The North Dakota Way, Or Is It?

Our opinion/ Energy and agriculture are key to our economy and our culture here in North Dakota

By John Strand
HPR Staff Writer

North Dakota surfaced twice in GOP debates earlier this week.

The sugar program surfaced as a topic addressed by front-runners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in Tuesday night’s presidential debates in Florida. While presented in the context of sugar cane sugar versus beet sugar, what was clear is that there is a growing movement to let the sugar subsidy program die in lieu of a free market approach.

Meanwhile, up here in the hinterland where some one-third of the country’s sugar beet farmers exist, there is a division of the ranks.  American Crystal Sugar’s lockout of its employees for months now will certainly backfire big time.

Why? Well, it’s pretty simple. They’ve lost their primary constituency. They’ve allowed a wedge to entirely separate the employees from their employers. The result is a disenfranchised group of thousands of people who heretofore were at least relatively loyal to American Crystal and its needs. Now it is family no more. And that is truly unfortunate. How on Earth sugar supporters expect to fight to save the sacred cow sugar program without support of its traditional army of workers is a question to ask leadership at the local cooperatives?

The time is well past for resolution. It’s almost impossible. And, as the saying goes, they make their bed, they can sleep in it too.

All of us need to call upon all sides of this bitter fight to find resolution. We speak to both the Board of Directors and farmers who own American Crystal, and its locked-out union workers. Decide to decide. Agree to agree. Start with that, at a minimum.

The prospects of turning this into a win-win diminish every day. Obviously, American Crystal is at the driver’s wheel. What they obviously do not see clearly is the rough terrain ahead, and the prospects of a big crash.

There is a need for resolution, and for healing. That takes good leadership, and a willingness to do just that.

Sweeten up, American Crystal, and lighten up before you cost yourselves and the region the federal sugar program.

The other mention of North Dakota was in regards to our booming oil economy. Gingrich lauded North Dakota for its bustle in the oil patch and for its low unemployment rate, and said that because it was on private land, it’s not detrimentally managed like it would be on government land. An observer would easily think all is good here in the hinterland, but those of us who live in the state know better. Sure, jobs are good, but not when it leads to a sacrifice of much of what we know is good about our state.

Western North Dakota is reeling from a tsunami of oil development unleashed recklessly in our state. While some politicians celebrate this as accomplishments justifying their election to higher office, there are lots of people who pay a price that’s hard to even calculate. Locals are overwhelmed in almost every regard. They are not safe. They cannot afford rents. Their infrastructure suffers. Their way of life and culture is not good. The out-of-state interests prevail.

There are escalating vehicle and work place accidents, deaths and injuries. The folks don’t know each other any more.

That’s simply not North Dakota, and, quite frankly, we are not sure this oil boom, as Gingrich suggested, is because the oil development is on private land versus if it were on public land. What we do know is public policy via our government has utterly let many people down. Not only public and personal safety, but also resulting in vast publicly viewed waste of resources. Natural gas, for example, due to our lack of a flare policy that requires gas capture. And who is to say the long-term impact on our water supplies after it’s been affected by hydraulic fracturing or fracking.

Whether it be oil development or sugar policy, the presidential debate did confirm one thing we all know: energy and agriculture are key to our economy and our culture here in North Dakota. What is absent is common sense, hard-nosed commitment and advocacy for the greater public good of the people of North Dakota.

If and when the country looks to and at North Dakota, let’s give them something truly good to see.

We Told You So

HPR gave extensive coverage to the Pipe Ban ordinance debated and regretfully enacted in Moorhead recently. It comes as no surprise that Discontent owner Top Teply has filed a federal lawsuit against Moorhead, and we quite frankly applaud his action. Some may blame Teply for going after the city, but Teply was clear in council chambers that he intended to protect his livelihood at any cost. The claim that the city needed this important “tool” to fight the war on drugs. A tool that we now see will come with a hefty price tag.

The pipe ban is myopic and frivolous and vague. It will cost the financially strapped city in countless ways, i.e. lost taxes, lost jobs, lost businesses, and lawyer fees to defend what we suspect will be in the end a indefensible position. In the wake of this unnecessary exercise and costly fiasco, we suspect some political careers will also be on the line. Out with the old, and in with some sound decision-makers.

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)