Politics is the means through which we choose who gets to make the law and what the law says. Politics should not govern us. All too often, it does. To illustrate this point, let me turn to what might seem like an odd example. There is a business in Grand Forks called the Northern Air…
“If This Didn’t Have the Name Keystone on It, Nobody Would Really Be Paying Much Attention to It”
The latest news about the Keystone pipeline spill near Edinburg, North Dakota, is that it was much larger than previously estimated. Which isn’t unusual. Initial estimates about these spills are just that. Initial estimates. They’re almost always revised once cleanup efforts commence and the true scope of the spill comes into focus. In this case,…
Print Column: Let’s Hope the Anti-Pipeline Activists Don’t Set Any Fires This Time
MINOT, N.D. — North Dakota’s Public Service Commission will be holding a hearing in Emmons County this week concerning a proposed expansion of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The capacity would roughly double to more than 1 million barrels per day. There is a large turnout expected from both supporters and critics of the pipeline. What many North…
Plain Talk: Senator Cramer Says Obama’s Iran Deal Partly to Blame for Attacks on Saudi Oil Facilities
On this episode of Plain Talk, Senator Kevin Cramer and I discussed the recent attacks on Saudi oil facilities. Iranian equipment was used in the attacks, but the country is denying involvement. Cramer, who said he’s “read the classified CIA brief on the evidence,” said it’s his “sense” Iran was behind the attacks. “Any deniability…
Saudi Attacks Should Make Us Thankful the Environmental Zealots Have Been (Mostly) Losing Their War on American Oil Development
Over the weekend the American news media was obsessed with another salacious (though ultimately not nearly so salacious as initially reported) story about the Trump administration. Largely overlooked in that furor were coordinated drone attacks on roughly half of Saudi Arabia’s crude oil production facilities. Though the Saudi national oil company, Aramco, acted quickly to…
Plain Talk: Meridian Energy CEO Says Davis Refinery Will Produce Less Pollution Than Theodore Roosevelt National Park
With two different legal battles going before the North Dakota Supreme Court, the fight over building the Davis Refinery in western North Dakota drags on. “I look back now and realize just how naive I was,” Bill Prentice, CEO of Meridian Energy, said of the process. Meridian is the company trying to build the refinery.…
North Dakota Regulators Owe the Public a Better Explanation for Spill Underreporting
“I get it – people want more information.” That’s what North Dakota Environmental Quality Chief Dave Glatt told the Associated Press, responding to controversy over a situation were hundreds of thousands of gallons of liquid natural gas was described as merely 10 gallons in an official state report. But does Glatt get it? So far…
How Can Democrats Reach Out to Rural Voters When They Hate What We Do for a Living?
Last month at one of the debates held for the crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates, supposedly moderate front runner Joe Biden said there would be no place in his administration for oil and coal. Biden on whether or not there would be a place for fossil fuels including coal and fracking in his administration:…
Plain Talk: Expanding Capacity for the Dakota Access Pipeline, and What Can We Really Do to Stop Mass Murder Attacks?
“Nothing changes with respect to the operating pressure.” That’s what Glenn Emery said of the expansion of the Dakota Access Pipeline on this episode of Plain Talk. He is the Vice President of Commercial Operations and Business Development for Energy Transfer Partners – the company which owns DAPL – and he says the construction of…
Young Americans Have Been Flocking to Energy Industry Opportunities in North Dakota and the Middle Part of America
Sometimes it’s hard to describe to people how much I love North Dakota. I was born in Anchorage, Alaska, and spent the first ten years of my life in Wasilla. When my family moved here the 4th grade version of me resented it. I loved the mountains and the trees. I wasn’t sure how to…