Dakota Beacon

1. OIL PATCH

Production records fell nearly every month.  ND became the No. 4 oil production state in 2011 expecting to bump California and become No. 3 in 2012 and to displace Alaska as No. 2 in 2013.  The state is straining to build roads, housing and industrial infrastructure to support the oil industry.  Billions are being invested in rail loading stations, pipelines and natural gas plants.  Local government in the western part of the state is reeling under the strain of hyper growth.

2. FLOODING EVERYWHERE

Flooding in recent years has largely been a Devils Lake and Red River Valley problem.  But in 2011, almost no major city or area in ND was spared.  The Missouri River hit Bismarck hard; the Souris River hit Minot harder.  Minot will be recovering and rebuilding for years.  Overland flooding enveloped roads and fields in large parts of the state.  Multiple projects are underway to drain Devils Lake into the Sheyenne River; planning has started on a project to divert heavy flows on the Red River through a new channel west of Fargo-Moorhead.

3. FIGHTING SIOUX REDUX

Again, the UND Fighting Sioux nickname and logo was the story that wouldn’t go away -- there may not have been a week when it was not high in the news.  The nickname seemed doomed at both the beginning and end of the year, but had large ups and downs in between.   As the year ended, members of ND’s Sioux tribes swung into action to place the issue on a statewide ballot.  That was a major change during the year -- the growing realization that the Sioux tribes might be the biggest losers if the name is retired.

4. THE NATION’S NO. 1 ECONOMY

Superlatives are almost used up -- ND leads the nation in nearly every indicator of economic growth and fiscal health.  It’s not just oil, agriculture and technology are also strong.  Average ND household income is closing on Minnesota and has passed neighbors Montana and South Dakota.  The Minnesota legislature voted down a large tax increase, in part, because it might drive taxpayers to the Dakotas.  Everyone is aware of the boom in Dickinson and Williston, less noticed is Bismarck, which one economist referred to as the “chosen one” benefiting from energy spending and expanding government.

5. MAN CAMPS

This term became known to most Nodaks during 2011.  Man camps are dormitory style facilities used to house single workers in the oil patch.  The monthly room and board tab, $3,000 and up, is often paid by employers.  The camps are big -- by June, Williams County had approved 9,400 man camp beds.  In September, the same county placed a moratorium on camps saying that it was out of water, sewage capacity, roads, in fact, everything.   In the tiny town of Almont in Morton County, a builder converted an old school house into a camp for nine workers.  Other small communities in the oil patch began erecting policy barriers.

6. SOUR FEELINGS IN SUGARLAND

American Crystal is the nation’s largest producer of beet sugar with 1,300 union workers in the Red River Valley and refineries in Minnesota and ND.  During August contract negotiations, the company offered generous salary increases to employees, but demanded flexible work rules and an increase in the employee share of health insurance costs.  The union, misjudging the resolve of management and farmer owners, declined the offer and American Crystal responded with a lockout.  Everybody had an opinion, including the governors of both states, but by year-end the impasse was unbroken.  Four months of unemployment stressed the locked-out employees and the small communities in which many live.

7. IS IT A SERIOUS MEDICAL FACILITY OR A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE?

A U.S. Senate  committee found the Indian Health Service in ND in “a chronic state of crisis” and the Belcourt IHS hospital was the most troublesome part.  Massive theft, chaotic records and unlicensed doctors were among the complaints.  Problems at the Belcourt hospital did not occur in isolation -- they are part of a larger culture of corruption at the Turtle Mountain Reservation.

8. AMTRAK -- A WASTEFUL MODEL

Passenger rail service doesn’t work in most of America.  Rail is best suited for shorter runs in densely populated corridors where rail is competitive with air.  ND presents some of the worst extremes -- a light population and hostile operating conditions.  Amtrak service in ND was disrupted for most of the first half of 2011.  Yet, bipartisan political coalitions pressed to maintain wasteful, inefficient service.  The ND congressional delegation is arranging $100 million of financing for repairs to Amtrak roadbed near Devils Lake -- a cost which will never be recovered.

9.   SOMALIS IN THE NEWS

At the end of 2010, I said, “Expect to see Somalis increasingly mentioned in news about North Dakota.”  Little did I know.  By the end of the year, a Somali man was arrested for involvement in the Minot murder of four American Indians.  Another Somali man was the victim of murder in Jamestown.  In both cases, the alleged murderer has a criminal background from Minnesota’s Twin Cities.  The cases are scheduled for trial in 2012 and the state’s daily newspapers are strangely tightlipped.  

10. HE KNEW NOTHING

That was the defense of Dickinson State President Richard McCallum when he was accused of cooking bogus students into the school’s enrollment books, including the mayor of Dickinson and his wife.  McCallum received very little sympathy from his staff -- earlier, 30 percent said they were dissatisfied.  An administrative law judge concluded McCallum should be fired and the Board of Higher Education quickly obliged.