Category: Law, Government, Politics

Pipelines Leak. If North Dakota didn’t have such an awful reputation for not enforcing its environmental regulations in the Oil Patch, maybe we wouldn’t have a few thousand people camped out along the Cannonball River protesting the mother of all North Dakota pipelines, Dakota Access. Pipelines have been leaking oil and dangerous fracking salt water … Continue reading Death by a Thousand Cuts

Last year, when I was getting ready for my 50-year class reunion of the 1965 graduating class from Hettinger High School, I dug through boxes of keepsakes downstairs and found my senior class yearbook. It was actually an expanded edition of the Hettinger Hi-Lites, our high school newspaper, but it was the same format as … Continue reading Thoughts on Arnold Palmer

There was a discussion at my table last night about whether Indians in North Dakota have gained or lost respect as a result of the Dakota Access Pipeline controversy. There was no consensus. But what I do know is that important voices are rising in support of Tribal actions (although not so much in support … Continue reading Bottom Line: In Your Face

America’s best journalist—ever—Seymour Hersh, and North Dakota’s best journalist—ever—Mike Jacobs, will share a stage with the publisher and editor of America’s first “national newspaper”—Ben Franklin, at the North Dakota Humanities Council’s  “GameChanger Ideas Festival” this Saturday in Bismarck. It may be the most distinguished panel of writers gathered anywhere in America that day, and surely … Continue reading A Day for the Pulitzers

Boy, it’s confusing. I’ve tried to follow the events at Standing Rock pretty closely, and I’ve written about it a few times. Let me repeat what I said earlier: I think we need to build this pipeline because it is the safest way to move our oil, and it is the only pipeline project on … Continue reading Time to Just Shut Up

Today I am 69. It is a meaningless birthday, in a world and time when numbers that don’t end in 0 or 5 are of little consequence. But, it is significant in that I am still here. Males in my family don’t generally live this long. I kind of wish I had planned a little … Continue reading May YOU Live in Interesting Times

Note: This story has been updated since it was originally posted Friday evening. Late Friday, North Dakota's governor, Jack Dalrymple, declared that a state of emergency existed in south central North Dakota, due to a large gathering, in temporary campgrounds, of opponents of the placement of the Dakota Access Pipeline under the Missouri River on … Continue reading Sorting Out the Good Guys and the Bad Guys: Pipeline Project in Limbo

Here’s how Darrell Dorgan described the events on North Dakota Highway 1806 south of Mandan this afternoon: “140 years ago, the Sioux took down Custer and the 7th Cavalry. Today, the Sioux took down the North Dakota Highway Patrol. But this time, the Highway Patrol was smart enough to get the hell out of there … Continue reading Learning From History: No Bloodshed This Time

 (NOTE: I started writing this story back in March, when I learned about former U.S. Senate candidate Duane Sand’s lawsuit against Job Service North Dakota. I finished writing about that lawsuit then, and posted the story, but never finished the financial end of the story of Duane’s campaign. Well, here it is. It’s pretty long, … Continue reading My Last Story Ever About Duane Sand (I Hope)

It’s not important whether you see a refinery stack from the highest point in Theodore Roosevelt National Park’s South Unit. What’s important is what comes out of that stack. Meridian Energy’s publicity stunt the other night, hoisting a weather balloon from the site of their proposed refinery just three miles from the Park and proving … Continue reading North Dakota’s Image: We Just Don’t Give a Damn