Dakota Beacon

NDSU v. UND - a football showdown in the Fargodome between NDSU and UND.  The game has attracted unusual interest because for years UND football has lived in the shadow of national champion NDSU.  This week UND (4-0) is ranked No. 2 nationally while NDSU is No. 4 (3-1).  James Madison is ranked No.1 and Weber State No. 3.  NDSU’s 31-game home winning streak will be on the line Saturday.

UND HOCKEY won the regular-season National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) as well as winning the NCHC tournament championship.  UND will  be the No. 1 seed at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Fargo March 26-28.  Other regionals will be held in Loveland, CO, Bridgeport, CN and Albany, NY.  The Frozen Four national championship will be held in Pittsburgh April 8 and 10.  The Minnesota Gophers will be the No. 1 seed in one of the regionals, probably Loveland.

BETTER-THAN-EXPECTED  Revised forecasts for oil tax revenue in the 2021-23 ND budget cycle show $4 billion, $1.1 billion more than November projections.  The new projection assumes production of 1.1 million barrels a day at prices ranging from $49 a barrel to $54.  General Fund revenues, mostly sales and income tax, are expected to be $54 million higher than the earlier forecast.  The new forecasts ease budgeting pressure.  One dark cloud, the possibility the Biden administration shuts down the Dakota Access Pipeline.  A NDSU study indicates the oil industry accounts for more than a quarter of ND’s gross state product.

UNUSUAL TWIST  If the worst occurs, and the Dakota Access Pipeline is closed down, producers are talking about trucking crude oil from the Bakken to Linton, where the oil could be loaded into the DAPL east of the Missouri River crossing.  The river crossing is the main concern of the Standing Rock Sioux.  Another alternative, using a pipeline near Watford City to get oil to other markets by eventually connecting with a pipeline in Gurnsey in southeastern Wyoming.

KEYSTONE XL  Attorneys general from 21 states including ND on Wednesday sued to overturn President Biden’s cancellation of the contentious Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.  The pipeline was to move 830,000 barrels of crude oil daily from the oil sand fields to a connection point in Nebraska that feeds oil refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.  The AG’s contend Biden overstepped his authority when he revoked the permit.

FOUNDING FARMERS is the name used by a chain of five restaurants in the Washington, D.C. area; sister restaurants are named Farmers Fishers Bakers and Farmers & Distillers.  All of the restaurants are co-owned by the ND Farmers Union with a pair of restaurant operators.  The owners contend that they make everything from scratch including bread, butter and ice cream.  Ingredients are largely supplied by family farms.

FARMING TURNS PROFITABLE  Josh Gackle, a North Dakota farmer who grows corn, soybeans and other crops, said sharply higher commodity prices have allowed him to show his bankers this year — the first in six — that his farm will turn a profit.” — From Wall Street Journal article about surging farm exports to China.  Farmers expect China purchases to wane as it own production rebounds.

THE MINIMUM WAGE in ND is 7.25 (the federal minimum), while surrounding states all have higher minimums.  The  minimum wage in Minnesota’s largest cities is even higher yet.  In reality, the minimum wage is pretty much ignored in ND — the state determined that an effective entry level minimum was over $8 and only 8% of the state’s employees were below $10 an hour.  About half the state’s 423,000 employees are below $15 an hour.

A CHRISTMAS TREE?  The ND House of Representatives approved a $680 million bonding bill last month to fund infrastructure with the major portion going to flood control in Minot and Fargo.  Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner of Dickinson wants to add $180 million of which $60 million goes to technical education centers.  Opponents of both levels of the bonding bill see too much “Christmas tree” spending and, for example, maintenance projects which should be general fund spending.  The bonds and interest will be repaid from Legacy Fund earnings.

PERMANENT DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME is new law in ND.  However, it’s conditioned on a similar change in Minnesota, Montana and South Dakota and approval by Congress.

PERCEPTION OF HURT  “This formulation puts all power in the hands of those who are most easily offended – or at least those who claim to be. The offense itself is the weapon. Legal torts require damages; societal torts merely require a claim of damages, without evidence.” — GF Herald columnist Ben Shapiro’s reaction to the cancellation of six Dr. Seuss volumes alleged to contain harmful portrayals.

GRANDMOTHERS OPPOSED TO LINE 3  Who are they?  Jane Fonda (celebrity), Winona LaDuke (born in Hollywood, but now associated with American Indian tribes in Minnesota) and Tara Houska (an activist in the effort to stop Enbridge’s pipeline project).  At a news conference on the banks of the Crow Ring River in Minnesota, Fonda said, “We’re allowing a foreign oil company to bring the most poisonous oil across this sacred land and across our country to be exported at a time when science says we are confronting an existential climate crisis.”  LaDuke said to a chorus of cheers, “You know when the grannies roll out, you’re really in trouble, right?”  LaDuke is a sometimes columnist for the Fargo Forum — fellow columnist Rob Port wondered whether Fonda has used any “poisonous oils” to get to the news conference in a private plane from California.

DAKTOIDS:  Although oil prices have risen to $66 a barrel, drilling has not started in ND.  Main reason: Producers don’t believe the prices will hold . . . The ND Legislature has asked Congress to amend federal trucking regulations to permit a test of “road trains” (trucks with more than one trailer) in ND . . . According to the Census Bureau there are 43,000 Native Americans in ND.