INTERIOR DEPARTMENT TO SET UP HIGH-TECH ONE-STOP SHOP FOR FORT BERTHOLD, DELEGATION ANNOUNCES

Thursday, January 22, 2009

CONTACT: Justin Kitsch
or  Brenden Timpe
PHONE: 202-224-2551

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- U.S. Senators Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad and Congressman Earl Pomeroy announced today that the U.S. Department of Interior will establish a high-tech “one-stop shop” that will help expedite leasing and issuing of permits for oil and gas development on Fort Berthold Reservation. The North Dakota delegation said the project is a “good start” to their effort to cut the red tape that has slowed energy development on the reservation.

Work on the new high-tech one-stop shop is already underway, and it should be fully operational in about a month. It will be managed by an expert in oil and gas issues, along with two staff members, based in New Town, N.D. The office will work to expedite the leasing and permitting process by using video conferencing technology to network with the four federal agencies involved in oil and gas leasing at Fort Berthold. It will also develop Web sites and tracking methods that will simplify the process and guide those hoping to tap the oil-rich Bakken Shale Formation on which the reservation lies.

“Secretary Kempthorne made a commitment to get an office up and running before he left office, and an online one-stop shop is a good start,” Senator Dorgan said. “This will allow us to get this office going quickly so we can get these leases and permits moving. The new Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, also promised me that he’d work with us on this issue, and I’m going to keep pushing him to do whatever he can to allow the Three Affiliated Tribes to take full advantage of their oil and gas resources.”

“We’ve seen what the oil boom has done for the economies of towns across western North Dakota. The Three Affiliated Tribes should be allowed to share in this prosperity as well. This new “one-stop shop” will help overcome bureaucratic obstacles, allowing the Three Affiliated Tribes to tap into their oil and gas resources in an effort to spark their own economy,” said Senator Conrad.

“Bureaucratic delays have held up oil and gas development on the Fort Berthold Reservation for far too long, and I’m pleased Secretary Kempthorne worked with us to help resolve this issue before he left office,” Congressman Pomeroy said. “This one-stop shop will help the Three Affiliated Tribes utilize the resources on their land to increase our nation’s domestic energy supply.”

The Bakken Shale has estimated reserves of nearly four billion barrels of oil, yet only seven wells are currently producing on the reservation. A report issued by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, which Senator Dorgan chairs, found that the biggest road block to energy development is a 49-step approval process required by the Bureau of Indian Affairs for oil and gas permits and leases on Indian lands. Four separate agencies – the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Minerals Management Service, and the Office of the Special Trustee – are involved in that process, the report said.

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