Murphy’s Law Blog

On Friday I listened in to Senate Energy and Natural Resources as they entertained discussion on #2174. That is the bill that calls for Water Resource District (WRD) board members to be elected rather than appointed by County Commissioners as they are now. Having experience both as a township officer and senator with assessment drain hearings, I recognize how intense...

Well, its Friday with both bills and snow coming down here in Bismarck. Yesterday I heard a bill – 1291- on permanently registering trailers. The farmers I spoke with afterwards that had been listening in were very receptive to the $120 proposed fee. The bill was brought by the Motor Carriers because many individuals and fleets were licensing their trailers in other states...

This is the second full week of the 16 week session and about 750 bills have entered the process. We have sorted them into a 70-some active Agricultural watch list and 130 or so on a list which is less directly affecting Ag but still of some import such as some transportation, tax or financial bills, etc. There are expected to be at least another 250 by next week when the...

All Agricultural producers know too well the many factors out of their control. Today the NDSGA testified in favor of a couple of institutions to exercise as much control as possible affecting our roads, research and marketing. Those entities were the Northern Crop Institute (NI) and Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI). If you have never visited or heard...

During this first full week there have been bills being drafted and dropped into the system as quickly as possible. There are now around 500 and we expect it to roughly double. Today was a big day for Agriculture kicked off by the Ag Coalition breakfast in the Capital cafeteria at 7:00 a.m. as it does each Thursday during session. This morning the NDSGA testified in support...

2019 kicks off the third year and second legislative session for this blog. And we have taken the liberty of starting the numbering with 1. During these four months the idea is to give you growers a brief look at what is happening in Bismarck. Right now we are in the first full week and on Friday I listened in on Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee as they heard...

It is difficult to write about the work the NDSGA does for the long term while our producers face the immediacy of terrible harvest conditions and prices, but these are a few things that Scott and I have worked this week: We were honored by the ND Association of General Contractors when asked to be the voice of Agriculture for the Tuesday media rollout (in both Fargo and...

Corn was there in force. So were the Grain Growers, Canola, Stockmen, Sugar Beets, the North Dakota Association of Counties, the Township Officers Assoc, the Soy Transportation Coalition the Soybean Growers and others. Hosted by the North Dakota Soybean Council, it was called the Rural Transportation Summit with featured speakers such as Tom Sorel, the director of ND...

Last week I covered the Energy Development and Transmission committee, then the Legislative Revenue Forecast followed by the Policy Summit hosted by the Greater North Dakota Chamber of Commerce. Here is the quick and dirty: EDTC heard some proposals about how to tax wind so that instead of all going to local governments as it does now, some of that tax will be given to the...

The newest employee of the North Dakota Soybean Council, Harrison Weber (way tall) and I (way short) trundled across the state on Monday, August 13th to make an appearance at the open house for the Dickinson Refinery Renewable Diesel Project which is being undertaken by Andeavor. This is the company that also bought and operates the larger and older oil refinery in Mandan...

There was a recent meeting of the Water Topics Overview Committee in Bismarck that was comprised of 16 different presentations. Some observations include: Water use in the Bakken shale oil play is at an all-time high. Jon Patch, Director of Water Appropriations at the State Water Commission, typified the typical frac job in 2012 at 12 acre feet and stated that with...

This is an update on the activities of the Interim Natural Resources committee whose activities, so as not to rehash, were last explained in blog #53. This meeting was mostly about the collaboration (and lack of) between the wind power industry, the Public Service Commission (PSC), the North Dakota Game and Fish Department and agricultural interests. Also testifying on wind...

Public input is still being taken by the North Dakota Department of Health (DoH) on their Nutrient Management Plan, include at a meeting at the Fargodome on the first of May. There were people interested in municipal, livestock and general agricultural sources as well as septic system problems. We listened to reports from DoH officials on the status of the Plan and then...

Last week, I attended the third interim Agriculture Committee meeting. All four of their study topics for the 20 months between legislative sessions were included. First up was the State Soil Conservation Committee, a group which had been under scrutiny when cutting budgets last session. Bruce Schmidt is the new (6 months or so on the job now) Program Coordinator, Watershed...

On January 17 I drove to Jamestown to attend the ND Grazing Lands Coalition’s (NDGLC) Winter Conference. Like a couple of the many folks I spoke with, you may be wondering what a NDSGA representative was doing there. I explained to them that the Soybean Growers are interested in knowing what is going on in ND Agriculture and that the paramount interests of this winter...

This week, I attended the Interim Agriculture Committee in Bismarck. This was their second meeting, the first one months back discussed if anything should or could be done to improve the accuracy of grain testing (see blog entry #42 for more detail). That topic came up at the end of this meeting and it looks like the committee may be looking at it again next time they meet...

This Wednesday I attended the Natural Resources committee meeting – their second of this interim session. In #43 of this blog, I laid out the goals of the committee and what they did their first meeting. Wind occupied the entire morning, with presentations from Public Service Commission Commissioner Fedorchak explaining their siting and decommissioning process. She also...

Since I last wrote to you, I have worked a couple of days each in October (Dickinson tour) and November (Minot). Both were efforts to track the Interim Legislative committee known as Energy Development and Transmission (EDTC). Chaired by Senator Wardner of Dickinson, this is the most active of all interim Committees as it has met nearly every month and often for two days at...

This is the second filing from my recent trip to Bismarck covering the Energy Development and Transmission Committee (EDTC) and having encapsulated the first day, what follows is the gist of the second. Each year, the EDTC attends the EmPower ND Energy Conference and this was it. It pulls in the Who’s Who of ND Government and Energy related people. Senator Hoeven kicked it...

This is about the two days just spent in Bismarck covering the Energy Development and Transmission Committee (EDTC), which is one of the North Dakota Legislature’s Interim committees that I follow. It is the most active of all interim committees and they are charged with some issues that could change our taxes as well as determine where our dollars go. Of the three issues...