Democratic-NPL is in touch with ND voters

Carter Hass

Valley City

Three years ago I would’ve laughed at the idea of going to the ND Dem-NPL State Convention. But on March 7, 2026, I found myself, at 18 years old, attending as a delegate from District 24. Needless to say, I was shocked by what I heard.

The North Dakota Democrats were primarily focused on economic policy, not culture wars. In fact, when I proposed a resolution calling for the party’s support of banning individual stock trading by members of Congress, it received resounding applause and passed unanimously. For a party that has “abandoned the working class,” this was refreshing. They also addressed the farming crisis in America, championing real solutions like breaking up Big Ag monopolies instead of supporting useless bailouts. They were the antithesis of the “DNC Liberal Stereotype.”

For the first time in over a decade, the ND Dem-NPL is in touch with small farmers and working-class North Dakotans. The NDGOP should be worried. Their leadership is too focused on big government culture war issues, like forcing students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in class. North Dakotan voters care more about the state of their pocketbooks than they do about The Ingraham Angle. Republicans are losing touch with the wider North Dakotan electorate.

The NDGOP will face an uphill battle this year. Mark my words, the Dem-NPL is energized and has a usable messaging advantage. If they play their cards right, 2026 could be a disaster for the NDGOP.

ND must hold corporations accountable

Wayne F. Fisher

Dickinson

Is the State Investment Board going to waste Legacy Funds by giving millions to the Davis Refinery? Didn’t Meridian Energy Group fail to complete the Davis Refinery in 2016? Did Meridian fail to pay their employees $600,000 and an engineering firm $400,000? Didn’t they also fail contractors who filed a $2.1 million lawsuit? Were the Billings County Commissioners the only intelligent people in this scenario when they didn’t allow road construction to move forward without requiring a $1.8 million letter of credit?

Does the State Investment Board include Gov. Armstrong, Dr. Lech, Thomas Beadle, Glenn Bosch, Joseph Heringer, Jerry Klein, Cody Mickleson, Adam Miller, Joe Morrissette, Art Thompson, Gerald Buck, Pete Jahner, Dr. Prodosh Similai, and many others?

Some corporations or companies take advantage of rural states because they know rural states are desperate for development and money to grow their economy. One should be aware that corporations do not want to pay for bonds to the state; meaning money to take care of any potential problems that could develop. They suggest “self-bonding” that they would have enough money to take care of any future problems.

Remember the uranium mines near Belfield. This company dug all those pits for uranium and later left the state and never reclaimed any of the land utilizing self-bonding. Sheep turned blue and died because they drank the radioactive water. Cattle died drinking the radioactive water, children developed leukemia and adults developed cancer because they were near the radioactive water. Who paid for the reclamation? The State of North Dakota, meaning the N.D. taxpayers did.

Again, a corporation dug mines in northwest ND and there was no reclamation because of self-bonding. Sen. Cramer, who was a Public Service Commissioner, felt it was not a problem.

A few years ago in Wyoming, a coal mining corporation applied for bankruptcy abandoning two mines. Employees lost their jobs and pensions and there was no reclamation. Again — self-bonding! It will be up to Wyoming and their taxpayers to pay for the reclamation.

Should our governing officials, legislators, and Governor put trust in corporations that want to utilize self-bonding?

Let the Investment Board know what you think about this.

Questions are healthy, Commissioner Goehring

Karen Anderson

Warwick

I am disappointed with the press release in which Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring issued a warning to producers not to respond to an open records request filed by Dakota Resource Council with the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality. I was even more disappointed that Goehring described DRC as an organization “generally opposed to typical agriculture operations.”

As a farmer/rancher in Benson County and a member of DRC I want to set the record straight.

DRC is not opposed to agriculture. They are opposed to Ag consolidation in ways that harm rural communities, strain local environments, and leave everyday people holding the bag while a handful of corporations collect the profits. Farms that concentrate livestock into 12,500 to 25,000 head operations are a huge industrial insertion onto land that is shared with people and wildlife.

Our politicians spent years telling the public how hard the state regulates these entities and then introduce bills to remove those same regulations with a machete. DRC refuses to normalize what is happening to agriculture in this state, because it is not normal.

DRC filed a public records request to find out how many animal agriculture sites are registered in the state. DRC would never ask for manure records directly from a farming operation. Commissioner Goehring is using his office to discourage people from engaging in a public process and a nonprofit organization asking questions. That is putting his thumb on the scale.

DRC opposes entities that damage the environment for personal and political gain at the expense of rural communities. Most agricultural operations do not act in that way. DRC will not stay quiet if operations threaten our landscape or our rights to property.

Thank you Dakota Resource Council for watching our backs. Keep watching.