Bluestem Prairie

No omnibuzz in MN Senate Agriculture bill

Reding my way through the Minnesota House Agriculture Committee's omnibus bill and that posted by the Minnesota Senate Committee on Agriculture, Broadband, and Rural Development, I was surprised to see a gap in the budget: the upper chamber omitted funding for the statutory pollinator research account established in the agricultural fund.

The Senate committee version( on the committee calendar as scs1955a-3 DE (PDF))is scheduled to be heard tomorrow afternoon.

We're puzzled by the Senate committee's decision to leave out this statutory account.

On March 22, the Senate committee heard a request to fund the account as part of Protection Services in the Governor’s Department of Agriculture Minnesota Budget Recommendations Bill Walkthrough. A screenshot of the Protection Services budget request presented to the committee is at the top of this post.

What's more, according to the Senate's  Committee Hearings and Actions for S.F. 39, on March 6, the bill was amended and laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill. SF39 is a bill to fund the pollinator research account account; its chief author is Brooklyn Center DFLer Mary Kunesh. She serves on the committee.

The House companion bill is HF47. Its chief author is South St. Paul Democrat, House Environment Committee Chair and pollinator champion Representative Rick Hansen, who sits on the House Agriculture committee and continues to farm family heritage acres in Southeastern Minnesota.

As I said at the top of this post, I'm puzzled--nah, baffled why committee chair Eric Putnam, DFL-St. Cloud, left the statutory pollinator research account out of the omnibus bill.

Regulatory capture by ag-chemical industry lobbyists? Inexperience as a committee chair? A traumatic childhood experience with a squash bee or wasp sting? Secret loathing of monarch butterflies?

Those concerned about pollinators--an important part of Minnesota's food production system--can only hope someone on the committee offers a friendly amendment tomorrow to put funding and mention of the statutory pollinator research account back into the agriculture omnibus.

It's mostly a good bill--but it needs the buzz.

Screenshot: From the Governor’s Department of Agriculture Minnesota Budget Recommendations Bill Walkthrough presented to the Minnesota Senate Committee on Agriculture, Broadband, and Rural Development.

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House passes private prison prohibition

Over the years, Bluestem has written extensively about the CoreCivic-owned Prairie Correction Facility in Appleton, MN.

We were happy to see Dam Wolgamott's bill banning private prisons pass on the floor of the Minnesota House on Friday night, especially after hearing the Republican minority caucus's pity party for the city of Appleton. 

Former Minority Leader Kurt Daudt offered an amendment on the floor, one that would have the state rent CoreCivic's facility--for which the privare corrections corporation hasn't secured a contract to house federal or state convicts since it closed the facility in 2010. Nothing like a little corporate welfare.

Perhaps the most absurd weepy talking point in the Republican death song for the west prairie town was the refrain about Appleton's drop in population beginning in 2010. In fact, the town's drop in population between 2000 and 2010 was mostly because of the--wait for it--loss of the prison population itself.

There's the population arch from US Census figures found on the Wikipedia page for the town:

1980	1,842		3.0%
1990	1,552		−15.7%
2000	2,871		85.0%
2010	1,412		−50.8%
2020	1,392		−1.4%

Yes, in the ten years after the prisoners departed, the town lost ten people. Heaven know why they stuck around with the facility closed, if what the Republican lawmakers said outloud is true.

From Session Daily:

House passes private prison prohibition
By Tim Walker

Minnesota’s only privately owned prison is the Prairie Correctional Facility, built by the city of Appleton.

The 1,600-bed, medium-security prison opened in 1992, and although maintained, has been vacant since closing in 2010.

Rep. Dan Wolgamott (DFL-St. Cloud) said he has several reasons for it to stay closed, but foremost on his list: “Public safety is not for sale.”

“Criminal justice is a core responsibility of our state government. It should be done by those who are accountable to the public, not who are incentivized by profits,” he said at a news conference prior to Thursday’s House floor session.

Wolgamott sponsors HF1200 that would ban the Department of Corrections from housing inmates in privately owned jails and prisons.

As amended twice, the House passed the bill 70-61 late Thursday. It now goes to the Senate.

Privately owned prisons have a business model that incentivizes keeping prisoners incarcerated longer, Wolgamott said, and that runs counter to the state’s efforts to rehabilitate people and reintegrate them into society.

“Providing public safety is a core responsibility of government. Minnesotans deserve a corrections system that keeps them safe by reducing recidivism” House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) said in a statement. “Corporations are required to put their profits first. Prison corporations have a record of being more dangerous for staff and incarcerated individuals. It's time for us to take a clear stand and say that private prisons will not be allowed to operate in Minnesota.”

Rep. Kurt Daudt (R-Crown) unsuccessfully offered an amendment that would have allowed the Department of Corrections to house inmates at the Prairie Correctional Facility, provided the department leases the space and staffs it exclusively with public employees.

He said the Appleton prison is much newer than any of the state’s other 11 prisons and would therefore provide better services to inmates, help relieve overcrowding at other prisons, and may delay or prevent the need to build another prison. It’d also boost employment in the area.

Wolgamott said those reasons were not compelling enough to overcome the disadvantages of using the facility: it’s too far from a major hospital, which would jeopardize inmate safety; and it’s too far from the metropolitan area, where many of the inmates’ families would likely be living.

Here are the Minnesota House Information Services YouTubes of the floor debate:

Part One:

Part Two:

Related posts:

• Private prison prohibition heads to House floor
• Republican Senate & House federal PACs took $5000 from CoreCivic PAC in 2018
• Disconnect: town hall attendees want prison repurposed as inmate mental health care facility
• MN Sen. Andrew Lang and Rep. Tim Miller to hold Dec. 11 town hall on Appleton's private prison
• MN Republican Senate & House federal PACs took $5000 from CoreCivic PAC in 2018
• Probably didn't read Art of the Deal: Miller a-okay with buying $15 million prison for $99 million 
• Swift Co Monitor endorses Falk, & all Tim Miller got was some lousy cash from CCA execs
• #Mnleg ordered study: Appleton private prison bed rent more expensive than county jail cell.
• Opposition to CoreCivic bid to re-open Appleton Prison as ICE detention center meet to Tuesday
• Land Stewardship Project: LSP member leaders oppose ICE detention facility at Appleton prison
• West Central Tribune coverage of opposition to possible use of Appleton CoreCivic prison by ICE
• Bill Ingebrigtsen wants to convert closed Appleton Prison into a mental health facility
• Immigrants for Sale: Will Appleton's shuttered private prison open in human trafficking scheme?
• Tim Miller's Prairie Correctional Facility flyer: clueless about DHS & DOC funding distinctions 

Photo: Aerial view of Appleton, Minnesota. The prison is on the bottom third of the photograph.

