Williston, ND Active Issues

rwaitman · Senior Member

RE: Park Board Mineral Lease Part 2

Slette · Veteran Member

Just in case some of you are wondering if indeed the Park District did sell the mineral rights, we did not.

They were leased for a 3 year period.

Just wanted to let everyone know.

-- Edited by Slette on Monday 24th of May 2010 07:24:50 AM

rwaitman · Senior Member

Sue Evans wrote:

The city commission agreed to send the park board a letter to have those minerals included in the auction process.

That would appear to be the simplest, most logical, and reasonable way to go. The questions would surely go away in a heartbeat.

;o)
R

Sue Evans · Senior Member

The city commission agreed to send the park board a letter to have those minerals included in the auction process.

rwaitman · Senior Member

Steve Powell wrote:

Ah, I see what you're asking now. I was not seeing past the mineral lease.

Can anyone tell us if K&A has been attempting to sub-lease or are they looking for someone to drill on their own?

Am I on the right lines now?

Yes you are, I'm sure someone could, but they probably won't.

Look, this was never an attack on K&A. It still is not. K&A are simply taking advantage of an opportunity, to do good for the community, and even though there is still the possibility (at least until someone explains the actual terms refuting that possibility) they can realize something above recovering their cost, that is still NOT the issue.

The issue is clearly about the process utilized to award the mineral leases.

#1- the appearance, however arguable, of something shady taking place.
#2- the lack of a request for bids, instead giving them to a "friend" of the Parks.
#3- the inexplicable failure, on the part of the PB President to provide a plausible
      explanation when simply asked in a respectful manner, which in itself would
     logically lead to more suspicion.

This is not any sort of personal attack. If perceived as such, that is simply not the case. The Park Board Members have been elected to serve the community. I believe that for the most part, most of them are making an honest effort to do so. We, as citizens, are entitled to ask questions, and receive an answer.

To their credit, several Board members have responded in a reciprocal manner to respectful queries.  Commendable! There are still unanswered questions that will not go away.

I understand that there are few who post on this page, but there are many who read the posts. The give and take, or lack of it, will surely underscore many unspoken issues.

I hope this is taken into account on election day.

Randy

Sue Evans · Senior Member

http://www.ag.state.nd.us/opinions/2010/2010L.htm

This is where you may locate the AG letter to the city. Perhaps if we all understood the letter the city had rec'd we may better understand the process the park board decided upon. It is the letter to Pete F. Our city atty.

Steve Powell · Guru

Ah, I see what you're asking now. I was not seeing past the mineral lease.

Can anyone tell us if K&A has been attempting to sub-lease or are they looking for someone to drill on their own?

Am I on the right lines now?

rwaitman · Senior Member

Sometimes, the most telling answer, is no answer.

As a citizen, parent, grandparent, and former Park Board Member, and particularly in light of the great hue and cry created by the recent agreement for the drilling of a well on city property, made between the City of Williston and a major oil company, I started the thread, in what I thought was a very respectful manner, asking for clarification of the sale of Park District Mineral Rights in Spring Lake Park to a local leasing company. Reading about it in the Williston Daily Herald was the first I knew about the agreement and its’subsequent approval by the Park Board.

In response, Park Board Members Darcy Collings, and Dave Slette, were kind enough to explain on this forum, some of the questions that I, and others, had. In the time since the initial conversation on the Activeboard began, the President of the Williston Park Board has issued a clarification of his statements in the Herald which re-iterated what he said at the monthly meeting of the Williston Park Board but did not answer the last few questions I have had about the subject. Being neither a petroleum land man, nor having any particular expertise in the leasing of public lands, minerals or otherwise, I have tried to educate myself by asking questions, and hope others are doing so, as well.

Two statements from professionals raised my interest in the process, the first statement being an opinion that ‘it was absolutely insane to issue a contract for public minerals without a bidding process’, and the second, that ‘those minerals, (talking about the proposed 77 acres) in any outright sale, would probably be worth anywhere from S1500-3500 dollars per acre’.

I, as much as anyone, appreciate the generosity of K&A for offering to purchase the 77 acres for $500 per acre. I also appreciate their expression of intent to donate any monies in excess of that original $500/acre along with 100% of any of the overriding royalties they might negotiate by a sale of those minerals to another company or individual, in which they would only recoup their original investment and not make any additional money or profit.

In a nutshell, this is admirable, magnanimous and philanthropic, almost to a fault. K &A should be commended all around.

However, there were two points that Dave Slette quoted from the “side letter” to the agreement which piqued my interest, and which I have quoted below.

3. If K and A decide to drill themselves they will pay the Park District an additional 500.00 per acre before well is spudded.

This was the thrust of the last few questions for which I asked for a clarification. Since there was mention in this “side letter”, of a possibility for K and A drilling their own well, but no mention of what kind of agreement they were giving the Park District in this instance, I felt that this was a reasonable question. This, then leads to the question that in the event a well would be too costly to drill on their on initiative, and they should negotiate with another company to participate in a well which might be drilled by that other company, what would be the significance and impact, if any, on the Park District’s behalf, pertaining to a portion of royalties which might be generated.

At this point, my question has not been answered.

The other point of interest was related to the actual drilling on the SpringLakePark surface area. That has been discussed in some depth since the question was asked so at this point, it is not as significant as the first issue. .

Again, respectfully, I would like to receive an answer, if simply for my own peace of mind as a citizen, not in any manner to seem confrontational or antagonistic.

Randy