Bluestem Prairie

North Dakota landowners appeal Summit ethanol carbon storage decision

Another development in the Summit Carbon Solutions ethanol carbon pipeline saga.

From the North Dakota Monitor.

Landowners appeal Summit carbon storage decision
by Jeff Beach

A group of North Dakota landowners is appealing the state’s approval of an underground carbon storage area for Summit Carbon Solutions, the company attempting to build the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project. 

The group represented by Bismarck attorney Derrick Braaten on Thursday filed the appeal in Burleigh County District Court, asserting that the North Dakota Industrial Commission withheld information and violated state law in approving the storage permit plan on Dec. 12. 

The permanent underground carbon storage sites in western North Dakota are a key piece of Summit’s planned five-state pipeline network capturing greenhouse gas emissions from ethanol plants. Approving the storage wells was one of the last decisions of Gov. Doug Burgum as chair of the Industrial Commission, which also included Attorney General Drew Wrigley and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring. 

The unanimous vote by the commission means that landowners who had not signed an agreement with Summit will be forced to allow the carbon storage on their property. 

The landowners assert that the Industrial Commission, which includes the state Department of Mineral Resources, illegally refused to disclose information to landowners under North Dakota open records laws. Braaten and his clients were seeking computer-generated models that predict where the carbon dioxide will go when it is pumped underground for permanent storage. 

The appeal says former Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms refused to provide the models before, during and after public hearings on the case in June, shortly before Helms retired. 

The order passed by the Industrial Commission said that if any open records requests were not fulfilled, it is because the Braaten Law Firm did not inform the agency that it had not received the records. 

“That’s a lie,” Braaten told the North Dakota Monitor. 

The appeal said Braaten’s firm was able to obtain the records in November. Braaten contends the computer models aren’t accurate but landowners were not given a chance to dispute that. He said multiple requests for a rehearing were ignored. 

Another issue raised in the appeal are the state’s rules on underground storage. Under a process called amalgamation, if 60% of the landowners in a proposed storage area agree to the plan, the state can force the other 40% to comply. 

Summit has obtained more than 92% of the pore space lease agreements across all three areas, according to the order approved in December.

After the commission’s Dec. 12 decision, Summit Executive Vice President Wade Boeshans said the permits resulted from “years of rigorous scientific study, engineering design, and input from regulators, landowners, and local leaders.”

Braaten also is representing the Northwest Landowners Association that has a separate lawsuit before the North Dakota Supreme Court on the amalgamation issue that he contends is unconstitutional. 

He said a ruling on either that lawsuit or the storage decision appeal should clarify the constitutionality of the rules. 

Braaten’s law firm also is representing Emmons County in a separate legal challenge to the state Public Service Commission’s approval of the pipeline route through North Dakota. Emmons County and Burleigh County are challenging the PSC’s interpretation of state law that concluded state zoning rules preempt local ordinances on where pipelines are allowed. 

Another group of landowners also is appealing the PSC permit decision. 

Braaten said those appeals may be combined into one case. 

Photo: Lynn Helms, center, director of the Department of Mineral Resources, listens Tuesday, June 11, 2024, during a public hearing in Bismarck on proposed carbon dioxide storage that would be connected to the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline. (Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor).

This North Dakota Monitor article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. 

Related posts

• Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline company formally asks SD regulator to recuse herself 
• South Dakota Public Utilities Commissioner stays on new carbon pipeline case after prior recusal, with no explanation this time
• Punt! Lincoln County commissioners push back decision on ethanol carbon pipeline rules
• Summit Carbon Solutions in the news: landowners & counties appeal North Dakota pipeline permit; Summit tells Iowans to cease & desist; Pipeline Fighters Hub & CURE statements
• North Dakota Industrial Commission approves CO2 storage for Summit ethanol carbon pipeline
• Minnesota PUC granted a permit for Summit Carbon Solutions Otter Tail to Wilkin County pipeline
• South Dakota Public Utilities Commission schedules public input meetings on Summit carbon pipeline application
• Summit ethanol CO2 injection wells up for approval but court appeal already in the works
• Oh the irony: ethanol carbon pipeline company has failed to address crossing concerns, DAPL oil pipeline company says
• Iowa Supreme Court upholds land survey abilities of pipeline companies in Summit case
• U.S. appeals court hears Summit pipeline case against Iowa's Shelby and Story counties
• Never mind the voters: ethanol carbon pipeline company reapplies for South Dakota permit
• Summit ethanol carbon pipeline news digest: Summit sues another Iowa county and more!
• North Dakota Public Service Commission approves Summit carbon pipeline route
• North Dakota couple plans to ‘dig in’ if Summit ethanol carbon pipeline is approved
• Summit ethanol carbon pipeline news digest: CO2 pipeline in MN moves forward; ND Public Service Commission decision coming Friday
• SD pipeline foes secure legislative leadership; MN Summit decision could come Dec. 12
• In unofficial results, ethanol carbon-pipeline law tossed out by South Dakota voters 
• CURE: MN Administrative Law Judge’s report on Summit’s CO 2 pipeline expected November 4
• Seven South Dakota ballot measures, $7 million and counting: Reports reveal total spending
• Jeepers: ethanol coop kicks in another $400,000 to support carbon pipeline ballot question 
• Ethanol carbon news digest: Summit Carbon pipeline in MN, Iowa & North Dakota media
• Summit Carbon Solutions CEO asks for prayer, while MN PUC wants public comment on FEIS of Otter Tail – Wilkin portion of CO2 Pipeline
• Public can comment on Otter Tail – Wilkin Co section of ethanol carbon pipeline until Sept. 11
• VIDEO: Carbon capture in Minnesota: public lands, fast money, and pipe dreams
• Summit pipeline segment enters final permitting stages in Minnesota; CURE raises objections
• Ethanol is fueling support of South Dakota carbon pipeline ballot measure
• Pipeline Fighters Hub: Summit Carbon Solutions numbers don’t add up in South Dakota 
• Referred Law 21 & carbon pipelines: A landowner bill of rights or an undermining of local control
• Summit Carbon Solution's ethanol carbon pipeline takes #2 spot on Heatmap's The Most At-Risk Projects of The Energy Transition 
• Ethanol carbon pipeline news: Attorneys differ on meaning of common carrier law in Summit case
• Summit Carbon Solutions pipelines won’t capture all carbon emitted by ethanol plants
• South Dakota Supreme Court ruling complicates Summit Carbon Solution’s push for land
• Referred pipeline law puts Summit Carbon Solution's permit quest in limbo
• Breaking crowded South Dakota ballot news: carbon pipeline law referendum validated
• Sustainable jet fuel company Gevo contributes $167K in defense of carbon pipeline law
• South Dakota Property Rights and Local Control Alliance turns in petitions to SD Secretary of State to force a vote on carbon pipeline policy
• South Dakota District 1 GOP House primary news round-up: carbon pipeline politics major issue
• New Midwest battles brew over CO2 pipelines

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Commentary: Attorney general and others know: Noem’s SDPB cut threatens public safety

Over a month ago, Bluestem Prairie had republished [VIDEO] Noem budget includes cuts; also new school-choice program & more prison money, a South Dakota Searchlight article that noted:

. . . Noem also wants to cut $3.6 million from South Dakota Public Broadcasting and $2 million from the Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s public universities. . . .

