Lange: SD Can Learn from Minn. Statesmanship, ND Criminal Justice

Last week I noted the difference in fiscal politics between Minnesota and South Dakota. That essay arose from a conversation with my neighbor and outgoing state legislator Gerry Lange. In the following guest column, he exapnds the view to include North Dakota:

Recent headlines here in Madison and in Minnesota highlight our two states’ sharply contrasting value systems. Here in South Dakota, our leaders are telling us we’ll have to cut ecucation funding to balance the budget! There in Minnesota, the finally-elected new governor, a multi-millionaire heir of the Dayton fortune, is acting like a statesman with “noblesse oblige!”

Rather than slashing education and vital services, he’s calling on his own class of affluent “winners” to come up with more income tax to patch their budget holes. How could sister states be so different? Could be a matter of their preferring a number one quality of life where it’s worth the trade-offs: more taxes for better wages, better infrastructure, and no taxes on food, clothing, auctions, and building contracts.

National government publications are rich with “best practices” from other states. As legislators, we brought home numerous “success stories” from meetings all over the country. One of the best that could save us millions is as close as North Dakota! They’ve been doing “electronic monitoring” and intensive probation for quite a few years. Results? 1000 fewer in prison than here, and a ten percent recividism compared with some fifty percent in most states.

Most of our leaders in Pierre know this, so it’s puzzling as to why we don’t adopt this successful approach. Do South Dakotans really believe that converting colleges to prisons has been a better strategy? Do tax-fearing voters really prefer to balance the budget on the backs of our kids?

—Gerald Lange, December 2010

Quack If You Like Prairie Potholes: USFWS Wants to Preserve 1.94M Acres

If you think the 48,000 acres proposed for the Tony Dean Cheyenne River National Grassland Wilderness is a big deal, check this out: Mr. Kurtz reads about an ambitious conservation project proposed by our friends at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. USFWS wants to create a Dakota Grassland Conservation Area that would preserve 240,000 acres of wetlands and 1.7 million acres of grassland in the Prairie Pothole region.

That isn't Florida! It's the Dakota Grassland Conservation Area
proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It's bigger than Florida.

Don't worry: USFWS isn't kicking us all out of East River. They plan to pay landowners not to tear up native prairie. USFWS estimates that over half of this untilled ground will be developed for farming or housing or some other use over the next 34 years. Such development would seriously degrade what USFWS calls "the backbone of North America’s 'duck factory' and critical habitat for many wetland- and grassland-dependent migratory birds."

To protect this habitat, Fish & Wildlife would buy conservation easements. Landowners keep their property rights and control over public access. Farmers can still farm the wetlands during naturally dry years and graze and hay the grasslands. The land stays on the tax rolls, so local governments don't lose out on revenue. On the budget side, this federal spending appears deficit-neutral: the money comes primarily "from oil and gas leases on the outer continental shelf, excess motorboat fuel tax revenues, and sale of surplus Federal property."

USFWS is hosting three public meetings next week across the Prairie Pothole Region to talk about the plan and gets folks' input:

• December 14, 2010: Minot, ND, 7 p.m.–9 p.m. Sleep Inn–Inn and Suites, 2400 10th Street SW
• December 15, 2010: Jamestown, ND, 7 p.m.–9 p.m. Gladstone Inn and Suites, 111 2nd Street NE
• December 16, 2010: Huron, SD, 7 p.m.–9 p.m. Crossroads Hotel, 100 4th Street SW

This grassland proposal looks like a good deal for all parties concerned, from budget hawks to ducks and geese. But Uncle Sam welcomes your two-cents' worth. If you can't make the meetings, you can submit comments by e-mail to planning team leader Nick Kaczor.

South Dakota Third Best for Retirement

I recall a visit to Carthage three summers ago in which a gal at the Straw Bale Museum talked about recruiting retirees to move to town as a major economic development strategy.

She was barking up the right tree: a new report from Money-Rates.com ranks South Dakota as the third best state in the nation for retirement. Based on life expectancy, crime rate, economic factors, and even climate, the only states found more appealing for retirees than South Dakota are New Hampshire and Hawaii. (Getting mentioned in the same sentence as Hawaii is almost always good... unless we're talking about new volcanoes.)

