agriculture and energy

■ Sunday, April 7, 2013 Enid News & Eagle Page designed by: Violet Hassler

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By Robert BarronStaff Writer

Enid has been chosen as the site of a newcanola plant, and company officials are reachingout to Enid and area residents to make use of theplant for storage.

“We want to engage with the agriculturecommunity, elevator managers and grain deal-ers, especially reference the canola plant,” saidNeil Juhnke, president of Northstar Agriculture,which owns the plant. Juhnke hopes the areawill develop up to one to two million acres ofcanola in the area.

A rising starNorthstar is owned by PICO Industries,

which is the major investor. Northstar Foundersgroup owns 12 percent of the plant. The originalgroup is from North Dakota and South Dakota.PICO invited the Northstar Founders to invest,and they are askingOklahoma farmersand ranchers toalso consider in-vesting, as well.

The plant inEnid will be thecompany’s sec-ond; Northstar alsohas a canola plantin Minnesota. Juhnke said there are between 12and 14 canola processing plants operated bycompanies in the United States and Canada, andthat number is growing.

He said canola is growing in popularitybecause its main product, canola oil, ishealthy: It is low in saturated fat and evenlowers the risk of cancer, according to somerecent studies. Some large cities in Californiaand New York passed ordinances banningtrans fats — which contribute to heart disease— in foods, helping bring about the growthof canola oil in cooking.

“It’s driven by health,” Juhnke said.

Water, water everywhere ...Designed as a low water consumption

plant, projections are it will use 500,000 gal-

lons of water per day and return 100,000 gal-lons of wastewater.

The plant also will manufacture dry prod-uct and have an oil seed process.

Enid was selected primarily because of itsproximity to the majority of canola produc-tion in the area. That area extends into Kansasand southwest Oklahoma. A secondary rea-son is water availability in the area.

“Outside of Oklahoma City not manycommunities have it,” Juhnke said.

Another reason is Enid’s access to trans-portation, the Burlington Northern Santa Femain rail line.

The city of Enid passed a tax incrementfinance district to help plant construction, whichJuhnke said “leveled the playing field.”

A part of a communityAlong with the canola plant there is the

potential for other tenants that would benefit

from the loop railroad track that will be onthe property. Part of the company strategy isto interest area investors. If an individual hasthe opportunity to invest in a product, it cre-ates a unifying factor, he said. Juhnke said heis encouraged by the interest expressed.

His philosophy is to partner with canolagrowers and investors. For example,AdancePierre Foods exclusively uses canolaoil in its products. Juhnke hope to develop anagreement with them for purchase of canola.

Canola’s price has made it the No. 1 cropin Canada, he said. As a broadleaf plant,canola uses moisture efficiently, and farmerscan grow it with the same equipment they usefor wheat. They also can use different herbi-cides and clean up weed problems in theirfields.

PLANTINGPLANTINGits roots in Enid

We want to engage with the agriculture community,elevator managers and grain dealers, especiallyreference the canola plant.”

Neil Juhnke, president of Northstar Agriculture“

Canola plant officials looking to locals for help to grow

Canola grows in a field near Enid, which has been chosen as the site of a new canola plant, and company officialsare reaching out to Enid and area residents to make use of the plant for storage. (Staff File Photo by BILLY HEFTON)

By James NealStaff Writer

As rain falls over Enid ona cold day in April, it’s hard toconcentrate on worries aboutsurface moisture, but waybelow ground the story is a lit-tle drier, and the trend inavailable water supply innorthern Oklahoma aquifersis decline.

Source of waterEnid was built atop its own

water source: Enid IsolatedTerrace (EIT), a roughly 80-square-mile aquifer belowcentral Garfield County.

The city has long sinceoutgrown the capacity of thisaquifer and now relies pre-dominantly on water pumpedfrom wells fed by CimarronAlluvial Aquifer.

Noel Osborn, a hydrolo-gist with U.S. GeologicalSurvey Oklahoma WaterScience Center, told the EnidNews & Eagle last summerboth aquifers were formed byancient rivers.

“They’re both related tostreams and river deposits,”Osborn said of Enid’s twomajor water sources. “Riversand streams carry sedimentwith them, and over thou-sands and millions of yearsyou can accumulate fairlythick deposits of sands, grav-els and clays that can holdwater.”

Water, from rainfall, riverflow and irrigation, seepsdown through the soil intothis permeable layer — theaquifer — where it is stored.

Osborn said Enid IsolatedTerrace is so-named becauseit, at some point in ancient

history, became cut off fromthe river that deposited its per-meable layer of rock, sandand clay. She said the Enidaquifer likely once was con-nected to the Cimarronaquifer or Salt Fork of theArkansas River to the north,or possibly both.

Osborn said the EIT hasmuch less capacity than theCimarron for two reasons: itis much smaller in area,allowing for less capture ofprecipitation from the surface,and the layer of permeablerock and soil in the EIT ismuch thinner than that in theCimarron aquifer.

Osborn said the “saturatedthickness” of an aquifer is amajor factor in its water stor-age capacity. The EIT is littlemore than 17 feet in thick-ness, while the Cimarronaquifer ranges as thick as 110feet and averages a thicknessof 28 feet.

That greater thickness,paired with the Cimarronaquifer’s much larger area,stretching from WoodsCounty to the southeast acrossMajor and Kingfisher coun-ties and into Logan County,gives the Cimarron muchgreater storage capacity: 4.47million acre-feet in theCimarron compared to470,000 acre-feet in the EIT,according to USGS surveysfrom the 1980s.

According to OWRBrecords, most of the city’swells in the EIT, excludingprivate wells and rural waterdistricts, date back to the1950s. Newer wells, begin-ning in the 1970s, are on theCimarron, clustered west ofDrummond, in the Ames area,

near Ringwood and west ofCleo Springs, all in Major andWoods counties.

According to OWRB fig-ures, 87 percent of Enid’s per-mitted water production nowcomes from the Cimarron.

Trend in levels“The trend is still down-

ward,” said Kyle Murray, ahydrogeologist with Oklaho-ma Geological Survey.

Murray said OklahomaWater Resources Board mon-itors 16 wells annually in thewater fields that supply Enid— 13 in Cimarron AlluvialAquifer and 3 in Enid IsolatedTerrace.

“If you look at that data forany one of those wells, it’s

still declining relative to lastyear and previous years,”Murray said.

OWRB records show theCimarron aquifer peaked atabove-average water levels in

2009, then went into sharpdecline as the drought set in.