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South Dakota interest groups spend 1000s on social events for lawmakers, with no disclosure

I'm speechless. From South Dakota Searchlight:

Interest groups spend thousands on social events for lawmakers, with no disclosure
By Joshua Haiar

PIERRE — Politicians, lobbyists and liquor dealers gathered in the back room of a restaurant.

It was mid-January, a couple of weeks into South Dakota’s annual legislative session.

Everybody was unwinding after a long day at the Capitol, chatting and mingling. 

Pork roast was on the menu. People lined up for drinks at the bar.

The atmosphere was social, but it was also an opportunity for lobbyists and industry stakeholders to cultivate relationships with lawmakers and, ultimately, influence legislation. 

And it was all thanks to the South Dakota Licensed Beverage Dealers & Gaming Association, an interest group that represents bars, restaurants and casinos statewide.

Nothing about the event was subject to public disclosure — who was there, what was talked about, or how much money the host group spent on food and drinks for lawmakers. 

South Dakota’s lobbying disclosure laws don’t apply to the “Legislative Social Calendar,” which included 109 events during this year’s January-to-March legislative session. The South Dakota Chamber of Commerce & Industry maintains the calendar on behalf of the dozens of organizations that host events.

On this year’s calendar, auto dealers and truckers invited legislators to “Pierre’s largest sundae bar.” Electric utilities hosted a lunch not only for lawmakers but also for the public utilities commissioners who regulate the industry. The National Guard, health care organizations, bankers, and the trust industry were among the hosts of other events, including breakfasts, luncheons, mixers, dinners and socials.

Disclosure laws riddled with exemptions

State laws require the secretary of state to keep a directory of registered lobbyists, listing their names, employers, contact information, and the subjects of legislation they plan to lobby about, among other information.

State laws also require lobbyists and their employers to file annual expense reports by July – roughly three months after the annual legislative session ends – showing “all costs incurred for the purpose of influencing legislation.”

But there are exemptions in the law for lobbyists’ own meals, travel, lodging, phone calls and other “necessary personal needs” during the legislative session.

Those exemptions mean that many expenses are never disclosed. Flipping through the hundreds of annual disclosure forms from lobbyists and their employers often reveals nothing more than the names of the lobbyists and their associated organizations. The expense fields on the forms are often left blank. 

A state law also allows gifts from lobbyists to individual lawmakers to a cumulative value of $115.47 in a calendar year (the number is adjusted annually for inflation). But that cap is riddled with exemptions written into the law. Those exemptions include any food, entertainment or beverage provided for immediate consumption, and any service or event intended “to educate or inform” public officials on matters of public policy.

In other words, events on the social calendar are exempted from disclosure.

Gift limit also weakened by exemptions

There was no limit on the value of gifts to legislators until Initiated Measure 22, a ballot measure passed by voters in 2016 that introduced a $100 limit. Beyond that provision, IM 22 was a massive anti-corruption measure that also created a publicly funded campaign finance system, established an independent ethics commission, and put new limits on campaign contributions, among other reforms.

However, in 2017, opponents of IM 22 convinced a judge to put the law on hold, and the Republican-controlled Legislature repealed the law. Legislators then enacted some individual provisions of IM 22, including the $100 limit with annual adjustments for inflation and numerous exemptions.

David Owen is president and chief lobbyist for the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce & Industry, which maintains the Legislative Social Calendar. He said whatever people think about the social-calendar events, the exemptions in current law clearly allow them to happen without public disclosures.

“Should that be a publicly recorded expense?” Owen said. “Our decision after IM 22 was no, that’s food and drink for immediate consumption and those conversations are something we want to foster, not inhibit. And so the secretary of state does not collect that information.”

Free food and drink provided by interest groups to legislators has thus become an accepted part of the legislative process in Pierre, according to Jordan Mason, a lobbyist for the Freedom Caucus Network, a subgroup of Republican lawmakers. 

“And that’s the problem when people say, ‘We don’t have corruption.’ I’m like, ‘It’s institutionalized,’” Mason said.

Owen acknowledged that some of the events on the social calendar are open to the public while others are open only to the host group, lawmakers, other state officials and their spouses. And he understands how those events invite criticism.

“They’re only open to, say, the membership of the Auto Dealers Association so that the public can’t flow in and out of there,” Owen said. “And so, in that case, you’re kind of restricting access to those.”

That’s something Weiland also recognizes, which is why he said it should all be disclosed in public documents. 

“I don’t know if there is a direct correlation between a dinner and corruption, but I do think it’s the transparency issue,” Weiland said. “Does a steak dinner buy your vote? I think that’s maybe a bridge too far. But transparency is the antidote to that.”

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

Image: Illustration by Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight.

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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Upper Sioux Community/Pezihutazizi Oyate land transfer bill heard in two MN Senate committees

Earlier this month, Bluestem posted Upper Sioux Community Pezihutazizi Oyate land transfer clears first MN House committee hearing.

Last week, the Senate companion bill, New Brighton DFLer Mary Kunesh's SF2250 was heard in the Senate Environment, Climate, and Legacy Committee on Tuesday, then moved to the Transportation Committee for a Friday hearing.

At the West Center Tribune, Linda Vanderwerf reports in Bill to transfer state park land to Upper Sioux Community clears two Minnesota Senate committees:

Legislation to return ancestral lands to the Upper Sioux Community near Granite Falls encountered some opposition in Minnesota Senate hearings in the past week.

