The Bismarck Tribune. Jan. 23, 2012.
Building a foundation for growth
North Dakota communities sitting on the edge of an expanding Bakken oil play can see trouble coming — in the form of pressure on their water and sewer systems, law enforcement, planning and zoning and other key local services. What's a town to do?
The North Dakota State University Extension Service has set up meetings at which veteran city and county officials from the oil patch offer perspective and advice to city and county officials on the verge of extreme development. It's a practical and smart move by the Extension Service.
And pre-oil development towns are taking advantage of the opportunity — 300 people showed up for the meeting in Glen Ullin recently. Typically, a couple of dozen people show up at most public meetings. The oil boom has the attention of those in its way.
The message was pretty clear: Get your planning process in order. Figure out where it makes the most sense for your community to grow. Be ready to beef up planning and inspection staffs. Watch out for debt.
Watford City Mayor Brent Sanford and McKenzie County Economic Development Director Gene Veeder couldn't make the Glen Ullin meeting. But they sent along a "10 Commandments" for dealing with oil impact — stuff that they wished they would have remembered from earlier booms. It, too, stressed planning, and strategies for permanent growth.
City and county officials in southwest and south central North Dakota got an ear full. And it was the kind of practical, nuts-and-bolts stuff they needed to hear.
On a second front, Gov. Jack Dalrymple is herding representatives from key state agencies to a series of meetings in western North Dakota tied to infrastructure development plans. Rather than hunkering down in Bismarck, the capital crew will be in New Town, Watford City, Killdeer, Dickinson, New England and Bowman.
The idea is for state agencies to hear firsthand the challenges faced by local government in the oil patch. The Legislature generously appropriated funds for improving infrastructure in western North Dakota, but the problems there go well beyond roads and bridges.
To a degree, this is an opportunity for key state officials to see the challenges for themselves. It's worth the time and effort.
Over and over, we hear local and state officials are playing catch-up with oil development. Outreach like the meetings facilitated by the governor and the Extension Service are practical means for defining the challenges and marshaling resources.
They are solid steps toward getting up to date.
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Minot Daily News. Jan. 23, 2012.
Get pipeline back on track
President Barack Obama's recent rejection of the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Texas certainly won't be the last word on the project, and even Democrats are supporting the pipeline's eventual approval.
Obama rejected the 1,700-mile pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, through parts of six states en route to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast because there was not enough time to complete a needed environmental review of changes made to the project's route. TransCanada Corp. is making changes to the route to avoid environmentally sensitive areas in Nebraska, but the proposed changes have not been presented yet.
It's easy to say, but politics should be set aside in this discussion. The Obama administration is seeking to put off a final decision until after the November election, a time frame that is unacceptable, while Republicans are upset about Obama postponing thousands of good-paying construction jobs.
We hope everyone realizes that the pipeline is in the country's best interest, and it's certainly in North Dakota's best interest. Oil companies in the northwest portion of North Dakota would be able to send oil produced in the Bakken Formation through the pipeline, which would take hundreds of trucks off the highways in the state.
Let's let the company resubmit the changes, do the environmental study as quickly as possible, and get this project back on track before the November election.
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The Forum (Fargo). Jan. 21, 2012.
Cramer throws 'em a curveball
Kevin Cramer has been a party man all his political life. A former North Dakota Republican Party chairman and executive director, he's run for public office several times as a loyal party member and with the imprimatur of the party apparatus.
Not this time. This time, Cramer will preside over an unprecedented political defection from Republican ranks and party orthodoxy.
The two-term member of the state Public Service Commission, two-time unsuccessful endorsed candidate for the U.S. House, and 2010 unsuccessful candidate for his party's endorsement for the U.S. House, is going it alone. He will not compete with five other Republicans for the party's nod for the U.S. House at the upcoming endorsement convention. He will bypass the entire process and run in the June primary against the candidate who wins the party's support.
Reactions fall into two camps: Cramer is a sincere and courageous candidate or he's an opportunistic and selfish traitor. As of late, the blizzard of vitriol from the state's Republican establishment, including from candidates seeking the House endorsement, fell into the latter category.
But by any measure, Cramer's option is historic and gutsy. He's hurled a hard, high curveball at his party. To our knowledge, never has a Republican candidate announced before the endorsing convention that he would run in the primary. And never has a mainstream connected, credentialed Republican thrown the party establishment under the bus, as Cramer seems to have done.
Cramer doesn't see it that way. He believes he has something to offer the voters of the state the other Republican candidates lack and therefore wants to open the process to more than a few delegates at the convention. He's made a calculation that he likely would not win the party's endorsement, so the primary is the only other route he has to run as a Republican. Clearly, he's willing to suffer the anger of party regulars — many of them his friends — to win the chance to take on the Democratic nominee in November.
But by torching the party bridge, he is taking a gamble. If he loses the primary, his political career is over. If he wins, he risks losing support of Republicans who won't forgive him for bolting the party establishment. They might stay home rather than vote for him. That scenario warms Democrats' hearts.
This much is certain: Cramer's bold decision adds yet another fascinating element to a North Dakota election season that already was on its way to being one for the history books.
