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A short update on a couple of things that I have written about recently. MERIDIAN ENERGY As I reported here earlier this summer, Meridian Energy Group’s Permit to Construct the Davis Refinery just three miles from Theodore Roosevelt National Park expired in June, three years after it was first issued by the North Dakota Department … Continue reading Keeping Track Of Bridges and Refineries

I haven't written here lately because we went camping. For about three weeks. We went to the Pacific Northwest, seeking national parks and seafood. We found both. And we learned some things about camper trailers, and “glamping.” Most importantly, camper trailers should be towed to a destination and parked for a few days. We spent … Continue reading Sometimes You Have To Go Camping To Get Good News

This article appears in the July edition of Dakola Country magazine, which will be on the stands this week. I’m a camper. I started camping as a Boy Scout. My dad was scoutmaster for Troop 34 in Hettinger, North Dakota, and loved to take his Scouts to his favorite campsite, beside the Grand River just … Continue reading Camping 101, With Diversions

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Yep. This one, put up just west of Mandan, North Dakota, en route to the Bad Lands, is the work of North Dakota's Sierra Club organizer, Wayde Schafer. No more words needed.

At midnight tomorrow night, Meridian Energy Group’s Air Pollution Control Permit To Construct an oil refinery next to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, issued by the North Dakota Department of Health, will expire. Now don’t get too excited. This nightmare isn’t over. This has happened before. This is the second time the permit has expired. The … Continue reading DEQ To Meridian: You’ve Got 90 Days

(Reprinted from Dakota Country magazine, June, 2021) Most years, the North Dakota Badlands, as I write this in early May, are changing color. As the ground warms, the winter’s snowmelt brings hints of green into the brown landscape of buffalo and crested wheat grass and little bluestem, and by the end of the month, as … Continue reading It’s Going To Be A Long, Hot Summer In the Badlands

Meridian Energy Group, the troubled startup company that has announced plans to build an oil refinery next to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, has closed all of its offices and three of its top executives have left the company, leading energy industry watchdogs to question the future of the company. The company lists three offices on … Continue reading Like Rats On A Sinking Ship . . .

Looks like it’s going to be a rainy, windy day. A day to stay inside and write, something I haven’t done for a while. I need to share with you something that happened a little more than a week ago at this same keyboard I am writing at today. I got censored by Facebook. Now … Continue reading Donald Trump And I Got Censored By Facebook

I know, I haven’t written much about the North Dakota Legislature this year. Too many other things on my mind. But I followed it, and read about it daily, and shook my head in amazement over the stupid things the Republican majority did. I won’t tick them off here—you know what I am talking about. … Continue reading The Curious Case Of The Drunk-Driving Legislator

Somebody asked in a comment on my blog last week for an update on the proposed Little Missouri Crossing north of Medora. Here’s some information stolen from an article I wrote for Dakota Country magazine’s May issue, which should be on the newsstands later this week, or in your mailbox if you subscribe, which you … Continue reading An Update On The ‘Bridge To Nowhere’