The legislation would transfer more than 1,000 acres in the Upper Sioux Agency State Park to the Upper Sioux Community, and the park would close. The land would be transferred at no cost to the community.

A fiscal report released this week indicates the cost to the state for full transfer of the land and purchasing land for a new park is estimated to cost nearly $6 million.

There is no date for the park closing yet or for the land transfer to take place. It could take several years. The fiscal report does not include a discussion of the cost of developing facilities, roads and trails in a new park.

In a Tuesday hearing, the Minnesota Senate Environment, Climate and Legacy Committee moved the bill along to the Transportation Committee for further consideration on a split vote.

On Friday, the Transportation Committee adopted an amendment appropriating $1.2 million in fiscal year 2024, which begins July 1.

The appropriation would pay for costs related to preparing for the transfer, including removing the Yellow Medicine River Bridge and a section of what used to be state Highway 67 near the park. The road has been damaged — resulting in the rerouting of a portion of Highway 67 to avoid the failed area — and the bridge is in danger due to ground movement in the area.

The committee referred the bill back to the Environment, Climate and Legacy Committee.

Upper Sioux Tribal Chairman Kevin Jensvold has testified at committee hearings about the land’s past as a site of starvation and genocide. When promised payments from the government weren’t delivered to the Dakota on time, people starved.

The park’s land was the site of battles in the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.

The ancestral land has many burial sites and other locations that are sacred to his people, Jensvold said.

He said he’s talked about and asked for the land transfer for 18 years, since he became chairman.

The Environment, Climate and Legacy Committee hearing brought some pointed comments about the plan. 

Many came from Sen. Andrew Lang, R-Olivia, who is familiar with the Minnesota River Valley, where the park is located.

Lang noted that some who use the park or live near it hadn’t heard about the legislation before it was introduced. . . .

Pro-settler self-described "independent" historians Stephanie Chappell and Curtis Dahlin argued that hundreds of white settlers killed in the war are buried in the park. Vanderwerf reports:

. . . Stephanie Chappell of Glencoe testified at the first hearing of the week and submitted a written statement for the second. She said she spoke on behalf of descendants of white settlers who also died in the 1862 war.

“That entire area is burial grounds,” she said. Hundreds of European Americans are buried in unmarked graves there.

If the land is turned over to the Upper Sioux Community, descendants may not be able to honor their ancestors on the land, she said. . . .

A second note of opposition to the land transfer was in a statement filed with the Transportation Committee by Curtis Dahlin, of Roseville. He urged that “any and all burials” on the land be recognized and be accessible to people who wish to pay their respects.

Whatever the two lay historians told the Senators, Dahlin's own spreadsheet of white people who perished in the war suggests that only a small percentage of the "hundreds" he and Chappell speculated were killed and buried at Upper Sioux Agency State Park. 

The Senate hearings themselves can be reviewed via the Senate's audio and video archives when they are posted.

The Environment, Climate, and Legacy  03/21/2023 audio and video files are archived here. Friday's Transportation Committee hearing on the bill was simply a vote on the amendment for the appropriation that would pay for costs related to preparing for the transfer.

Photo: A summer sun sets over the Minnesota River just upstream of the confluence with the Yellow Medicine River in the Upper Sioux Agency State Park. Bills recently introduced in the state Legislature call for transferring the park lands to the Upper Sioux Community.  West Central Tribune file photo.

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[VIDEO] Minnesota House passes bill to establish North Star State as a ‘trans refuge’ state

A long day of phone interviews and errands. Here's a look at one of the transformative actions in the Minnesota legislature, on a might in which the skies were blazing with the northern lights.

That convergence didn't escape notice:

On this night, the skies are filled with rainbow light. Your leadership is burning brightly @leighfinke. 💙 https://t.co/4J6hlJJUiH

— Erin Murphy (@epmurphymn) March 24, 2023

From Session Daily:

House passes bill to establish Minnesota as a ‘trans refuge’ state
By Tim Walker

Establishing Minnesota as a “trans refuge” is another vote and gubernatorial signature away from becoming law.

A bill to prevent out-of-state laws from interfering in the practice of gender-affirming health care was passed 68-62 by the House before sunrise Friday.

It was clear from the debate’s outset that passions on both sides of the issue run high, as the debate was accompanied by vocal protests – both for and against the measure – outside the House Chamber.

Gender-affirming health care encompasses a range of social and medical interventions to affirm someone’s internal gender identity, including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, permanent hair removal, voice therapy, and surgical interventions.

“Gender-affirming care is health care,” Rep. Leigh Finke (DFL-St. Paul), the sponsor of HF146, said at a Thursday news conference.

pecifically, the bill would prohibit the enforcement of a court order for removal of a child or enforcement of another state’s law being applied in a pending child protection action in Minnesota when the law of another state allows the child to be removed from the parent or guardian for receiving medically necessary health care or mental health care that respects the gender-identity of the patient.

Finke, a trans woman and the first trans representative at the Legislature, said anti-trans laws enacted or being proposed in other states are part of a “cruel agenda” to create a culture of fear in children, their parents and adults, leading some to move to another state to get gender-affirming health care.

“We have a responsibility to create more space for our community to live their fullest, authentic lives without fear of violence, rejection, abuse, or political attack,” Finke said.

More than half of trans youth have lost, or are at risk of losing, access to age-appropriate, medically necessary gender-affirming care in their state, according to Dr. Angela Kade Goepferd, medical director of the gender health program at Children’s Minnesota.

This denial of care, she said at the news conference, singles out trans people for discriminatory treatment of their privacy, their family relationships, and their rights to access public accommodations and health care. “As a country, we are literally legislating health disparities into law.”

Studies show that for young people who identify as transgender, gender-affirming care can decrease emotional distress, has positive effects on overall well-being, and reduces thoughts of suicide, Goepferd said.

Among Republican arguments is the proposal undermines parental rights, Rep. Peggy Scott (R-Andover), at a separate pre-session briefing. “It allows children, regardless of age, to seek and receive radical medical treatments … all without their parents’ guidance and love.”

