Millions Of Dollars May Be Coming For North Dakota’s Energy Sector
Published by gwen December 20th, 2007 in Beyond North Dakota, Energy, North Dakota People, Politics and Government.Millions of dollars may be coming for North Dakota’s energy sector if President Bush signs the Omnibus Appropriations bill that passed the Senate yesterday. Today Senator Byron Dorgan, D-ND announced some of the funding that could be headed our way:
- $5.1 million to complete the energy and training technology center (I think this means the National Energy Center of Excellence building) located at Bismarck State College
- $985,000 for the energy technology program at Bismarck State College
- $250,000 for a Great Plains Energy Corridor Coordinating Office.
Even though the Energy Corridor office receives the least amount of money, it’s the part I’m most excited about. With an Energy Corridor office in place, the state can really work toward helping the United States pull away from its dependence on foreign oil and develop true, long-lasting renewable fuel sources and technology for the future.
From the press release:
“Our state ranks sixth in the nation in the production of energy,” Dorgan said. “We are a leading producer of coal, oil, natural gas, wind, biomass and other forms of energy. But this is just a start. We are on the threshold of substantial new development with new jobs and new economic opportunity in our state. These investments that I have been able to make will expand BSC’s role as a regional leader in energy training, and develop an Energy Corridor Coordinating Office that will provide significant boost to our energy future.”
Just one more comment: after Senator Dorgan’s hard work, it still takes more than one person to make these good things happen. It took more than one person to create the bill and to pass it. It will take a lot more people to put the plans into action.
North Dakota has the energy potential to make a positive difference in world energy supply. North Dakota people can be just as energetic. I’m looking forward to watching good things happen.
In the mean time, Senator Dorgan voted to ban the incandescent light bulb and mandate more ethanol in blended fuels. Encouraging technology is one thing, mandating this sort of thing is another. Ask anyone who’s aware of the impact corn-based ethanol has had on their life.
North Dakota is a leader in energy production of many varieties. That has not necessarily been the product of forceful legislation. For example, the coal gasification plant or the proprietary drying processes used at Coal Creek Station. Or the Quick-crete that’s made from fly ash at Coal Creek Station, a superior material which comprises the bulk of the newly constructed energy center at BSC. These are the products of ingenuity, not of legislative mandate.
I hate to rain on the parade, but we have to make sure that things are not rammed down people’s throats. Look what the corn-based ethanol subsidies and regulations did, for example. The price of corn shot up. Many producers switched to corn, causing the supply of other crops to diminish. That means that those prices jumped as well. Livestock feed prices increased, which resulted in higher meat and dairy prices. Corn is an ingredient in just about EVERYTHING we eat in the USA, so now food prices jump. All so that someone can collect a subsidy on a fuel that is a bust. Ethanol doesn’t have the thermodynamic potential of gasoline, no matter how efficiently you burn it, so the whole thing is the wrong direction in the first place…and we haven’t even addressed the costs of its production and distribution.
If I haven’t driven anyone away yet, let’s not forget the staggering statistics that I heard on this bill. There are THOUSANDS of pork projects in it. I dare say that this might be one of them. What happened to all the reform that was promised in the last election? Whether a program is worthwhile or not, tucking it away into omnibus bills or even irrelevant legislation is not leadership. Expenditures of millions of dollars deserve to be approved or disapproved on their own merits.
Clint
BismarckMandanBlog.com
Clint,
As always, you have given me food for thought. I knowi nothing else about the bill but what I just recently read about it. I’m still happy for BSC and happy about the idea of an energy corridor that coordinates efforts.
Part of my enthusiasm about an energy corridor office stems from the idea that a coordinated effort on renewable fuels could possibly move switch grass and other biomass fuels forward instead of corn ethanol (and keep an agreeable balance with our fossil fuel reserves, as well). That said, I’m still learning about corn ethanol myself and have heard such varying reports about it that I never know what to think.
I do completely agree with you that economic development (or any type of progress) should never be mandated. It’s great to create an energy coordinating office, but I never imagined that office telling people what to do…I pictured the office as a network center where energy businesses could feed off each other and innovate on their own. I do believe North Dakota would do very well in a situation like that. But being told what to do? No, that shouldn’t be. That will never work in the long run.
Isn’t that common sense? I may be being naive. I assume everyone–including Senator Dorgan, I guess–just wants to help people out. Maybe it’s more about control than I thought.