There was a little finger pointing among supporters of the coal and wind industries at an Energy Town Hall this week, but generally agreement that everyone needs to figure out how to work together for the state's best interests.

Only a couple dozen people showed up in person for the two-hour session at the Bismarck Event Center, hosted by radio talk show host Scott Hennen, but those who were there were either directly engaged or listened intently. Much of the discussion centered around the fate of Coal Creek Station, an 1,100-megawatt power plant, which owner Great River Energy (GRE) has announced will be shut down at the end of 2022. Efforts are underway to locate a new owner for the plant, and its associated direct current transmission line to Minnesota. Among about a dozen panelists was John Weeda, director of the ND Transmission Authority, who said the 436-mile DC line is as significant to the state's electricity export market as the Dakota Access Pipeline is to North Dakota oil producers.

Click here to listen to Weeda's comments.

In response to the announcement of plans to close Coal Creek, both McLean and Mercer Counties enacted local measures to impede the ability of wind farms to step in and access the DC transmission line. Bob Harms, a panelist who lobbies for the wind industry, criticized the counties' decision.

Click here to listen to Harms' comments.

Harms said competition from wind isn't really causing the shut down of coal plants, and urged those attending to do more to support the coal industry.

Click here to listen to Harms' comments.

Anna Novak, a Hazen resident whose husband works in the coal industry, disagreed with the contention that wind wasn't coal's biggest problem. Novak urged citizens to stand up to companies like GRE, which she said has little regard for people in North Dakota, and is intent only on pushing "green energy."

"The higher ups at Great River Energy and the wind companies, they don't care about (the people) or their communities, it is all political to them. And the men and women working at Coal Creek Station and Falkirk, they're just casualties," Novak said. "Regardless of the fact that North Dakota is an all-of-the-above energy state, we are a point where more wind equals less coal, plain and simple."

Perrie Schafer, a businessman representing the Lignite Energy Council, said the biggest problems facing coal are long-standing federal energy policies and subsidies that favors the wind industry. Schafer said until coal can compete on a level playing field, it will continue to struggle.

Click here to listen to Schafer's comments.

PSC Commissioner Randy Christmann said those promoting more wind development in North Dakota need to understand there is little available transmission capacity to move the power out of state.

Click here to listen to Christmann's comments.

Five legislators took part in the panel, including both Republic and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate, as well as Mandan Rep. Todd Porter, who chairs the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Porter defended the actions of Mercer and McLean Counties, and said the role of the state legislature is to establish policies that balance the interests of competing industries.

Click here to listen to Porter's comments.

House Majority Leader Chet Pollert said all energy interests in the state need to come together to resolve disagreements, which he expects will be a hot topic in the 2021 session.

Click here to listen to Pollert's comments.

Congressman Kelly Armstrong made a virtual appearance at the Town Hall. Armstrong noted that too many people "think food comes from the grocery store, gas comes from the gas stattion and electricity comes from a socket." He said opponents of fossil fuels and production agriculture have figured out one of the most effective ways to stop it is to block its transportation.

"I don't care what commodity you produce, we are at the geographic center of the United States, and if we can't get our product, whether it's soybeans, natural gas or electrons, to market, we are never going to succeed as a state," Armstrong said. "We have to be vigilant in that fight and we have to take it to people, because they need the products we produce and they should allow us to do it."

The town hall was broadcast and live-streamed by Bek Communications. It is not known if the session will be re-broadcast, but company officials said a DVD can be ordered on their website next week.

North Dakota crude oil production, which plummeted in April and May due to the Saudi-Russian price war and demand destruction from the coronavirus pandemic, rebounded slightly in the month of June.

Production fell to an average of 859,362 barrels in May, far below the record 1.52 million barrel daily average in November 2019, as producers shut in about 7,000 wells in response to the sharp drop in oil prices. As crude crept back above $30/barrel, producers started bringing those shut-in wells back on line in June, raising average production to just over 890,000 bbl/day for the month.

In a presentation yesterday to the Legislative Revenue Advisory Committee, ND Pipeline Authority Director Justin Kringstad said state officials believe average production is now about 1.3 million bbl/day as producers continued to bring wells back on line in July and into August.

Click here to listen to Kringstad's comments.

Kringstad cautioned that the rebound could be short-lived because of the decline rate of Bakken wells. He said it will require completion of 70 to 80 new wells per month to maintain or grow production.

Lynn Helms, director of the Department of Mineral Resources, said today the industry is nowhere near that completion total. Helms said there are currently only 11 drilling rigs and three frac crews in the state, and much of that activity is in response to the possibility that Joe Biden wins the president election. In response to demands from the far left, Biden has threatened to ban new drilling on federal land, and Helms said that would affect a lot of leases in North Dakota.

Click here to listen to Helms' comments.

If Biden is elected and follows through on his promise to cancel federal leases, Helms said it would likely put an end to growth in the Bakken because about one-fourth of the state's production is either on the Fort Berthold Reservation or on federal land in Billings and McKenzie Counties.

Click here to listen to Helms' comments.

Helms said the good news in June was that that state captured 89% of the natural gas produced, which exceeds the state's current target. He said areas off the reservation actually exceeded the 91% capture target that is due to kick in this November.

Click here to read or download Helm's Director's Cut.

The North Dakota-based Brighter Future Alliance has submitted a petition to the state Supreme Court challenging the legitimacy of Measure 3, which has been approved for the November ballot.

The alliance is asking that the measure be removed from the ballot because the group that circulated the measure misled petition signers, many of whom have since complained to the Secretary of State. Lacee Anderson, an attorney and spokesperson for the alliance, said in an interview on the radio program What's on Your Mind this morning, that petition signers weren't told the whole truth about what they were signing.