Murray provided OWRBrecords for five wells in theCimarron — wells he said arerepresentative of Enid’s pri-mary water source.

Those five wells sawdecreases in water level ofnine to 17 feet on measure-ment scales of 13 to 22 feet.

All five wells were wellbelow average for the last 30years, and one was at an all-time low since measurementsfirst were taken in 1976.

Murray said the levels are

monitored only once per year,and the most recent readingswere taken in February,before recent precipitation.

But, even if the measure-ments had been taken after

recent precipitation, Murraysaid it is unlikely the aquiferswould have shown any appre-ciable increase in water leveldue to the volume needed torecharge an aquifer and theamount of time it takes forwater to travel through theground to reach aquifer stor-age.

“I do think there’s going tobe a delayed response if wedo indeed have recharge fromthe rainfall,” Murray said.

“We might not see it formonths, if not longer thanthat, depending on how per-

meable the soil is. I doubt wewould see that yet.”

Murray said it wouldtake months of normal pre-cipitation levels to not onlylift the drought but to begin

recharging aquifers.When the aquifers do

begin recharging, Murray saidthe Cimarron aquifer wouldrecharge faster than EIT.

While aquifer levels likelywill eventually recharge,Murray said water conserva-tion still is the best answer foraddressing water needs.

“Conservation is animportant response by thepublic and consumers intimes of drought,” Murraysaid, “and water use restric-tions should be implementedby water supply companies.”

Enid News & Eagle Sunday, April 7, 2013 ■ Page designed by: Violet Hassler

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movementConservation ... and months of normal rainfall ...the best solution to area water woes, experts say

UNDERGROUNDan

Rain falls over northwest Oklahoma. Officials say it will take months of normal precipitation to not only lift the drought but recharge aquifers. (Staff Photo by BILLY HEFTON)


New exploration and drillingfor oil and gas in north centralOklahoma is expected to taper off inthe next three years, but that doesn’tspell the end of play in the area.

Industry forecasts and local eco-nomic development officials are pre-dicting continued production andservice activity to remain strongthrough the foreseeable future.

Drilling activity in north centralOklahoma continued to pick up pacein 2012, with the intent to drill andcompleted wells increasing in com-parison to 2011, according to figuresprovided by Oklahoma CorporationCommission.

Intents filed with OCC forGarfield County were up more than82 percent in 2012 over the previousyear, with 115 filed in 2012 com-pared to 63 in 2011.

OCC data for 2012 drilling com-pletions still is being collected, butthose already in the books for 2012show a corresponding increase — 63wells completed in Garfield Countyin 2012 compared to 27 in 2011.

Grant County, in the heart of theMississippi Lime play, also showedstrong growth in intents-to-drill andcompletions in 2012, with 276intents filed in 2012, compared to162 in 2011, and 201 completionsalready filed for 2012, compared to99 for 2011.

Moving away from theMississippi Lime play, some coun-ties showed only modest growth inoil and gas activity in 2012 as com-pared 2011.

Kingfisher County registered69 intents-to-drill in 2012, up sixpercent over 2011, and 35 comple-tions in 2012, down about 32 per-

cent from 2011.The state as a whole showed

growth in the oil and gas industry in2012, at rates lower than individualcounties involved in the MississippiLime play.

OCC registered 4,214 intents-to-drill in 2012, compared to 3,732 for2011 — an increase of about 13 per-cent. Completions also were up in2012 for the state, with 2,978 alreadyfiled, compared to the com-plete figure of 2,600 for2011.

Rig counts also were upin 2011 — the most recentannual report completefrom OCC — with amonthly average of 180rigs operating in the state in2011, compared to 128 in2010, 94 in 2009 and a 20-year peak of 200 in 2008.

Total production figuresprovided by OCC showsignificant statewidegrowth in natural gas pro-duction in 2012, and adecrease in oil production.The year-to-date figures for October2012, compared to the same periodin 2011, showed an 87 percentincrease in the state’s natural gasproduction and a 20 percent reduc-tion in oil production.

The major players in theMississippi Lime area showed corre-sponding growth in their activity in2012, and don’t show signs of slow-ing down in the immediate future.

Chesapeake Energy, the largestleaseholder in the Mississippi Limeplay, reported 273 horizontal pro-ducing wells in the Mississippi Limeplay in the company’s most recentreport to investors.

Chesapeake’s fourth quarter 2012net production averaged 32.5 thou-

sand barrels equivalent per day(mboe/d), and 41.6 gross operatedmboe/d, up 208 percent year overyear.

Other companies are buying theirway into the Mississippi Lime play,and its future production.

Chesapeake in February signed ajoint venture agreement withSinopec International PetroleumExploration and Production Corp.,

whereby Sinopec purchased aninterest in 425,000 acres in theMississippi Lime play — half ofChesapeake’s lease area in northernOklahoma.

Sinopec agreed to pay $1.02 bil-lion in cash for the purchase, and thetotal area is estimated to hold 140million barrels of oil equivalent inreserves, according to a Februarypress release from Chesapeake.

Sandridge Energy also reportedstrong growth in its MississippiLime production in the fourth quar-ter of 2012. The company reported a35.9 mboe/d production from theplay in the fourth quarter of 2012, up19 percent from the same quarter in2011, according to the company’s

February report to investors.The report listed Sandridge’s

total 2012 production from theMississippian at 17.4 million barrelsof oil equivalent in 2012, up 72 per-cent over 2011.

While production and investmentin the Mississippi Lime play contin-ue to increase, new lease acquisi-tions have slowed over the last year.

The pace of signing new oil fieldleases in the Mississippi Lime playpeaked in 2011, with 12,540 newleases in the Oklahoma portion of

the play, according to figuresprovided by Enid RegionalDevelopment Alliance.

That pace slowed in 2012with 3,642 new leases, the low-est level since a 10-year low of

1,414 leases inked in2009.

A majority of theactive leases in theMississippi Lime playare set to expire in2015-16, according toERDA executivedirector Brent Kisling.

But, Kisling said aslowing pace of newleases doesn’t neces-

sarily signal a slowing of the boom-ing pace in Enid’s economic growth.

Kisling said even once the major-ity of exploration and drilling iscomplete, the wells still will requiremore service than operating wellshave in the past, since the new pro-duction is being completed byhydraulic fracturing, which requiresmore ongoing service.

That ongoing service will keepservice companies operating inGarfield County and surroundingareas for the foreseeable future,Kisling said.

He said ERDA still is gettingcalls from service companies andlarger production companies lookingfor facilities from which to stage

operations in the Mississippian, “andthat’s an indication there’s still a lotof work to be done in that play.”