South Dakota Public Broadcasting, which relies on the state for part of its funding and the nonprofit Friends of SDPB for additional funding, issued a statement Tuesday saying Noem’s proposal would be a 65% decrease to the organization’s state budget allocation.

The organization highlighted the importance of its online, radio and television coverage of topics including high school sports, fine arts, education, public policy and the Legislature.

“A cut of this size and scale will force significant reductions to all these important services,” SDPB said in a statement. “This cut is likely to disproportionately affect rural service, where SDPB’s programming is most valued.” . . .

The Searchlight followed that up with two articles specific to SDPB: Proposed funding cut could sink network in as little as two years, SDPB director says and Noem’s public broadcasting cut proves she’s nothing like Mr. Rogers and a lot like Trump.

But there's more, as Watertown's Brad Johnson notes in commentary in Thursday's Searchlight:

Attorney general and others know: Noem’s public broadcasting cut threatens public safety
by Brad Johnson

It seems absurd that Gov. Kristi Noem would harm the U.S. Department of Homeland Security just before she is expected to be confirmed as its leader.

But that is what she is doing with her ill-advised plan to destroy South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

Noem launched her surprise attack on SDPB in her Dec. 3 budget address, proposing to cut slightly more than $3.6 million of its $5.6 million in state funding.

“If it goes though as proposed,” said SeVern Ashes, SDPB’s director of engineering and operations, “there is not enough funding left to support the infrastructure, engineering salaries, buildings, power or service contracts for the equipment.”

It costs $4.8 million annually to “cover engineering expenses for the networks, studio engineering, and 24-7 coverage,” he said.

SDPB’s system is on 45 towers, and 17 of those co-host public safety communication equipment. The network is critical “to all emergency communication from the SD Division of Criminal Investigation on down to county-level emergency management systems such as ambulance, fire and local police departments such as Sioux Falls and Rapid City,” Ashes said.

Additionally, Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T wireless systems lease space on SDPB towers.

One federal Homeland Security agency using the tower network for communications is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Ashes said. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S Forest Service and Federal Aviation Administration also use the system, as does the Civil Air Patrol.

Fighting fires in the Black Hills will be difficult without radio communication. County sheriffs, the state Highway Patrol, city and tribal police departments and ambulance systems will all be seeking alternatives.

The potential loss of that emergency communication system is unacceptable to South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley.

“Law enforcement relies heavily on public broadcasting,” he said in a Monday interview. “We rely on it to a great degree for public safety from weather conditions to missing children and endangered individuals. I mean, that is who we go to for our Amber Alert.”

The public best understands the tower system as the way SDPB transmits its programming, which is the real target of Noem’s ire. Conservatives tend to dislike National Public Radio, which is only one part of SDPB’s programming and is funded by private donations and the federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The state’s money primarily is used to maintain SDPB’s transmission system.

Ashes oversees seven SDPB-employed engineers, three in Rapid City, three in Sioux Falls and one in Pierre.

They maintain about 30% of South Dakota’s communication network, with the State Radio System under the Bureau of Information and Technology maintaining the rest.

Ashes said in addition to the towers, SDPB buildings house the state’s radio equipment as well as backup generators. Federal law requires 72 hours of backup power, but SDPB’s sites have seven days of capability.

The sharing of tower space with the State Radio System allows the two organizations to ensure coverage to about 98% of the state.

SDPB is the state’s connection to the federal Emergency Alert System, Ashes said. “We cover every county in the state. Any statewide alert system — Amber Alert, Blue Alert, endangered persons — those are activated out of our facilities in Vermillion.’’

If there is a national emergency, something involving the Homeland Security Department soon to be led by Noem, “Our infrastructure is taken over by the federal government for those alerts.”

If $3.6 million is cut and SDPB is unable to maintain the system, the state radio communications system likely would have to find money to maintain it, or SDPB’s portion goes dark.

At risk would be the state’s television and radio broadcast licenses. Incoming Gov. Larry Rhoden would have to be involved in relinquishing those vital assets.

Noem’s actions basically are those of a person showing malice against NPR, which explores ideas that differ with her worldview.

She never asked anyone at SDPB what might happen if they lost funding, and it’s clear Noem had no understanding of what would happen.

“The first thing we heard was when the governor made the speech,” said Ryan Howlett, CEO of Friends of South Dakota Public Broadcasting. “We weren’t asked about the implication of a cut.”

The bottom line, Howlett said, is that Noem’s proposed cut will “compromise the safety of about 1 million people.”

That’s something Jackley said is unacceptable. “That infrastructure is very significant and important.”

South Dakota Searchlight's EDITOR’S NOTE: Brad Johnson is married to a retired former employee of the nonprofit Friends of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

Photo: A South Dakota Public Broadcasting tower stands atop a hill above Rapid City on Jan. 7, 2025. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight).

This South Dakota Searchlight article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.

I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency fines KODA Energy $18,125 for burning waste treated-corn in Scott County waste-to-energy incineration facility

The story of How a Nebraska ethanol plant turned seeds into toxic waste in 2021 prompted concerns about the same sort of irresponsible use of treated seeds (rather than wholesome corn one could feed to cows and other livestock prompted an attempt by the Minnesota Legislature to regulate or ban that use in 2022 as I reported in MNHouse Ag Committee approves proposed rules for disposal of pesticide-treated crop seeds.

That measure didn't make it into law, but in 2023, another version of the bill (HF1317 Hansen) made it into the  Omnibus environment bill that aimed to ‘correct past wrongs, prepare for future,’ committee chair said.

Not that the bill didn't have its opponents, as the Minnesota House Info Services YouTube of March 22, 2023 hearing of the bill in the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee 3/22/23 illustrates:

Following the passage of the omnibus bill, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) began working on rule making for Waste treated seeds, as Bluestem noted last December in MN Pollution Control Agency makes 2nd request for comments on waste treated seed rules .

Judging from the industry in the summer 2023 Comments received in response to Request for Comments (sw-rule3-02b) on those rules, one would guess the seed industry and commodity groups could never do anything to harm water, pollinators or humans in disposing of waste pesticide-treated seeds.

Jeepers.

How then, with such eco-saints moving among us, does this news release appear on the MPCA's "News and Stories" page: KODA Energy fined $18,125 for burning waste-treated corn as a waste-to-energy incineration facility?

KODA Energy violated its air permit in Scott County from June 2023 to February 2024, according to a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) enforcement investigation. The investigation found KODA energy was burning waste-treated corn and should have submitted a major permit amendment before burning an industrial solid as a waste-to-energy incineration facility.

