Plain Talk With Rob Port

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 fro

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 i

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 spec

"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

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

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 o

Should people who aren't from North Dakota be allowed to help put proposed laws on North Dakota's ballot? That's the question asked in a lawsuit filed by proponents of a constitutional amendment implementing age limits for North Dakota's congressional delegation. That measure, if passed, was probably already headed for litigation as U.S. Supreme Court precedent has held that state-level requirements for service in Congress are unconstitutional. But, apparently, the proponents want to use their measure to try and remove North Dakota's limitations on who can circulate petitions for signatures. Sec. of State Michael Howe, whose office oversees the ballot measure process, joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss. Also on this episode, co-hosts Chad Oban and Ben Hanson join me to analyze and react to the GOP's second presidential debate, where Gov. Doug Burgum had a tough time getting a word in edgewise.

Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a bill to outlaw gender care — both surgeries and medicinal treatments — for minor children who are transitioning. Now, a group of North Dakota parents are working with a group called Gender Justice to sue over the legislation, arguing that it's illegal. Devon Dolney, a Fargo parent to a trans son, and Brittany Stewart, an attorney for Gender Justice, joined this Plain Talk episode to discuss their case. Stewart said the legislation presents equal protection issues, as well as constitutional protections for life, liberty, and parental rights. Also, on this episode, Sen. Kevin Cramer joined to discuss the Senate dress code and a potential federal shutdown. Want to be notified when new episodes of Plain Talk are published? Search for the show on services like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information.

The North Dakota Republican Party, without quesiton the dominant political organization in state politics, is currently charting its way through some choppy waters. Controversial new leadership has alienated some of the party's donors. Local NDGOP district leaders are targeting their own incumbent Republican lawmakers. The party's fundraising is showing signs of cratering. Now the party's executive director, Samantha Holly, who has only served in that position since January, has resigned. "I've always prided myself on being fair to everyone," she said on this episode of Plain Talk, telling me and my co-host Ben Hanson that she didn't see it as her job to be involved in ideological debates. "I am happy to work with whoever," she said. But things under new party chair Sandi Sanford, who was narrowly elected with support from the aforementioned populists, became untenable. "You can call for unity all you want," Holly said, referencing Sanford's calls to unite the party even as her supporters work against elected

"I'm not interested in doing this simply to make our base happy," Congressman Kelly Armstrong said of new efforts to impeach President Joe Biden over his involvement with his son's business deals and other matters. Armstrong talked at length about the dichotomy among Republicans in their push for accountability for Biden, while simultaneously attacking efforts to bring the same to former President Donald Trump. He acknowledged that much of it is caught up in partisan politics, with people evaluating the legitimacy of an inquiry based on how they feel about its subject. When will that end? "No side is going to unilaterally disarm," he said. "That's just not how partisan politics works. Armstrong also spoke about his work on a deal to avoid a government shutdown. He noted that he's one of the few members of the House of Representatives who have remained in Washington D.C. to get something done, though he was tight-lipped about what's being discussed. Speaking out about it now could make a deal more difficult. "

If constructed, the Midwest Carbon Express, a carbon pipeline project pursued by Summit Carbon Solutions, would gather carbon emissions from ethanol plants across the upper midwest and bring it to North Dakota for storage. Controversy around the pipeline, particularly from some landowners and farmers who say their land will be stolen through eminent domain, or that the pipeline itself is dangerous, has made headlines. But two North Dakota lawmakers with deep ties to agriculture in the state are pushing back. Sen. Terry Wanzek and Rep. Mike Brandenburg, both Republican members of the North Dakota legislature, recently wrote a letter to the editor arguing that "the future is here, and it demands that we incorporate innovative solutions like carbon capture and storage to ensure the continued prosperity of our leading industries." Rep. Brandenburg joined this episode of Plain Talk to explain his argument. "It's time we start talking about the positive things with this pipeline," he said. Brandenburg says 100 mile

When it comes to criminal justice policy, and more specifically, the sort of policy that deals with incarcerating people, the most important thing for us to remember is that most people who are put in prison will eventually get out. According to a public-facing data dashboard from the North Dakota Department of Corrections, about 64% of people incarcerated in our state spend less than a year there. About 92% spend 3 years or less behind bars. If those folks are eventually going to be in our communities again, if they're going to be our neighbors and customers and coworkers, then shouldn't we want to make sure we're doing everything we can to ensure they're ready to be out of prison again? That's what we talked about on this episode of Plain Talk. The data dashboard I just used to bring you those statistics was developed by a nonprofit called Recidiviz. They were founded by Google engineers, and developed for North Dakota a criminal justice data system that allows our state to better organize our corrections r

MINOT — As North Dakota braces itself for another debate about abolishing property taxes - a new ballot measure to do so is being circulated for signatures, and it will likely be on the ballot next year - local governments are busy raising property taxes. It almost seem like the locals want to get rid of property taxes. One local leader, Grand Forks Mayor Brandon Bochenski, joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss it. Bochenski pointed out that his jurisdiction has been cutting taxes, not raising them. He said his city has just completed its fourth straight cut in property taxes mills, but that's also one of the most confounding things about property taxes. Even if one local government is keeping taxes down, that can be overshadowed by other local governments. When people in Grand Forks get a property tax bill, they aren't just paying the City of Grand Forks. They're also paying Grand Forks County, and their school district, and the park district, etc. It's that way all over the state. But would Bochenski

Grand Farms is an agriculture research site west of Fargo, and on today's episode of Plain Talk, we talked about what a big deal it is with Grand Farms board chair Greg Tehven and state Rep. Cindy Schreiber-Beck. It's a big deal, because I'm not sure how many non-farming citizens understand how much bleeding-edge technology is involved in modern farming. From drones and autonomous machinery to planting techniques, human ingenuity is pushing to keep farmers in a position to feed the world even as the world's population gets bigger. Also on this episode, Wednesday co-host Ben Hanson and I break down a new ballot measure that would do a lot of harm to North Dakota's political process, from opening up elections to endless audits and objections to turning the initiated measure process into a completely unaccountable process through which anyone with some money can put their issue on the ballot. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show on platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more

Perrie Schafer likes Gov. Doug Burgum. He says they worked together in recent years "hand in hand" during his stint as chair of the North Dakota Republican Party. But on this episode of Plain Talk, he said Burgum didn't make a big impression during the first presidential debate. "I think Doug is going to have to make a decision," Schafer said during the show with co-hosts Chad Oban and Ben Hanson chiming in as well. "There's a point where there's good money after bad," he added, saying the candidate has to ask himself of saying in a crowded GOP field, "Is it worth doing?" He said Burgum's recent injury, playing basketball the day before the debate, isn't helpful. "He's got an Achilles problem as well," Schafer said. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show on popular podcast apps like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information.

Gov. Doug Burgum was injured in a pick-up basketball game just hours ahead of a pivotal national debate where he desperately needs to make a good impression with a national audience that, for the most part, doesn't know him. So of course we spent this episode of Plain Talk discussing a parking dispute in West Fargo. I'm kidding. Sort of. We talked about Burgum's injury, but we also interviewed West Fargo City Commissioner Mark Simmons about the controversy around the city's West Fargo Events non-profit and the parking dispute between two of the city's major developers. We were also joined by Sen. John Hoeven for an update about the potential for the Dakota Access Pipeline being shutdown, and the struggle to build pipeline infrastructure. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show on podcast services like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or click here for more information.