During the early days of the Trump administration Senator Heidi Heitkamp, who is now trying to portray herself this election cycle as a close Trump ally, was the deciding vote to keep in place an Obama-era rule on flaring. Immediately after casting that vote with her fellow Democrats Heitkamp immediately began a furious campaign to…
Ron Ness: BLM Rule Enables Waste Rather Than Preventing It
This guest post was submitted by Ron Ness, President of the North Dakota Petroleum Council. It’s now been nearly one year since the United States Senate had the opportunity to rescind an Obama-era regulation that aimed to prevent venting and flaring on public and tribal lands. In reality, this rule targeted North Dakota and the…
North Dakota’s Flaring Problem Has Its Roots in Excessive Regulation
The environmental activism aimed at impeding, and sometimes even blocking, the build-out of energy infrastructure such as pipelines and refineries/processing plants is bad for the environment. Don’t believe me? Witness the problems the oil and gas industry is having in addressing the flaring issue here in North Dakota. Back in 2014 our state developed, along…
Senator Heitkamp Played Politics and Ended up Giving Obama a Big Win for His Environmental Legacy
How has Senator Heidi Heitkamp managed to be the only Democrat elected on North Dakota’s statewide ballot since 2008? She invests a lot of time and energy posturing herself as a moderate who frequently dissents against the liberal orthodoxy of her fellow Democrats. A the policy area where she most often does this is energy,…
Senator Heitkamp Sided With Her Party Over North Dakota
I’ve always thought that, when a politician casts a controversial vote, an explanation before that vote is cast is worth a lot more than a justification after the fact. In this op/ed column Senator Heidi Heitkamp does a lot of justifying of her recent vote against overturning an Obama era emissions rule which the state’s…
Ron Ness: Senator Heitkamp Failed to Support North Dakota
This week, the industry was dealt a serious blow when the Senate failed to repeal the BLM Waste Prevention rule. This was not without a lack of effort on behalf of Senator Hoeven and Congressman Cramer who showed great leadership in the effort and showed their support for the more than 72,000 people whose jobs…
Democrat Who Got 26 Percent of the Vote Now Telling Us What North Dakotans Want on Flaring Rule
When it comes to hot button issues, such as the effort to unravel the Obama administration’s ridiculous and redundant flaring rule which was dropped three days before President Trump’s inauguration, letters to the editor are usually an exercise in astroturf. On both sides of the issue. Which means they usually aren’t worth commenting on. But…
Cramer Says Heitkamp Promised MHA Tribe She’d Vote to Overturn Federal Flaring Rules
In Congress right now there is an effort to disapprove an Obama administration regulation aimed at the oil industry. The so-called “venting and flaring” rule imposed by the Bureau of Land Management is so colossally broad it impacts not just federal lands but state lands as well. This rule creates a jurisdictional quagmire, which I’m…
Senator Heitkamp’s Fence Sitting on Federal Flaring Rules Is Perplexing
There is a push in Congress right now to disapprove an Obama administration regulation aimed at the oil industry. The so-called “venting and flaring” rule imposed by the Bureau of Land Management is so colossally broad it impacts not just federal lands but state lands as well. This rule creates a jurisdictional quagmire, which I’m…
EIA: Flaring In North Dakota "Has Declined Sharply"
It’s more than a little sad that while the increase in natural gas flaring in North Dakota sparked lots of headlines, both in the state and nationally, the response from the oil and gas industry and state regulators to dramatically reduce flaring has gone largely unnoticed. Safe airplane landings aren’t news, the adage goes, but…