Kisling said the focus now needsto be not so much on when or if theoil play will slow down, but ratheron how to capitalize on theincreased activity.

“It is still our role at EnidRegional Development Alliance tomake sure we capitalize on thisgolden age in our local economy,and to help figure out what’s next,because there will be somethingthat’s next,” Kisling said.

He said Vance Air Force Baseand agriculture likely will remainthe second- and third-highest con-tributors to the local economybehind oil and gas, but added thelocal economy is becoming morediverse.

He said the local economy expe-rienced a significant benefit in 2012from the presence of constructioncrews building the Chisholm ViewWind Project, and will experience asimilar benefit in 2014 from crewsbuilding the planned Northstar AgriIndustries canola processing plant.

The local area also continues tosee increased investment fromcrews working in the railroad andpipeline industries, Kisling said.

Enid’s economy also will contin-ue to expand in the retail sector,Kisling said, as national retailerstake note of local investment andrecord sales tax returns.

“When you set a record for retailsales in 2011, and then turn aroundand beat that by 13 percent in 2012,that’s going to get a lot of attentionfrom the retail industry,” he said.

Kisling said Enid’s economy ispoised to continue its growth,through the oil boom and beyond.

“There is still a lot of wealthmoving to the area right now,”Kisling said, “and I expect that tocontinue.”


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Oil play in Oklahoma continues to fuel growth in local economy

WEALTHof fortunefor area

a

There is still a lot of wealth movingto the area right now, and I expectthat to continue.”

Brent Kisling, executive director,Enid Regional Development Alliance“


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By Cass RainsStaff Writer

Drought conditions notseen since the days of theDust Bowl might have drivensome agribusiness into drydirt, but others are making acomeback with sand.

Brent Kisling, executivedirector of Enid RegionalDevelopment Alliance, saidEnid is seeing the amount offracking sandbrought into thearea and takenout into the oilfields growingsteadily.

He expectsmore than 500,000 tons of thefracking sand to be offloadedin Enid this year.

“Last year, we had175,000 tons offloaded,”Kisling said. “I think it’s go-ing to continue to grow. Someof the biggest players in fracksand have contracts in Enid.”

He said there are a lot ofbusinesses from the oil indus-try that are readily seen in thecommunity, but fracking sandis not as visible to the public.

“The frack sand industry isone that sits a bit more behindthe scenes,” Kisling said. “It’sa huge contributing factor towhat’s going on in Enid rightnow.”

The bulk of the frackingsand coming into Enid fromareas along the MississippiRiver. The round sand makesit a perfect medium for frack-ing because of its size anduniformity.

The sand is brought intoEnid by rail and sent by trucksinto the nearby oil fields.

“We have a great rail infra-structure in Enid becauseEnid has more dry-grain stor-age capacity than any othercity in America,” Kisling said.“The same equipment used tooffload grain can be used tooffload frack sand. Wealready have the infrastruc-ture in place to support it.”

WB Johnston Grain hastransitioned from grain tofracking sand after a declinein wheat production becauseof the resources the companyalready had in place.

“Really, because of howdevastating the impact of thedrought has been on ourindustry, we started searchingfor other alternative uses forour elevator infrastructureand, more importantly, thereal estate structure and ourreal estate along the rail,”Joey Meibergen executivevice president of WBJohnston Grain, said. “Ourelevators, their proximity tothe rail and being able to beserviced by the railroad wasthe No. 1 reason.”

He said other companieshave transitioned from grainstorage to fracking sand, andWB Johnston in Shattuck isdoing it as well.

Oklahoma’s largest pri-vately owned grain elevatorbusiness, Johnston Grain op-erates 20 elevators in Oklaho-ma and Texas. It also operatesfive ports in Louisiana, WestVirginia and Oklahoma.

Meibergen said droughtand farming policies sawdeclines in grain storage, andthe company was looking atother industrial bulk com-modities to offset loss ofgrain.

“Oklahoma production inacres planted continues to godown,” he said. “We’re tryingto find out what the new normis.”

Most of the sand beingbrought into Johnston is fromWisconsin and Minnesota.

“What makes frack sandunique is its shape, purity andability to withstand pressure,”Meibergen said. The sand isbrought to Enid via a specialhoppered rail car, half the sizeof a grain car because the sandweighs twice as much as thegrain, he said.

“The entire grain industryis a volume industry. It hascertainly helped make up forwhere agriculture haslacked.”

Both sand and grain can-not be handled at the sametime. If grain production wereto increase, Johnston couldswitch back, Meibergen said.

“If sand ever went awaywe could go back to grain,” hesaid. “We’ve taken advantagewhen those opportunities pro-vided themselves in the past.”

Fracking sand is moved in the storage area of WB Johnston Grain. When the agricultural market began to openstorage space at the Enid company, Johnston turned to fracking sand, used in oil field work that has seen anupsurge in recent years. (Staff File Photo by BILLY HEFTON)

Sand has become new wheat for Enid,for WB Johnston Grain storage facility

GRAINa different

The entire grain industry is a volume industry. It has cer-tainly helped make up for where agriculture has lacked.”

Joey Meibergen, executive vice president of WB Johnston Grain“


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The State of Alabama is receiv-ing power from wind farms inGarfield and Grant counties after amulti-million-dollar investment inthe area.

The farms produce electricalpower through a purchase agreementwith Alabama Power. TradeWindEnergy built the farms and later soldits interest to Enel Green PowerNorth America, of Boston. GeneralElectric has a 49 percent interest inthe system.

Brent Kisling, executive directorof Enid Regional Development

Alliance, said there are 141 turbineswith a maximum capacity of 235megawatts. The project took about12 months for completion, starting inNovember 2011 and ending justbefore Christmas 2012. To qualifyfor the federal production tax credit,the project had a deadline of Dec. 31.

TradeWind Energy of Lenexa,Kan., was the developer. The com-pany started leasing land three yearsago, Kisling said.

“They set up MET towers allaround northwest Oklahoma. Theyput them on the tops of buildings andon the top of cell towers to check thewind speed at 300 feet,” Kislingsaid.

The company then began leasingland, starting quietly, but it soonbecame public. Two projects eventu-ally were funded, one between Enidand Garber and one by Covington. Athird project near Hunter was notfunded, he said.

The farms bring in approximate-ly $5 million annually between roy-alties paid and ad valorem taxes. JoelQuinn, superintendent of schools atPond-Creek Hunter, said the windfarm will affect the school fundingformula, which will keep between$500,000 and $600,000 out of hisfunding for six months.

