Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation Oppose Federal Methane Regulations

Mary Steurer
North Dakota Monitor

Mark Fox, chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes, said he is concerned that new federal methane regulations could stifle oil and gas development on the Fort Berthold reservation.

“We have concerns to express,” he said of the Bureau of Land Management’s regulation. “Anything that will complicate our sovereignty process is of interest to us.”

The measure, which has been challenged in court by North Dakota and other energy states, tightens regulations on oil operators to limit natural gas emissions.

It also clarifies when operators must compensate property owners for burning natural gas. The BLM estimates the new rules will generate more than $50 million annually in additional royalties.

The rule is certain to affect the Fort Berthold MHA reservation, which is a major center for oil and gas development. The reservation had more than 2,900 active oil and gas wells as of June, according to the North Dakota Oil and Gas Division. The state has estimated that about 1,700 more wells could be drilled there in the future.

While the North Dakota state government also opposes the regulations, Fox noted that the MHA Nation’s interests are different from those of the state. He acknowledged that the MHA Nation must strike a difficult balance between protecting its land and preserving energy development.

Fox said he is open to working with BLM to change the regulations.

“Even if we are not in favour of it at this stage, I would be happy to sit down and analyse it in such a way that we can support the proposal,” he said.

Fort Berthold POWER, an environmental group affiliated with the Dakota Resource Council, said the regulations are necessary to reduce the waste of natural resources in oil and gas production.

“My ancestors worked hard to ensure that no resources were wasted,” said state Rep. Lisa Finley-DeVille, co-founder of Fort Berthold POWER. “The land is sacred to my people, and wasting any of the land’s natural resources is disrespectful to the land.”

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In comments submitted to the BLM in 2023, before the rule was finalized, the organization also cited health, environmental and financial impacts that affect Fort Berthold residents.

“We bear the brunt of the air, noise and light pollution associated with flaring,” the group wrote in public comments. “We lose millions of dollars in royalties from gas wasted by flaring.”

During the Bakken oil boom, flaring was often higher at Fort Berthold than elsewhere in western North Dakota because of challenges with natural gas processing and pipeline capacity. An analysis of 2022 flaring data by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism found that 20 percent of all flaring in North Dakota from 2012 to 2020 occurred on the reservation. It also found that the amount of gas flared at Fort Berthold was about three times greater than the amount flared on all other tribal lands in the U.S.

Since then, the number of fires in the reserve has decreased significantly.

For example, preliminary data showed that 3 percent of natural gas was burned on the Fort Berthold reservation in June. The state average for that month was 5 percent.

North Dakota, Wyoming, Texas, and Montana filed suit against the Interior Department in U.S. District Court in North Dakota in April, arguing that the BLM exceeded its regulatory authority by issuing the rule. Utah later joined as a plaintiff.

Attorneys representing the states have asked for a stay of enforcement of the rule until a final decision is made in the case. U.S. District Judge Dan Traynor has not yet ruled on the motion.

The plaintiff argues that the authority to regulate air pollution rests with the Environmental Protection Agency and states, not the BLM.