Click here to listen to Anderson's comments.

The ballot measure was promoted by a group calling itself North Dakota Voters First, which is an odd name considering its campaign finance report shows 100% of the money behind the measure came from out-of-state groups. In addition to its proponents misleading petition signers, the Brighter Future Alliance also argues that the measure would empower the legislature to make amendments to the state constitution without voter approval.

The 1,500-word addition to the state constitution would radically change the state's voting procedure and the way legislative districts are drawn. The measure would create open primary elections, allowing voters to cross party lines to pick the weakest opponent for their preferred party candidate.It would also create "instant runoffs" by allowing ranked voting. Instead of choosing one candidate, voters would name their first, second, third and fourth choices of the candidates for each office.

Click here and advance to the 29:20 mark to listen to the full interview with Anderson.

North Dakota's lone Congressman may spend most of his time in Washington DC, but that doesn't mean he's taken his eye off state politics. Rep. Kelly Armstrong, in an interview this week with Scott Hennen, had nothing good to say about Measure 3.

Armstrong questioned the motive of members of the sponsoring committee, whose measure would radically alter North Dakota's voting system. He said that doesn't make any sense at all in the state with the simplest voting procedures.

Click here to listen to Armstrong's comments.

The measure's supporters pitched a provision it contains which they said would make it easier for overseas veterans to vote. But Armstrong, who served as State Republican Party Chairman for three years, said he never received a single complaint from a veteran on tour that it was difficult to obtain a North Dakota ballot.

Armstrong takes issue with language in the measure that changes voting procedures, which he said would set up a system known as "ranked voting," in which the top vote getter may not always win.

Click here to listen to Armstrong's comments.

The measure would also throw out the state legislature's longstanding tradition of re-drawing legislative districts every 10 years to reflect population shifts, and instead grant that authority to the new Ethics Commission, taking the power away from elected officials. The commission would be required to first establish senatorial districts, each of which would be divided into two legislative districts.

Click here to listen to the full interview with Congressman Armstrong.

It wasn't a complete slam dunk, but the Legislature's Budget Section did give its stamp of approval this week to a $59 million funding package for cities and counties, part of a third allocation of federal dollars provided to the state under the CARES Act.

Legislators debated a motion by Rep. Larry Bellew, R-Minot, that cities and counties be required to reduce property taxes in proportion to the amount of funding they received. But Sen. Dick Dever, R-Bismarck, pointed out that requiring local governments to reduce taxes would be in conflict with language in the federal legislation.

Click here to listen to Dever's comments.

Federal guidelines allow the COVID-19 funds to be used to pay the salaries of emergency responders, which the state Office of Management and Budget estimated will total about $33.5 million for cities and $25.4 million for counties for the period March through September. Local governments will be asked to submit actual costs through the month of July, and submit a second request later this year when actual payroll numbers for August and September come in.

The agenda has been finalized for third and final session of East Revisits West, a virtual way for business leaders from eastern North Dakota to learn more about issues and opportunities in the Bakken.

Several years ago the Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce set up a trip for its members to tour the Bakken to learn more about the oil industry and explore mutually beneficial business enterprises. But because of health and safety concerns, the chamber this year is conducting virtual meetings on the Zoom platform instead of making the trip west.

The third session is scheduled August 25 from 3:45 to 5:15 p.m. CDT. The agenda will focus on the status of the state budget, tax collections, status of the state's oil industry, and a roundtable discussion of impacts of the downturn in the oil industry.

Featured speakers include State Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger, DMR Director Lynn Helms, and Lt. Governor Brent Sanford.

Interested individuals can register for the free sessions by sending an email to info@gochamber.org.

Click here to see the flyer with the agenda for the first session.

The airline industry is still not back to normal following a near shutdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but things are trending in the right direction.

North Dakota’s eight commercial service airports during the month of July posted a total of 39,660 passengers boardings. The total is higher than the passenger count has been in each of the past three months, but still amounts to only 36% of the passenger levels that North Dakota experienced during the same month last year.

“North Dakota’s commercial service airports have now seen three consecutive months of increases in passenger levels, available seats, load factors, and airline flights.” said Kyle Wanner, Executive Director of the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission. “Though the trend since the beginning of the pandemic has been positive thus far, we still have a long way to go to reach pre-pandemic passenger numbers and air service levels."

Just over 6,500 passengers boarded flights in Minot in the month of July, compared to nearly 16,000 in July 2019. Williston saw 1,635 boardings in July, compared to more than 8,400 one year ago. A total of 847 passengers boarded flights out of Dickinson last month, compared to 2,161 last July.

The application form and information on projects that have been awarded funding in the past can be found here. For more information on the program, contact Andrea Pfennig (701-328-3786) or Karlene Fine (701-328-3722) or click here. 

The Western Dakota Energy Association will award five $1,000 scholarships this fall to students in an energy-related field at a North Dakota college, university or technical school.

WDEA President Shannon Holter said the association is offering the scholarships to help the industry and western communities meet the workforce challenges historically experienced with oil industry growth.

“We recognize that North Dakota will see benefits from the oil industry only if it is able to attract the workforce it needs,” said Holter. “We want to do everything we can to encourage young people to explore the many opportunities for a rewarding career in the energy sector.”

Funding for the scholarship program is generated by sponsorships of WDEA’s annual meeting, as well as royalties from advertising in Basin Bits magazine.

Click here to learn more about the selection criteria and how to apply.

Click here to view or download an application form.

The application deadline is September 18, 2020. Scholarship winners will be announced in October.

Source: Reuters

Williston API Golf Tournament 

September 1-3 (rescheduled for May 11-13, 2021)

September 16 

Energy Development and Transmission Committee