“It should be beneficial in thefuture, but we won’t get any moneythis year. They took a five-year man-ufacturer’s exemption. The state willreimburse us the same amount we

were receiving, but we will get it atthe end of the year,” Quinn said.

Quinn said he has known themoney is coming and is working tomake sure the school systemremains solvent. Most of the windturbines are in the Pond Creek-Hunter district, but there also are afew in the Hillsdale district and onein the Billings school district, hesaid.

Garfield County AssessorWade Patterson said the wind farmhas not yet been valued by theOklahoma Tax Commission. Hesaid that probably will occur inMay or June. Patterson anticipatesthe value will be between $300million and $375 million and, ifso, will generate approximately $4million in taxes.

“That’s just speculative,” he said.He does not track royalty payments.

Former state representative CurtRoggow, who is a lobbyist forOklahoma Wind Coalition and alsofor the city of Enid, said there havebeen a number of policy changeslocally and federally, but Oklahomacontinues to maintain production taxcredits. Some states have droppedthose credits, causing a drop in windfarm projects in parts of the U.S. anda slowdown in ordering wind turbineparts.

The company that developedChisholm View Wind Project hasbeen recognized by American WindEnergy Association for innovatingthe means to deliver Oklahoma windenergy to customers in the southeast-ern United States.

Turbines have power to deliver to state coffers

WINDFALLfor the future


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By Jeff MullinSenior Writer

The Eastern red cedar tree ismany things to many people.

To those with allergies it is asource of misery. To landowners itreduces productivity and land value.To wildlife conservationists it repre-sents a threat to bird and animalhabitat, as well as to native plants.And to rural homeowners, it is a firehazard.

But to Craig McKinley, professorand extension forester with theOklahoma State University depart-ment of Natural Resources Ecologyand Management, it representssomething of potential value.

“I think we should utilize theresource,” said McKinley. “To methere is something sad about burningup good, solid wood.”

Eastern red cedar is categorizedas an invasive species, but McKinleypoints out it is a native species thathas become invasive because it is soprolific. Eastern red cedar(Juniperus virginiana) is native inall but four of Oklahoma’s 77 coun-ties, according to OklahomaForestry Services.

“The reason we have a problemnow is, as humans, we have con-trolled fire,” McKinley said. “Andwith the control of fire came theelimination of the natural environ-mental control of Eastern red cedar.”

In terms of ground cover,McKinley said, Eastern red cedar ismost prevalent in what he called the“second tier” of Oklahoma counties,those on a rough line fromWoodward County to Osage County.

“That is where you have the high-est degree of ground cover,” he said.

A red cedar task force formed in2002 by Oklahoma Secretaries ofAgriculture and Environment tostudy the problem estimated that, bythis year, annual state economic loss-es resulting from the proliferation ofthe Eastern red cedar would total$447 million.

“The problem becomes en-croachment on land that people wantto use for something else,” Mc-Kinley said. “There is simply toomuch red cedar.”

Eastern red cedar also robs theland of a commodity becomingmore and more scarce in these timesof drought: water. Research by OSUfound one cedar tree can take up to30 gallons of water per day from thesoil, while one acre of cedars canabsorb 55,000 gallons of water in ayear.

Dan Stidham, area forester withOklahoma Forestry Services, is con-cerned about the impact of Easternred cedars in riparian zones, ecosys-tems that occur between land andrivers or streams.

“Red cedars take over and limitthe natural regeneration of pioneerspecies like cottonwood and wil-low,” he said. “They come into thearea and reduce those trees’ability toregenerate naturally.”

Another negative impact of theEastern red cedar, Stidham said, isthe “loss of habitat for wildlife thatutilize those tree species.”

Cottonwoods are water-lovingtrees themselves, Stidham said, andthey often lose out in competitionwith Eastern red cedars.

“They (cedars) intercept thatwater as it starts to be absorbed intothe soil profile,” Stidham said.“They use a considerable amount ofwater each day before cottonwoodtrees can use it.”

Take a drive along the CimarronRiver, Stidham said, and you’ll seethe effects of the Eastern red cedaron cottonwoods.

“You’ll see a decline in the sizeand number of large cottonwoodtrees,” he said. “They can’t competewith the cedars.”

Controlling the Eastern red cedaris easier when they are small,Stidham said, “waist-high or short-er.” Then they can be controlled byclipping or prescribed burning.

“Fire controlled it early in our

history,” McKinley said. “That’s thebest way to cheaply and effectivelycontrol red cedar.”

Burning the Eastern red cedar isbest done “under the right conditionsand managed by the right people,”McKinley said. “You have to have aburn plan. Just to go out and strike amatch, you need to stay away fromthat process.”

The trees also can be controlledmechanically, cutting them downwith chainsaws or knocking themdown with bulldozers.

“Once they get taller than four orfive feet high, they are not controlledby fire, then you have to turn tomechanical removal,” said Stidham.

“Some folks out of Texas use achipper and chip it up right where itis,” he said. “If you are going to usea chipper to chip it up, you might aswell collect the chips and use themas mulch.”

The trees also can be treated withherbicides, McKinley said, but thatis a costly, time-consuming process.

“It involves individual tree treat-ment in most cases,” he said. “Someare used. My dad went at them withherbicides, but he was retired, he hadthe time.”

Oklahoma Forestry Services esti-mates the cost of controlled burns toeradicate Eastern red cedar at $20 to$25 per acre, while mechanicalremoval methods can cost hundredsof dollars per acre.

The inherent problems with theEastern red cedar has attracted theattention of one state legislator, Rep.Richard Morrissette, D-OklahomaCity, who introduced three measuresrelating to the tree in this year’s leg-islative session. One, HB-1513,would provide training for non-vio-lent state inmates to harvest the trees.That passed the House and has goneto the Senate.

Other measures introduced byMorrissette would further eradica-tion efforts, while another would useharvested Eastern red cedar trees tosupply power to state-run facilities.

McKinley is all for using theEastern red cedar, rather than simplyknocking them down or burningthem up.

“One of the more popular ways ismulch,” he said. “There are no

mulch manufacturers in the state,however.”

Eastern red cedar shavings alsocan be used in the oil patch, as a lostcirculation material, used to slow theloss of drilling mud in fractures orpermeable soil formations.

“It is utilized as a component ofdrilling mud, placed down the oilwell hole through a pipe,” saidMcKinley.

Cedar wood is aromatic andrepels moths, so it often is used as alining in cedar closets or cedarchests. It also resists rot, so is often

used in fence posts. McKinley saidhe heard of one man who fashioneda casket from red cedar wood.

