From records in the building, Schroeder said he has identified a filter sock supply company, Acceleration Production of Watford City, and hopes that will help identify the oil field service company that used them in oil field operations and ditched them in the building.

He said residents of Noonan, population 120, don’t have information and said it’s likely that whoever dumped the garbage bags did so under cover of darkness.

In the meantime, Gunlock said the building may be fenced off to prevent anyone from entering the property and the deputy said he planned to surround it with crime scene tape. Gunlock said the bags were dust-covered and may have been there for some time, though it’s hard to tell how long.

“I don’t think this was ignorance, just deliberate,” Gunlock said.

Gunlock said tests done last week on the material show it is low-level radium that emits “big weak” particles that don’t penetrate skin, but would be hazardous to inhale or ingest.

“It’s a pretty big mess,” Gunlock said.

Radig said tests of the Noonan material show it’s at five times background rate of naturally occurring radiation. The Watford City material was around two times background.