Kevin Cramer’s Lignite No-Nos

Kevin Cramer is a naughty boy.

He has been engaged in a conflict of duties ever since being appointed by Governor Ed Schaefer in the mid 1990’s to two boards concerning energy production in this State:

1. The Lignite Research Council (LRC), whose sole mission is, in their words, “to preserve and enhance the lignite industry,” and

2. The Public Service Commission (NDPSC), whose mission emcompasses all forms of energy production, not just coal, and is aimed at, in their words, “protecting the public interest and regulating utilities, mining companies, and licensees in a fair, efficient, responsive, and cooperative manner.”

There is no way Kevin Cramer can be fair while seated on two such boards. Current North Dakota high court rulings reflect that viewpoint. In 1967 [Taro v. Bowman 232 NW 2nd 67 ND SCT], and 1978 [State v. Lee 50 NW 2nd 124], the North Dakota Supreme Court recognized the Incompatible Offices Doctrine.

If Kevin Cramer were a judge in North Dakota, he would have to recuse himself in any case involving coal, or at least disclose his conflict of duties before evidence began.

The PSC renders judgments affecting North Dakotans every bit as momentous as those of the Supreme Court, but chances that Cramer does the right thing are slim and none, since he is also a dirty boy.

His bias for burning coal as opposed to wind and natural gas energy was reflected in his August 27, 2008 sign-off on a decision by the NDPSC to approve a permit using Wyoming coal in regard to the Big Stone II project in Millbank,S.D. On radio Cramer has bragged that Oliver County will only burn coal. No wind energy need apply. Like Charlie Brown’s friend Pig-Pen, this guy just doesn’t want to clean up his act.

Once upon a time (the 1930’s), the dirtiness of coal was considered just the price we paid for the civilizing effects of heating and air conditioning. Back then profits made from burning fossil fuels were considered compatible with the needs of people.

No longer.

Times, technology and knowledge of air and water pollution have changed those perceptions for most of us, but not for Cramer and his fellow members of the lignite boys club. They still believe that profits (theirs) and prejudices they call “ideology” or “values” are more important than people who don’t belong to their cozy group.

Dirty air, water, and global warming are serious issues for people today, but not for those addicted to profits or prejudice.

Mother Nature is indifferent. H(2)O cares not if it takes the form of a solid, a liquid, or a gas; but Polar Bears and residents of New Orleans, Galveston and Myanmar certainly do.

We have an estimated 800 years of lignite reserves in North Dakota. All of it is owned by foreign corporations. We should leave it in the ground until technology catches up, as it has with oil in the Bakken deposits.

“Clean coal,” is an oxymoron, despite misleading ads on TV. Natural gas and wind can light up the energy grid as well as coal does, if they are properly developed, but we have to be careful.

Natural gas is being burned up by oil boys in the Bakken at a rate six to seven percent greater than allowed by law in that liberal, tree-hugging bastion known as Texas.

We also do not want our wind turbines packed together as thick as sardines (or lignite boys), as in Southern California, where there is concern and research that suggests a threat to migratory birds.

So far so good. Wilton, N.D. wind turbines, for example, are better spaced than those between Barstow and Bakersfield, Calif. I’ve driven by both places.

Ducks Unlimited and Florida Light and Power have been working together to develop wind energy responsibly, but there is no sign that Cramer and his rubber stamp, Tony Clark, have been paying any attention.

The third member of the PSC, Susan Wefald, hasn’t behaved as a member of the naughty, dirty, boys club, because she has paid attention during PSC meetings to arguments for alternative energies, and expressed reservations about the behavoir of “big boys,” like Montana-Dakota Utilities. Wefald is retiring from the PSC and her position is now sought on November 4 by Republican Brian Kalk, and Democratic/NPLer Cheryl Bergian.

Kalk’s yard signs declare him to be “a perfect fit.” Whether that means a perfect fit with an all-Republican boys club, or an all-lignite boys club, isn’t clear, but either one is bad news for the people of North Dakota.

Cheryl Bergian, on the other hand, has a long history of not being “one of the boys,” and has put interests of the people of North Dakota first, though not at the expense of environmentally responsible industries.

The lignite boys, and their two shills on the PSC, are like ferryboatmen in the 19th Century who opposed RR bridges across rivers. They saw their meal ticket getting smaller in size, and abused political power to keep things the same. The real issue was the fastest way to get across the river, not who was going to profit the most from getting there.

Nowadays the real issue is how to maintain our current level of comfort and convenience in the cleanest and safest way possible for ourselves and the environment, not who is going to make the most money out of it.

People and profits do not have to be incompatible, but they are when public institutions like the PSC are run by selfish and short-sighted interests of a bunch of naughty, dirty “good old boys,” instead of by men and women who care as much about accountabilty and the public interest as have Susan Wefald and Cheryl Bergian.