In addition to paying the $18,125 civil penalty, KODA Energy agreed to complete a corrective action. KODA Energy is submitting a statement that they will no longer burn waste-treated seed without first applying for and being issued a major permit amendment that allows the burning of an industrial solid waste at their facility.  

MPCA rules and regulations are designed to protect human health and the environment by limiting pollution emissions and discharges from facilities. When companies do not fully comply with regulatory requirements, the resulting pollution can be harmful to people and the environment.

When calculating penalties, the MPCA considers how seriously the violations affected or could have affected the environment, and whether they were first-time or repeat violations. The agency also attempts to recover the economic benefit the company gained by failing to comply with environmental laws in a timely manner.

My, my.

What is KODA Energy?  On the company's website, visitor's read on the Koda Energy Facts page:

Koda Energy is an innovative combined heat and power plant which burns agricultural byproducts, virgin wood waste, and urban tree trimmings to create energy in the form of electricity and heat. The project gets its name from the word “Koda”, which means “friend” in the Dakota language.Koda Energy is the only combined heat and power facility in the United States which burns exclusively natural, non-manmade materials in suspension.

Koda is owned and operated by Rahr Malting Company ( Rahr ).
The burning of byproducts from malting and food processing along with raw materials like wood chips, grain dust, chaff, and other plant seed material is used to generate electricity and thermal energy at Koda Energy.

Electrical power generation averages 19.7 megawatt hours, with a net electrical output of approximately 16.7 megawatt hours on average. This relies on the production of 220,000 lb/hr of high pressure steam produced at 900 degrees F. Electricity generation fluctuates, based on the needs of thermal energy by Rahr, which is cyclical in nature.

I'm guessing the treated corn slipped in under "other plant seed material" category but who knows. 

Photo: Waste left over from processing ethanol sat in piles outside the AltEn Ethanol plant near Mead. The heaps created a strong odor in the area and left people and pets sick, residents said. Photo by Anna Reed, Omaha World-Herald.

Related posts

• Omnibus environment bill aims to ‘correct past wrongs, prepare for future,’ committee chair says 
• MN Pollution Control Agency makes 2nd request for comments on waste treated seed rules 
• MNHouse Ag Committee approves proposed rules for disposal of pesticide-treated crop seeds
• Ag budget agreement moves forward in House minus treated seed language, Market Bucks

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

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I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

Biden administration upholds federal protections for wolves under Endangered Species Act

In the last few years, I've covered the politics of wolves in Minnesota.

A new development, reported in an article republished from the Minnesota Reformer.

Biden administration upholds federal protections for wolves
by Christopher Ingraham

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife service has denied two petitions from hunting advocacy groups to reduce federal protections for gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act.

The petitions asked the agency to recognize wolves in western Great Lakes states, including Minnesota, as a distinct subpopulation and delist them, and also to reduce protections on wolves in parts of Oregon, California and Washington.

The hunters argued that wolf populations have surpassed initial recovery goals in the Great Lakes region, and that populations in the West Coast states are growing fast enough to merit downlisting. 

The Fish & Wildlife Service disagreed, ruling that the petitions “do not present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned actions may be warranted.” The move is the latest in a longstanding tug-of-war between environmental advocates who want to see wolf populations protected, and hunters who either believe the wolves are devouring local deer populations or who simply want to shoot the animals themselves.

“Today, our federal government did not bow to the will of those who want to see wolves exterminated at the expense of sound science and ethics,” said Amanda Wright of the U.S. Humane Society, in a statement. “Gray wolves are already absent from most of their historic range. On top of that they face immense persecution from trophy hunters, trappers and agribusiness.”

The Sportsmen’s Alliance, one of the groups petitioning for reduced protections, dismissed the ruling as “a politically motivated farewell folly from the Biden administration.”

The administration, however, has a record of favoring loosened protections for wolves. Biden initially kept in place a Trump-era change that removed Endangered Species Act protections for wolves across most of the U.S. That change was ultimately reversed by a federal court in 2022.

Biden’s Department of Justice subsequently asked a federal appeals court in September to remove Endangered Species Act protections for wolves.

“The ESA (Endangered Species Act) is clear: its goal is to prevent extinction, not to restore species to their pre-western settlement numbers and range,” attorneys with the Department of Justice wrote in that petition. 

In 2020, the Trump administration stripped ESA protections for most gray wolves in the U.S. Among other things, that ruling allowed the state of Wisconsin to allow a wolf hunt in February 2021. Hunters subsequently shot far more wolves than allowed by the state’s quota in a matter of days.

Conservationists point to that incident as a warning sign of what could happen if the fate of wolves is left up to the states, as the hunting groups are advocating. 

Photo: A gray wolf prowls the winter forest (National Park Service photo).

This Minnesota Reformer article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Related posts

•  US Congress Committee on Natural Resources subcommittee held wolf hearing in Sandstone
• Fact check: what is the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe's stand on wolf management?
• Minnesota Deer Hunters Association creates Wolf Report website; seeks public sightings
• Another card dealt in MN wolf management story: feds agree to draft new wolf recovery plan
• MN Reformer: Maps reveal where Minnesota deer hunters struck big, and struck out
• Don Peay shows up: will Hunters4Hunters be on receiving end of Utah's $500,000 war on wolves?

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email [email protected] as recipient.

I'm on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6

Amid court challenges & partisan maneuvering, can MNHouse even function this year?

On Monday, I republished a Session Daily article, [VIDEO] Session Daily: MNHouse Republicans plan to act as majority, DFL threatens Opening Day absence in power sharing tug-of-war.

On Tuesday morning, MinnPost's Peter Callaghan looked at the complications in both chambers of the Minnesota Legislature. It's a cluster, for sure.

Republished from MinnPost.

Amid court challenges and partisan maneuvering, can the Minnesota House even function this year?
by Peter Callaghan

A Republican-DFL tie after election night has turned into an “organizational majority” for the GOP, at least temporarily. But what if DFLers just don’t show up next week?

Two years ago, Minnesota DFL elected officials were about to begin a legislative session with a governing trifecta — control of the House and the Senate and the governor’s office. They would spend that session passing a sweeping progressive agenda.

When the 2025 session begins next Tuesday, it will look a lot different. There are no clear majorities in either chamber. House DFLers are threatening to boycott until a previously agreed upon power sharing agreement is reinstated. And Gov. Tim Walz is struggling to find his footing after a grueling and unsuccessful campaign for vice president and has disrupted his own administration by shunning his lieutenant governor.

And while the upcoming budget begins with a projected surplus — smaller but still existing — it faces future financial deficits that invite overuse of the term “looming.”

DFL disappointment

Twenty-four months ago seems like a long time ago. On election night, House DFL leadership was disappointed that their majority had turned into a 67-67 tie with Republicans. Seats the DFL were expected to lose were lost and a few they were expected to win were lost as well. It was a pair of tight results in which DFL candidates prevailed by handfuls of votes that produced the tie. 