That's Scott's position. At the Star Tribune, Briana Bierschbach reiterated Goepford's points in Minnesota House passes transgender refuge bill:

. . .Medical practitioners who provide gender-affirming care in Minnesota said they've already seen a spike in calls and people traveling from other states that have passed bans to receive such care. That care often includes support for families, counseling and medication such as hormone blockers to prevent puberty from happening.

Gender-affirming related surgeries for children under 18 are rare, said Dr. Angela Kade Goepferd, chief medical director of the gender health program at Children's Minnesota. They don't perform surgeries on patients under 18.

"It is a very rare for a thing for a child to access," she said. "The vast majority of gender-affirming care is medication-based or supportive services." . . .

Medical organizations like the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that access to gender-affirming care is essential. The American Medical Association recently sent a letter to the National Governors Association urging state leaders to oppose restrictions on gender-affirming care, calling it "medically necessary" for transgender people "who face increased risk of anxiety, stress, substance use disorder and suicide." . . .

Readers can watch the floor debate and vote on HF146 in the Minnesota House Information Services Youtube embedded below:

Photo: Rep. Leigh Finke speaks in favor of the trans refuge bill that she authored. Picture: Rep. Sandra Feist, Twitter via Bring Me The News.

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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Session Daily: Legislation seeks to keep Dakota, Ojibwe languages alive

In the summer of 2021, I enrolled in two classes in the Dakhóta iápi Okhódakičhiye's Dakota Language Summer Institute. The classes were nearly entirely conducted on Zoom, though we did first meet at the Yellow Medicine Community   

The summer program was funded in part by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Grants Program – Cultural Heritage and Identity Competitive Grants of Minnesota's Legacy funds. The project was administered by the Minnesota Humanities Center.

I live within the historic boundaries of the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, home of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate; my romantic partner is an SWO elder who speaks Dakota as a first language. This seemed a good way to respect him, his family and my Dakota neighbors. Mike had spoken Dakota in the home with his father, a World War II Army medic veteran who had earlier survived the boarding school experience. I wish I'd met him.

I was pleased to watch Wednesday's House Legacy Finance Committee meeting hear Grove City Republican Representative Dean Urdahl's bill  HF901. 

Here's the Session Daily write-up about the hearing:

Legislation seeks to keep Dakota, Ojibwe languages alive
By Tessa Pieper

Five first-language Dakota speakers are alive in Minnesota; all over age 67.

Ariella Leith, whose Dakota name translates to Sacred Sun Woman, teaches language to children from birth to age 5 at “the first and only Dakota immersion school on tribal lands.”

With state funding, revitalization efforts have had some success, as 33% of community members were learning or speaking Dakota in 2022, up 20% from 2019.

“It took a lot of resources and time to take our language away from us historically and now it will take a lot more to bring it back,” she said.

“Little represents the rich cultural heritage of Minnesota more than its indigenous languages,” said Keegan Flaharty, grants and contracts manager for the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council. But due to the scarcity of native speakers, absence of accessible instruction and overall urbanization and assimilation, many indigenous people have lost their language.

To save Dakota and Ojibwe languages, Rep. Dean Urdahl (R-Grove City) sponsors HF901 to appropriate $4.6 million during the 2024-25 biennium from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund to the council for language preservation and other duties. The council has received annual funding since 2010.

The House Legacy Finance Committee laid the bill over Wednesday for possible omnibus bill inclusion.

Of the appropriation:

• $1.7 million would go to preserve the Dakota and Ojibwe languages and to foster related educational programs and services;
• $1.3 million would be given to Dakota and Ojibwe language immersion educational institutions;
• $1.2 million would support preservation projects and educational immersion efforts;
• $300,000 would be used to fulfill existing statute-mandated responsibilities and comply with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act; and
• $100,000 would go to a Dakota and Ojibwe Indian language working group.

Skyler Kuczaboski, grants administrative specialist for the council, can speak Ojibwe after learning through the St. Paul public schools and now in college, but her grandmother no longer can.

“The lack of fluency in our communities is a painful reminder of the historical trauma we have, and when we learn our language, we heal our pain that remains from the past.”

Here's the Minnesota Information Services YouTube of the bill's hearing. 

Photo: Ariella Leith, home-based teacher at Lower Sioux Early Head Start, testifies before the House Legacy Committee March 22 about the need to continue funding Native language programs. (Photo by Catherine Davis).

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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State & public kept in the dark about 11B pounds of chemicals carried by rail in SD each year

With the rail disaster in East Palestine, Ohio, I've been concerned about what might be carried on the BNSF tracks that run on the north end of Summit.

South Dakota News Watch has asked the same question about all of South Dakota's rail network.

The 11 billion-pound mystery: Which chemicals are carried by trains in South Dakota
By Bart Pfankuch

Each year, trains carry nearly 11 billion pounds of chemicals through South Dakota’s cities and countryside, much of it on century-old tracks, a South Dakota News Watch analysis has revealed.

Finding out which specific compounds are in those potentially toxic payloads is extremely difficult or even impossible for the public due to national security concerns and secrecy within railroad companies.

In many cases, even state officials are kept in the dark about what materials are being carried through their communities and rural areas. Oftentimes, the nature of materials transported becomes known only after an accident.

State and local governments can ask railroad companies for lists of hazardous materials transported through their jurisdictions only if the information would be used to help them prepare for emergencies, but not to inform the public, according to an email from the public affairs department at the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). 

“Neither FRA nor any government agency can provide information that lists specific rail lines that hazardous material shipments traverse, as railroads consider such information to be proprietary, and doing so raises safety and security issues,” the office said. “In addition, as a federal safety regulator, FRA does not monitor train movements or types of cargo transported by private rail companies in real time.”

Concerns over the stability, security and safety of the U.S. railroad system took on greater significance after a catastrophic derailment and fire on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio. 

The accident was caused by a worn-out wheel bearing on a tanker car, the same condition that prompted 17 freight cars to derail at 40 mph near Wessington, South Dakota, on Feb. 2, 2019, according to federal records.

The toxic chemical burned in the Ohio accident, vinyl chloride, which is used to make plastics, is part of the larger category of chemicals that can be carried by trains in South Dakota but which is not reported to the public. 