OSU researchers are developinga particle board made from Easternred cedar, McKinley said.

“It has a similar quality as south-ern pine,” he said. “It is a possibili-ty.”

Eastern red cedar oil, McKinleysaid, makes up about “2 to 3 percentof the weight of the tree,” which isused in medicines and cosmetics.

“Those are some opportunities,”he said. “What we have to do ismatch up the resource with someonewilling to invest in a commercialfacility.”

McKinley said he has talked toseveral companies about turningEastern red cedar into wood pelletsto be used as heating fuel.

Last fall an Oklahoma City firm,Sun Rays 2 Oil, proposed building a$200 million plant in Enid to extract

red cedar oil from shredded trees,then turn it into jet fuel or diesel.

That project is presently on theback burner, said Brent Kisling,executive director of Enid RegionalDevelopment Alliance.

“We have been working withthem the past several months on set-ting up a plant in Enid,” Kisling said.“We were very close to making anannouncement about the plant, butthere were several fatal flaws in theiranalysis of the logistics of transport-ing the trees to Enid.”

Kisling said he expects the com-

pany to announce it is going to buildits plant in another Oklahoma city,but he is hopeful it will build a sec-ondary plant here.

“That is definitely a project wecontinue to work very closely on,”he said.

Sooner or later, however, Kislingsaid he expects some sort of facilitythat utilizes the Eastern red cedar tolocate here.

“That is one of those industriesthat I have no doubt that somedaythere will be some kind of conver-sion plant in Enid,” he said. “Whenyou’ve got a tree that is claimingover 700 acres a day in the state,you’ve got to find a way to control it,and adding value to it is the best wayto do it.”

McKinley agrees.“Most people just try to get rid of

them,” McKinley said. “It would bebetter if we can control them and uti-lize them.”

BURNINGup an opportunityOfficials would like to see invasive red cedarused in some way, instead of just destroyed

Fire (top) and mechanical devices (above) are two ways to eradicate eastern red cedar that isinvasive in northwest Oklahoma. Officials, however, would like to see the trees harvested forsome use rather than just destroyed. (Photos provided)

■ Sunday, April 7, 2013 Enid News & Eagle

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By Phyllis ZornStaff Writer

The ongoing drought has hadan affect on cattle producers, butgood herd management and strongprices have averted crisis.

Recent snows and rains havesparked some hope the drought islifting, said Rick Nelson, GarfieldCounty agriculture extensionagent.

“We have been in the most

intense area of the drought,”Nelson said. “But it’s better than itwas a year ago. A year ago therewas 65 percent of the continentalUnited States in moderatedrought. Now it’s 51 percent.”

The entire state of Oklahoma israted as in “moderate” to “excep-tional” drought. Garfield county israted as “extreme,” Nelson said.

A soil probe now can be insert-ed three feet into the ground tocheck moisture levels, he said.

Jerry Nine, owner ofWoodward Livestock Auction,said the drought has been tough oncattle producers.

“It’s been hard to make anymoney because they have had tobuy so much feed,” Nine said.

Cattle producers sold downstock early in the drought toreduce their losses, Nine said.

“Other states came in andbought our cattle pretty high inpairs,” Nine said. “Normally in adrought state when you have tosell your cattle, you have to sellthem pretty cheap.”

Nine estimates herd size has

been reduced about 40 percentoverall since the drought began.

Nelson pointed to GarfieldCounty numbers recorded the pre-vious year.

“In a year’s time, we’ve got17,700 beef cows, and that’s down13.66 percent from last year,”Nelson said.

Nelson said cattle sales haveremained strong, which helps theproducers. The lower numberswill drive high prices for beef.

“Sales are still good — there’sstill beef demand,” he said. “Withthe lower inventory, it’s going tohang in there until about 2014.”

“Now it’s starting to rain, andthat’s good,” Nine said.

But Nelson said continuedgood management will be impor-tant.

“Even if we come back to anormal situation, we’ve beenthrough two to three years ofdrought, and it’s going to take thesame amount of time to recover,”Nelson said. “You’re going tohave to give the pastures time torecuperate.”

For best long-term recovery,cattlemen will have to take carenot to overgraze the pastures,Nelson said.

Dry weather tough on area cattle industry

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When the farm bill was not approved lastyear the process had to begin again.

U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla., is chair-man of the House Agriculture Committee, andhe will lead the ag committee through theprocess. They are preparing to start markup ofthe bill, with less money to spend than the lastfarm bill, Lucas said.

“We didn’t get it done last year, and we startall over,” he said.

Federal budget cuts kicked in at the first ofthe year, and the Continuing FundingResolution extended the previous year’s budg-et, but it was only approved for half the year.The rest of the year must now be approved,Lucas said. The House will proceed with look-ing at a budget prepared by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. The Senate also approved a budget, andLucas predicts the two never will be recon-ciled.

“We needed to know how much money wehave to spend, and now we know that,” Lucassaid.

The next step is the House AgricultureCommittee taking up the bill. Lucas predictedwork on crafting the farm bill will be ongoingthrough June, and committee members proba-bly will start with the bill that was agreed onlast year but never went to reconciliation.

Reconciliation is the process of putting theSenate and House bills into one package.

There are still issues to be sorted out withthe Senate, Lucas said.

The previous bill approved by the U.S.Senate cut $23 billion from the farm bill, butthe House version cut $35 billion. They neverreconciled the bill to reach a final number.

“We will start this time with how big do thesavings have to be,” Lucas said.

President Obama would like to sign a grandbargain for a long-term spending reduction,and if that happens the amount available willbe known. The Ryan budget will provide guid-ance. That budget advocates $31 billion in

commodity portion and also calls for foodstamps — the largest portion of the socialnutrition program — to be sent as a block grantback to the states for administration.

“I don’t see the president signing that or theSenate passing that,” Lucas said.

Some policy questions also are to be deter-mined.

The Senate is concerned about crop rev-enue, called shallow loss revenues, which setsa safety net for protection of commodityprices. However, the proposal in the Senatewould benefit the Midwestern states, whichgrow corn. Lucas prefers a choice that willgive producers the option of taking the cornprogram or another aimed at wheat, cotton andother crops. He expects the final bill will havesome sort of choice on commodity options. Hestill needs to determine if there will be a nutri-tion title in general.

Then the committee must get its work done,get the bill to the floor for approval and hope-fully sent to the Senate. He hopes the Senatewill approve a bill, and it will be sent to a con-ference committee for reconciliation. Lucaswill preside over the conference committeethis year, as chairman of the AgricultureCommittee.

