The year 2021 was a tumultuous one for the energy sector in North Dakota, with the oil and gas industry slowly recovering from the pandemic-induced downturn, and concerns about the actual or possible shutdown of coal-fired power plants. There was also plenty of good news, with promising steps toward development of a petrochemical industry in the state and additional midstream infrastructure.

Here is WDEA's list of the Top Ten Energy Stories of 2021:

1. Coal Creek Buyer Surfaces - The news was a welcome relief to every North Dakotan living in Coal Country. It was announced in late June that Coal Creek Station would be purchased by Rainbow Energy Center, which will continue to operate the 1,151-megawatt power plant. Rainbow reached an agreement to purchase Coal Creek from Great River Energy and plans to run the plant using current employees it will hire. An affiliate company, Nexus Line, LLC, will purchase the high voltage direct current transmission line that runs more than 400 miles from the plant to the Twin Cities area. GRE had announced just one year earlier that it intended to shut down the power plant, and replace it with construction of 800 megawatts of new wind farms backed up by natural gas-fired generation.

2. Sale of Dakota Plains Synfuels for Hydrogen Project - Plans were announced at a Capitol news conference to create a "world-class clean hydrogen hub" in North Dakota, which could involve acquisition and re-development of the Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah. The project is led by a partnership between Bakken Energy, LLC, and Mitsubishi Power Americas, Inc. Bakken Energy Founder and Chairman Steve Lebow said he believes hydrogen will become a big part of North Dakota's energy industry. The company would produce "blue hydrogen," which is made by splitting hydrogen out of natural gas (methane), leaving behind carbon dioxide which could be sequestered underground or used for other purposes, including enhanced oil recovery.

3. Biden Anti-Energy Policies, State Sues - Incoming President Joe Biden made good on his campaign pledge to "transition away from the oil industry," issuing an executive order revoking TC Energy's permit to construct the Keystone XL Pipeline across the international border of the United States and Canada. The order, which was predicated on the perceived need to "tackle the climate crisis," also withdrew from leasing areas off the coast of Alaska in the Bering Sea. In a separate order, Biden imposed a 60-day suspension of new oil and gas leasing and drilling permits on federal land and in the Gulf of Mexico. The order also applied to coal leases and permits, and blocked approval of new mining plans. The state of North Dakota reacted to the leasing ban by suing the Biden administration, including the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Land Management, over BLM's cancellation of scheduled auctions of oil and gas leases of public mineral rights in the state.

4. ESG Movement Causes Headaches - The epitome of political correctness run amok can be found in the ESG movement. The letters stand for Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance, and represent a bizarre trend among America's leading investment firms and financial institutions to reject investments in the food and fuels that are essential to modern society. Climate change zealots have successfully coerced bankers that it's unwise to invest in fossil fuels, despite the fact that oil, natural gas and coal provide more than 80 percent of the energy that powers the US economy. North Dakota legislators considered several measures aimed at countering the effects of the ESG movement. A measure introduced by Beulah Senator Jessica Bell directed state agencies to avoid contracting with companies that support ESG practices, and to study the impact of divesting state funds from companies that boycott energy or ag commodities.

5. Rumors/Worries about Coal Plant Closures - In addition to the announced closing of Coal Creek Station, rumors and reports regarding other lignite operations caused concern in Coal Country. An email sent to employees of Leland Olds Station, located near Stanton, created a stir that its shutdown could be imminent. But the plant's owner, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, distributed a document explaining its accelerated depreciation of the plant, "end of life" in 2025, did not mean the plant would be shut down at that time. Otter Tail Power Company, meanwhile, indicated its intention to withdraw from its 35 percent ownership interest in Coyote Station in its Integrated Resource Plan. The company said it spent two years analyzing market data, and, "In almost every scenario and permutation analyzed, the results are clear: It is no longer in customers’ best interest for Otter Tail to continue to participate as an owner in Coyote Station." An actual plant shutdown did occur in 2021 with Montana-Dakota Utilities' retirement of the two coal-fired units at Heskett Station in Mandan.