Chemicals are fourth most carried products on trains in South Dakota

Some Great Plains states, such as Minnesota and Wyoming, report on the total tonnage of hazardous materials carried by rail in their states, but South Dakota does not.

The South Dakota State Rail Plan, a 182-page overview of the state railroad system, includes information on 15 categories of materials carried by rail but not on hazardous materials. 

The report includes a final category listed as “all other commodities” that shows about 160 million pounds of materials carried, without providing specific or general product details.

In South Dakota, “chemicals or allied products” are the fourth most-carried product by railroads based on tonnage after coal, farm products and food products, according to the 2022 State Rail Plan, which was updated in December for the first time since 2014. 

The rail plan shows data on the tonnage of products carried in 2019 and is based on federal Surface Transportation Board “waybill reports.” In South Dakota that year, the payload category of “crude petroleum, natural gas or gasoline” was next in tonnage after chemicals, totaling 7.3 billion pounds carried annually.

Train payloads may be radioactive or used in chemical warfare 

According to federal documents, the general payload category of “chemicals and allied products” can also include chemicals and products such as anhydrous ammonia, chlorine, human and animal medicines, pesticides, inks and dyes, and even radioactive compounds or those used in chemical warfare.

In an email response to questions, Jack Dokken, the air, rail and transit program manager for the South Dakota Department of Transportation, said the federal government is responsible for regulating rail shipments in South Dakota, but the state can respond to a release of hazardous materials. Dokken and other DOT officials did not respond to News Watch requests for an interview.

But transportation officials from North Dakota and Wyoming told News Watch they have little knowledge about what chemicals and hazardous materials private railroad companies are carrying through their states.

“At a guess, petroleum, natural gas, and anhydrous ammonia are probably in our top three for hazmat, but after that it’s anyone’s guess – and I have no idea on volumes or routes being used,” said Stewart Milakovic, North Dakota DOT transportation planner.

“The Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources can become involved if a hazmat release has occurred,” Dokken wrote. “DANR has authority to require the responsible party to perform cleanup and DANR reviews cleanup activity to ensure compliance with state laws and rules.”

The FRA said that in response to the Ohio accident, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called on railroad companies to be more proactive in letting states know when toxic materials are being transported in their area. Across the U.S., hazardous materials were the second-most commonly transported material by rail from 2019-21 based on tonnage, with 218 million tons carried in 2021 alone, according to the federal Surface Transportation Board.

“Secretary Buttigieg called on U.S. railroads to provide proactive advance notification to state emergency response teams when they are transporting hazardous gas tank cars through their states instead of expecting first responders to look up this information after an incident occurs,” the department wrote.

South Dakota News Watch has filed formal Freedom of Information Act requests to the South Dakota Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration seeking data on chemicals and hazardous materials carried in the state, but had not received a response as of March 21, 2023.

Railroad expert says it’s like putting a Band-Aid on a broken bone

South Dakota has 1,935 miles of railway operated by 11 private companies, with BNSF Railway, Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad (RCPE) and Ringneck & Western Railroad (RWRR) the top three operators. The state does not have any passenger trains in operation other than the historic limited-route tourist train in Hill City.

The rail plan includes estimates showing that tonnage of materials transported by rail in South Dakota could increase by 34% from 2019 to 2045, including an expected 31% rise in the amount of chemicals transported.

While U.S. per-mile safety data show that rail generally remains a relatively safe method of transportation of goods, rural states like South Dakota tend to have aged rail systems, with materials sometimes built in the late 1800s or early 1900s, said Russell Quimby, an Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad expert and industry consultant. 

Some Midwestern rail companies, especially shorter branch lines that are common in South Dakota, are not well-equipped to handle modern rail cars that weigh up to 286,000 pounds each and are part of increasingly longer trains, he said. 

Additionally, some older rail lines have not had adequate reinvestment by railroad companies as they endured thinning profit margins in recent decades.

“They’re barely able to do things safely in some cases,” Quimby said. “Even if you identified all these defects in the track, does the company have enough money to fix things properly? They may put a Band-Aid on it when they really should be treating a broken bone.”

The increased focus on rail safety in the U.S. also comes at a time when the railroad industry is staffed in some cases by employees who are vastly overworked, he said.

A nationwide railroad worker strike was narrowly avoided in February after employees complained, in part, that they were underpaid but also were prevented from taking any days off or receiving paid sick time.

Quimby said the railroad industry cut 9% of its workforce in the five years before the COVID-19 pandemic, and now, “the people they have are working to death. They’re cutting all kinds of corners, and after a while, you get employees who are burned out, and that indirectly affects safety, morale and all that.”

More than 110 train accidents in South Dakota since 2012 

The railroad system in South Dakota is much smaller than in more industrialized states like Ohio or Pennsylvania. Yet it has shown a propensity for accidents of a wide variety of causes and outcomes, including derailments. 

State data show that South Dakota had 105 “incidents and accidents” reported to the FRA from 2012 to 2021, according to the state rail plan. Federal records reviewed by News Watch showed that the state saw another nine accident reports filed in 2022. All told, those accidents resulted in two deaths and 83 injuries among railroad workers, the data show.

Derailments and other railroad emergencies have taken place in South Dakota at the rate of roughly one every five weeks over the past six years, according to individual FRA accident reports reviewed by News Watch. 

In 60 South Dakota accident reports from 2017-2022, mechanical problems and railroad wear played a role in a number of derailments and accidents: 

• On June 26, 2017, six rail cars derailed due to a broken segment of track near Gayville in Yankton County. 
• On June 5, 2020, train workers could see the track ahead was misaligned near Harrold in Hughes County, causing eight cars to derail at 24 mph due to soft ground believed to be caused by a muskrat den. 
• On Sept. 18, 2022, nine rail cars derailed while traveling at 23 mph near Utica in Yankton County due to missing joint bolts on the rail line.

Those state rail accident reports don’t include accidents that happened at highway rail crossings. South Dakota had 110 railroad crossing accidents over the past decade that resulted in six fatalities, 35 injuries and 69 incidents of property damage, according to state records.

