Plain Talk

Thanks to the widely-reported consternation over carbon pipelines, carbon capture has become a hot-button issue. But political kerfuffles tend to obscure that North Dakota is on the bleeding edge of carbon capture and storage technology. On this episode of Plain Talk, Jeff Zueger, the CEO of Harvestone, joined us to talk about the new carbon capture and storage project they've launched at their Blue Flint Ethanol facility near Underwood. At that facility, they're capturing 100% of their emissions from the fermentation process, and since October, they've been injecting 600 metric tons of CO2 about a mile-deep underground daily. As significant as that is, the project's provenance may be even more critical. North Dakota was the first state in the nation to be granted primacy over carbon injection wells by the federal government. Blue Flint Ethanol is now the second project launched in North Dakota under that primacy through a process that, per Zueger, took just months as opposed to the years you might expect from federal regulators. Zueger said capturing carbon is of huge important to the ethanol industry, from the farmers who grow fuel crops to companies like his that turn them into fuels. Carbon capture is "one of the single biggest things we can do to step down our carbon intensity," and that matters, because increasingly the fuels market is demanding lower carbon intensities. Zueger pointed out that, thanks to the emergence of electric vehicles, the liquid fuels markets are already contracting, and the demand that's left wants lower-emission fuels. "We have to respond to those markets," he said.

When I first invited Attorney General Drew Wrigley on to this episode of Plain Talk, our intention was to speak about the lawsuit against Facebook company Meta that North Dakota is now a part of. And we did eventually get around to talking about that, but in between my invitation and today, when we actually recorded the interview, former state Sen. Ray Holmberg was indicted on criminal charges related to international travel to procure sex with minors and child pornography. Wrigley's, whose office handled much of the inquiry into Holmberg's alleged crimes, sent out a press release saying that investigation was one of the first things he was briefed on after being sworn in last year. Something in that release caught my eye. Specifically, this passage: "In early February 2022, within hours of my taking the Oath of Office as Attorney General, the US Attorney's Office and the leadership of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) briefed me on the early stages of this joint federal and state investigation. I immediately instructed the BCI to move this case to priority status where it remains today, due to the on-going nature of this investigation." Why didn't that investigation already have priority status prior to Wrigley taking office? And did Wrigley's predecessor, Wayne Stenehjem, who passed away last year prompting Gov. Doug Burgum to appoint Wrigley, recuse himself? The answer to that last question is no. "He had not recused himself from the case," Wrigley said. I asked Wrigley if he felt Stenehjem should have recused himself, and he was reticent to say yes. After a long pause, Wrigley said, "Everyone has to make their own assessment on that." "They were such good friends," he added, referring to Holmberg and Stenehjem, both of whom were from Grand Forks and represented that community in the Legislature. Wrigley also said Stenehjem's deputy, Troy Seibel, "didn't have a good answer" when asked about why Stenehjem didn't recuse. Wrigley also pointed out that the currently U.S. Attorney Mac Schneider, whose office is handling the prosecution of Holmberg, has recused himself because he served in the state Senate alongside Holmberg representing Grand Forks. As for why the case wasn't a priority? It "remained in the queue," Wrigley said, adding that it had "evidence that hadn't been analyzed." Also on this episode, co-host Chad Oban and I discuss long political shadow the Holmberg investigation has, and will, cast across North Dakota politics. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show wherever you get our podcasts, or click here for more information.

There has been turmoil in the North Dakota Republican Party this year, and it most recently manifested itself in the disastrous and hire of a South Dakota man, David Roetman, with a proclivity for misogyny and racism on social media. Levi Bachmeier, the chair of the NDGOP's District 13 committee, and one of the outspoken critics of Mr. Roetman's hire, joined this episode to discuss what's going on in North Dakota's dominant political organization. "It really didn't sit well with me," Bachmeier said of Roetman's hire. We also discussed the growing disconnect between the priorities of some NDGOP officials and North Dakota voters, as well as the attitude from some party leaders that the NDGOP should be enforcing ideological discipline on its candidates.

Congressman Kelly Armstrong hasn't been able to get back home to North Dakota for nearly two months thanks to chaos in Washington D.C. Chaos that included a pitched battle within the Republican caucus over who the Speaker of the House would be. Now that the House has a Speaker again, Armstrong is home in North Dakota again, and on this episode of Plain Talk, called that protracted imbroglio "the biggest self-own in the history of partisan politics. And, he added, if in-fighting among House Republicans walks them into another government shutdown in the coming weeks, "that will also be the biggest self-own in the history of partisan politics." To subscribe to the Plain Talk podcast, search for it on platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information.

North Dakota lawmakers are wrapping up their work at a special session that was convened thanks to the state Supreme Court striking down a catch-all budget bill that violated the state constitution. Some surprise topics came up during the closing hours, including an effort to kill a major audit review of State Auditor Josh Gallin's office, as well as an effort to put stiff enforcement behind a ban on accommodating trans students in public schools. On this episode of Plain Talk, Wednesday co-host Ben Hanson and I discuss.

Next week North Dakota's lawmakers will convene in a special session, and it's hard to know what's going to happen. Gov. Doug Burgum called lawmakers into special session with an executive order asking that they limit themselves to five days, but lawmakers aren't obliged to follow that order. Once they're in session, they're in session. Could we see a situation where legislative leaders can't get the special session closed? State Rep. Josh Boschee, a Fargo Democrat, joined this episode to discuss that question and other issues surrounding the special session. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk publish? Search for the show on your favorite podcast service, like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information.

