Dakota Beacon

MYSTERY BUYER  The most jolting development in the ND coal industry in recent years has been Great River Energy’s decision to close Coal Creek Station, the state’s largest coal-fired power station.  Unable to compete with natural gas and wind power, Coal Creek has had consistent large losses.  State officials announced last week with obvious delight that Great River found a buyer for Coal Creek and is about to close a sale which will keep the plant operating.  The name of the buyer and terms of the proposed sale have not been disclosed.

A CONTRARY VIEW  The mystery buyer is expected use carbon capture, a somewhat unproven technology, to make the plant viable.  A representative of the Sierra Club made an observation which seems hard to rebut.  Jessica Tritsch said, "Carbon capture just makes [power production] more expensive, yet Great River was going to shut down the plant because it is too expensive to run.”

A LOSS IS A LOSS  UND began a playoff hockey game with Minnesota Duluth at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and ended the game on Sunday — the prize was entry to the Frozen Four national championship.  This was the longest game in the history of NCAA men’s hockey tournaments.  UND lost 3-2 in the fifth overtime.

TAPPING THE LEGACY FUND  A bill has passed in the ND Legislature that will allocate 20% of oil tax collections coming into the Legacy Fund for investment in ND.  Half would be for a revolving fund for infrastructure loans to local government; the other half will be reserved for equity-type investments in ND-based companies.  The loan fund would be administered by the state-owned Bank of ND.

CAUTIONS FOR THE LEGACY FUND  Columnist Lloyd Omdahl supports the idea of the ND Legacy Fund making a greater investment in ND businesses.  He noted that the fund had earned 9.25% per annum for the past five years and he believes it is realistic to expect investments in ND will probably have lower returns, if it were otherwise, out-of state money would have exploited the opportunity.  Omdahl also sees a risk that political influence will creep into the selection of investments.

FARMERS ARE BULLISH  A USDA report has ND farmers planting 7 million acres of soybeans and 3.3 million acres of corn this year, increases of 22% and 69%, respectively, over last year.  If ND plants 7 million acres of soybeans, it will be the fourth largest producer after Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota.  Since the nation’s farmers will be planting about the same amount of corn, soybeans and wheat as they did last year, prices have remained strong.

POINTING A FINGER AT BASKETBALL  “They aren't the sole reason for the COVID-19 spike but they likely are a factor.” — Kirby Kruger, Director of the state Disease Control Division.  The spike he mentions is a 60% increase in active coronavirus cases in the last seven days.  The possible reason is high school basketball state tournaments, which were canceled last year.  Kruger said, "There's more out-and-about that's going on."

PICKING UP THE PIECES  If ND does not maintain a refugee resettlement program, the federal government can resettle refugees there without any say from the state.  With the sudden demise of Lutheran Social Services in ND, the state does not have a program.  For that reason, the state will hire a State Refugee Resettlement Coordinator who will have a staff of 21 people and a $6.1 million budget for the biennium.  This is seen as a temporary measure until a nonprofit organization takes over the job.  A nonprofit called Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is beginning resettlement work in Fargo.  Other former LSS programs are slowly being picked up by other nonprofits

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THE DETROIT PIPELINE is the name given to the flow of illegal drugs from Detroit to dealers in ND and Minnesota.  The Indian reservations are particularly targeted because they have the most people with drug addiction.  Both overdose deaths and fentanyl confiscations are escalating in Minnesota and the Dakotas.  Overdose deaths in ND rose from 66 in 2018 to 106 in 2020.  The Drug Enforcement Admin. confiscated 900 grams of fentanyl in ND last year and seven times that amount in Minnesota.

WAY TO GO DARRELL  New Rockford native Darrell Bymoen (79) went on to a successful career as an electrical engineer.  In retirement, Darrell used his engineering skills to work on a variety of technical innovations.  Near the height of these achievements, according to his obituary, he “tinkered with perfecting the air powered potato gun.”

VERN PETERSON (91) was never one to make hasty decisions.  During his long career as a mechanical engineer and NDSU professor he laid careful plans for marriage.  His obituary indicates his plans culminated in 1996 when, at the age of 66, he married Carolyn Brudevold.

ESCAPE HATCH  Rural, red counties in Minnesota are troubled by the need to reconcile their local politics to that of the Twin Cities metro counties.  A state representative has proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow a county to secede and join one of the friendlier neighboring states of Iowa, ND, SD or Wisconsin.  The proposed bill does not have legs, but is sure to stir interesting conversations.

VICTIMS OF THE PANDEMIC  Bet you didn’t think about this.  The famed Minneapolis skyway system has nearly 10 miles of walkways.  They were home to dozens of shops and restaurants.  With many downtown employees now working from home the skyway is nearly deserted and only a few businesses have been able to hold out.  In the Northstar Center, one of the core blocks, Walkin Dog (hot dogs) was the sole survivor.  Businesses such as Target are reducing their downtown space — it may be a longtime before traffic in the skyway returns to normal.

DAKTOIDS:  ND has 300 nesting bald eagles, but it’s a piker next to Minnesota’s 19,000 mature bald eagles — the most of the lower 48 states.