Ethanol explosion in southeast South Dakota caused by worn rail heads

In the state’s most destructive rail accident in recent years, a derailment and explosion of several ethanol cars occurred on Sept. 19, 2015, in a rural area near Lesterville, about 20 miles northwest of Yankton.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board later found that rail heads that support train wheels were worn beyond safe levels, tracks were out of alignment and safety problems noted by railroad operator BNSF were not repaired but instead allowed to remain when the railroad simply downgraded the technical classification of the rail line.

Records show the section of railroad was built in 1908 and installed in 1929. The wooden railroad bridge where the accident took place was built in 1954.

Even at just 10 mph, seven tanker cars flipped off the rails, and two breached at impact. Nearly 50,000 gallons of ethanol leaked onto the ground and into the bed of Prairie Creek, where it ignited in a wall of flame. No one was injured, but the accident caused $1.1 million in damage.

Local farmer Mike Neth told News Watch in 2018 that he had noticed train cars wobbling on trains that passed through his property prior to the accident.

“It looked like a disaster area, like someone had blown up a town,” Neth recalled. “If it would have happened in a town like Yankton, it would have been a lot worse.”

 ‘Scary factor’ of spring flooding can cause even more train issues 

South Dakota rail carriers are preparing for trouble this year because of the potential for flooding and soft ground.

“We’re starting to plan and get some assets put in place with all the snow coming and the extremely cold temperatures for this time of year,” Mark Trottier, a representative of the Dakota Missouri Valley Western Railroad, told the South Dakota Railroad Board during a March 15 meeting. 

“The scary factor of that is we get into April and temperatures start to rise too fast and we get some overland flooding, and so we’re prepping and preparing for any unforeseen issues. We’ll be dealing with some soft spot issues down there and we’ll do everything we can to minimize any issues or problems.”

The DMVW railroad leases part of a state-owned rail line in South Dakota and expects to spend about $65,000 this year to keep its leased lines up to date on railroad ties, a required bridge inspection and weed control.

States have little oversight of rail lines and trains

In general, states have little regulatory authority over rail lines, which are maintained by privately run railroad companies under FRA oversight.

Dan Kline, the supervisor of systems planning in the Wyoming Department of Transportation, oversees administration of the state’s railroad rail section as well as other functions in the Wyoming DOT. The entire state freight department has one employee who works to ensure safety at Wyoming’s roughly 400 railroad crossings, Kline said. 

The state does not own any railroad track, so the six railroad companies that operate in the state are wholly responsible for oversight, inspection and maintenance of the 1,900 miles of track in Wyoming, Kline said.

Kline said the DOT has no knowledge of what is carried in freight cars and tankers on its railroads beyond what is reported in the 2021 State Rail Plan, a comprehensive report on the state railroad system that is similar in content to the South Dakota State Rail Plan.

Kline said Wyoming hires an independent firm to compile and report federal railroad data, including what commodities, chemicals and hazardous wastes are carried by rail in the state. 

State officials never see the original federal data and rely only on what is reported by the contracted consultant, HDR of Denver, he said. The state’s main goal with data in the rail report is to ensure it meets federal government guidelines on what must be reported.

“I would have no idea what any of that is,” Kline said in regard to what specific chemicals or hazmat products are carried on Wyoming rail lines. “Where the highway intersects the railroads is where we get involved.”

Kline said a member of the media or public who wanted to know what products are traveling by rail in Wyoming “could ask the actual railroads, read the placards on the trains or ask the federal government.”

But railroad companies are private entities and are not required by law to provide the public with details on what is carried, when and where, said Tom Ciuba, a spokesman for the Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern railroad.

“For security reasons and to uphold shipper confidentiality, RCPE does not release specifics on our traffic,” Ciuba said in an email to News Watch. 

Railroad company says it performs regular safety maintenance

The RCPE railroad mainly carries agricultural products, minerals and stone on its 679 miles of track in South Dakota, Ciuba said.

He noted, however, that all U.S. rail lines are subject to so-called common carrier obligations in which the federal government can require them to carry hazardous materials if needed.

RCPE performs safety checks on its rail lines and equipment as required by federal law and its own internal standards. It considers “derailment prevention critical to that safety focus,” Ciuba said. 

The company performs regular maintenance to stay in compliance. And it has a comprehensive emergency response plan that addresses a potential catastrophic incident and reviews the plan regularly, Ciuba said. 

RCPE also has contracts in place with companies that are trained in environmental response and incident mitigation, he said.

“Safety is a core value at RCPE, with many employees living directly in the communities we serve,” Ciuba said.

Expert says rail is still safest and cheapest way to ship goods 

Quimby, the railroad expert, said that despite recent accidents and a few historic catastrophes, rail remains the safest and most economical way to ship goods, especially when compared to high-risk roadway trucking and cost-intensive pipeline construction.

“They move relatively safely, and compared to any other mode of transportation, you’re probably not going to get a safer way to do it,” he said. “The materials they carry are necessary to our lifestyle and our jobs and our economy, and it’s being moved as safely as humanly possible.”

And yet, Quimby also believes that safety must remain a top concern because accidents can and will happen in anything involving humans and machines.

“Now, does that mean a one out of a million thing couldn’t happen and affect you? he asked. “No, but you’re much more likely to get killed on the highway driving.”

Photo: At 6:18 a.m. on Sept. 19, 2015, a defective railroad line built in the early 1900s failed, leading to the derailment of seven tanker cars carrying ethanol near Lesterville, S.D. Two tankers ruptured, spilling nearly 50,000 gallons of ethanol that ignited. No one was injured, but ethanol leaked into a nearby creek and the accident caused $1.1 million in damage. Photo: Courtesy NTSB.

This article is republished here with the permission of South Dakota News Watch.

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Session Daily: Governor Walz, legislative leaders announce budget targets for 2023 session

From the Minnesota House's Information Services Session Daily, an account of the governor's budget.

Walz, legislative leaders announce budget targets for 2023 session
By Jonathan Mohr

With the session’s final committee deadline exactly two weeks away, legislative leaders announced an agreement Tuesday on how much new money they plan to spend in 2023 and the framework for doing so.