The caucus was disappointed but resigned to sharing power. Now a tie would be the House DFL’s fondest hope.

Contested seats

State Rep. Brad Tabke

Two seats won by DFL candidates on election night are at issue in the courts. One, held by incumbent Rep. Brad Tabke, is awaiting a court ruling on 20 missing ballots in a race won by just 14. The other seat has already been declared vacant after DFL candidate Curtis Johnson, who ran unopposed in the DFL primary and won easily in November, was found to have not legally resided in the district. It’s a pretty safe DFL district, but a special election is needed to put a person in that seat.

To make things even more interesting, Republicans and their affiliates are challenging the timing of the special election with the state Supreme Court, arguing that Walz’s call for a special election Jan. 28 was premature. Rather than waiting until the session convened to begin the countdown to an election, Walz acted as soon as Johnson said he wouldn’t pursue appeals. Johnson “resigned” a seat he was never sworn into. Should the Republicans prevail, more weeks would pass before that seat could be filled in a special election.

Denied recognition?

Regardless of the ruling in the Tabke case, DFL House Speaker-designate Melissa Hortman will start the 2025 session next Tuesday in a 67-66 deficit and stay there until the special election in District 40B. And even if Tabke prevails in court, there are some in the House GOP who want to use a constitutional provision to deny him his seat. While it takes 68 votes to pass bills, it would only take a majority of those present to refuse to let Tabke be seated.

Republican Speaker-designate Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring said such a move was possible to preserve the integrity of the election. Only a new election in that district will satisfy Republicans.

DFL House Speaker-designate Melissa Hortman, left, said her members would be doing things such as meeting with constituents, preparing legislation, making appearances. They just wouldn’t show up in the House chambers.

That would mean that someone elected by voters, whose election was upheld by the courts, would be blocked from being sworn in by a partisan act. It would also mean that a House GOP caucus that screamed — with good reason — that the way the DFL rammed through legislation on the final night of the 2024 session damaged the institution of the House and created dangerous precedent is considering a move that very likely would do the same.

While waiting, Tabke is back on the fundraising circuit, asking for funds in case the court rules against him or the GOP denies him his seat.

“Some House GOP members are working to force a special election taking our House seat,” he tweeted. “We need to be prepared.”   

Organizational vs. constitutional majority

Either way, the House GOP will have more votes next Tuesday and can jettison a power-sharing agreement Demuth reached with Hortman and assume sole control of the speakership and committee chairs. Even if the DFL eventually gets those two contested seats filled with DFLers, the House will remain with GOP leadership and committee chairs because once the House is organized, it stays organized until a majority of members change it. A tie vote isn’t enough.

What difference, though, does it make if the GOP has “an organizational majority” as Demuth called it Monday but lacks a constitutional majority? They can’t pass bills without at least one vote from a Democrat. But they can convene hearings and conduct investigations and at least get bills to the House floor, forcing DFL members to take votes they might rather not take.

An example of that power was the announcement of a special fraud committee that would have subpoena power to compel testimony of Walz administration officials.

No-shows for session?

That is why Hortman said Monday that her caucus members just won’t show up Tuesday at noon. Once the House is organized, once its members are sworn in, once a speaker and a clerk are elected, the House can do some things with 67 votes. So if the House DFL walkout happened after a speaker was elected, that speaker could try to compel the absent members to attend. But the House can’t organize itself to do any of the above without a constitutional quorum, and that’s a majority of the 134 seats in the House: 68 votes. (Art. 4, section 13 says “A majority of each house constitutes a quorum to transact business…”)

And who would declare whether a quorum is present? State law gives the secretary of state the duty of convening the House on its first day and appointing a temporary clerk. Once that clerk takes the roll and Steve Simon determines a quorum is present, the House can move ahead to swear in members and elect officers. Usually it is a ceremonial duty but likely will be much more than that next week. 

“They can’t turn on the lights. They can’t conduct business without a quorum. They can come in, take the roll and leave,” Hortman said.

The recall option

House Republican leader Harry Niska said not showing up for session could trigger the recall section of the state constitution that could lead to missing members being kicked out of office. 

State Rep. Harry Niska

“Not showing up is nonfeasance,” Niska said. But the recall constitutional provision isn’t easy or quick. Someone would have to file a petition with the state Supreme Court laying out the charges, the court would have to decide if they are true and sufficient grounds for recall, petitions would need thousands of signatures of voters in the given district, the secretary of state would have to verify the signatures and then schedule an election.

Is acting to deny the House a quorum nonfeasance? Hortman said her members would be doing other things such as meeting with constituents, preparing legislation, making appearances. They just wouldn’t show up in the House chambers, something that has been done in other states like Wisconsin, Oregon and Texas as a procedure to slow legislative bodies and win concessions. Hortman compared it to a union who is trying to reach a contract but feels it must strike to force management to bargain.

Will the impasse last?

If all the GOP was planning to do on Day 1 was to elect a speaker, the DFL might not be planning to go there. But to deny Tabke his seat in the body — even should a court rule in his favor in a lawsuit brought by Republicans — takes it to a different level, the DFL leaders said. For the missing 20 votes to have changed the outcome, the Republican candidate would have to have gotten 18 of them in a precinct Tabke carried handily. And his lawyers got testimony from six who were very likely the missing voters who said they voted for Tabke.

“There is no mathematical way his opponent won the election,” said House DFL leader Jamie Long.

The answer to the impasse? Just return to the power sharing agreement in place before Johnson lost his case, Hortman said.

A true political snafu. And that’s just the House. 

The Senate is also tied

In the Senate, Democrats retained their one-seat majority by easily winning a special election to replace new-U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison of Deephaven. But the not-unexpected death of DFL Sen. Kari Dziedzic last month leaves the Senate tied as well. District 60 is even more DFL-dominated than 40B. But the election will also take time and the DFL Senate majority won’t be reinstated until the end of the month.

Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic

Normally, one or both of the House members in a district are the likely flagbearers in such a special election. But had Reps. Mohamud Noor or Sydney Jordan ran for and won Dziedzic’s Senate seat, it would have triggered yet another special election and put the DFL in yet another one-seat minority.

What about that burglary case?

But wait, there’s more: On Tuesday, Jan. 14, the first day of the 2025 regular session, a court hearing is scheduled in Becker County to consider motions in the felony case against DFL Sen. Nicole Mitchell, who is charged with burglary in her step-mother’s Detroit Lakes home.

While Senate DFL leadership has removed Mitchell from her committees and said she is no longer meeting with other DFL members when they caucus, House Majority Leader Erin Murphy has said Mitchell deserves due process and will remain a voting member of the Senate at least until resolution of her case.

