Mercer County will take another stab at getting the heavily traveled road to the energy park north of Beulah added to the state's road system.

The state Department of Transportation turned down the county's request for the state to take over 10 miles of County 21 that takes hundreds of workers, trucks and utility vehicles to two plants and a coal mine.

The state said law limits how much paved road it can have in the system and it's within 45 miles of that limit, with requests like Mercer County's coming in from all over the state.

The Mercer County Commission decided last week to ask the DOT to conduct a feasibility study of all requests and rank them based on traffic counts, economic benefit and tourism.

The same request for a feasibility study asks the DOT to add high priority roads up to the statutory limit.

"… The Mercer County Commission feels strongly that there is not another stretch of road that provides the economic benefit to North Dakota that County 21 does," the commission's request says.

The potential for oil activity in that direction of the county will only add to the situation.

The county road is a Federal Aid Road, but the county receives $250,000 a year for that program and the upgrades the road needs now would take the entire federal budget for the next five years.

"That's hard to justify for the man who lives down at the end of a two-mile gravel road who hasn't seen two loads of gravel on that road over the last 10 years," Commissioner Frank Bitterman said. "That's especially true when that man reads we are spending $1.3 million on a well-paved road north of Beulah."

- Beulah Beacon

Co-op 'Blooms'

As of today, the long-familiar Farmers Union Oil moniker for businesses in Belfield and South Heart will cease to exist.

The cooperatives' members voted earlier this year to merge with Bloom Oil of Jamestown and take on a new name, Creative Energy.

A proposal to rename the merged businesses to Prairieland Energy was rejected by the secretary of state's office because it's too similar to another existing business.

Teri Bolke, general manager of the Farmers Union businesses, said it's expected the merger will result in cheaper oil for the co-op because Bloom Oil is a distributor. Other price benefits will take a while to work out, she said.

The main headquarters of the new cooperative will be in Jamestown.

Its six-person board of directors will have three from the Belfield and South Heart area. They are Greg Kessel of Belfield and Bob Kuylen and Daryl Zarak, both of South Heart.

- Billings County Pioneer

The Max School District is removed from the benefits of coal mining activity and tourism on Lake Sakakawea.

It does have wind, however, and it's poised to reap some financial benefit from that.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative is constructing a PrairieWinds project near Max and some of the 80 turbines will be located within the school district boundaries.

Donald Boehm, Basin tax specialist, said each wind turbine will have a taxable value of $17,000 for 2010, a number that will vary in future years, depending on age, income and investment return.

The project - along with a smaller one south of Minot - requires a substantial workforce and 600 semiloads of equipment and material.

Altogether, the project cost is $250 million. Construction started in mid-August and is expected to be complete next year.

It will be the biggest cooperative-owned wind farm in the nation, with a capacity of 115 megawatts of electricity and covering about 30,000 acres.

Ron Rebenitch, Basin's wind project manager, said the project is on the fast track.

"It'll be very busy for a while," he said. "We hope to have all 80 foundations for both wind projects shortly. It's a fast-track project."

- McLean County Independent