Let the omnibus-bill fest begin!

During an afternoon briefing, Gov. Tim Walz, House Speaker Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and Senate President Bobby Joe Champion (DFL-Mpls) said the budget targets for the 2023 legislative session reflect a commitment to focus on the issues most important Minnesotans.

“The era of gridlock is over,” Walz said, while touting proposed investments in families, education and the workforce, along with what he said would be the largest tax cuts in the state’s history.

Hortman is most excited about the budget’s “historic” investment in education, while also hailing funding to address capital improvements, transportation, public safety, climate action and replacing lead water lines throughout the state.

“It is a delight to be here on Tuesday, March 21 announcing the joint revenue targets,” she said. “This puts the legislative session back in the hands of all 201 legislators.”

The targets would have a total impact of $17.8 billion on the state’s General Fund.

The $65 billion budget proposal made by Walz in late January was the largest in the state’s history. And that was before the 2023 February budget forecast predicted a $17.5 billion surplus, which was up more than $1 billion from the November forecast, although the total remained relatively flat after inflation was factored into both sides of the projection for the first time in many years.

Budget targets allow House and Senate committees to start with a common goal as they piece together their respective omnibus budget bills over the coming weeks. Differences between the bodies over how the appropriations are to be spent can then be worked out in conference committees.

The third committee deadline, by when committees must act favorably on major appropriation and finance bills, is at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4. The Legislature must finish its work by May 22. The biennium begins July 1, 2023.

The targets for each area are:

• taxes, aids and credits (net), $3 billion;
• debt service and capital projects, $2.29 billion;
• K-12 education, $2.21 billion;
• human services, $1.3 billion;
• children and families, $1.17 billion (HHS – children and families, $875 million; early education, $300 million);
• transportation, $1.07 billion;
• housing, $1 billion;
• health and human services, $755 million;
• environment and natural resources, $670 million;
• paid family and medical leave, $668.3 million;
• higher education, $650 million;
• public safety, $650 million;
• HCAF Financing ($621.6 million);
• pensions, $600 million;
• federal economic development match, $500 million;
• state government, $400 million;
• stadium, (inc. reserve impact) ($340.8 million);
• other items, $310 million
• energy and climate, $255 million;
• economic development, $250 million;
• workforce development, $240 million;
• lead lines, $240 million;
• judiciary, $230 million;
• veterans and military affairs, $128.4 million;
• broadband, $100 million;
• agriculture, $48 million;
• disaster relief, $40 million;
• commerce, $10 million;
• elections, $10 million;
• labor, $8 million;
• earned sick and safe time, $4.8 million; and
• claims bill, $1.5 million.

House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring) said the targets show the DFL is going on a “spending spree” rather than proposing a responsible budget that includes meaningful tax relief.

“Contrary to what Governor Walz might have you believe, this budget is clearly focused on growing government, not giving money back to Minnesotans,” she said in a statement. “This isn’t what Minnesotans have been asking for. Our historic surplus should have been the impetus for tax cuts, not massively expanding government and charging the taxpayer for it.”

“Today's targets remind me of a runaway train putting Minnesotan’s livelihoods at risk. Democrats' massive spending increases are on new bureaucracies, includes tax increases on every worker and business, and robs dedicated funds to help pay for an enormous expansion of state government,” Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson (R- East Grand Forks) said in a statement.  

“What we don't see is how a full elimination of the Social Security tax cut is possible, meaning Democrats who campaigned on eliminating the tax are breaking their promises to Minnesotans. With more than $17 billion in surplus, the paltry amount of tax relief being offered leaves Minnesotans who are already struggling with rising costs behind.” 

Looks as if the Republicans will stand by their talking points to the bitter end.

Image: Flanked by Gov. Tim Walz and Senate President Bobby Joe Champion, House Speaker Melissa Hortman announces an agreement on budget targets, a major step in the process of crafting a two-year state budget. (Photo by Andrew VonBank)

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Duck hunters rejoice: Department of the Interior awards $23 million for Prairie Pothole Region

As a birder and conservationist who's watched too many wetlands drained and grasslands plowed under, this South Dakota Searchlight article is good news.

Federal government awards $23 million for Prairie Pothole Region
By Joshua Haiar

The federal government plans to spend $23 million to restore and conserve grasslands and wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region, which is known as the “duck factory” of North America and is home to migratory birds, fish and other wildlife.

The money is part of the Department of the Interior’s $120 million in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act to restore ecosystems nationwide.

“These projects will increase the resiliency of habitats and infrastructure to withstand severe and unanticipated weather events, furthering our work to restore America’s natural infrastructure through nature-based solutions,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.

The Prairie Pothole Region is an area of wetlands that extends across parts of South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Montana, as well as Canada.

The region was covered by a thick sheet of ice over 10,000 years ago. As the ice receded, it left behind depressions in the land that filled with water, forming numerous “pothole” wetlands. 

The money will help with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service effort to restore and conserve native grasslands and wetlands on over 350,000 acres of existing Waterfowl Production Areas. Those are protected wetlands or grasslands managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service to support waterfowl and other wildlife species – ideally located in breeding or nesting areas, or migratory stopover sites for waterfowl. The areas are open to the public for hunting, wildlife observation, and other outdoor recreation, but they are managed with an emphasis on wildlife conservation.

“The projects will build upon critically important breeding areas for waterfowl, grassland birds, pollinators, and threatened and endangered species,” said Deborah Kornblut, a spokesperson with the Fish and Wildlife Service, in an emailed statement.

Officials involved are “still identifying project specifics and project leads,” Kornblut added. Some of the existing ways the Fish and Wildlife Service works to restore the Prairie Pothole Region is through planting native grasses, wildflowers and wetland vegetation, as well as conducting controlled burns and restoring natural water flows.

Waterfowl and water quality

The announcement is welcome news for many duck hunters.

According to Ducks Unlimited, a waterfowl conservation group, the Prairie Pothole Region is the most important and threatened waterfowl habitat on the continent. The group says many of the potholes in the region have been drained to plant more crops, dried out from drought or degraded by pollutants.

