Yesterday I wrote about the jerk who runs the Bureau of Land Management and his attack on the public land he “manages,” land he would like to turn over to the energy industry before he leaves office in January. Today I want to talk about the other federal agency so important to North Dakota, the … Continue reading Two More Bad Guys Going After Our Public Lands: Stenehjem and Hoeven

In their agony, deep in the death throes of the Trump administration, America’s public lands managers are scrambling to put their final stamp on the worst conservation, environmental, and public lands record in our country’s history. At risk are millions of acres of wildlife habitat and pristine recreational areas across America’s West, including the last … Continue reading Public Lands Under Attack In Trump’s Final Days

I wrote in a recent edition of Dakota Country magazine about the continuing saga of a pair of bridges—one built, the other proposed—over the Little Missouri State Scenic River, part of the ongoing effort of politicians and captains of industry to industrialize the state’s only officially-designated scenic river. It seems like there’s no end to … Continue reading A Tale Of Two Bridges (Continued)

Only the most cynical among us could have come up with a scenario for the game that played out in the election of Legislators from Legislative District 8, a scenario which came to an end Tuesday when the North Dakota Supreme Court settled it. Final score: Jeff Delzer 5  Doug Burgum 0.               It … Continue reading ‘Responsibility Is Not Applicable’

November. Another construction season has come and gone in North Dakota. It’s about the fourth construction season that Meridian Energy Group has promised (threatened?) to build an oil refinery three miles from Theodore Roosevelt National Park. So far, we’ve dodged a bullet. The company has been plagued by financial problems. They’ve had a two million … Continue reading Summer’s Gone, And Still No Refinery. Yay!

Here’s the thing about Governor Burgum’s move yesterday to jump in the middle of the bizarre District 8 Legislative mess and appoint a coal company executive to fill the vacancy left by the death and subsequent election of Dave Andahl: Right now, there’s no vacancy to be filled. By now all the papers are telling … Continue reading Vacancy? What Vacancy?

Here’s my short analysis of yesterday’s election results in North Dakota. There were 69 Legislative seats on the ballot across the state in 23 Legislative Districts. One Senate seat and two House seats in each district. Republicans won 65 of those seats. Democrats won 4. The absolute worst performance by a political party (excluding fringe … Continue reading Requiescant in Pace, North Dakota Democrats

Four years ago, a couple of days after the 2016 presidential election, when the results had sunk in and America realized what it had just done, I wrote: “Here’s what I think of the election. We got all dressed up to go to the ball, and we ended up at a rodeo.” Boy, was I … Continue reading I Think The Rodeo’s Over

I’ve known a lot of funny people in my life. Rodney Nelson was probably the funniest. A cowboy rancher from down in the Heart River Valley west of Mandan, Rodney succumbed to cancer yesterday. He was just 71 years old. Now 24 hour later, wherever he is, he’s making an audience laugh. You might remember … Continue reading Up Sims Creek Without A Paddle – So Long Rodney Nelson