Category: Law, Government, Politics

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE Public Service Commissioners Kevin Cramer and Brian Kalk are both running for Congress. Their campaign funds are being beefed up by donations from the industries they regulate—coal, oil and other energy executives—in what some say is a pretty shady and shameless practice. Which reminds me of an old story told about … Continue reading Weekenders

Well, this is embarrassing. Yesterday I finished a long article on the State Land Board and put it on my blog. In it, I congratulated everyone from the Governor to the dogcatcher for teaming up to offer protection to some valuable roadless areas of the North Dakota Bad Lands. When I wrote it, I had … Continue reading Somebody Fibbed

A few weeks ago I wrote about the activities of the State Land Board, and I said I was encouraged that the board had agreed to remove several parcels of land from a mineral lease sale, parcels that were part of a couple roadless areas in North Dakota’s Bad Lands. “This week we won a … Continue reading A Tangled Web

Politicians will say the darnedest things in an election year. Take Jack Dalrymple. Please. Someone. (Sorry. Just kidding. Old joke. Couldn’t resist.) The Governor addressed a Conference on the Future of Hunting that I attended last week. It was put together by North Dakota’s wildlife organizations, with some assistance from the State Game and Fish … Continue reading “It’s Not What He Doesn’t Know . . . “

Here’s what we know for sure. This is an election year. There are some deep political divisions in this country, fueled mostly by Republican leaders who, more than three years after the 2008 election, are still in shock over the election of a black Democratic president and are continually frustrated by their party’s inability to … Continue reading You Can’t Make Up Your Own Facts

THE SCENE: A quiet winter morning in the Logan’s on Third Building in downtown Bismarck, North Dakota, home to the offices of the North Dakota Petroleum Council. The phone rings at the desk of Petroleum Council President Ron Ness. On the line is Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Division of Mineral Resources, chief … Continue reading Give Me A Frackin’ Break

Okay, you’ve got to admire entrepreneurship, but sometimes, people in any profession ought to just stick to doing what they do best, and not venture too far afield. Here’s the beginning of a story in The Dickinson Press Saturday: WILLISTON — A Williston-area truck driver has the solution for oil workers with nothing to do … Continue reading Party In The Patch–Yeeeehaaawwww!

WELCOME BACK, FRONTIER The news that Frontier Airlines is returning to Bismarck is good news, although maybe a little disconcerting for those of us whose ages begin with a 6, or 7, or 8. See, Frontier used to serve Bismarck when I was in the Navy, in the 1960’s, and I used to get home … Continue reading Weekenders

A little perspective on the stories in the papers recently about the State Land Board and the state's mineral leasing policies is in order, I think. There are more than a million acres of public land in western North Dakota’s oil patch. Most of them are owned by The People of the United States, and … Continue reading Highest And Best Use

A lot of politics has been happening in January, while I’ve been closing out the hunting season, opening up the fishing season and playing in the Bad Lands. It’s been such a nice winter, it’s hard to stay inside and sit down at a computer, something a part-time blogger has to do. So today I’ll … Continue reading January Politics