6. Grid Reliability Lessons From Texas - Advocates of North Dakota's lignite industry had a chance to say "I told you so" in February as the state experienced rolling blackouts related to wintry conditions and bitterly cold temperatures in the southern United States. Supporters of baseload coal plants had been warning the public about grid reliability risks due to over-reliance on intermittent renewable generation, and their predictions came true as customers of Capital Electric Cooperative in the Bismarck and other western ND cooperatives area saw their lights go out due to actions taken by the co-op's power provider, the Western Area Power Administration, at the direction of the Southwest Power Pool. ND legislators debated a bill that would have required entities using non-dispatchable energy (wind and solar) to secure "firming capacity" to meet a reliability standard established by the bill, but utility lobbyists were able to defeat the proposal.

7. Value-Add Natural Gas Projects - The ND Legislature provided funding for test wells and “proof of concept” of salt cavern storage, which is necessary infrastructure to support petrochemical processing. The budget bill of the ND Industrial Commission included $9.5 million for a study of the potential capacity of salt caverns in geological formations in North Dakota for the development of underground storage of energy resources. In a separate announcement, Cerilon GTL ND said it planned to invest $2.8 billion to develop a gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in the Trenton area. Initial GTL products derived from natural gas include ultra-low sulfur diesel, naphtha, and future plans could include military-grade jet fuel, other specialty products, and CO2 capture operations. The Williams County Commission voted to support the project with a $6 million no-interest loan. The GTL facility, as well as the Bakken Energy hydrogen hub, were also supported by grants and loans from the newly-established Clean Sustainable Energy Authority.

8. DAPL Keeps Flowing Despite Litigation - Federal Judge James Boasberg rejected the request of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for an injunction that would have shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline while an environmental review is conducted. The judge's opinion, however, expressed frustration with the Corps of Engineers' inaction, despite the fact that, as Boasberg put it, "the pipeline was ... an unlawful encroachment on federal land." At a previous hearing on the tribe's request for the injunction, Boasberg was visibly annoyed by the Corps' reluctance to take a position on shutting down the pipeline. The Corps at the earlier hearing said there is no reason to shut down DAPL while it worked on the environmental review. Judge Boasberg earlier ruled that the Corps' 983-page environmental analysis was inadequate because he deemed the project "controversial" under provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act.

9. Williams County Okays TENORM Sites - North Dakota's oil industry will have a couple more options for disposing of low-level radioactive material it produces thanks to approval by the Williams County Commission of two applications to allow its disposal in local landfills. The county approved conditional use permits for applicants Secure Energy and WISCO Inc. to allow disposal of TENORM (Technologically-Enhanced Naturally-Occurring Radioactive Material) at their existing landfills. Secure's facility is 14 miles north of Williston, and WISCO's landfill is about 15 miles west of Williston near the Montana border. Both companies still need to obtain radioactive material handling licenses from the ND Department of Environmental Quality before they can begin disposal operations.

10. Eastern ND Pipeline in the Works - The ND Industrial Commission approved guidelines and timelines for considering proposals to develop a large natural gas pipeline to move natural gas from the Bakken oilfields to eastern North Dakota. The ND Legislature, in a special session in November, authorized up to $150 million in state support for a high pressure transmission line, $10 million of which would be earmarked for a pipeline to bring additional natural gas supply to the Grand Forks area. Proposals for the Grand Forks project, which anticipates tapping the Viking Pipeline in western Minnesota, will be considered first. Proposals seeking the $140 million support for the intra-state pipeline would be due by April 1, considered by the Industrial Commission at its May 24 meeting, and contracts could be executed in November 2022.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is expected to make a decision next week on the transfer of the route permit for Great River Energy's high voltage transmission line to Nexus Line, LLC, an affiliate of Rainbow Energy Marketing Corporation, which is planning to purchase GRE's Coal Creek Station. 

The PUC meeting is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. on January 6, 2022. The permit transfer request is the third item on the Commission agenda.

