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…
Lynn Helms: Cutting Through Confusion And Misinformation About Oil Conditioning
As of April 1, oil producers in North Dakota are required to condition every barrel of Bakken crude oil to improve the safety of transporting the oil by rail. The North Dakota Industrial Commission unanimously approved the order in December, after months of science-based review and after holding a public hearing and providing for an…
Lynn Helms: State Regulators Working To Make Oil By Rail Shipments Safe
A recent train derailment in West Virginia has generated some inquiries for the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources regarding the safety of transporting Bakken crude oil by rail. On Dec. 9, the Industrial Commission unanimously approved an order that requires all oil producers in North Dakota to install and use oil-conditioning equipment to significantly…
North Dakota Sees Lowest Flaring Rate In More Than Two Years
Back in July I wrote that big reductions in the rate of flaring in North Dakota were on the way. We saw a big spike in flaring over the winter, and that was because the Hess gas processing plant in Tioga went offline for upgrades. Before the upgrades, that plant was processing 100 million cubic…
The EPA's Power Plant Regulations Could Mean Shortages For North Dakota
Back in June I wrote a story for Watchdog about the potential impact of EPA regulations on North Dakota. At the time, Public Service Commissioner Brian Kalk said the impact “could be catastrophic.” That’s not hyperbole. North Dakota is caught between the pincers of rising demand for power, driven by a booming economy and expanding…
Kingsbury Column: Lynn Helms Is Right About Public Comment
Lynn Helms, and if you don’t know who he is you don’t know enough about North Dakota to be offering an opinion, or even reading this column or any of the inevitable comments it will generate, got into trouble with some because in responding to the Attorney Generals “Special Places” proposal he said he didn’t…
On Television: Talking Propane Shortage, And Defending Lynn Helms
Valley News Live – KVLY/KXJB – Fargo/Grand Forks I was on Valley News Live last night with Chris Berg, and we definitely did not discuss Mellaney Moore and her school security story lest someone get prosecuted. We did discuss the propane shortage that’s been afflicting the region, and the controversy surrounding North Dakota’s top oil…
North Dakota's Top Oil Regulator: “I just don’t see much value in public comment.”
North Dakota Democrats have chosen North Dakota’s top oil regulator, Lynn Helms, as their whipping boy this election season, and Helms seems to be giving them plenty of fodder. In an email obtained by Forum Communications, Helms tells a lawyer in Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem’s office that he doesn’t “see much value in public comment”…
Column: In Defense Of Lynn Helms
It’s an inconvenient truth for those who are enamored with big, intrusive government that the key to North Dakota’s economic success has been not what the government has done, but what the government hasn’t done. It wasn’t deft public policy maneuvering by brilliant politicians that put oil under the ground in the oil patch. It…
Flaring Up Slightly As North Dakota Sets 13th Consecutive Record For Daily Oil/Gas Production
The latest report on oil and natural gas production in North Dakota is out. You can read the “director’s cut” from Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms below. Yet again, North Dakota set new daily production records for oil and natural gas. There were 1,086,571 MCF’s of gas produced in North Dakota daily in…
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