SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - AUGUST 2, 2016
PALEONTOLOGY METAPHOR It was mentioned here last week that the ND coal industry may be approaching an extinction phase. Low prices, natural gas and alternative energy are on its heels. Fortune Magazine says in that phase “you either rapidly adapt and new means of competition are created, or you go extinct.” The ND soft coal industry, then, is in a Darwinian fight for its life.
COAL’S FUTURE “It’s taken a long time for the first fatality to happen in North Dakota. Now that it’s happened, I don’t think we can presume this is an outlier.” -- U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer referring to the planned closure of ND’s Stanton Station coal-fired plant and suggesting that more closures may be in the offing.
CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR A commentary on Rob Port’s SayAnythingBlog from Jamestown resident Connie Krapp presents a different side of the coal story. Her view is that wind and solar are monstrously over-subsidized by taxpayers and drive coal out of business without a meaningful impact on carbon emissions. She gave examples of Denmark and Germany, early wind pioneers, now adding coal stations to preserve a source of base energy and keep a lid on energy prices.
ANYONE WANT A TERMINAL? “Between 2010 and 2015, 89 terminals were built or expanded in the U.S. and Canada to load crude on trains.” -- Wall Street Journal. Many of those terminals are in ND. Likewise, regulators mandated new safer tank cars. Big bucks! Just in time to witness a steep drop-off in transporting oil by rail. In a short time, almost all ND oil production will leave by pipeline -- an example of billions spent to develop capacity for a need that evaporated.
PICTURE THIS Trucks fan out 50 miles in each direction gathering corn stalks and wheat straw to feed a cellulosic ethanol plant in the Spiritwood Industrial Park near Jamestown. That’s a huge circle with Carrington (N), Buffalo (E), Edgeley (S) and Tappen (W) on the compass points. New Energy has no investors so far, but is seeking $125,000 from a state commission for a feasibility study. Put this in your “interesting, but unlikely” stack.
ROBIN HALL is a new research home for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and other aerospace fields at UND. The 66,000 square foot building is named after donors Si and Mary Robin, husband-and-wife business partners who operate an aerospace manufacturing company in California. UND President Mark Kennedy said the school is the national champion in aerospace education, just as it is in men’s hockey.
THE WORLD’S LARGEST BUFFALO stares stoically at I-94 in Jamestown. That’s no accident -- billboard master Harold Newman commissioned the beast in 1959. Last week, Wisconsin sculptor Elmer Peterson was honored at the National Buffalo Museum for designing the 46 feet long, 26 feet high creature. Peterson struck again in 1974, this time with an eagle sculpture at the Jamestown Veteran’s Building. It’s Biblical -- Jacob wrestles with an angel in the middle of the sculpture and refuses to let go until blessed. The Jamestown Sun quoted Peterson: “It reminded me of the people of North Dakota. They won’t let go until they are blessed.”
THE DICKINSON PRESS reports a free fall in rents and occupancy in that city. Vacancy rates may be as high as 30 to 40%. The national vacancy rate is 7%.
DAMNED WITH FAINT PRAISE Mark Hagerott, Chancellor of the State University System, is “hoping it all works out” for NDSU President Dean Bresciani whose contract is under review by the Board of Higher Education.
FAMILIAR FORMULA Forum columnist Mike McFeely had no difficulty predicting the outcome: “I'd put the chances of a Bresciani contract extension at 0 percent.” Then McFeely defended Bresciani: “If there is a qualified president already in charge of one of the state's major universities, why run him out of town if the odds of replacing him with a lesser candidate appear to be so great?” This is part of a formulaic style at the Forum -- defend NDSU, kick UND.
MCFEELY TARGETED UND He used UND’s new president, Mark Kennedy, as a negative example noting “the pool of finalists for the UND job was as shallow as the Red River during a drought.” He then listed his considerable reservations about Kennedy, who is barely out of the starting gate. Some background to McFeely’s comments -- many think ND’s open-records laws scare off highly-qualified candidates because the applications are public.
U.S. 85 has become one of ND’s busiest highways. It’s the main street of the Oil Patch and clogged with traffic. The Dept. of Transportation is proposing a four-lane expansion of a 62-mile stretch between Watford City and I-94, a project which could cost between $830 million and $1 billion.
CHOKE POINT A 7-mile stretch in the Badlands is the most sensitive part of the project -- a choke point which includes the dodgy Long X Bridge over the Little Missouri River. It doesn’t take much head scratching to conclude the 7-mile stretch needs widening. But it won’t go down easily, the Badlands Conservation Alliance and Theodore Roosevelt Park officials are determined to squeeze their priorities into the project.
HIGH HURDLE Last week columnist Lloyd Omdahl called for a “Marshall Plan” to help ND’s impoverished Indian tribes. He makes an exception for “the oil-rich Three Affiliated Tribes” at Ft. Berthold. This week he discussed the reforms necessary for the tribes to earn the trust of investors. But first, he listed a few small problems: embezzlement, political turmoil, incompetence, rudderless tribes, poor checks and balances, and an absence of democracy and openness. He suggested these may be “only tips of the icebergs.” Expect a slow turnaround, at best.
“THE USDA has taken on social-services roles typically associated with other agencies.” -- Business Week. The thrust of the article was that the Dept. of Agriculture has evolved into “The Rural Agency” and taken on health care, education and infrastructure in rural America. Some rural officials see this as their salvation in a nation focused on urban priorities. Others see the USDA as a wasteful, inefficient bureaucracy that strayed from its mission.
