May 10, 2013 - MAKOTI, N.D. — The Three Affiliated Tribes have broken ground for a $450 million oil refinery on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in northwestern North Dakota. The Thunder ... It will create as many as 100 full-time jobs.
The tribes have wanted to use a 469-acre piece of land near Makoti to build the refinery and produce feed for a buffalo herd. Plans call for the refinery to be built on a 190-acre portion of the land. The other land will be used for the buffalo.
Tribal members and others at the event praised Tribal Chairman Tex “Red Tipped Arrow” Hall for having the vision to pursue a refinery, a plan that began 10 years ago before the Bakken oil boom. Initially the proposal called for refining Canadian tar sands, but in 2008 the plans switched to refine the tribe’s own Bakken crude.
During the celebration, Hall reflected about his ancestors.
“We grew up poor. We were lucky if we had a pair of clean overalls,” Hall said. “But our parents made sure we went to school and got educated. They did the best they could for us. They didn’t know we’d have this oil and gas resource, but now we do. It’s our responsibility to manage it and we are.”
Three Affiliated Tribes officials are talking to other tribes about inter-tribe commerce agreements to distribute diesel from its refinery. Representatives from several tribes, including the Spokane Tribe of Indians, attended the event and are interested in distributing the diesel.
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Three Affiliated Tribes to revise refinery project plan
http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/614988/Three-Affiliated-Tribes-to—revise-refinery-project-plan.html?nav=5010
November 27, 2014
he Three Affiliated Tribes will be revising their plan for their refinery project near Makoti on the Fort Berthold Reservation.
Tribal chairman Mark Fox said the business council and those involved in the refinery development will be working on how they will move forward on the project.
Work at the refinery has been at a standstill right now, Fox said. He said some procedural matters relative to environmental impacts had to be dealt with along with some other items.
...The ground breaking marked more than 10 years of work since the tribes first started making plans for a refinery for the Fort Berthold Reservation. Because of the various federal permits and other approvals the tribes are required to obtain, the project had been delayed....
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/27/tribes-to-revamp-plans-for-proposed-oil-refinery/
Fox said the group needs to define exactly what will be built, what will be produced and how they are going to manage and run it. That information will be correlated with a finance package, the Minot Daily News reported.
“Even though we know we’re building it and we’re doing some things to prepare for that with the berm, other dirt work and other things that have been done, those will all fit in with what I’ll call our revised plan for development,” Fox said.