He said the farm bill most likely will have acommodity title and contain food stampreforms while establishing programs for allfarm groups and regions.

“It we do all those things and still get amajority of votes in the Senate, it will go toconference committee,” he said.

Lucas tried to finish the bill last year, butcould not get it done because of a lack of com-mitment during election year and failurebetween the leadership. When the farm billwas not passed the current bill continued,extending the 2008 farm bill yet another year.

All of that, and the weather, leads to frustra-tion for the Congressman that represents north-west Oklahoma.

“Whatever is in the next farm bill will besubstantially less money. Plus it needs to rainmore this year,” Lucas said.

After an ongoing dry spell that has lasted several years,both Congress and northwest Oklahoma need some rain

DROUGHT-BUSTERlooking for a

Wheat stands in a field near Enid. Work is beginning again on a farm bill, with U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Okla.,leading the committee. (Staff File Photo by BILLY HEFTON)


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By Bridget NashStaff Writer

“Wheat” and “Oklahoma” go hand-in-hand, but what happens during the yearswhen “Oklahoma” and “drought” often arefound in the same sentence?

“The stands of wheat in northwestOklahoma are not at the level right now thatwould be consistent with average or above-average,” said Roger Gribble of OklahomaState University Cooperative Extension’soffice in Garfield County. “That is the plants’response to the drought.”

In addition to drought conditions, north-west Oklahoma also saw a hard freeze late inMarch that could impact the wheat crop.

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to see someinjury,” said Gribble. “Most of it will proba-

bly be cosmetic damage to the leaves.”Rick Nelson, extension educator for agri-

culture programs, is optimistic the freeze hitduring the wheat’s first hollow stem growthstage and will have caused little damage.

While it will be good news if the freezedidn’t damage the wheat, the fact remains thedrought’s impact can’t be reversed.

“We were close to 160 million bushels lastyear,” said Gribble. “This year I expect 100million bushels or less. People will graze outsome wheat. We call it abandonment. I don’tknow what the abandonment number willbe.”

The wheat crop also impacts the cattleindustry in Oklahoma.

“We didn’t have near the number of stock-er cattle that we normally have,” saidGribble.

Gribble said the effects of the drought onthe wheat already have occurred, and there isno turning back now.

“We just didn’t have enough rain,” saidGribble.

The weather predictions are calling for arepeat, Gribble said, with a warmer, dryerspring and a hot summer.

There is still a chance this year’s wheatcrop will come up to the average mark.

“We’re still in a drought, but my hope isfor the average crop,” said Nelson. “With therecent moisture we received, I’m optimisticwe’ll get to average.”

Nelson said the good news is the wheathas not succumbed to any of the other possi-ble problems that can plague growth.

“We haven’t had any observable diseaseand very little insect issue,” said Nelson.

DRY year for wheat

a

Wheat is beginning to come up across northwest Oklahoma. Agofficials are predicting a hard year for the area’s staple cropdue to a lack of moisture. (Staff Photo by BILLY HEFTON)

By Bridget NashStaff Writer

Water flows in an instant when we turn thetap, there are bottles and jugs of it at localsupermarkets and of late it has been fallingfrom the sky, so it’s easy to see why it’s hardfor some to realize we are in a drought.

But northwest Oklahoma is experiencingextreme drought conditions, and it affectsmore than our ability to water the lawn everyday.

One easy way to see it is to drive out tocountryside ponds or area lakes. The most vis-ible poster child for the drought this year hasbeen Canton Lake.

“The drought is affecting us all, but it’sespecially affected Canton because of the per-petual water storage contract that has been ineffect since 1991,” said Tom Adams, CantonLake Association board member.

The Canton impactThe contract allowed Oklahoma City to use

30,000 acre-feet of water from Canton Lake tohelp alleviate its own water shortage.

“Seeing how it was low to begin with, it hasbeen virtually devastating,” said Adams.

Currently there is no water access to thelake’s boat ramps, even though recent precipi-tation raised the lake about a foot. Adams saidthe lake’s Canadian Day Use ramp is open butonly jon boats (flat-bottomed boats) are able tolaunch from the ramp.

For a community that depends heavilyon tourism aspects of a nearby lake,Canton’s economic impact from the loss

of lake traffic can’t be ignored.“The impact that Canton has in a 30-mile

radius is annually about 20 million dollars,”said Adams. “Those figures are compiled bythe U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.”

“These numbers are just staggering,” saidJeff Converse, president of Canton LakeAssociation. “Canton has 770,000 visits ayear.”

Converse said 240 jobs are affected byCanton Lake.

“You can only make guesses as to what theimpact is going to be,” said Converse.

Before Oklahoma City drew its water inJanuary, Canton already had been seeing less-than-encouraging economic numbers due tothe impact of the drought. Converse said sincefiscal year 2012 began, Blaine County hasseen a 67 percent reduction in sales tax rev-enue and had an 18 percent reduction in popu-lation.

“Blaine County is kind of getting nailed,”said Converse.

Adams said there is one bright side to all thedark news.

“The situation is getting better with watereducation,” said Adams.

Adams said cities are starting to take meas-ures to conserve water, and individuals also aretaking responsibility for water usage.

“Regrettably, we are more likely to haveanother summer like we had last summer,”said Adams. “It will be especially hard onCanton. If we have another one of those yearswe could have some devastating effects on fishand wildlife, and it’s those things we wouldlike to protect.”

Recently, the wildlife department visitedCanton to net and tag the walleye fish, saidAdams.

“There was a lot of fungus on the walleye,”Adams said. “This is a condition that is hap-pening due to low water. Canton supplies thewalleye for most of the lakes in Oklahoma.That did not happen this year.”

In addition to being part of Canton LakeAssociation, Adams also owns a boat storagebusiness.

“My business is fine for this year,” saidAdams whose patrons pay a year in advance.“If we have another summer like we did lastyear, I can conceivably see my business drop-ping by half.”

Canton Lake may be in the spotlight, butthe drought affecting Oklahoma reaches muchfarther.

“You can’t have blinders on. You kind ofhave to work together,” said Adams. “The onlyway to combat it, if it’s not going to rain, is toconserve water and recycle water. We just needa long period of rain to recharge our water-sheds and aquifers.”

Putting salt back in PlainsSalt Plains is another area suffering due to

the drought. The area’s wildlife is seeing muchof the negative impact.

“The main thing is our winter waterfowlpopulation was down quite a bit,” said SaltPlains refuge biologist Glen Hensley.