State Sen. Nicole Mitchell

While a trial is set for the end of January, delays have been frequent in the Mitchell case and could happen again. Should she either plead to, or be convicted of, a felony, that would take us back to the same recall provision of the constitution. In addition to misfeasance and nonfeasance, a legal ground for recall is “conviction during the term of office of a serious crime.”

When a shutdown’s a shutdown

The one piece of legislation that must pass this session is a two-year budget. Absent that by July 1, there is no money to operate state government, and it essentially shuts down. 

In the past, governors have asked the courts to authorize funding for emergency and essential services. Special masters were appointed to decide which was which. But a 2017 Supreme Court ruling called that into question.

“The language of Article XI, Section 1 of the Minnesota Constitution is unambiguous: ‘No money shall be paid out of the treasury of this state except in pursuance of an appropriation by law,’” wrote Chief Justice Lorie Gildea for the majority in the 6-1 ruling in The Ninetieth Minnesota State Senate v. Mark B. Dayton.

Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea

“The purpose of this provision in Article XI is ‘to prevent the expenditure of the people’s money without their consent first had and given,” Gildea wrote, quoting from a 1914 court ruling. “Article XI, Section 1 of the Minnesota Constitution does not permit judicially ordered funding for the Legislative Branch in the absence of an appropriation.”

It is a different court now, but that ruling suggests that a shutdown will be an actual shutdown.

Is anything bipartisan anymore?

Even a search for issues that the GOP and DFL agree on could be fleeting. On Friday, Walz released a package of executive moves and bill requests to battle fraud. It was his latest response to the theft of government money in a child food program that intensified during the COVID pandemic and a more-recent investigation into abuse of a program to provide autism services.

Gov. Tim Walz

Walz’s proposal would create a new fraud unit in the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and ask for increased criminal penalties for theft of government money and more staffing for Medicaid fraud units in the office of the attorney general. This had been a major campaign issue for Republicans, and Walz anticipated criticism.

“We want them to help us if they’ve got good ideas,” Walz said. “We don’t need to find a fight when there’s not a fight available. We agree with you. There’s no upside in having fraud in state government.”

Whatever Walz was selling, though, Republicans weren’t buying.

“Creating a fraud bureau overseen by the same administration that allowed over a billion dollars in fraud means today's executive action is nothing but smoke and mirrors," said Demuth.

Added House Minority Leader Mark Johnson: “The executive action taken today by Governor Walz is too little and too late.”

This article first appeared on MinnPost and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Photo top: The House GOP will have more votes next Tuesday and can jettison a power-sharing agreement Republican Speaker-designate Lisa Demuth, center, reached with DFL leadership. Credit: MinnPost photo by Peter Callaghan

Related posts

• [VIDEO] Session Daily: MNHouse Republicans plan to act as majority, DFL threatens Opening Day absence in power sharing tug-of-war
• DFL Sen. Kari Dziedzic, former MN Senate Majority Leader, dies of cancer at 62
• After Johnson drops notion of appeal, MNHouse 40B special election scheduled for Jan. 28, 2025
• GOP wins MN House majority, for now, after judge rules District 40B DFL candidate ineligible
• Republicans seek Minnesota House majority through two legal challenges
• Dancing in the dark? MNHouse DFL and GOP, tied at 67, locked in a haters’ embrace

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[VIDEO] Session Daily: MNHouse Republicans plan to act as majority, DFL threatens Opening Day absence in power sharing tug-of-war

While I was exploring the cinematic possibilities of the conflicts between the Nonpartisan League and the Minnesota Commission of Public Safety in 1918 west central Minnesota, real-life drama was unfolding in the Minnesota House.

From Session Daily

House Republicans plan to act as majority, DFL threatens Opening Day absence in power sharing tug-of-war
by Lisa Kaczke

House Republicans plan to fully exercise their rights as the majority on the first day of the 2025 legislative session, but House DFLers plan to not be in the Capitol if a power-sharing agreement isn’t in place.

Republican House Speaker-designate Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring) reiterated at a Monday press conference that with a 67-66 split in the House, the tie following the general election no longer exists.

“We will be showing up on Jan. 14 ready to do the work that Minnesotans have sent us to the House of Representatives to do. House Republicans are ready to act on what we have heard from Minnesotans across the state over the last two-plus years,” Demuth said.

At a later press conference, DFL House Speaker-designate Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) said DFL members aren’t planning to be present at the Capitol on the first day of the legislative session if Republicans don’t honor the power-sharing agreement negotiated after the Nov. 5 election, when the House was expected to be tied 67-67. DFL House members will be working in their districts on the first day of the session instead, she said.

“We will do what it takes to preserve the will of the voters in the House of Representatives. In this last election, Minnesotans voted for equal numbers of Democratic and Republican state representatives,” Hortman said.

The House’s current 67-66 split is due to Curtis Johnson resigning from the District 40B seat last month after a district judge ruled that the DFL candidate didn’t meet the residency requirement. Gov. Tim Walz set Jan. 28 for the special election.

Additionally, a judge has yet to rule in a case involving the election for the District 54A seat. Rep. Brad Tabke (DFL-Shakopee) won by 14 votes over Republican candidate Aaron Paul, but Republicans challenged the election over 20 missing ballots.

The Minnesota Constitution states that the chamber decides which members are seated. Demuth said Republicans intend to act on their constitutional right if Paul brings his challenge to the House. Hortman said she anticipates that Tabke will be seated.

Demuth said she expects to be elected House speaker with 67 votes. With the one-seat advantage, Republicans could claim committee chairs, rather than having DFL co-chairs for committees, as was the plan when membership was projected to be tied. And Republicans may consider reducing the number of DFLers on the committees, according to Demuth.

Hortman said a quorum in the House is 68 members. The Republicans won’t be able to conduct any business without DFL members present, including elect a speaker, she said.

Demuth also announced that Republicans intend to create a new House committee focused on fraud and oversight in state agencies. The committee is expected to be chaired by Rep. Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove) and have subpoena power.   

In 2025, Republicans will also work to repeal the tax on Social Security, repeal the nuclear moratorium and hold criminals accountable, Demuth said.

Here's the Republican press conference, from the Minnesota House Information Services YouTube Channel:

And here's the DFL Press Conference, from the same source:

Read Max Nesterak's take at the Minnesota Reformer as well Minnesota Republicans claim control of state House while Democrats threaten a ‘strike.'

Photo: DFL Speaker-designate Melissa Hortman answers questions regarding the upcoming legislative session — including whether her caucus members will show up on the first day — during a Monday news conference. (Photo by Michele Jokinen/ MN House Information Services.

Related posts

• DFL Sen. Kari Dziedzic, former MN Senate Majority Leader, dies of cancer at 62
• After Johnson drops notion of appeal, MNHouse 40B special election scheduled for Jan. 28, 2025
• GOP wins MN House majority, for now, after judge rules District 40B DFL candidate ineligible
• Republicans seek Minnesota House majority through two legal challenges
• Dancing in the dark? MNHouse DFL and GOP, tied at 67, locked in a haters’ embrace

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SD Congressman Dusty Johnson reintroduces bill to protect Wounded Knee Massacre site

An update from the late December post, Wounded Knee land bill, medals review fate uncertain as massacre commemoration nears.

