NWLA Holds Annual Meeting
The Northwest Landowners Association held their annual meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at the Mountrail County South Complex in Stanley. This year’s meeting included hearing from the new director of the Division of Mineral Resources, discussion on the open fields doctrine, updates from the association’s attorney and updates from the USDA on options for producers impacted by recent wildfires.
NWLA Chairman Troy Coons opened the meeting and discussed the past year. The association hosted a constitutional conference with attendees from sixteen states. Coons said the conference allowed for building new relationships and networking. They have been meeting with the Public Service Commission and legislators on their plans for this new legislative session. They have also been meeting with the DMR including the new director and the next session.
The first guest of the day was the new DMR Director Nathan Anderson, who attended the meeting via Zoom. He has been in the position since September and knows there will be a steep learning curve. Originally from Minot, he grew up in the state and attended NDSU where he studied geology. He has lived in Colorado for the last 25 years, working in the oil and gas industry, and will bring that range of experience to the job.
He has spent the first months on the job learning the roles and responsibilities of the department, as well as the processes for hearings and orders. He has attended conferences that have helped him learn about the challenges faced in other states. He has also been holding several public outreach meetings.
As he works through settling into this new role, he said that he comes from a strong culture of environmental health and safety and looks forward to finding ways they can continue to improve. As he learns about his role, he wants to engage, listen, and ask the questions to do this job.
Those attending were able to ask questions including one about CO2 project, amalgamation, right-of-way takings and enforcing reclamation and rules regarding abandoned oil wells. He acknowledged that there are challenges with all of these things and that they need to find a balance that works for landowners and industry. He believes he will be able to do that, saying that oil and gas is important, but so is agriculture and that there needs to be a strong balance between them. He welcomes the conversations and respects both sides.
As he closed, he said he hears the concerns and asks people to be patient as he works his way into this new position with a goal to balance the needs while carrying out the rules and regulations, along with the mission statement of the DMR.
The next topic was the open fields doctrine which was covered by Towner and McHenry Counties State’s Attorney Joshua Frey. He discussed the history of the doctrine dating back to a 1924 Supreme Court case that said special protections under the fourth amendment do not extend to the open fields. While it has been challenged over time, the rule has basically held that open field is space not expected to be private. Courts have had a difficult time applying this, but has defined curtilage including defining privacy regarding a home and what is part of the home even if outdoors. That includes those areas outside of a home where intimacies of life extend, which can be harder to determine in rural settings versus city settings.
He discussed how this applies with law enforcement and their ability to investigate what is in plain sight and considered an open field. Those attending also discussed how this applies with ninth amendment, trespass laws, drones and more. Frey noted this is a subject that continues to be litigated in the courts.