701-566-9300Murphy’s Law Blog 2017 | #43
Last week I was in Bismarck to cover interim committees (see #42 for Ag) and on Wednesday it was the first meeting for Natural Resources. Its directives for next year or so include: 1. Study whether state and local level regulation of high-level radioactive waste disposal is consistent with applicable federal regulations and to ensure […]hi
Last week I was in Bismarck to cover interim committees (see #42 for Ag) and on Wednesday it was the first meeting for Natural Resources. Its directives for next year or so include:
1. Study whether state and local level regulation of high-level radioactive waste disposal is consistent with applicable federal regulations and to ensure ND has proper input into federal location selection...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2017 | #42
Early last week, the interim Agriculture Committee spent the morning listening to Karl Rockeman, director of water quality at the state Dept. of Health give a presentation on nutrient management. For this presentation, nutrient meant both nitrogen and phosphorous. Based on 2009 numbers, of our state’s 168 lakes and reservoirs, 47 were judged to be […]hi
Early last week, the interim Agriculture Committee spent the morning listening to Karl Rockeman, director of water quality at the state Dept. of Health give a presentation on nutrient management. For this presentation, nutrient meant both nitrogen and phosphorous. Based on 2009 numbers, of our state’s 168 lakes and reservoirs, 47 were judged to be impaired or threatened due to excess...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2017 | #41
Right now, the Superintendent of Williston Public Schools is testifying in front of the ND Legislature’s Energy Development and Transmission Committee as they have traveled to the Bakken oil field for hearings. The committee wants to see what is happening with the money North Dakota has sent out to the West and Williston is their […]hi
Right now, the Superintendent of Williston Public Schools is testifying in front of the ND Legislature’s Energy Development and Transmission Committee as they have traveled to the Bakken oil field for hearings. The committee wants to see what is happening with the money North Dakota has sent out to the West and Williston is their first stop. In months to come, the committee will hold meetings...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2017 | #39
On July 25 the NDSGA held their first of two golf tournaments for 2017. This one was at the Jamestown Country Club on a beautiful day which had just a spit of rain at the beginning. Most of the growers were saying they would pay double golfing fees if the tournament was rained out as […]hi
On July 25 the NDSGA held their first of two golf tournaments for 2017. This one was at the Jamestown Country Club on a beautiful day which had just a spit of rain at the beginning. Most of the growers were saying they would pay double golfing fees if the tournament was rained out as the reports from nearly everyone outside of the Red River Valley was hoping for moisture. There was talk of...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2017 | #38
EPA Tour On the last Wednesday of June I joined eight members of the Environmental Protection Agency (7 from DC, one from the regional office in Denver), Rep. Mike Howe of Casselton, staffers and members of ND Corn, ND Grain Growers, ND Soybean Growers, Senator Heitkamp’s representative, Farmer’s Union rep and maybe a few others […]hi
EPA Tour
On the last Wednesday of June I joined eight members of the Environmental Protection Agency (7 from DC, one from the regional office in Denver), Rep. Mike Howe of Casselton, staffers and members of ND Corn, ND Grain Growers, ND Soybean Growers, Senator Heitkamp’s representative, Farmer’s Union rep and maybe a few others on a tour of the central region of the Red River Valley. They had...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2017 | #37
A Quick Canadian Trip Monday I drove up to Winnipeg against a north wind for the annual International Legislator’s Forum. This is a gathering which includes select lawmakers from Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and Manitoba. Originally it was about managing flood waters but lately has expanded to transportation, sex trafficking, invasive species and other topics. The […]hi
A Quick Canadian Trip
Monday I drove up to Winnipeg against a north wind for the annual International Legislator’s Forum. This is a gathering which includes select lawmakers from Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota and Manitoba. Originally it was about managing flood waters but lately has expanded to transportation, sex trafficking, invasive species and other topics. The various governments...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2017 | #36
Last week we had an hour or so at the Clemens/Ericson farm outside of Wimbledon. The idea was to gather interested growers in the shop and discuss what happened in the ND Legislature concerning agricultural issues. We did have 10 or so producers show up at 8 in the morning and besides a short presentation […]hi
Last week we had an hour or so at the Clemens/Ericson farm outside of Wimbledon. The idea was to gather interested growers in the shop and discuss what happened in the ND Legislature concerning agricultural issues. We did have 10 or so producers show up at 8 in the morning and besides a short presentation from Scott Rising and me, it was mostly answering questions about a variety of issues. By...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2017 | #35
Okay, here it is one week after the session ended and there has been a change brought on by the Governor. He vetoed the $10,000 that was going to go to every township outside of the oil producing counties. You may recall that it was to arrive August 1st but for one year only and […]hi
Okay, here it is one week after the session ended and there has been a change brought on by the Governor. He vetoed the $10,000 that was going to go to every township outside of the oil producing counties. You may recall that it was to arrive August 1st but for one year only and the money was to have come from the Strategic Investment and Improvements fund as well as the Disaster Relief fund....
Murphy’s Law Blog 2017 | #34
Today is the 77th Legislative Day of this session. There were at least 2 other days that everyone worked but were not counted due to a sleight of hand in technical parliamentary rules. In other words, it would be right up against the 80 day limit were if straightforward. Anyway, this looks like the last […]hi
Today is the 77th Legislative Day of this session. There were at least 2 other days that everyone worked but were not counted due to a sleight of hand in technical parliamentary rules. In other words, it would be right up against the 80 day limit were if straightforward. Anyway, this looks like the last day.
I just walked out on discussion of the last of 19 amendments that had been attached to...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2017 | #33
The SWC (State Water Commission budget, HB1020) was pretty much settled Monday in Conference Committee about 5 p.m. They need to approve the settled language after it is typed up by attorneys this morning. Rural Water was put in its own bucket or category of funding which presumably makes them happy. The big deal is […]hi
The SWC (State Water Commission budget, HB1020) was pretty much settled Monday in Conference Committee about 5 p.m. They need to approve the settled language after it is typed up by attorneys this morning. Rural Water was put in its own bucket or category of funding which presumably makes them happy. The big deal is that the Red River Water Supply Project appears to be on its way with $17...