Republished from the South Dakota Searchlight.

Johnson reintroduces bill to protect Wounded Knee Massacre site
by Makenzie Huber

U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, reintroduced a bill Monday to protect 40 acres at the Wounded Knee Massacre site on behalf of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Johnson’s Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act passed the House in 2023 but didn’t make it through the Senate last year. The new session of Congress began Friday.

“I’m hopeful the bill passes this Congress to provide greater tribal sovereignty to this sacred land,” Johnson said in a news release. 

The massacre occurred on Dec. 29, 1890. Lakota people were camped near Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota, where they were surrounded by hundreds of Army soldiers. A shot rang out while the soldiers tried to disarm the camp, and chaotic shooting ensued.

Fewer than 40 soldiers were killed (some by friendly fire, according to historians), while estimates of Lakota deaths ran from 200 to 300 or more, depending on the source. After some of the bodies froze on the ground for several days, a military-led burial party dumped them into a mass grave.

Two years ago, the two tribes purchased 40 acres at the massacre site from a private owner. The legislation would place the land in restricted-fee status, which means it could not be sold, taxed, gifted or leased without approval by Congress and both tribes.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, told South Dakota Searchlight that he plans to reintroduce his own version of the bill soon in the Senate. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, took advantage of rules last November allowing a single senator to block consideration of the House-passed bill. 

“We’ll do whatever we can to help the leaders of the two tribes to get this accomplished,” Rounds said. “This is their request. This is not a partisan issue. Republicans and Democrats all agree this should be done. One way or another, we’ll get it completed.”

Tillis has opposed several tribal-related bills in an attempt to get senators to support his own bill to federally recognize the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina. He called out the leaders of the Oglala and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes for allegedly not supporting his efforts. Rounds said Tillis may seek federal recognition in a “different direction” with President-elect Donald Trump’s impending inauguration.

Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out called the new bill “wholly uncontroversial” in Johnson’s Monday news release.

“This sacred site should forever serve to remind us of where we as a country have been and as a marker for how much further we have to go,” Star Comes Out said.

Meanwhile, efforts to rescind medals of honor awarded to soldiers who participated in the massacre remain in limbo. The medals were subjected to a review last year by the Department of Defense, but there hasn’t been an announcement of the review panel’s recommendations. 

Photo: An arch topped with a cross marks the entrance to the Wounded Knee Memorial and cemetery on the Pine Ridge Reservation on June 30, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight).

This South Dakota Searchlight article is republished under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Related posts

• Wounded Knee land bill, medals review fate uncertain as massacre commemoration nears
• News about Wounded Knee Massacre site illustrate lows and highs for memorial
• Wounded Knee Memorial and Sacred Site Act heard in US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

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Ginormous surge in ‘unclaimed property’ is sole revenue bright spot for South Dakota legislators

A bright spot for South Dakota's budget. 

Oh good.

From the South Dakota Searchlight.

Huge surge in ‘unclaimed property’ is sole revenue bright spot for SD legislators
by Joshua Haiar

Record $308 million amount provides lawmakers with spending choices in an otherwise tight budget

Amid the widespread budget cuts that Republican Gov. Kristi Noem proposed during her recent budget address, there was one source of surging revenue that will provide legislators with spending decisions this winter: unclaimed property.

South Dakota received $308 million worth of unclaimed property this year, nearly double the state’s previous record from last year.

Unclaimed property consists of an array of abandoned or forgotten private assets, including money from bank accounts, Paypal accounts, stocks, life insurance payouts, uncashed checks, unused refunds, and even the contents of safe deposit boxes.

“Everything from false teeth to gold bars,” state Treasurer Josh Haeder has said.

Holders of the money or items, such as banks, try to find the owners. The property reverts to the state after three years. Much of the money flows into the state budget, while physical items are held in safes at the state Treasurer’s Office in Pierre. The office tries to return the items, but after a year, most of them go to a state auction to be converted into revenue for state government.

Rightful owners can still claim their assets from the state at any time, and state government maintains some of the unclaimed property revenue in reserve to pay claims. But much of the money is never reclaimed. Last year, as the state took in $175 million of unclaimed property, it paid out $38 million in claims to 6,768 claimants.

The Treasurer’s Office maintains a website where people can see if they’re owed money, but making a claim is a multi-step process that some people deem unworthy of their time for what could be a few dollars. The process includes filling out an online form and an emailed form, and providing copies of photo identification along with documentation of a Social Security number.

Why unclaimed property is surging

South Dakota has long enjoyed a stream of unclaimed property revenue, due mostly to favorable laws that have prompted some national banks to place their charters in the state.

The last three years have brought large increases in unclaimed property revenue, in part due to the country’s continued recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Haeder said the pandemic prompted widespread relocations, and some people left abandoned assets behind. The three-year dormancy period for many of those abandoned assets has now passed.

“We’re getting a lot of money from those COVID years,” Haeder said.

This year’s record amount of unclaimed property is also driven by a big bank that moved its national charter to South Dakota, according to Haeder. 

He declined to name the bank, but Bancorp publicly announced the relocation of its headquarters to Sioux Falls last year. U.S. Treasury records show Bancorp holds over $8 billion in total assets.

A billion-dollar liability

The value of unclaimed property transferred to the state that’s never been claimed by its rightful owners now stands at $1.19 billion, of which $549 million has accumulated in just the past three years. Because the state spends much of its unclaimed property revenue, that amount of money is not on hand, but the state is technically liable to pay it if all the claimants came forward at once.

In her recent budget address, Noem proposed putting $43 million of unclaimed property money in the state’s reserve fund, which would increase the fund balance from 10% to 12% of state expenditures and provide a cushion for increased claims.

“This money belongs to the people, and we must be ready to pay it back when those claims come in,” Noem said.

Haeder wants the state to change the way it handles unclaimed property revenue. Rather than putting most of it into the state budget every year, he advocates for the creation of an unclaimed property trust fund. That approach would retain money to cover potential claims, while the state could peel off the annual interest.

“That’s a more stable source of revenue,” Haeder said.

Some lawmakers say a trust fund is unnecessary, noting that some of the funds come from outside the country and unclaimed property older than five years is extremely unlikely to be claimed. 

But there is new leadership in the state House and Senate this year, and incoming Senate President Pro Tempore Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, supports the trust fund concept.

“It’s not the state’s money to begin with,” Karr said. “Yet, we are in a position where our ongoing expenses are dependent on a certain amount of unclaimed property funds coming in every year.”