You wouldn't normally expect to use an interview with a United States Senator to talk about what's going on in the House of Representatives, but that's what we did on today's episode of Plain Talk. Even though Sen. Kevin Cramer is a former member of the House, and knows a thing or two about how that chamber operates, he isn't currently a member. Still, the drama in the House, which is currently paralyzed for want of the leadership of an elected Speaker, is impacting his job as a Senator. Congress can't do anything if one of its component houses cannot do its work. Cramer also talked about the ugly new war between Israel and Hamas, how America should respond to it, as well as to criticism he's received from an anti-marijuana group over his support for the SAFE Banking Act. Also on this episode, Wednesday co-host Chad Oban and I discussed the most recent Supreme Court ruling on a major spending and policy bill which has been declared unconstitutional. The court has refused to give lawmakers more time for a special session to address the situation. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show on your favorite podcast service, or click here for more information.

"My opinion is there will be no delayed bills introduced," House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, a Dickinson Republican, said of the upcoming legislative session on this episode of Plain Talk. "Get in and get out," he added. The special session is necessitated by a state Supreme Court ruling which found that the Legislature violated the state constitution's prohibition on multi-issue bills. Now, lawmakers must come back into session and split a massive catch-all bill passed at the end of the legislative session into separate, single-issue bills. But the larger context is a running feud between lawmakers and Gov. Doug Burgum, who have passed pension reform, and the leaders of the Public Employees Retirement System, who are hostile to that reform. It was PERS that filed the lawsuit creating the need for the special session. "I've been tremendously disappointed in the actions of the PERS board," Lefor said, referring to efforts to marginalize legislative appointees to that board. He also said that he supports Burgum's request that the chair of the board, Mona Tedford Rindy, who lobbied lawmakers to defeat pension reform during the legislative session earlier this year, resign. "I think the governor was absolutely correct to call for her resignation," Lefor said. Tedford Rindy refused to resign when asked by Burgum, and that's something Lefor would like to see changed during the upcoming session. "I believe the governor should have the authority to remove those he's appointed," he said. Lefor also answered questions about the recent controversy around a member of his caucus. Rep. Brandon Prichard, a Republican from the Bismarck area, has been making bigoted and homophobic posts on social media, and has been caught lying about his attendance at the University of Minnesota's law school. "He's on his own," Lefor said. "He's an adult. He has to answer to his constituents." Lefor said he does plan to sit down with Prichard to try and understand better what's motivating his recent behavior, but he also said he's admonished his legislative colleagues to stay off of social media. "I no longer have a Facebook account," Lefor said. "Id on't know of anything positive or constructive coming out of Facebook."

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has been sent packing by a vote initiated by a minority of his own Republican caucus. Now the House of Representatives is tasked with picking a new Speaker, and Rep. Kelly Armstrong, North Dakota's at-large Congressman, says the price of his vote is a rule change to ensure the next Speaker won't suffer the same fate. Otherwise, the House of Representatives risks becoming "just the same clown car with a different driver." Armstrong, who was an outspoken supporter of McCarthy and voted to keep him as Speaker, said he's not interested in the job, saying he doesn't believe he has enough tenure in the House yet to lead it, and that he has young children at home. Although he didn't name names, he did say there were two candidates running to be Speaker, and perhaps a third he believes will run. But whoever is elected will have to contend with a noisy minority of Republicans who aren't motivated by a desire to govern the country, Armstrong said, adding that "far too many members of our caucus" have "no incentive" to make serious policy. Armstrong was also critical of Democrats, saying he doesn't want to hear them complain about extremism in the Republican caucus. "You just voted with the eight most extreme members of our caucus. You can pound sand," he said. As to rumors that Rep. Matt Gaetz, the MAGA Republican from Florida who led the charge to take down McCarthy, could be expelled from Congress based on an upcoming ethics report about his activities at the heart of a now-concluded federal sex trafficking investigation, Armstrong said that sort of talk was inappropriate. All the more so because the House Ethics Committee hasn't even issued a report. He believes people like Gaetz, and Democratic Congressman Jamaal Bowman who is also facing calls for expulsion after he pulled a fire alarm during a vote to keep the government open, have a right to be in Congress even if he doesn't personally like or support either of them. "They got elected by 750,000 people," Armstrong said. "Those 750,000 people have a right to a voice in Congress." Also on this episode, co-host Ben Hanson and I discuss the recent controversy over bigoted social media messages posted by state Rep. Brandon Prichard, a Bismarck Republican, as well as the death of Sen. Doug Larsen, a Republican from Mandan.

A ruling from the North Dakota Supreme Court, part of an on-going spat between lawmakers, Gov. Doug Burgum, and the Public Employees Retirement System, has created the need for a new legislative session. State Rep. Corey Mock, a Democrat from Grand Forks and former leader of the minority caucus, joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss it. He estimates that lawmakers will meet again sometime in mid-November to take on the job of disassembling an ominbus budget bill that the court ruled unconstitutional and pass it as individual, single-subject pieces of legislation. Though looming over that process is a seemingly unquenchable thirst among some lawmakers for culture war battles. Mock said that if lawmakers are "disciplined" they could complete their work in a week, but that if things get chaotic it could take much longer. Also on this episode, Brian Lunde, a long-time political advisor now working with the North Dakota News Cooperative, talked about what that organization is doing to address the shortage of public polling in our state. The co-op is launching what they're calling the 'North Dakota Poll' which will cover everything from issue and consumer opinions to candidate polling and job approval ratings for elected officials. He said the plan is for the results to be released quarterly, starting next year.