National Park Service officials created this map to show how visible the proposed Davis Refinery would be from Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The refinery would be visible from park areas marked in red, according to the NPS.

Meridian Energy Group, Inc., hopes to take a step closer Tuesday to building an oil refinery just three miles from Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota when Billings County officials consider the company's application to build on land currently zoned for agriculture, not industry.

While the proposed 55,000-barrel-a-day Davis Refinery has drawn criticism and concern from the Park Service and National Parks Conservation Association, CEO William C. Prentice told the Traveler that, "I know they’re concerned about it. I just think if they knew more about the way we were approaching it, they would be a little bit more relaxed about what’s going to happen."

The state-of-the-art refinery would be built on 620 acres of land east of Theodore Roosevelt, between Fryburg and Belfield. The location is adjacent to a BNSF rail loading facility at Fryburg; the rail line actually runs through the refinery site. Oil and natural gas pipelines are close by, too, according to Meridian. The property also is near the junction of Highway 85 and Interstate 94. Highway 85 is the main north-south arterial that tanker trucks can use to carry crude from the Bakken field to pipeline and rail terminals.

“You probably could (build it closer to Dickinson), but we’d probably lose the proximity to some of the better producers and we’d also lose that labor force," Mr. Prentice replied when asked why the refinery had to be built in the proposed location, and not further away from the national park. "I don’t want to seem like I’m being bullheaded about it. That is a perfect location for a small refinery. At the end of the day, nobody is even going to know it’s there. You’re going to see a couple of tall things off in the distance, but it’s not going to be lit up like a Christmas tree like most refineries are. You can’t even see it from the park. You won’t be able to smell it. You won’t be able to hear it. It’s just not going to be a presence in the area.”

Not all agree with that position. At Theodore Roosevelt, Superintendent Wendy Ross worries about the impact the refinery would have on tourism and resource impacts on the park.

"The South Unit boundary is three miles from the proposed industrial park," she said in a letter to the Billings County Planning and Zoning Board. "The application does not provide an accurate portrayal of the impacts to the most important tourism region in North Dakota."

Mr. Prentice, who hopes to meet with Superintendent Ross to alleviate her concerns, is confident the latest technology will result in the industry's cleanest oil refinery, one that can exist next to the national park without impacting it.

“Some of this is still in the design phase, but one of the things that you’ll notice looking around North Dakota is the large number of exposed flares out there. There’s no reason to do that," he said during a half-hour call from his California office. "All the flaring, if there is any, is going to be done in a controlled environment with no emissions.

“The other thing that can be done early on that prevents fugitive emissions is just the way you build things these days. With modern machining technology, every single pipe joint does not have to be a source of emissions. The ability to do things in a precise and controlled manner really add up."

The proposed refinery is just the latest development to push in on Theodore Roosevelt. The U.S. Forest Service last year gave the OK for a 25-acre gravel pit across the Little Missouri River from Theodore Roosevelt's historic Elkhorn Ranch and roughly 25 miles from the core of the park's South Unit, while oil pumps dot the landscape in just about every direction. From Buck Hill in the park's South District, gas flares from fracking operations outside the park stand out at night.

Plus, North Dakota officials want to expand two-lane Highway 85 that goes through the park's North Unit to a four-laner.

Valerie Naylor, who preceded Ross as Theodore Roosevelt's superintendent before retiring, sees not only the proposed refinery going up three miles from the South Unit, but an industrial complex growing up around it.

“That industrial park will extend from Fryburg all the way to Belfield if that is the case," she told the Traveler last month. "That would be a really big industrial area right next to the national park. That’s not acceptable.”

While Meridian Energy has no other refineries, Mr. Prentice is confident the management team's experience building and running refineries offsets that point.

“Everybody in the company has either built or operated refineries everywhere in the world. I started out my career with a company called Motor Corp., building refineries in Iran and South America and working on development up in Alaska. Just about everywhere," he said. "The guy that’s going to be our vice president of operations, Tom Johnson, he’s operated refineries for Marathon, British Petroleum, and just finished starting up a refinery down in Houston.

“It’s a very experienced team.”

That experience, Mr. Prentice added, "has taught us a lot that we would like to apply to a brand new facility. There’s a lot of the ‘doing it right for a change’ attitude at Meridian."

For instance, he said, along with not flaring natural gas, the Davis Refinery is being designed to mitigate fugitive emissions.

“Just simple things like pumps and other small pieces of machinery that otherwise would be a source of little tiny amounts of emissions, that’s all going to be enclosed and controlled so we don’t have to worry about that," the CEO said.

And there's no need for the refinery to "be lit up like a Christmas tree" once sundown arrives.

“In any kind of an old (refinery) setting you have guys running around all over the place, 24 hours a day, tightening things or turning valves," and so a need for illumination, he said. "To oversimplify it, why not put a light switch at the base of the tower. If somebody has to go up there and work, they can turn the lights on. You don’t need to have them on 12 hours a day on the possibility that somebody might be up there. So, yeah, there are OSHA requirements and also FAA requirements so you don’t have anybody flying into it, but other than that, lighting can be managed."

Still, Superintendent Ross is not swayed. In her letter to the county officials she noted that, "(A) refinery or industrial complex installation just east of the park would forever change the visitor experience in the South Unit."

"Under the 1916 Organic Act, the NPS preserves the nation's significant natural and cultural resources for the enjoyment of successive generations," she wrote. "In addition to visitor experience impacts, we anticipate the proposed refinery would affect air quality, water quality, dark night skies, and established traffic patterns."

Not only does Mr. Prentice disagree with the superintendent on how the project will impact the park, but he said the fact that a Class I airshed envelopes Theodore Roosevelt "gives me an excuse to really tighten up on what we’re going to do to control emissions. Every time we get another iteration done on engineering design, we ratchet it down even more. I’m very, very satisfied that we’re going to exceed virtually all of these emissions standards.”

The project still has a number of hurdles to clear before construction begins. If the county on Tuesday approves the request to rezone the property for industrial use, Meridian Energy would need to get an air quality permit from the state of North Dakota. And there are water permits that need to be obtained, as well, said Mr. Prentice. 

While the CEO said the project will be privately financed -- "The necessary funding has been generally pledged to the project. We’re just going to raise it as we need it," he said. -- how current market conditions affect the project remain to be seen. Last week both Exxon Mobile Corp. and Chevron Corp. reported their worst quarterly numbers in more than a decade due to low oil prices and a saturated fuel market.

First-quarter pain in the downstream units, which came after major U.S. refiners slashed the amount of cheap crude they were processing in February, is a sign the road ahead for oil majors may turn even rockier. Their upstream exploration and production units have been reeling for months from the crude price crash. -- Reuters.

In an interview with an industry publication, DownstreamToday, Mr. Prentice showed little concern for the current market turmoil.

"Meridian's view of the refined products market is a little different. We are not sure that the recent run cuts are anything more than a standard response to lower winter motor fuel demand, and the need to take advantage of this to do some maintenance and turnaround work," he said. "Even if that is not true, then the lead-in to this question simply describes a very competitive landscape that does not deter us in the slightest. Despite the efforts of some people, this is still a capitalist system in which we are entitled to compete, and Meridian is confident that it has significant competitive advantages that will enable the Davis Refinery to hold its own in this market.

"Some people in the industry might not like to see a new and substantial high-conversion refinery built in this area (or any area), but Meridian is more interested in providing local crude producers and regional distributors/consumers with greater competitive choice."