Dakota Beacon

Sen. John Hoeven “picked the right issue” to take a leadership role in the Senate. At least that is what Tom Dennis at the GF Herald thinks about Hoeven’s bill to force approval of the Keystone pipeline. Dennis said President Obama used Nebraska as an excuse to stall a decision, “But it proved to be a very thin reed, because routing through Nebraska is an easy problem to fix.” “Our bill approves the pipeline while allowing Nebraska and TransCanada the time they need to find the right route through our state,” said Nebraska Sen. Mike Johanns upon joining Hoeven’s bill. “This pipeline is not only a national priority because of the energy and jobs it will bring, it’s also a Nebraska priority.”

The Forum papers are running a 5-part series called “Living With Water.” The second part of the series is about flooding. WDAY meteorologist John Wheeler punctured several myths: Myth #1, the fact that the Red River runs north (and has downstream ice blockage) is not an important reason why it floods. It’s the flat shape of the valley and small degree of northward slope which are the main problems. Myths #2 & 3, Urban paving and farm drainage are not big factors either -- scientists have determined they have a small role in flooding. Wheeler says it’s really rather simple, “When it is dry, there is very little flooding, and when it is wet, flooding becomes a problem.”

Concurrent with the Forum series, the Federal Reserve of Minneapolis has published “The other, silent flood,” largely a discussion of Devils Lake flooding. Very well done by Fedgazette Editor Ronald Wirtz. The article notes that $1 billion of public costs have been incurred mitigating flood damage and the piece hints there has been a great deal of wastage. Not because of wrongdoing, but because of a process of short-term improvements which always assumed “the wet cycle would reverse and no further work would be needed.” Right now, there is a good chance a “gravity outlet” into the Sheyenne River will be the final solution. The article subtly observes that such an outlet was proposed in 1999 and would have cost just $2.2 million.

The Fedgazette frankly confronts another long-standing problem: the faltering pace of economic development on Indian reservations. In its community development publication, the Gazette attributes weak development, in part, to a failure to separate tribal businesses and courts from tribal politics. In ND, there is a long-established pattern of tribal governments lasting only a few years and upending tribal businesses in the process. There is a need for an independent entity that can shepherd tribal enterprises through longer development cycles. Tribal politics is also a reason investors are wary of the reservations. A stable investment climate and independent courts on the reservations would encourage private investment.

Shotgun litigation. NDSU is suing nearly everybody possibly connected with the December 2009 collapse of Minard Hall, the largest academic building on campus. The collapse came at a particularly bad time -- NDSU was already awash in scandals. The school says the collapse added $5 million to the cost of renovating Minard. NDSU is suing three design and engineering firms, plus a state fund which had already denied NDSU’s claims. The plaintiffs flatly reject the claims, two of them say the university was responsible for the services which most likely contributed to the collapse.

I don’t have much evidence, but a disproportionate share of deaths and injuries in the oil patch appear to involve out-of-state workers. Take the news on February 4th: Men from South Dakota and Texas died in separate industrial accidents near New Town. A Wyoming man drove a garbage truck across two lanes of U.S. Hwy 2 and plowed into a man camp near Williston -- fortunately the men were elsewhere. The driver, who was injured, was also in a crash a week earlier. Authorities went to the Lewis and Clark boat ramp in Williston, neither Lewis nor Clark could be found, but men from Oregon, Washington and Brazil were. They were arrested for things such as drugs and concealed weapons.

Thousands of men are pouring into the oil patch. And women are ready to light them up with stun guns that shoot 4.5 million volts into a groin, small weapons to jab vulnerable parts, and keychain alarms that emit earsplitting shrieks. Lauren Donovan of the Tribune reports you can buy these tools, in pink if you like, at Damsel in Defense parties (Tupperware with an attitude) hosted by women in northwestern ND. Concealed weapon permits for women are way up. Police hear all this and sense a little overreaction -- they see almost no reports of women being harassed by strangers. One sheriff said, “There are a lot of scary-looking men around here, but they’re looking for jobs, not women.”

At times, the Fargo Forum gets absolutely bent out of shape about the Oil Patch. A lengthy editorial about women’s safety in western ND played off the Tribune story noted above. The Forum quoted a woman from Ray who is leaving the state and said: “Her story is but one example of societal deterioration of consequence. North Dakotans who soft-pedal the situation apparently are willing to sacrifice their heritage, culture and communities to a pot of gold at the end of an oil rainbow.”

Is a bubble developing in ND farmland values? Sure looks like it. Values were up 14% in 2011, following an increase of 20% in 2010. Two factors drive farmland prices: Low interest rates and high crop prices -- neither is guaranteed to last. Don’t expect to see immediate adjustments -- bubbles can last a surprisingly long time.

The government will make you healthier? The Minot Daily News raised an eyebrow about USDA’s new nutrition rules for school meals. It asked how understaffed school cafeterias will ensure that “students in kindergarten through fifth grade receive no more than 650 calories on average, while students in sixth through eighth grades receive 700, and those in ninth through 12th receive 850. And, woe to the seventh-grade football player going through a growth spurt.”

DAKTOIDS: A major petroleum conference is scheduled at Bismarck in May. The conference is so popular attendees may have to stay up to 75 miles away . . . Increasingly, UND football is showing up in California. This year UND will play at San Diego State; in 2014 UND will open the season at San Jose State . . . A four-year degree is not necessary for a high paying job in ND. John Richman, president of the State School of Science in Wahpeton, says a graduate with a two-year welding degree started off making $90,000 near Minot.