Emmons County adopts single conditional-use permit, sets fees and bond requirement

Emmons County commissioners voted to adopt Resolution 25-12-01 on a motion approving an amended conditional-use permit application that consolidates the county—s permitting structure and creates new fee and bond requirements.

The adopted changes replace separate "industrial" and regular conditional-use permits with a single conditional-use permit and set a permanent permit fee equal to 3% of the total project cost. The county will collect the permanent fee on a staged schedule: 25% due within 30 days of county approval, 50% due within 30 days of state (PSC) approval if applicable, and the remainder due 30 days before construction. Commissioners agreed the initial payment schedule and nonrefundable treatment of staged payments should be explicit in the final documents.

During public comment, Mandy Olsen of Strasburg, who said she has geology and oil-and-gas regulatory experience, warned that a flat $500,000…