Author: Jim Fuglie

Today, for the forty-fourth or forty-fifth time (you do the math—I was an English major) Americans woke up with a different president than the one they awakened with the day before. I’ve lived during the terms of 13 of them, about a third, depending on who’s counting. I can actually remember 12 of them; I … Continue reading Have Courage and Faith

Note: This post has been updated from its original version because of some additional information provided to me by the North Dakota Health Department. Thanks to Inspector Bill Suess for that. Out in the Oil Patch, when a pipeline leaks, or a tank overflows, or a valve is accidentally left open, and something (mostly oil … Continue reading Anatomy of a Pipeline Oil Spill

I've written a two-part series about winter camping at the Elkhorn Ranch Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park for Dakota Country magazine. Here's the first part. The Elkhorn Ranch Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a tiny 218 acre island in a vast million acre sea of Bad Lands, broken prairies, scoria roads, cattle … Continue reading Camping at the Elkhorn-Part 1

I’d be lying if I said James W. Foley was one of my favorite poets. Hokey might be the best word to describe him (but kind of wonderfully hokey). Foley, North Dakota’s longtime Poet Laureate (way before current Laureate Larry Woiwode) has been dead 75 years now, but there’s a renewed interest in his work, … Continue reading Some Christmas Poetry

Dear Readers: In the olden days, Lillian and I used to write a summary of what we did during the year, take it to United Printing, have a hundred or more copies printed, bring it home, write personal notes at the end of each one to all our friends and family, address and stuff the … Continue reading A Christmas Letter

UPDATE: On Sunday afternoon, just a few minutes after I posted this article on my blog, the Corps of Engineers announced it would not issue an easement for Energy Transfer Partners to drill on Corps land, effectively putting a stop to completion of the pipeline until a full Environmental Impact Statement is prepared, seeking the … Continue reading The Governor Who Disappeared in August

Setting aside protests for a while. Let’s look at a planning effort that’s being done right. Here’s an article I wrote for this month’s Dakota Country magazine. Is it too much for North Dakota citizens to expect, that they should be provided a reasonable forecast of the environmental effects of 20,000 to 50,000 oil wells … Continue reading Getting Ready for 50,000 Oil Wells

The most consistent argument made by North Dakota regulators and the owners of the Dakota Access Pipeline against the protest actions of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and their allies is that the Tribe entered the pipeline approval process too late.  They should have made their feelings known earlier in the process. In mid-November, just … Continue reading ‘Our Water Is Our Single Last Property’

Note: I generally don't re-post old articles,  because, unlike things published in newspapers, blog posts don't get used for fish cleaning, they just hang out in archives deep in the bowels of the Internet, accessible forever if you look hard enough. But it's been 15 years and a day since the Thanksgiving I'm writing about … Continue reading My Best Thanksgiving Meal Ever

Note: This post has been updated to reflect that federal conflict of interest laws do not apply to the President of the United States. The post sad earlier the laws do apply. Sigh. What I can read into the Corps of Engineers' announcement Monday on the Dakota Access Pipeline is that the project will not … Continue reading Let’s Get Out Before the Weather Gets Bad