Each year 90-95,000 geese roost overnightat Salt Plains during the winter months.

“I believe we maxed out for a short periodin November at about 50,000 geese,” saidHensley. “We usually peak in goose numbersin late December, early January.”

December 2012 saw about 17,000 geesecompared to its usually 95,000 said Hensley.

“They moved on. They didn’t stickaround.”

Hensley said the 50,000 ducks usuallycome in during peak time, but this winter onlysaw about 20,000 ducks.

“We maybe had 20,000 tops in aboutNovember, a month early,” said Hensley.

The migrating waterfowl depend each yearon Salt Plains as a place to rest.

“Salt Plains is kind of a rest and refuelingstation along the migration,” said Hensley.

Like Canton, Great Salt Plains Lake is suf-fering a receding shoreline.

“The lake is really low,” said Hensley.“There’s really no way to judge how low. Thelake elevation gauge is on the dam, and thewater isn’t to the dam. The water line is abouthalf a mile from the dam.”

The waterfowl aren’t the only birds affect-ed by the drought at Salt Plains.

“It’s affected the eagles because they eatducks and fish,” said Hensley. “The oxygensupply was depleted (in the water) and we hada fish kill. The mid-winter eagle survey wasdown this year.”

The lack of water also prevented thearea’s wetlands from flooding, which hin-ders the reproduction of certain insectspecies, such as dragonflies, and reduces theamount of available drinking water for otherwildlife.

Salt Plains hosts a public hunting area, butdue to the lack of birds in the area, Salt Plainsand other places in the area saw fewer hunters.These hunters usually come from all over thestate and other states.

“Farmers might have had reduced incomebecause of their hunting leases,” said Hensley.

The salt crystal digging area was successfulthroughout the past year, but the other areas atSalt Plains saw fewer visitors.

“We hope it’s going to get better, but I thinkit’s going to be another bad year,” saidHensley. “We have wet periods and dry peri-ods. Hopefully it gets wet again.”


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Recent rain and snowfalls haveimproved the drought conditionsin north central Oklahoma, butlocal agriculture producers stillare left hoping at best for an aver-age harvest this spring.

“Wheat, right now, is sitting atan average crop,” said RickNelson, agriculture educator withGarfield County Oklahoma StateUniversity Extension Office. “Atbest, we’re hoping for an averagecrop.”

Nelson said moisture receivedin February and March hashelped, but dry conditions whenseeds were planted in the fall andcontinued dry conditions throughthe majority of winter have stunt-ed the growth of area wheatstands.

“The terribly dry conditions inthe fall led to some poor growingconditions,” Nelson said. “Theplants didn’t set as many tillers aspossible, but recent moisture hasgiven us some hope those plantswill go ahead and produce.”

Nelson said there is a wide dis-parity in local wheat stands, withsome showing good growth andprojected to offer average yields,while other stands are far behindschedule and projected to not beharvested.

“There are some fields thatappear at this time, they’ll makethat 30 bushels per acre —they’re probably going to goahead and fill out and produce an

average crop,” Nelson said.“Those that are late and thin,chances are slim they’ll produce aviable crop.”

Some fields laid dormant,Nelson said, until recently.

“There are some fields that didnot germinate until the lastsnow,” Nelson said. “The wheatlaid there in the ground and didnot germinate (or sprout) untilMarch.”

Nelson said those fields likelywill produce 10 percent of aver-age or less, if they produce at all.

“If it’s just germinated in thelast month, it’s probably going tobe adjusted for crop insuranceand rotated out to another cropbecause the yield won’t beenough for harvesting,” Nelsonsaid.

He said the fields are dividedlargely between no-till and con-ventional tilling practices. Hesaid the no-till fields are faringbetter because no-till farmingleaves more moisture in theground.

“Having more moisture in theno-till fields led to better emer-gence,” Nelson said.

He said the conventional tillfields “were a little drier, andnever received any moisture untilthis spring.”

Danny Hole, executive direc-tor for the Garfield County FarmService Agency office, said theno-till fields retained just enoughmoisture to pull them throughuntil this spring’s rain and snow.

“No-till just leaves you a better

moisture profile, because you’renot opening up the soil with a con-ventional till,” Hole said. “Everytime you open up that soil you losemoisture, and with no-till the onlytime you open it up is when youplant the seed.”

Hole said crop adjustersalready are out looking at fieldsthat likely will not be harvesteddue to low yield, “but it’s still tooearly to tell.”

He said area wheat standsrange from two tothree weeks behindschedule to otherstands that are muchfarther behind sched-ule, and likely notviable.

“You’re looking atfields that, just due todrought, are two tothree weeks behindwhat they should bethis time of year,”Hole said, “and thenthere are some thatare way behindbecause they’re justcoming up.”

More producershave shifted to no-tillfarming because ofthe ongoing drought,and even more may shift after thisyear’s harvest, or lack of harvest.

Michael Sheik, district conser-vationist for Garfield Countyoffice of the Natural ResourcesConservation Service, said no-tillfarming has expanded significant-ly in the last several years.

“People were noticing the guyswho got into no-till farming fiveor six years back, and were kind ofteetering on it anyway, and thenthe drought came along and they

realized the only moisture theywere going to get was in that sur-face moisture,” Sheik said.

He said both conventional andno-till fields still stand a goodchance at an average harvest, ifwe receive enough rain betweennow and harvest.

“If our days start gettingwarmer and our nights start stay-ing on the warmer side, thiswheat is going to take off like arocket,” Sheik said.

He said the region needs “twomore good rains” before harvest.

“You need one when the headis in the boot, just before itemerges, and you need one for itto fill out at maturity, so you getthose good plump grains ofwheat,” Sheik said.

Whether wheat was plantedno-till or conventional till, its suc-cess from here all depends on therain, Sheik said.

“Everything really looks good

right now because of the snowmoisture we’ve had,” Sheik said.“But, if it doesn’t rain any more, theno-till fields will do a little better,but nothing is going to do great.”

Long-term forecasts do little tonarrow the range of possibilities— the area will either receive rainor not.

Ryan Barns, a meteorologistfor National Weather Service inNorman, said climate predictionforecasts call for equal chances ofabove average or below averageprecipitation.

Still, that’s an improvement fromlong-term forecasts that called solelyfor below-average rainfalls.

North central Oklahomaremains in extremedrought condition —the second-highestdrought level behindexceptional drought,which is where theregion sat all winter.

The majority of thestate remains in therange of severe toexceptional drought.

