Base settlement currently pending

By LeAnn Eckroth, Senior Staff Writer

A full settlement, reverting ownership of the former Fortuna Radar Base back to Divide County officials, is pending, according to Bill Delmore, a Mandan attorney hired by Divide County after the entity filed a series of health complaints about the property. Wording of the agreed settlement is being ironed out between attorneys.

The matter was scheduled to go to civil trial by month's end in Northwest District Court, according to Delmore.

All of the base could be cleaned up with Rural Super Funds if the county gets full ownership of all the property back from Arvid Barstad, owner of Thiem Construction.

The long-churning controversy stems from Barstad's alleged failure to pay property taxes as estimated on a portion of the radar base after he purchased it in January of 1996 for salvaging purposes, and over the county's concerns of hazardous materials being on the site.

Divide County reacquired a portion of the property after Barstad did not pay the taxes the county estimated on that parcel. However, the county later still held Barstad liable for potential health hazards of materials remaining on the returned property. The air base operated throughout most of the Cold War until the late 1970s. Court documents claim Barstad bought the property in January of 1996 for salvaging purposes.

The August of 2003 complaint against Barstad and Thiem Drilling claimed:

  • The apparent salvage and scrap operations were carried on for several years without proper re-mediation or cleanup of the affected property.

  • Arvid Barstad has declared his intent to not pay taxes on a portion of the property, thereby allowing such property to return to Divide County.

  • On April 10, 2003, Divide County, through its attorney, notified Arvid Barstad and Thiem Drilling of its intent to file suit in accordance with North Dakota Century Code Chapter 32-40 (North Dakota Environmental Law Enforcement Act).

  • Although the apparent salvage and scrap operations involved several hazardous materials such as lead paint and asbestos, no assessment of the site or the site's condition has been completed.

    Cited for causes of the civil action are lack of maintenance of a public nuisance, violation of environmental statuses, negligence, and damages the county would be responsible for in cleanup costs.

    Federal and state agencies will do an assessment on the property to determine what cleanup is required after the settlement is reached. That currently states all the property goes back to Divide County.

    "Federal entities have indicated that a more comprehensive cleanup will be done if Divide County owns all the Fortuna Radar Station property. Federal funds can only be used to assist public entities such as Divide County in cleanups,"

    "We've reached agreement on the conditions, and now we're just formalizing that agreement in written form. It has been taken off the civil court trial docket."

    "Under the agreement, Barstad would still be responsible for any waste he brought to the site. Barstad claims he brought no other waste to the site,"Delmore added.

    "As I told them, they did not have a case so they just dropped it after they spent all that money," Barstad said Thursday evening. "My guess is they're going to apply for funds for clean-up."

    "They dropped all the civil charges against me," he continued. "They just notified their lawyers they were dropping all civil charges against me."

    Barstad confirmed last evening that under the terms of the agreement, he is returning all the Fortuna property.

    "I am more than happy it's over," Barstad said.

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