Author: Jim Fuglie

Three words describe my feelings about the campaign the opponents of Measure 5 (the Clean Water, Wildlife and Parks Constitutional Amendment) have run this year: Disingenuous, Dishonest and Disgusting. “Disingenuous,” because they buffaloed the poorly-led farm organizations into opposing a measure from which the members of those organizations would have been the major beneficiaries. Some … Continue reading Dis-ing Measure 5

In the 1970’s, when I was a reporter for The Dickinson Press, the coal boom was happening in western North Dakota, and there was a lot of power plant construction getting underway. Federal government largesse back then wasn’t what it has become today, but there were some federal funds flowing to North Dakota, mostly from … Continue reading Lining Up At The Federal Trough

It was one of those chance encounters. I was just sitting in a Bad Lands bar on a rainy afternoon having a quiet drink when an old acquaintance happened in and sat down beside me. He was a retired coal company executive, with a friendly face and a firm grip, and we re-introduced ourselves and … Continue reading What Would Art Link Do?

I’ve got two friends running for the state Legislature in my Legislative district, one a Democrat, Tracy Potter, and one a Republican, Bob Martinson. This isn’t the first rodeo for either one of them, and I have voted for them both in previous elections, but they weren’t running against each other then. So now what … Continue reading Tracy and Bob

When I was a little kid growing up in Hettinger, North Dakota, my seven favorite words from my Dad were “Anybody want to go for a ride?” That question came usually on a soft summer evening, and it meant we were all going to pile into the station wagon and Dad was just going to … Continue reading Ice Cream And South American Sauce (And An Apology)

Fifty years ago today, on September 3, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law The Wilderness Act. I think it may be the best law ever signed by a President. The Wilderness Act created the National Wilderness Preservation System, which today includes more than 750 wilderness areas in the United States, encompassing more than 109 … Continue reading Celebrate Today!

Somebody doesn’t like me. Okay, for regular readers, you know that I’ve pissed some people off on this blog over the last five years. And I am not unique. Pretty much everybody, except maybe Mother Theresa and Robin Williams, has someone who doesn’t like them. And they’re dead. But somebody really, really doesn’t like me, … Continue reading Hacked. Again.

I know, I know, it's been a while, but summer is vacation time, even for old retired folks, and so I took one, along with my lovely wife, to the Grand Targhee National Forest in Idaho--the backside of the Grand Tetons, those peaks you generally see only from the front, in Jackson Hole in Wyoming. … Continue reading Protecting ALL Public Lands–A Modest Proposal

I’m working on an article for a magazine I write for about the North Dakota Industrial Commission’s new policy for siting oil wells, and I thought I might share some of what I have learned here, because it’s pretty interesting and I can often say things here that my editor at the magazine (although he … Continue reading A Loophole Big Enough To Drive A Fracking Truck Through

There are not many people about whom you can say, honestly, not wishfully or wistfully, “He was one of a kind.” Such a man was Larry Erickson. Larry died late Thursday afternoon with his loving wife Claryce beside him, and his kids surrounding him.  He had beaten cancer a couple of times, but in the … Continue reading Remembering Larry Erickson