Dakota Beacon

Politicians love attention and it doesn’t get much better than the front page of the Wall Street Journal -- that’s where Sen. Kent Conrad found himself Thursday, February 4.  However, he may not entirely like the article -- it quotes one senate colleague saying, “Conrad says one thing, and then votes hundreds of times the other way -- to spend money.”  That is essentially the sense of the article, “Deficit Hawk Turns Dove at Home,” which cites instance after instance where Conrad talks hawkish and then supports big spending programs.

The lengthy piece says Conrad has helped ND receive nearly $1.70 for every dollar paid in federal taxes, receive $2 for every dollar of gas tax collected, become #3 in earmarks per capita, and much, much more.  Conrad shrugs off the apparent contradiction and says the money his state receives is tiny relative to the overall budget.  The Journal says, “Such attentiveness has kept Mr. Conrad popular in an otherwise conservative state.”

The Bismarck Tribune had its own State of the Union address: “The state of the union today is dysfunctional.  As a nation, we can and must do better.  It's time for the president and Congress to do the people's work.”

Rep. Earl Pomeroy is scrambling to safer, higher ground.  In November, he voted for the for a sweeping health care overhaul.  In January, he said, “A ‘big bang’ approach to overhauling the nation’s health care system has failed.”  Now, Pomeroy favors smaller proposals.  

“Brain drain” is a term frequently used in the Great Plains --  it refers to the departure of educated young adults.  Chuck Haga of the GF Herald says a study in Minnesota indicates there may have been a counterbalancing “brain gain” in recent years, as older adults from other states moved to rural areas.  ND’s demographer, Richard Rathge, says people move to Minnesota for amenities such as lakes, rivers, and scenic and recreational areas, but he doubts that is happening in ND.  He said, ND “doesn’t have the same types of amenities.”

It was only January, but thoughts were already returning to flooding.  Meteorologists said the Red River Valley is sitting on “a keg of dynamite” -- there is an 86 percent chance of major flooding in Fargo.  Other cities in the Sheyenne and Red River valleys face lower, but still serious, chances of flooding.  Devils Lake is beginning early preparations -- there is an 80% chance the lake will rise two feet.

The Corps of Engineers has concluded that a Fargo-Moorhead flood diversion on either the ND or Minnesota side would meet cost-benefit standards.  A diversion on the Minnesota side would be 25 miles long and would take 6-1/2 years to build; a diversion on the ND side would be 36 miles and would take 8-1/2 years.  A ND side diversion would cost nearly $1.3 billion with a local share of $780 million.  In what you might call the “downstream dilemma,”  communities along the Red River, mostly in Minnesota, learned their flooding would increase as a result of diversions.

Diversions aside, the GF Herald believes the Red River Valley should institute a “Waffle Plan.”  Under this plan, landowners would be paid to store water until flood danger recedes.  The term “waffle” comes from the pattern created by section line roads acting as mini-dams to hold water.  Researchers indicate that a 6-foot reduction in the Red River can be achieved by employing about 5 percent of the land in the Red River Basin.  The Herald says the plan can be implemented quickly at a relatively low cost and obstacles are mainly political.

Two notable artists were born in ND -- both left the state as children.  Clyfford Still was born in Grandin in 1904 and died in Maryland in 1980.  Still was one of the foremost figures in abstract expressionism.  The Clyfford Still Museum in Denver is currently under construction and will be devoted exclusively to his work -- he has no major work in ND.  James Rosenquist was born in Grand Forks in 1933 and lives and works in Florida.  He was trained as a billboard painter, going on to pop art.  He has produced many mural sized paintings, often with political themes.  Thanks to an anonymous donor, the Plains Art Museum in Fargo has commissioned a $1.2 million Rosenquist mural.

Are Nodaks just hard workers, or are they forced to hold more than one job?  Nearly ten percent do -- the highest rate in the country.  South Dakota (#2) is very close, while Minnesota (#4) is about one percent lower.  Explanations vary -- since ND’s economy is strong and its population is sparse, it’s easy to get a second job.  Another, ND has a large percentage of residents on farms, they often pick up additional seasonal jobs.

Good economic health dampens demands on government.  Tribune columnist Ken Rogers senses that is the case in ND.  He attempted to predict what concerns will occupy the 2011 ND Legislature.  Rogers thinks concerns about the oil industry will be high on the agenda.  The state has benefited from a wave of oil development for several years and is now beginning to focus on the fallout.  Roads, traffic, and water are near the top of the list.

The Corps of Engineers wants to know what people think about oil wells along the shore of Lake Sakakawea.  Tribune writer Lauren Donovan says, “Some will see prosperity and some will see problems.”  The Corps has many requests to put oil pads near the lake to extract oil by horizontal drilling at a depth of 10,000 feet under the lake.  Public meetings are part of the Corps’ assessment.

We shook our heads when Katrina hit New Orleans -- why did such a large city have so little ability to help itself?  In the case of Haiti, it was worse, an entire country in a state of helplessness.  A news item in early February indicates similar conditions may exist in parts of the Dakotas.  The Cheyenne River Reservation in SD is physically one of the nation’s largest -- Standing Rock Reservation is on the north, the Missouri River on the east, and the Cheyenne River on the south.  About 8,000 people live on the reservation where unemployment is about 80 percent and half live in poverty.

In January, winter ice storms toppled thousands of power poles on the reservation.  After several weeks large parts of the sprawling reservation were still without electricity and water.  The reservation drained its emergency funds and the National Guard is providing assistance.  Sonny Brave Eagle said he, his wife and their two young daughters were stranded about six days in the dark at their home 12 miles north of Eagle Butte (the largest population center) until law officers came out to check on them.  “We didn't have a vehicle ... We had no phone, no batteries for the radio. We didn't know what was going on.”

ND is one of six states in the Ninth Federal Reserve District.  The District conducted a business outlook poll for 2010.  District states were pessimistic -- businesses saw little growth in 2010 and were concerned about more regulation and higher taxes.  Pessimism was highest in the Twin Cities and NW Wisconsin.  ND was the lone optimistic exception. 

DAKTOIDS: ND has the wind at its back -- in 2009 the state moved from being the number 13 state in wind production to number 10 . . . It’s quite embarrassing, 20 percent of ND coyotes have mange (hair loss caused by mites).