wells are already in place under temporary permits. The commission said those shallow wells will have be plugged or turned over to the landowner and new deeper wells drilled when the temporary permits expire this year.

Zenergy Inc. is the same company that spilled nearly 1 million gallons of toxic salt water in the same oil field a year ago, causing the worst environmental oil field accident ever in North Dakota.

The spill happened when a pipeline broke and went undetected for two weeks. The toxic salt water ran into the Charbonneau Creek, killing all creek life and causing ranchers to look for other ways to water their cattle for a couple of months.

Zenergy has been cleaning the spill site and will have to monitor the underground and surface water at the spill site for several years.

Zenergy uses fresh well water to inject in oil wells to dilute the salt brine that comes up with oil and prevent the well equipment from crusting over with salt crystals. Working over a well that's crusted over with salt costs from $25,000 to $80,000 and can be necessary every month, under worst-case conditions.

The company wants to drill one water well for every of 70 oil wells in the Foreman Butte field. The field is located in the saltiest oil bearing formation in the state. It's located between Alexander and the Montana border.

Peter Skedsvold, of Alexander, said the commission's recommended decision to require Zenergy to stay out of the ranch zone and abandon its temporary shallow wells is a plus, but he's still troubled by the use of aquifers for oil well development.

Skedsvold said local aquifers are already shrinking because of prolonged dry conditions.

He said some ranchers wanted Zenergy to build a pipeline from a major water source with money that would have gone toward its environmental fine, rather than take water from beneath an arid region.

"Hopefully, the state is right and in five to 10 years, it's not a problem and we can look back and say we worried about nothing," Skedsvold said.

Dakota Recourse Council member Don Nelson, of rural Keene, said the council is worried about the long-term effects of tapping into aquifers.

"They are requiring that wells for use in oil and gas production be drilled deeper, but this does not eliminate competition with current or future agriculture or municipal users," said Nelson.

Zenergy spokesman Keith Hill said he hadn't had a chance to fully review the commission's decision, but the company would move forward in the next couple of weeks.

Hill said it costs Zenergy about $1 a barrel to handle water, so it will be conservative and use less than its permits require.

The wells would draw about 1 billion gallons of water over the life of the permits.

The commission's decision is subject to comments and a hearing, if one is requested.

The commission also said Zenergy will have to install monitoring wells to keep track of the water level in the Tongue River aquifer.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 1-883-303-5511, or lauren@westriv.com.)