Dakota Beacon

“While the oil and gas boom in North Dakota’s west is very important to the state’s economy, the most reliable and steady economic growth – and subsequent opportunities for profitable investments – has always been in Red River Valley communities.”  Who would say something like that?  If you guessed Fargo Forum, you are correct.  The Forum was applauding the Valley Prosperity Initiative -- a project for economic growth and development in the Red River Valley.  The $500,000 project was kick-started by an investment of $100,000 by Forum Communications CEO Bill Marcil. 

Discussions about Hamid Shirvani, Chancellor of the ND University System, involve some very partisan voices.  An editorial in the Minot Daily News said Shirvani’s “plan would be harmful to Minot State University” because MSU “would be lumped into a tier” with the universities in Mayville, Dickinson and Valley City.  The Bismarck Tribune took a different path: “Taxpayers are getting tired of these expensive personnel decisions when it comes to changing horses in the University System offices. Further, Shirvani isn’t at fault here, if there is even a fault.”

“It was only a matter of time before the new chancellor of higher education would start raising hackles in North Dakota. His assignment guaranteed it.” -- Columnist Lloyd Omdahl.  He said Shirvani was invited to ND to increase oversight of the higher education system, and Shirvani acted accordingly.  Omdahl says Shirvani “deserves more than nine months and one legislative cycle to prove his worth.”

Man camps are big business -- Target Logistics, the biggest operator in ND, is selling camps serving 3,400 workers to a multinational company for $625 million.  That works out to over  $180,000 per resident.

“One of the group’s goals is to document the living conditions of the oil boom so people in the future will know what it was like.” --  The Forum News Service describing UND researchers who are making repeat visits to Oil Country to study man camps.

CHS (a large Minnesota ag cooperative) plans to make advantage of ND’s plentiful natural gas by building a nitrogen fertilizer plant costing over $1.1 billion near Jamestown.  Planning is in the FEED (front-end engineering and design) stage.  FEED will determine the technology and amounts of raw materials needed for the plant.  Transportation for finished product will yearly require 10,000 rail car loads and between 25,000 and 35,000 truckloads.  Much of the nitrogen fertilizer for the region currently comes by ship from the Middle East and takes 77 days to reach ND.

The 70/30 ratio.  In ND, 70% of the growing number of homeless are natives; 30% are newcomers.  The new residents come to the state failing to understand the cost and difficulty of getting housing.  The native homeless have generally been priced out of housing by rising rents.

Canada’s gun laws are tough -- ND’s less so.  Result: gun smuggling.  A Canadian man was arrested this week in GF for conspiring to illegally export firearms to Canada.  This follows a string of arrests in ND in recent years for the same reason.

“We are due for a flare-up along the lines of Ruby Ridge, Waco, or the Kahl shooting.” -- A prediction by a NDSU history professor on the 30th anniversary of the February 1983 killing of two federal marshals by Gordon Kahl near Medina, ND.  Kahl and an Arkansas sheriff were killed in a shootout later that year.

The Twin Cities have the largest group of Somali immigrants in the U.S.  Border cities in ND have developed Somali populations through relocation programs of Lutheran Social Services.  The Economist magazine recently discussed Sweden’s difficulty integrating Somalis into Swedish society.  Somalis are part of a class of immigrants becoming permanently dependent on the state and making up 50% of Sweden’s long-term prison population.

When the cat’s away, the mice will play!  Josh Albaugh and Chad Wolsky were busy providing oil field consulting services in Dickinson.  While they were away, their trusted Fargo bookkeeper Caryn Neary (46) is alleged to have stolen $77,000.  Neary admitted spending money on “personal things” -- she has been charged with felony theft.

“Any sales taxes increase will especially hurt border cities because they can go across the river to buy.” -- The mayor of E. Grand Forks pleaded with Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton not to raise taxes and to instead provide more financial help.  EGF needs money, particularly for education.

The UND Law School made a modest request -- $12 million for renovations -- the school says its accreditation is at stake.  The Med School is more ambitious -- it wants 10 times that amount, $124 million for a new facility.  UND leaders cite the state’s shortage of health care providers and a surge in population from the oil boom.

There has again been an eye-popping increase in ND farm values.  A rural appraiser group reports an average 46 percent annual jump in 2012.  Values are driven by low interest rates and high crop yields and prices. The present situation has all the characteristics of a bubble, which could burst if interest rates rise or farm returns drop.

How do housing starts in ND compare to neighbors?  Let’s go back to 2007, housing starts in ND were below both Montana and SD.  By 2012, ND housing starts nearly exceeded MT and SD combined.  

At the one-room school I attended, a popular winter recess activity was daring kids to lick frozen metal.  Most of those who took the dare escaped, but occasionally someone would stick -- Vonnie was found stuck to the merry-go-round -- warm water released her.  Apparently, there is still no shortage of fools ready to take the dare.  Marilyn Hagerty of the GF Herald reported that a grownup, retired UND employee Truman Reed, took the dare and stuck to a metal pole outside a restaurant.

DAKTOIDS: The ND Tourism Division reports 57 new hotels with 4,900 rooms have opened in the state since 2008, and 39 hotels with 3,600 rooms are under construction or development . . . Small businesses in ND, those with fewer than 500 employees, have more employees in total than large businesses, but the large businesses pay higher average annual salaries . . . It was bound to happen -- ND’s economic growth is beginning to stabilize.  State revenues in the 2013-15 biennium are estimated to be slightly down from 2011-13 . . . Work-related fatalities in the Bakken are rising -- an industry “stand down” has been organized by OSHA to review safety procedures.