​How do we satisfy our thirst for oil?

There’s something to be said about our cover story this week. To say that the people’s fight against the pipeline is inspiring would be the understatement of the decade. The people versus Big Oil, youths making a 2,000 mile relay from North Dakota to DC to raise awareness of what’s going on and make their voices heard. That’s what we call true grit folks, and that is hard to find.

We think the rest of North Dakota could learn from this: multiple generations and races banding together for a common cause for the sake of the environment and for the sake of sacred ground.

Some of you may be calling us hypocrites under your breaths… yeah, we heard that. We enjoy driving our vehicles from point A to point B like everyone else, and we are ecstatic to be able to afford to do so--isn’t that part of the American way?

We also enjoy our plastic everything and we thoroughly enjoy our running water and electricity, which is all aided by that big bad crude. But let’s not forget, there’s more to energy than oil.

According to www.energynd.com, “North Dakota’s wind resource is ranked sixth in the country, and the state ranks 11th for installed wind capacity, getting 15.6 percent of its power from wind resources. The equivalent number of homes powered by wind totals 510,000.”

With a population of around 757,000 it sounds like we are off to a good start. Unfortunately after googling an inquiry as to what the population of our state was, the first question under "People also ask" is “What state is North Dakota in?” In seeing this, I don’t know if I’m more disappointed in humans or the internet. Maybe both.

Wind energy sounds like a great option--but what about hydropower?

The Garrison Dam is the third largest reservoir in the United States, next to Hoover Dam in Nevada and Glen Canyon in Arizona. It is the 42nd largest in the world, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Yet it can only supply 5% of the electric energy in North Dakota according to www.energynd.com.

Five percent and we sacrificed more native land and sunk how many small towns and family farms. In fact a few of the foundations from Old Sanish are visible when the waters of Lake Sakakawea are low enough.

Unfortunately, according to ndstudies.org, “The construction of Garrison Dam on tribal land resulted in the taking of 152,360 acres. Over 25 percent of the reservation’s total land base was deluged by the dam’s reservoir. The remainder of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara/Sahnish lands was segmented into five water-bound sections. The project required the relocation of 325 families, or approximately 80 percent of the tribal membership.” Not to mention that farmers and ranchers in the area lost 94% of their land.

Hydropower gave its 5% at great cost. Could solar power be a viable option?

Again, according to ndstudies, “Verendrye Electric Cooperative in Velva, N.D., has the largest solar program in the state with more than 240 solar-powered water pumps. The pumps primarily are used in pasture wells in remote areas where building power lines is cost-prohibitive. The solar panels are more cost-effective for the cooperative.”

The aforementioned pumps cost “$800 for a direct-current pump, $18 per month to lease the solar panels. Verendrye’s investment in the solar panels is around $3,000.”

In its top ten list for solar penetration in 2010, the Solar Electric Power Association ranked Verendrye Electric second nationwide. The ranking was a measure of how many solar systems a utility provider had per 1,000 members. Verendrye has 18.8 solar systems per thousand members. Very impressive, Verendrye Electric! But how do we convince the fat cats to mainstream something so--gasp--efficient?

We’re no experts, but this is just the tip of the iceberg--of a very real problem. Now how do we petition for a more efficient carburetor?