​HPR Interview: gubernatorial candidates and the pipeline

By C. S. Hagen

cshagen@gmail.com

Governor Dalrymple is currently serving his final term. Three men are vying to take his place.

Representative Marvin E. Nelson, D-N.D., from Rolla, said he fears the Dakota Access controversy will end in violence.

“First of all, clearly the process did not work properly at the state level,” Nelson said. “I would point to what happened that the pipeline did not get sited in the right place. As governor, we have a company engaged in legal activity and it’s trying to move ahead, and then there are protestors. It would be my responsibility to protect them… that is the thing as governor – you have to do what you are responsible to do.

“Everyone wants to roll the clock back… but you can’t always go back.”

Nelson expects DAPL is preparing for a quick build to Lake Oahe, protected by beefed-up police presence. The situation has become polarized between absolute support and absolute opposition. “I look too at the protestors and what they’re saying, and I really do fear that there will be violence here. It’s just frustrating. It’s what happens with ultimate positions.”

The governor is more of a spectator, charged with protecting human life, and outside of offering pardons to activists and DAPL workers charged with crimes, the governor has little authority in these situations.

“The company is going to shove it through there,” Nelson said. “The big question is whether the government will allow an easement. It is still possible the tribe will win. Their strongest case is on their water rights. It’s involving their water – and it doesn’t seem there was an engagement with the tribes pertaining to their water rights.”

Nelson added that the U.S. Corps of Engineers rarely investigates beyond river crossings, and that national building permits are not adequate; a full environmental impact study should be conducted.

“Really, the relationship between our tribes and our state could become better and more active,” Nelson said. “We do need to work together more.”

Marty Riske, the Libertarian candidate for North Dakota governor, said it is a very dangerous time for North Dakota.

“I know what I would have done, hindsight being twenty-twenty,” Riske said. “I would have brought a table to the site and invited the chiefs of the Native American tribes, the chiefs of the oil companies, and the governor himself. I would have been down there at a long table and a decision tree, and each of us would have espoused what we want, and the things that remained in the tree, the differences that weren’t being met, would have to be brought closer together to get everyone to agree.”

Now that the controversy is polarized, however, and low commodity prices are threatening North Dakotan prosperity, pension funds for teachers and state employees are sliding into arrears due to slipping oil prices, a pipeline is what the state needs, Riske said. Used correctly, shipping oil via pipelines is half the cost of transportation by rail or truck. Energy Transfer Partners also has obtained the proper authority to complete the pipeline, the Public Service Commission did their work correctly, Riske said, but President Obama came up from behind and threw the project into chaos.

“If I were governor, I would say, ‘Obama, we are removing all our law enforcement by this date and we ask you to replace them all, or take over the bills, and then you work this deal out. Come here and get this deal done.’”

Oil and natural gas are necessities for North Dakota, and for the nation, Riske said, and although he plans to begin using solar panels on his own property, the technology for alternative energy is not ready to take over the fossil fuel industry.

“I know damn well you don’t want oil to go away,” Riske said. “This notion that we can end fossil fuels is uninformed.” North Dakota has to get Bakken oil to market, or North Dakota will “suffer greatly,” Riske said.

“By doing what we’re doing, we’re putting the shivers into the whole pipeline program in North Dakota.”

Doug Burgum, the Republican candidate for governor of North Dakota, said free speech and the right to protest need to be respected, but that law and order must be maintained on federal lands.

"One of things that makes our country so special is the right of free speech and the right to peacefully protest,” Burgum said. “The state should continue to request that the federal government uphold their responsibility for maintaining peace and order on federal land. Going forward, we need to remember that disagreement can exist alongside mutual respect, listening, and dialogue as we work together towards a peaceful, constructive resolution."