“If we lose those wetlands and grasslands, it’s not just going to impact South Dakota and North Dakota,” said Bruce Toay, who manages conservation programs for Ducks Unlimited’s South Dakota chapter. “It’s going to impact all of North America’s waterfowl.”

Toay said the widespread draining of small wetlands is especially harmful to waterfowl populations, because many ducks are territorial breeders.

“Ten 1-acre wetlands will create three times as many ducks as one 10-acre wetland,” Toay said. And while farmers may see an opportunity to increase yields by draining a temporary wetland, “Those temporary, seasonal basins are the most productive during the breeding season.”

Toay said people who are not interested in ducks should still want to see their habitats conserved. Wetlands also provide cleaner water, carbon sequestration to fight climate change, flood control and greater biodiversity.

Rocco Murano, a senior waterfowl biologist for the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks, recently briefed the Game, Fish and Parks Commission on the state’s waterfowl. He said the number of resident duck hunters has fallen from about 25,000 to 11,000 since the late 1990s. The department is unsure what is driving the trend.

That decline impacts the funding for conservation efforts in the state, because license fees and the taxes on hunting, fishing and shooting gear go back into wildlife conservation efforts.

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

Related post

• Federal agencies seek to protect Pactola Reservoir and Rapid Creek from mining

Images: Photo: A South Dakota duck hunter walks through the tall grass along a wetland with his dog. (Josh Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight) Map: Courtesy of Ducks Unlimited.

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New South Dakota state law makes it harder to file a complaint or lawsuit against ag operations

At Dakota Free Press, Cory Allen Heideoberger sums up the intent of a new law in Noem Signs HB 1090 to Insulate Polluting Agribusiness from Nuisance Complaints:

In another signal that South Dakota values business profits over a healthy environment and quality of life, Governor Kristi Noem last week signed a bill making it harder to hold agribusinesses accountable for polluting the prairie. House Bill 1090 denies standing to bring private nuisance actions against agricultural operations to anyone other than owners or lessees of property “within one mile of the source of the activity or structure alleged to be a nuisance”. That means grassroots organizations like Dakota Rural Action cannot file nuisance complaints. . . .

That's the short skinny Heidelberger draws from a South Dakota Searchlight article, which we republish below.

New state law makes it harder to file a complaint or lawsuit against ag operations
By Joshua Haiar

A new South Dakota law makes it harder to file a nuisance complaint or lawsuit against an agricultural operation and limits the amount of money that can be awarded.

Governor Kristi Noem signed the bill on Wednesday at a farm implement dealership in Mitchell, after legislators approved it earlier this winter. The law will go into effect July 1. 

Noem said it’s about protecting farmers from frivolous lawsuits.

“I think we all know agriculture is the number one industry in our state,” Noem said. 

The new law addresses complaints or lawsuits against operations such as farms, ranches or factory farms, for nuisances such as odors or pollution.

Provisions in the new law say only the owner or lessee of an affected property can file a nuisance action, and only if the affected property is within 1 mile of the agricultural operation. 

Those provisions are intended to prevent an environmental group such as the Sierra Club from suing an agricultural operation.

That’s welcome news for Travis Mockler, a southeast South Dakota farmer who attended the bill signing ceremony. The Sierra Club sued Mockler and the Clay County Board of Adjustment in an attempt to stop a permit to expand his hog and cattle operations.

Mockler eventually built the expansion, after multiple years of legal battles. 

“This bill, if it would have been in place at the time, would have solved all of that,” Mockler said. 

.@govkristinoem signed a new bill on Wednesday that makes it harder to issue nuisance complaints against agricultural operations. She said it’s about protecting farmers from frivolous lawsuits. Story coming soon… pic.twitter.com/uUXIyC3zB2

— Joshua Haiar (@JoshuaHaiar) March 15, 2023

‘Too far’ for opponents

Dakota Rural Action, which advocates against industrial scale farms in favor of smaller family farms, expressed concerns about the bill during the legislative session.

“There are smells and noises that can potentially travel more than 1 mile, so we’re wondering how that decision was made,” spokesperson Chase Jensen said at the time.

The Izaak Walton League of America, a wildlife conservation organization, opposed the bill. 

“The bill is unnecessary due to the low number of lawsuits that have been filed, and it just went too far,” Paul Lepisto, a spokesperson for the organization, said Wednesday.

Additional provisions in the new law say the person filing the complaint or lawsuit, in order to hold an ag operation liable, must present “clear and convincing evidence” that the operation violated local, state or federal laws or regulations.

In cases where the nuisance is permanent, the new law says compensatory damages will be measured by the reduction in the fair market value of the plaintiff’s property, and the amount cannot exceed that fair market value. If the nuisance is temporary, the damages are limited to the reduction in the fair rental value of the property caused by the nuisance. 

The new law says punitive damages cannot be awarded unless the case has been subject to a judgment or conviction by the courts or a federal environmental regulatory agency in the prior three years.

A degraded lake next door

The city where Noem signed the bill, Mitchell, is home to a lake polluted in part by agricultural runoff that feeds algae blooms and harmful E. coli levels. The new law could make it difficult for the city of Mitchell or Lake Mitchell homeowners to seek a legal remedy for pollution that enters Firesteel Creek more than a mile upstream and flows into the lake.

When asked about that situation, the governor said the law should not indicate to those homeowners that their frustrations are frivolous. She said the law does not change any legal or regulatory limits on pollution.

“All water quality permits and anything that would be set at the city level, county level, and state level would still have to be met,” Noem said.

State Sen. Josh Klumb, R-Mitchell, was the prime sponsor of the bill in the Senate. He would consider legislation to improve water quality in Lake Mitchell, he said, but “there wasn’t anything in that area” introduced during the annual legislative session that concluded earlier this month.

“If someone could bring me something that says this is the area of the law that we need to change, we can discuss that,” Klumb said. “But I haven’t seen that.”

Photo: From left, Gov. Kristi Noem talks with South Dakota Farm Bureau President Scott VanderWal, farmer Travis Mockler and Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden after a bill signing ceremony on March 15, 2023, at C&B Operations in Mitchell. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight).

This article from the South Dakota Searchlight is republished 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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