Spending proposals

South Dakota legislators and governors typically distinguish between ongoing and one-time revenue and expenses. One-time revenue, such as money from a legal settlement or other sudden windfall, has traditionally been used for one-time expenses, like paying off debt or constructing a building without incurring debt. Ongoing revenue, from sources such as sales taxes, is used for the general support of the state’s operations.

Noem is proposing numerous cuts in ongoing spending due to declining sales tax revenue. Those include large cuts to the Department of Social Services, Department of Human Services, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, the State Library, the state university system, and the repair and maintenance of state buildings. She’s also proposing only a 1.25% funding increase for schools, state employee pay, and health care provider reimbursements.

Yet she’s also proposing some increases in ongoing funding, such as her plan to spend $4 million on the creation of education savings accounts that would provide public funds for families to pay for private school tuition or alternative instruction costs, such as homeschooling.

Noem’s proposed budget predicts $229 million of available unclaimed property revenue for the state after payouts to claimants.

Of that amount, she wants to label $61 million as ongoing revenue. In her budget address, she said that’s the amount “we can safely and responsibly plan for moving forward.”

“We are considering everything above that amount to be one-time revenue,” Noem said.

That’s $167.7 million of one-time revenue from unclaimed property. When that’s combined with unspent money from the current budget and other one-time sources, Noem’s fiscal year 2026 budget anticipates about $280 million in one-time revenue that lawmakers can choose how to spend.

She wants to use $182 million to continue building up a fund to build a prison south of Sioux Falls, which would replace the Sioux Falls penitentiary, parts of which date to 1881.

The state has already set aside $567 million for the project, which is expected to cost $825 million. Noem said the state expects $76 million in interest earnings from the prison fund. The interest and the proposed $182 million would fully fund the project, she said.

Other major one-time expenses recommended by Noem include:

$54 million to pay off bonds for the state Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Lab, Precision Agriculture building at South Dakota State University, and some state fish hatcheries. $13 million for a dam replacement project at the Richmond Lake Recreation Area near Aberdeen.$5 million to improve state government’s information technology infrastructure.$10 million for grants to improve safety in K-12 schools.$5 million to cover costs associated with emergencies and disasters.$2.6 million for wildfire suppression efforts.$2.1 million to help recruit medical professionals to rural areas.$425,000 for tax refunds to low-income elderly and disabled residents.$75,000 to expand the state veterans cemetery.

Lawmakers will begin debating Noem’s budget proposals when they convene Jan. 14 at the Capitol in Pierre for their 38-day lawmaking session. Noem is expected to resign sometime after President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 to accept his nomination as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, assuming Noem is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Photo: Gov. Kristi Noem presents her annual budget address to lawmakers in the South Dakota State Capitol on Dec. 3, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight).

This South Dakota Searchlight article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Related posts

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• Proposed funding cut could sink network in as little as two years, SDPB director says 
• [VIDEO] Noem budget includes cuts; also new school-choice program & more prison money

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Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline company formally asks SD regulator to recuse herself

On Monday, I posted South Dakota Public Utilities Commissioner stays on new carbon pipeline case after prior recusal, with no explanation this time.

In yet another twist on the ethanol carbon pipeline Federal tax credit profiteers saga, the pipeline company isn't happy with her decision.

From South Dakota Searchlight.

Carbon pipeline company formally asks SD regulator to recuse herself
by Joshua Haiar

Commissioner’s relatives control a trust that owns land on the route

The company proposing a carbon dioxide pipeline has formally requested that a South Dakota regulator recuse herself from the project’s permit application, citing an alleged conflict of interest.

In a letter sent Thursday, Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions asked Public Utilities Commissioner Kristie Fiegen to disqualify herself. That would allow the governor to appoint another state official to fill in for Fiegen during the three-member commission’s consideration of the application.

Summit wants to construct a $9 billion, five-state pipeline to capture and transport some of the carbon dioxide emitted by 57 ethanol plants to an underground storage area in North Dakota. The project would capitalize on federal tax credits incentivizing the prevention of heat-trapping carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

This is Summit’s second application in South Dakota, after the Public Utilities Commission rejected the first application in 2023. Fiegen recused herself from those proceedings and was replaced by State Treasurer Josh Haeder. 

At the time, Fiegen wrote a recusal letter saying she had a conflict because the pipeline “would cross land owned by my sister-in-law (my husband’s sister) and her husband.” Fiegen also recused herself from an earlier, separate crude oil pipeline permit application for a similar reason.

Fiegen has not recused herself from the new application, but Summit said the same conflict exists.

“As with your previous decisions,” said the company’s new letter to Fiegen, “the facts and established South Dakota law support a decision that you should step aside.”

Neither Fiegen nor the Public Utilities Commission responded to South Dakota Searchlight messages about Summit’s letter. 

Public Utilities Commission spokesperson Leah Mohr previously said “ex parte” rules bar Fiegen from discussing the matter. Those rules prohibit direct communication with commissioners about dockets they’re considering.

The Summit letter drew criticism from an attorney representing landowners opposed to the pipeline, Brian Jorde, of Domina Law Group in Omaha, who disputed the allegation that Fiegen has a conflict of interest.

“From my viewpoint she never had a conflict that rises to the level of recusal and certainly doesn’t now,” Jorde wrote. “The isolated fact that she is related by marriage to a trustee of a trust that owns land that signed an easement with Summit is not a direct conflict.”

The alleged conflict

The commission’s rejection of Summit’s first application was partly due to the route’s conflicts with several county ordinances. Those ordinances mandate minimum distances between pipelines and existing features. Summit’s new route includes some adjustments.

This map shows a portion of the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline route where it would cross McCook County land owned by the Jeffrey A. Ordal Living Trust, of which Jean Fiegen-Ordal and Jeffrey Ordal are trustees. The couple also formerly owned land in Minnehaha County, not shown here, that would be crossed by the pipeline. Jean Fiegen-Ordal is the sister-in-law of South Dakota Public Utilities Commissioner Kristie Fiegen. (Map by South Dakota Searchlight)

The original pipeline route crossed three parcels in Minnehaha County owned by Fiegen’s sister-in-law and her husband, Jean Fiegen-Ordal and Jeffrey Ordal, and three parcels in McCook County owned by the Jeffrey A. Ordal Living Trust, which lists the couple as trustees. 

Summit said it paid a total of $175,000 for easements and future crop damages on that land, including $88,000 to the Ordals. Summit declined to tell Searchlight where the remainder of the money went, but public records show the Ordals sold their Minnehaha County land after signing the easement documents in 2022. 

The new pipeline route would cross the same parcels — the Minnehaha County land that the Ordals no longer own, and the McCook County land that’s still owned by the Ordals’ trust.

Summit: Litigation possible

Summit’s new letter said the logic that motivated Fiegen’s prior recusal remains unchanged. The company said her involvement risks violating South Dakota law, which the company said bars officials from participating in matters where conflicts of interest exist. 

The letter said Fiegen’s failure to recuse herself could lead to litigation, an appeal of the commission’s eventual permit decision, and delays in the permitting process. 