Minnesota regulators delayed action on GRE's petition in September, claiming they needed more information before signing off on the permit transfer. Environmental groups that would rather see the coal-fired plant shut down submitted hundreds of comments in opposition to the proposal. The request before the PSC involves the Minnesota portion of the 436-mile direct current (DC) transmission line that runs from Coal Creek Station to a location just outside the Twin Cities.

GRE has operated the power plant for more than 40 years, but announced last year it intended to shut down the 1,151-megawatt facility by the end of 2022. The facility employs 260 workers, and the adjacent Falkirk Mine has about 500 employees. In its plan to purchase the plant, Rainbow Energy has indicated it will incorporate technology to capture carbon dioxide emissions from the plant, and will also add wind energy to the mix of electrons moving on the DC power line. GRE's member cooperatives approved the sale of the power plant and transmission line in July.

Instead of acting on the permit transfer in September, the PUC gave Nexus 30 days to submit a decommissioning plan in case the power line is ever shut down permanently. They also sought financial assurances that the company can meet its commitments if that happens. 

Click here to see the Minnesota PUC's docket that includes links to documents submitted in the case.

The ND Public Service Commission approved a revised plan for taking down decrepit wind farms that operators say will save the companies millions of dollars. But PSC Commissioner Randy Christmann opposed the proposal, citing the possibility that it may not be enough money to complete the work.

The PSC approved the plan for the Tatanka Wind Farm in Dickey County on a 2-1 vote. Its owners estimated using a different method of deconstructing the turbines would reduce its bonding cost from $15.75 million to about $9.5 million. Christmann likened the company's plan for taking down wind towers to chopping down trees.

Click here to listen to Christmann's comments.

Christmann said allowing the wind farm owner to bond for decommissioning at 60 percent of the cost of its original plan would set a precedent other companies will want to follow, possibly leaving the state short of funds to dismantle wind farms when they reach the end of their useful life.

Click here to listen to Christmann's comments.

PSC Chair Julie Fedorchak and Commissioner Brian Kroshus voted to support the decommissioning plan. Kroshus said the PSC does have the option to call wind companies in for a review of decommissioning costs if it becomes apparent their bonds are inadequate.

Click here to listen to Kroshus' comments.

The Tatanka Wind Farm is operated by Acciona. It is located on the state's southern border, with 61 of its turbines on the North Dakota side in Dickey County.

Click here to read the company's revised decommissioning plan and cost estimate.

The ND Public Service Commission this week approved an application by Hiland Crude LLC to construct a 2.9 mile, 8-inch crude oil pipeline near Epping that will connect gathering facilities to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The PSC held a hearing on the project November 22 in Williston. PSC Chair Julie Fedorchak, who made the motion to approve the route for the new pipeline, described it as a pretty straight-forward project.

Click here to listen to Fedorchak's comments.

Fedorchak said Hiland has met all environmental requirements, but said because the company indicated it may construct the pipeline this winter, the commission's approval contains stipulations for dealing with frozen ground.

Click here to listen to Fedorchak's comments.

The company's application indicated it explored alternatives to the pipeline's construction, including trucking the crude to a market location. Hiland estimates normal daily throughput will be about 30,000 barrels, which at a carrying capacity of 220 barrels/truck, would require 137 trucks per day, or six trucks every hour to transport the volume of product.

"This level of truck activity is not logistically feasible as it would cause significant amounts of heavy vehicle traffic for area residents, as well as additional wear and tear on the infrastructure," the application said. "Disruption in the trucking capacity due to seasonal load restrictions on roads, inclement weather, or road repairs would cause a delay in delivering this valuable resource to market. This alternative is not desirable." 

Click here to view or download Hiland Crude's 292-page application for the construction permit, which documents its compliance with all relevant local, state and federal permitting requirements.

The North Dakota Public Service Commission gave its approval this week to the tree and shrub mitigation plan submitted by Denbury Green Pipeline along the route of a carbon dioxide pipeline to its Cedar Hills South Unit in Slope and Bowman Counties.