Barns said thenorthern part of thestate likely will seesome improvement inthe drought due to

normal spring rains.“There’s going to be some

improvement because you’regoing to see a wetter time of yearwith better rain chances,” Barnssaid. “The farther south you get,the drought might persist or wors-en depending on where the mois-ture and the storms go.”

Barns said Garfield Countylikely will see “some improve-ment, at least through the Junetimeframe.”

hopeeternal

Area ag experts hoping recent precipitationwill be enough to salvage this year’s crops

SPROUTS

No-till just leaves you a better moistureprofile, because you’re not opening up thesoil with a conventional till. Every time

you open up that soil you lose moisture,and with no-till the only time you open it up iswhen you plant the seed.”

Danny Hole, executive director,Garfield County Farm Service Agency office“

■ Sunday, April 7, 2013 Enid News & Eagle

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In the past year, Hiland Partners has beenon the move — in the oil- and gas-rich regionsof North Dakota and Montana, as well as righthere in Enid.

Hiland, a midstream energy company, relo-cated its headquarters late last summer, mov-ing from the former Continental Tower Southacross the street north to the building formerlyoccupied by Continental Resources, a facilitynow known as Hiland Tower.

“That was a big thing for us, moving overhere and getting more space,” said DerekGipson, executive vice president and chieffinancial officer for Hiland Partners. “We aregrowing like everybody else here in Enid.”

In the past year Hiland has grown from 201to 245 employees company-wide, whileincreasing from 55 to 74 employees in Enid.

“We just continue to execute our plan onthe Bakken play in North Dakota andMontana,” said Gipson, “building critical nat-ural gas and crude oil midstream infrastructureto help all the producers obtain their goals,keep their products moving.

“We’ve been adding folks and trying to stayahead of all of our growth plans up there.”

The oil-and-gas rich Bakken play continuesto grow, and Hiland is trying to keep up with it,Gipson said.

“The producers now are moving to devel-opment mode,” said Gipson, “and they areexploring different layers of the play.Production will continue to grow in the basin.We’re just trying to stay in front of it from ourend and make sure we’ve got adequate capac-ity in all our facilities to make sure we givegood service to all our customers.”

Hiland executives spend a great deal oftime planning, and communicating with cus-tomers, in order to meet the growing demandsof the Bakken play.

“Our producers are generally very good atgiving us drill schedules that go out into thefuture, so we can plan, so we can make sure wekeep the hydrocarbons moving,” said Gipson.“We spend a lot of time. It’s really a company-wide team effort of the financial modeling peo-ple modeling out the production curves, engi-

neers looking at our facilities and the opera-tional people coming together to come up witha game plan.

“I think you’ll see us continue to add on toour facilities in North Dakota and Montana. Asthe production grows, so should our midstreamassets, to make the best of the opportunity wehave in that play.”

As a midstream company, Hiland gathersgas through pipelines at the well head andtransports it to its processing plants, where thegas is treated for impurities and natural gas liq-uids like propaneand butane areextracted. It thensells the so-called“dry” gas and naturalgas liquids. On thecrude oil side,Hiland gathers crudeat the well head anddelivers it to variouslong-haul pipelinesin North Dakota andMontana, as well asrail terminals. Up-stream firms locateand drill for petrole-um, while down-stream companiesare involved in refin-ing.

Last fall, Hiland announced plans to build anew 440-mile crude oil pipeline from Dore,N.D., to Guernsey, Wyo. There it will connectwith the Pony Express pipeline, a former natu-ral gas pipeline being converted to crude oilservice by Tallgrass Energy Partners. That lineeventually will be extended to Cushing.

“That’s a new line of business, long-haulinterstate crude oil transportation, that we’regetting into,” said Gipson. “We expect that lineto start moving barrels in late 2014.Construction will kick off in the back half ofthis year. That’s a key project for us to executeon.”

Natural gas prices fell below $2 per millionBritish Thermal Units last year, promptingHiland to begin shifting its focus from naturalgas to crude oil.

“We’re moving more into the crude oil

midstream part of the business,” said Gipson.“We still are very active in gas gathering andwill continue to be. Last year was a tough yearfor natural gas prices.”

In the Williston Basin of North Dakota andMontana, Gipson said, Hiland has processingcapacity for 190 million cubic feet of naturalgas per day at four facilities, as well as nearly1,500 miles of gathering pipelines. Hiland hasmore than 17,000 barrels per day of natural gasliquid fractionation capacity. On the crude oilside, Hiland has nearly 750 miles of pipelines.

Topping the list of Hiland’s core values issafety, a philosophy that was borne out recent-ly when the company won first place in itsdivision of the company safety awards givenannually by Gas Processors Association.

“It’s the first time in the history of the com-pany that we’ve won it,” said Gipson. “We’re

really proud of that honor. When you thinkabout how many people we’ve added in thecompany and expanded operations, to win thatduring that time frame is a big thing.”

With most of its assets in North Dakota andMontana, Hiland executives spent much oftheir time on the road.

“We make a concerted effort to get our keyfolks up there on a regular basis,” said Gipson.“We always have key people on the ground inNorth Dakota staying on top of everythingwe’re doing. Our CEO (Joseph Griffin) goesup there every Thursday. He spends the wholeday monitoring construction progress with ourfolks on the ground.

“You have to pay attention to it. It’s a longway away from home, but we’ve got a rhythmwhere we’re able to manage it from here inEnid.”

There are advantages to being headquar-tered in Enid, Gipson said, other than the obvi-ous, that the winters here are much milder thanin North Dakota.

“There’s good talent from a corporatestandpoint to help support our business, andEnid’s a business-friendly community,” hesaid.


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Mineral Auction March, 2013$652,575.00

Mineral Auction March, 2012

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Now more than ever, choosing the right auctioncompany can be the most important decision youmake. Today, the right auction company merchan-dising your assets can mean thousands, evenhundreds of thousands of dollars at the “bottomline”! Don’t be misled. In today’s fluctuating andcomplex market place, you can’t afford averageperformance and traditional marketing methods.We are innovators - experts in reaching the mostqualified buyers!

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Hiland Partners continues to grow in Enid and beyond

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Hiland Partners’ Bakken Gathering System in RichlandCounty, Mont., features 375 miles of natural gas gath-ering pipelines. Enid-based Hiland is a midstream petro-leum company that gathers, processes, stores and mar-kets both natural gas and crude oil. (Photo provided)Derek Gipson, Hiland Partners executive vice president andCFO, poses in his Enid office. (Staff Photo by BILLY HEFTON)

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