SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - MAY 26, 2014
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES “At a time when other parts of the country are trying to attract jobs, generate tax revenue and secure large capital investments, North Dakota stands out as a model that others aspire to emulate.” -- Lee Tillman, CEO of Marathon Oil Corp. in Houston, Texas. He acknowledged that ND’s growth also brings significant challenges. In a letter to the Forum, Tillman described steps being taken by his company in areas of concern such as water use, flaring and transportation safety.
TO JUMP-START COOPERATION Members of the Valley Prosperity Partnership have been working for over a year to increase cooperation among businesses and institutions in the Red River Valley -- groups that might otherwise see each other as competitors. The partnership began in 2012 and was funded by $100,000 from William Marcil, chairman of Forum Communications. A plan released last week was described as a “framework of action” for areas of importance to the valley. This could become a unique demonstration of cooperation between Grand Forks and Fargo -- it remains to be seen if the concept has legs.
MORE RULES NEEDED? With boring regularity, I’ve mentioned how UND was forced by the NCAA to retire the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo in 2012. Some want UND to go further. A former member of the Indian Students Association spoke for a group demanding that UND prohibit students from wearing clothing or gear with Fighting Sioux references. While UND prohibits Fighting Sioux merchandise from being made, many people still wear the items and have substantial stocks. Further, the dissidents demanded that all incoming students be required to attend sensitivity training workshops. The flareup is an outgrowth of an off-campus party, not involving UND, where a few people wore T-shirts depicting Indians in an unflattering way.
HE WON’T TELL YOU WHAT TO WEAR The demands were a little too much even for UND President Robert Kelley, who said he would never censor what students could wear on campus. Kelley is not a nickname friend, but warned about the dangers of censorship saying, “I don’t want to tell you what to read, I don’t want to choose books for you, nor will I tell you what to wear.”
SUPPORT ME BY LEAVING “We love you - what can we do to support you?” -- An Obama supporter in Brooklyn, NY, was excited because her sister got health insurance through Obamacare. Obama’s response, “Move to North Dakota!” Obama was joking about an excess of supporters in certain East Coast cities compared to deficits in the middle of the country. "If I could just get about a million surplus votes in Brooklyn out to Nebraska, Wyoming," he said, drawing laughs from the crowd.
LADIES, DUKE IT OUT! Last week, Jamestown adopted a compelling new slogan: “Discover Jamestown North Dakota.” This may have inspired candidates for mayor to devise their own slogans. Mayor Katie Anderson is running under the eloquent slogan “Keep the grow going.” Former council member Pam Phillips aggressively countered with “We can do better” and she added that Anderson’s administration is “cold and aloof.”
FROM THE GREAT MISSOURI TO THE MILE HIGH CITY ND’s interests in Missouri River water issues lack a unified front. Water resource engineer Ken Royse is chairman of a group proposing to remedy that. His group, the ND Missouri River Stakeholders, is in an organizational stage. Royse gave an example of an issue requiring attention -- a proposal by the city of Denver to draw water from the Missouri River.
“HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN? It has been said that in the Great Plains, there is nothing to stop the wind other than a few barbed wire fences. So the wind can blow in weather from Mexico as easily as from the North Pole. And sometimes it does both.” -- Fargo weatherman John Wheeler discussing mid-May highs in the low 50s compared to temperatures in the highs 80s at the same time last year.
CORN BELT CREEPS NORTH Despite the ills for some of climate change, it’s not really bad for ND agriculture. This is the opinion of Adnan Akuz, ND’s state climatologist. He says ND is the most rapidly warming state in the lower 48 and has an average temperature today which is 2.6 degrees warmer than 100 years ago. The state’s growing season is extending and corn is slowly replacing traditional crops. However, farming in ND remains risky -- the state has the nation’s greatest temperature variability. Akuz attributes ND’s weather extremes to its location in the center of North America.
INDUSTRIALIZATION Hess Corp. has more than doubled the capacity of the largest gas plant in ND. When it operates at full capacity, the Tioga plant will produce energy 2-1/2 times the residential fuel needs of the state. Hess spent $1.5 billion on the plant expansion and a gas-gathering system. The plant will almost immediately reduce flaring. The expanded plant produces ethane, presently going to a plastics plant in Canada, and will create an opportunity for petrochemical manufacturing in ND.
OIL REFINERY NEARS COMPLETION The $350 million Dakota Prairie Refinery in Dickinson is 60 percent complete and is on track to start refining crude oil in December. It’s the first greenfield refinery built in the U.S. since 1976. The plant will process 20,000 barrels of oil per day to produce diesel fuel and other products. MDU Resources is the major partner.
DREAM OR NIGHTMARE? “All day long at Ross, it’s freight in, freight out and the sounds of train horns blaring, semi trucks braking, iron wheels rumbling down the track and 18-wheelers slapping the highway.” -- Bismarck Tribune reporter Lauren Donovan’s description of life in Ross, a tiny Oil Patch town squeezed between U.S. Hwy 2 and the BNSF Railway. Each day, 36 100-car trains rumble through Ross -- there are more to come, as BNSF adds a second track. Oil workers swelled the Ross population from 50 to 600.
DAKTOIDS: A letter to the Forum claims a ND House candidate is concealing derogatory information. What is she hiding? The writer says the candidate was raised in California and (gulp) graduated from Berkeley . . . Faraway foreign events can be important -- uncertainties in Ukraine buoy ND sunflower farmers . . . Yes, Bismarck is the state capital, but it has also given itself another name, “Energy Capital.” This week the city hosted the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference . . . The Legacy Fund, ND’s oil tax savings account, reached $2 billion this month. The first deposit was made in September 2011 -- the fund is expected to reach $3 billion in mid-2015.
DakotaBeacon