Denbury's 12-inch diameter pipeline follows a nearly 18-mile long path that stretches from Fallon County, Montana, to Denbury’s CHSU oil production facilities in Bowman County. Just over half the pipeline, 9.23 miles, is on the North Dakota side of the border. The project will provide for tertiary oil recovery through injection of CO2 into the oil reservoir, resulting in increased extraction of crude oil.

Denbury's installation work resulted in the removal of two trees and more than 13,000 shrubs. But PSC Chair Julie Fedorchak said the company's mitigation plan provides for planting nearly 28,000 trees and about 12,000 shrubs, which she said exceeds the commission's mitigation requirements. Fedorchak said landowners in the area did not want trees on their property, so Denbury will meet its mitigation requirement through the ND Petroleum Foundation's Planting for the Future program.

Click here to listen to Fedorchak's comments.

PSC Commissioner Randy Christmann applauded the work of the Petroleum Foundation and its tree-planting program. Christmann said it has been helpful to pipeline companies in meeting the PSC's mitigation standard.

Click here to listen to Christmann's comments.

Denbury's application for the CO2 pipeline indicates that primary recovery typically extracts only about 10 percent of the oil in place in the reservoir. It states that secondary recovery generally results in a total recovery of 20 to 40 percent of the oil in the reservoir. 

Click here to see Denbury's tree and shrub mitigation plan.

Former Lieutenant Governor Drew Wrigley announced his intention yesterday to run for North Dakota Attorney General, become the first candidate to seek election to the seat that will be vacated by Wayne Stenehjem next year.

Wrigley said he had been pondering an election bid for several months, but jumping into the race was contingent on Stenehjem, who announced two weeks ago that he will retire at the end of his current term. 

Wrigley, who is 56, is a Bismarck native but graduated from Fargo South High School. He then attended the University of North Dakota for his bachelor’s in economics and philosophy, graduating with honors in 1988. He attended the American University, Washington College of Law and received his Juris Doctor, interning for U.S. Senator Bob Dole during law school.

Wrigley then served a year-long judicial clerkship in Delaware, after which he became an Assistant District Attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office. He served in the office for five years before embarking on his political career as Deputy Chief of Staff for Governor Ed Schaefer. His time in the governor's office was cut when in 2001, President George W. Bush nominated Wrigley to serve as U.S. Attorney for the District of North Dakota.

Wrigley held the office for nine years, before resuming his political career as Lt. Governor under Jack Dalrymple. A couple of years later, Wrigley was once again presidentially selected for the position of U.S. Attorney by President Donald Trump.

The 43rd Annual Energy Progress and Innovation Conference (EPIC) will be held  January 25-27, 2022 at the Bismarck Event Center.

The conference, formerly known as the Energy Generation Conference, will feature keynote sessions that will focus on workplace safety and electric reliability.

Bill Sims Jr. will present the opening keynote session on the idea of zero injuries, the “Holy Grail” of safety and how one tragic accident left the memory of what was but no longer is. Sims, President of The Bill Sims Company, has, for more than 40 years, created behavior-based recognition programs that have helped companies inspire better performance from employees and increase bottom-line profits.

Attendees will also hear from Michael Nasi from Jackson Walker in Austin, TX, who is affiliated with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and whose presentations have been featured on the website Life:Powered. Nasi will present on the U.S. Energy Reliability Outlook and will discuss the power system failures of Winter 2021 along with lessons learned to avoid future failures.

The conference will also highlight excellence award winners and recognize scholarship winners for 2022.

Click here to see the conference brochure. Click here to register.

Marc Morano, publisher of the website Climate Depot and author of the 2021 book Green Fraud: Why the Green New Deal is Even Worse Than You Think, will appear in Bismarck next week. Morano, an outspoken critic of news and social media outlets that have tried to silence individuals who challenge the so-called climate consensus, will speak at the Belle Mehus auditorium at 7:00 p.m. on January 6, 2022. 