“Because your family has a direct interest in the approval or denial of the permit, and because you previously recused yourself in two dockets based on the same facts, a court almost certainly would find it inappropriate for you to participate in this docket,” the letter says. 

The Public Utilities Commission will host a series of public input meetings Jan. 15-17 in eastern South Dakota cities near the pipeline route. The project has a storage permit in North Dakota and route permits in North Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota, while Nebraska has no state permitting process for carbon pipelines. The project also faces litigation from opponents in multiple states. 

Photo:  South Dakota Public Utilities Commissioners, from left, Chris Nelson, Kristie Fiegen and Gary Hanson participate in a meeting Sept. 6, 2023, at the Capitol in Pierre. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

This South Dakota Searchlight article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Related posts

• South Dakota Public Utilities Commissioner stays on new carbon pipeline case after prior recusal, with no explanation this time
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• Summit Carbon Solutions in the news: landowners & counties appeal North Dakota pipeline permit; Summit tells Iowans to cease & desist; Pipeline Fighters Hub & CURE statements
• North Dakota Industrial Commission approves CO2 storage for Summit ethanol carbon pipeline
• Minnesota PUC granted a permit for Summit Carbon Solutions Otter Tail to Wilkin County pipeline
• South Dakota Public Utilities Commission schedules public input meetings on Summit carbon pipeline application
• Summit ethanol CO2 injection wells up for approval but court appeal already in the works
• Oh the irony: ethanol carbon pipeline company has failed to address crossing concerns, DAPL oil pipeline company says
• Iowa Supreme Court upholds land survey abilities of pipeline companies in Summit case
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• Never mind the voters: ethanol carbon pipeline company reapplies for South Dakota permit
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• Summit ethanol carbon pipeline news digest: CO2 pipeline in MN moves forward; ND Public Service Commission decision coming Friday
• SD pipeline foes secure legislative leadership; MN Summit decision could come Dec. 12
• In unofficial results, ethanol carbon-pipeline law tossed out by South Dakota voters 
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• Jeepers: ethanol coop kicks in another $400,000 to support carbon pipeline ballot question 
• Ethanol carbon news digest: Summit Carbon pipeline in MN, Iowa & North Dakota media
• Summit Carbon Solutions CEO asks for prayer, while MN PUC wants public comment on FEIS of Otter Tail – Wilkin portion of CO2 Pipeline
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• Summit pipeline segment enters final permitting stages in Minnesota; CURE raises objections
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• Pipeline Fighters Hub: Summit Carbon Solutions numbers don’t add up in South Dakota 
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• Summit Carbon Solution's ethanol carbon pipeline takes #2 spot on Heatmap's The Most At-Risk Projects of The Energy Transition 
• Ethanol carbon pipeline news: Attorneys differ on meaning of common carrier law in Summit case
• Summit Carbon Solutions pipelines won’t capture all carbon emitted by ethanol plants
• South Dakota Supreme Court ruling complicates Summit Carbon Solution’s push for land
• Referred pipeline law puts Summit Carbon Solution's permit quest in limbo
• Breaking crowded South Dakota ballot news: carbon pipeline law referendum validated
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• New Midwest battles brew over CO2 pipelines

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. 

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About time: Walz proposes stiffer penalties, using AI to fight fraud in Minnesota programs

I'm still working on my creative project, the initial steps of which are going extremely well, though attending to Bluestem Prairie is sparse.

Fortunately, the real journalists are covering important developments in Minnesota and South Dakota, and so I can republish some quality copy.

From the Minnesota Reformer.

Gov. Walz proposes stiffer penalties, using AI to fight fraud in Minnesota programs
by Michelle Griffith

Gov. Tim Walz on Friday signed an executive order and proposed legislation to catch and stop the theft of public money from safety net programs — many intended to help children, low-income residents and the elderly — after numerous audits, prosecutions and investigations uncovered massive fraud schemes that have misappropriated hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars.

Walz’s executive order creates a fraud investigation unit within the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Fraud investigators from the Department of Commerce will move to the new BCA unit. The governor’s plan would also add nine staff members to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s Medicaid fraud unit.

Walz is also proposing legislation to give state agencies greater authority to stop payment from going to those suspected of fraud. Also, he’s proposing agencies use artificial intelligence to detect patterns of fraud and flag them for state employees to investigate. (Lower tech methods like visiting food sites might have been just as effective during the so-called Feeding Our Future scandal, when some entities claimed to be serving thousands of children per day out of an apartment building and townhome, for instance.)

“These are not just financial crimes against the state and the taxpayers of Minnesota. These are crimes against children, and what we’ve seen in Minnesota is these crimes have basically targeted programs that either feed children or help children in need … It’s simply unacceptable,” Walz said at a Friday press conference.

The governor is proposing legislation to enact stiffer penalties for those convicted of fraud, including a new “theft of public funds” statute that increases criminal penalties by 20% compared to the existing theft law. Walz is also proposing making kickbacks a state crime, in an attempt to deter state employees from conspiring with bad actors for profit.

Walz’s fraud package comes about one month after FBI agents served search warrants at two autism providers. The feds in their search warrant alleged the autism providers massively overbilled for services they didn’t deliver.

The autism investigation is linked to the Feeding Our Future scandal, the $250 million theft of federal money intended to feed hungry children during the pandemic. Some of the autism centers were also part of the food aid program, and the FBI’s autism provider search warrant states that “at least a dozen of the defendants charged for their role in the Feeding Our Future scheme owned, received money from, or were associated with autism clinics.”

Walz said that Minnesota has a culture of helping those in need, which may have created more opportunities for fraud.

“I think it’s probably a culture of generosity. I think it’s a culture of being a little too trusting on this,” Walz said. “I don’t think those are bad character traits, but I don’t think they’re necessarily as effective in a time where we’re seeing fraud increase.”

The governor would need bipartisan support to pass any fraud legislation, as the Senate is tied 33-33 between Republicans and Democrats after Sen. Kari Dziedzic, DFL-Minneapolis, died from cancer last week.

House Republicans also currently have a 67-66 majority, at least for now, after a judge ruled that a Democratic candidate was ineligible to hold the seat. 

House speaker-designate Rep. Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, called Walz’s proposal  “smoke and mirrors.”

“We need real change to crack down on fraud, and that starts with a process that is truly independent of the leadership that allowed fraud to run rampant over the last five years,” Demuth said in a statement. “House Republicans will be unveiling a comprehensive fraud package that treats this as the serious problem it is, and includes meaningful accountability for fraudsters and agencies who have failed to protect Minnesotans tax dollars.”

Photo:  Gov. Tim Walz signed an executive order on Jan. 3, 2025, to create a centralized fraud unit within the BCA and enact other measures to combat fraud. Photo by Michelle Griffith/Minnesota Reformer.

This Minnesota Reformer article is republished online under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. 

If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post.

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