DRIVING WHILE CANADIAN Dalmar Ali (22) and his six passengers weaved through traffic on a Twin Cities freeway at 100 mph. When he was stopped, Ali explained that he is from Toronto where speedometers are calibrated in kilometers (100 kph equals 62 mph). He told police that he did notice other cars were driving more slowly. He’ll have to make the explanation again -- he’s due in court in September.
COAL’S FUTURE “It’s taken a long time for the first fatality to happen in North Dakota. Now that it’s happened, I don’t think we can presume this is an outlier.” -- U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer referring to the planned closure of ND’s Stanton Station coal-fired plant and suggesting that more closures may be in the offing.
CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR A commentary on Rob Port’s SayAnythingBlog from Jamestown resident Connie Krapp presents a different side of the coal story. Her view is that wind and solar are monstrously over-subsidized by taxpayers and drive coal out of business without a meaningful impact on carbon emissions. She gave examples of Denmark and Germany, early wind pioneers, now adding coal stations to preserve a source of base energy and keep a lid on energy prices.
ANYONE WANT A TERMINAL? “Between 2010 and 2015, 89 terminals were built or expanded in the U.S. and Canada to load crude on trains.” -- Wall Street Journal. Many of those terminals are in ND. Likewise, regulators mandated new safer tank cars. Big bucks! Just in time to witness a steep drop-off in transporting oil by rail. In a short time, almost all ND oil production will leave by pipeline -- an example of billions spent to develop capacity for a need that evaporated.
PICTURE THIS Trucks fan out 50 miles in each direction gathering corn stalks and wheat straw to feed a cellulosic ethanol plant in the Spiritwood Industrial Park near Jamestown. That’s a huge circle with Carrington (N), Buffalo (E), Edgeley (S) and Tappen (W) on the compass points. New Energy has no investors so far, but is seeking $125,000 from a state commission for a feasibility study. Put this in your “interesting, but unlikely” stack.
ROBIN HALL is a new research home for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and other aerospace fields at UND. The 66,000 square foot building is named after donors Si and Mary Robin, husband-and-wife business partners who operate an aerospace manufacturing company in California. UND President Mark Kennedy said the school is the national champion in aerospace education, just as it is in men’s hockey.
THE WORLD’S LARGEST BUFFALO stares stoically at I-94 in Jamestown. That’s no accident -- billboard master Harold Newman commissioned the beast in 1959. Last week, Wisconsin sculptor Elmer Peterson was honored at the National Buffalo Museum for designing the 46 feet long, 26 feet high creature. Peterson struck again in 1974, this time with an eagle sculpture at the Jamestown Veteran’s Building. It’s Biblical -- Jacob wrestles with an angel in the middle of the sculpture and refuses to let go until blessed. The Jamestown Sun quoted Peterson: “It reminded me of the people of North Dakota. They won’t let go until they are blessed.”
THE DICKINSON PRESS reports a free fall in rents and occupancy in that city. Vacancy rates may be as high as 30 to 40%. The national vacancy rate is 7%.
DAMNED WITH FAINT PRAISE Mark Hagerott, Chancellor of the State University System, is “hoping it all works out” for NDSU President Dean Bresciani whose contract is under review by the Board of Higher Education.
FAMILIAR FORMULA Forum columnist Mike McFeely had no difficulty predicting the outcome: “I'd put the chances of a Bresciani contract extension at 0 percent.” Then McFeely defended Bresciani: “If there is a qualified president already in charge of one of the state's major universities, why run him out of town if the odds of replacing him with a lesser candidate appear to be so great?” This is part of a formulaic style at the Forum -- defend NDSU, kick UND.
MCFEELY TARGETED UND He used UND’s new president, Mark Kennedy, as a negative example noting “the pool of finalists for the UND job was as shallow as the Red River during a drought.” He then listed his considerable reservations about Kennedy, who is barely out of the starting gate. Some background to McFeely’s comments -- many think ND’s open-records laws scare off highly-qualified candidates because the applications are public.
U.S. 85 has become one of ND’s busiest highways. It’s the main street of the Oil Patch and clogged with traffic. The Dept. of Transportation is proposing a four-lane expansion of a 62-mile stretch between Watford City and I-94, a project which could cost between $830 million and $1 billion.
CHOKE POINT A 7-mile stretch in the Badlands is the most sensitive part of the project -- a choke point which includes the dodgy Long X Bridge over the Little Missouri River. It doesn’t take much head scratching to conclude the 7-mile stretch needs widening. But it won’t go down easily, the Badlands Conservation Alliance and Theodore Roosevelt Park officials are determined to squeeze their priorities into the project.
HIGH HURDLE Last week columnist Lloyd Omdahl called for a “Marshall Plan” to help ND’s impoverished Indian tribes. He makes an exception for “the oil-rich Three Affiliated Tribes” at Ft. Berthold. This week he discussed the reforms necessary for the tribes to earn the trust of investors. But first, he listed a few small problems: embezzlement, political turmoil, incompetence, rudderless tribes, poor checks and balances, and an absence of democracy and openness. He suggested these may be “only tips of the icebergs.” Expect a slow turnaround, at best.
“THE USDA has taken on social-services roles typically associated with other agencies.” -- Business Week. The thrust of the article was that the Dept. of Agriculture has evolved into “The Rural Agency” and taken on health care, education and infrastructure in rural America. Some rural officials see this as their salvation in a nation focused on urban priorities. Others see the USDA as a wasteful, inefficient bureaucracy that strayed from its mission.
DRIVING WHILE CANADIAN Dalmar Ali (22) and his six passengers weaved through traffic on a Twin Cities freeway at 100 mph. When he was stopped, Ali explained that he is from Toronto where speedometers are calibrated in kilometers (100 kph equals 62 mph). He told police that he did notice other cars were driving more slowly. He’ll have to make the explanation again -- he’s due in court in September.
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