Morano previously served as senior staff on the U.S. Senate Environmental & Public Works Committee. During his tenure as a senior advisor, speechwriter and climate researcher for U.S. Senator James lnhofe (R-OK), he managed the award-winning communication operations of the GOP side of the EPW Committee.

Morano, in a recent YouTube interview, was critical of the social media platform for its announced policy to block users who disagree with the so-called consensus on climate change. The policy states that YouTube (and Google) will prohibit "climate deniers from being able to monetize their content on its platforms via ads or creator payments." Morano said the policy amounts to government-sanctioned censorship.

Click here to listen to Morano's comments.

Morano said it's particularly inappropriate that YouTube would use "fact-checkers" from the United Nations, when it is obvious that the UN has a biased position on climate science.

Click here to listen to Morano's comments.

Morano wrote the 2019 book, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Climate Change, and produced and starred in the films Climate Hustle (2016) and Climate Hustle 2 (2020). His next book, The Great Reset: Global Elites and the Permanent Lockdown, is set for release in early 2022.

Click here to see a poster promoting Morano's appearance. Tickets, which are $35 for adults and $25 for students, are available at the Bismarck Event Center box office, by calling 800-514-3849, or at https://etix.com.

The Greater North Dakota Chamber will kick off the new year with the second annual round of its MFG Virtual Meeting Series, geared toward decision-makers in the manufacturing industry.

The next webinar will look at training programs that are available to train or upskill workforce. Speakers will discuss "off the shelf" offerings as well as how employers can collaborate to create custom trainings for their operations. The agenda features presentations from Bruce Emmil, Dean of the National Energy Center of Excellence at Bismarck State College; Wayde Sick, Director of the ND Department of Career and Technical Education; and Steve Johnson, Associate Professor at the ND State College of Science.

The webinar is scheduled from 10:00-11:00 a.m. CST, Thursday, January 13, 2022.

Additional sessions will be held roughly quarterly, with upcoming webinars to be held in the months of May, August and November. GNDC members can request recordings of the sessions following their completion by emailing the Chamber.

Click here for additional details or to register for the training webinar.

The ND Department of Transportation has finalized its 2022-2025 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, a four-year plan for transportation improvements to be funded with federal highway and transit monies.

Improvements include state and county highways, urban streets, roadway safety features, bikeways and busing programs. Each of the eight NDDOT District Engineers identified their priority projects for non-interstate and non-interregional systems in preparation for the annual STIP update. A committee, including the district engineers, established priority projects on the interstate and interregional systems. The district engineers populate the roadway segments and type of improvements with their project nominations, as well as recommendations for the construction year and, in some cases, estimated costs. They also prioritize their districts’ projects based on the NDDOT Highway Performance Classification System, public comments, and investment strategies.

Click here to view or download an electronic copy of the Final STIP. Hard copies are also be available for viewing at the district offices, or individual copies may be obtained from the NDDOT Programming Division upon request.

The NDDOT is also seeking public comments as it prepares the 2023-2026 STIP. Comments for any upcoming projects should be submitted through the district engineer, county engineer, metropolitan planning organization, Bureau of Indian Affairs, or other appropriate agency. Comments will be accepted through January 29, 2022.

Drivers interested in acquiring a commercial driver's license (CDL) will be required to complete additional federal training prior to taking the driving test beginning February 7, 2022.

Entry-level driver training (ELDT) is a set of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s minimum training standards for commercial driver license holders and applicants. 

“This training course provides a nationwide standard to ensure that new drivers have the same minimum level of competence and safety,” said Brad Schaffer, ND Department of Transportation driver license division director. 

ELDT is required for drivers applying the first time for a Class A or Class B CDL, upgrading an existing CDL, or adding endorsements. The federal Training Provider Registry (TPR) will be the hub for the new safety-focused requirement. Organizations wanting to provide the required ELDT must register themselves on the TPR. Driver applicants seeking to locate classes will use the TPR to find the best provider to fit their needs.

Click here for more information about the ELDT regulations and the TPR.