North Dakota is fourth on this list: North Dakotans pay more in taxes and living expenses, but they also live longer and currently have less unemployment. The report gives us a slight nod thanks to being a little warmer... but if you retire here, you'll still need to hire some strapping young lad to shovel your driveway out in the winter.

Iowa is the only other neighbor in the top ten, ranking fifth. Money-Rates.com doesn't make a full-50 list available, but given that none of our neighbors make the worst ten list, we South Dakotans appear to live in a pretty good neighborhood for retirement.

According to this report, Nevada is the worst place to retire. Vegas-land has the second lowest state and local tax burden in the nation (6.6%, compared to South Dakota's 7.9% and North Dakota's 9.2%), but the state has high crime, high unemployment, and below-average life-expectancy. Still, do you need to live longer when you can see Rod Stewart right now?

So add that to the economic development website, Carthage, and all you other South Dakota towns looking to boost your local housing market. Lots of old folks want peaceful small towns that are easy to get around in. They'll also create jobs, as they'll hire out more services, like snow-shoveling and RV repair. Build those straw bale spec houses, Carthage, and tell those retirees you are the new Florida!

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Update 2010.11.11: Mike Knutson at Reimagine Rural picks up the question of recruiting retirees for economic development. He notes that lists are good fun, but getting readers of those lists to up and move to South Dakota still takes a lot of good salesmanship and local work.

South Dakota Posts 4th Best Q2 Personal Income Growth

I don't feel much richer, but someone in South Dakota must be making money. The latest report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that South Dakota had the fourth-highest rate of growth in personal income during the second quarter of 2010. Personal income growth across all states rose 1.0%; South Dakota's personal income grew 1.4% over Q1, thanks largely to increases in the farm sector. The three states beating us: third-place Texas, second-place Montana (nice work, Larry!), and (trumpets!) first-place North Dakota. Our income-taxing socialist neighbors to the north posted 2.0% personal income growth.

No report from the Noem camp on how this data squares with a "jobless stimulus."

Guest Column: North Dakota Farm Owed Million by Millner

Below is a letter to the editor from Sandra Banish, a North Dakota farm wife who says her farm is owed over a million dollars by the bankrupt Veblen East Dairy. She says the dairy debacle wrought by Prairie Ridge Management's failure to keep its dairies in the black has devastated not just her family finances but the entire local economy. The text also appears in the September 1, 2010, print edition of the Marshall County Journal.

My Dairy Diary
by Sandra Banish

I am JAFW. (Just a Farm Wife) My husband and I farm in the southeastern part of North Dakota. In the spring of 2008, we grew 1,000 acres of corn. The corn that was grown on our farm was contracted for silage chopping with Veblen East Dairy, Veblen, South Dakota.

I started to get worried when my husband and I did not hear form Veblen East Dairy about payment in December, 2008. The dairy in Veblen, South Dakota chopped our corn for silage in the fall of 2008. Richard Millner from Prairie Ridge Management, Veblen, South Dakota was the individual we made the contracts with, which included a contract for 2008 silage corn which included a late-fee agreement, 2009 corn silage agreement/contract and an oral agreement/ contract for receiving shelled corn from us. This management company manages many dairies including Veblen East Dairy.

In December 2008, my husband spoke with Mr. Millner and it sounded like times were tough to get some form of payment. My husband had emailed Rick Millner several times and I started to email Mr. Millner. We received very few replies.

Now it was January 2009, I sent a reminder that for the contract I signed, partial payment was due.

From January 29 thru February 2, I wrote several emails wondering where the payment was. I received very few responses. The responses came in the form of emails and a few phone calls from Prairie Ridge Management Company. The responses were just comments on how hard Rick Millner was working on the money that was owed to us.

On February 2, 2009 until October 9, 2009, I sent many emails and made numerous calls after calls. I received very few responses. Finally we received a partial payment for the 2008 silage. There was still a large amount that was owed to us by the dairy. There were the other agreements/contracts that never were addressed. This debt was growing every day due to the late fee in the contract.

Finally on Jan 20, 2010, we contacted an attorney.

We had papers served on the dairy on March 1, 2010.

On March 5, 2010 a receiver from AG Star was appointed to the dairy.

Chapter 11 was filed in July 2010 on Veblen East Dairy; we cannot collect the money that is owed to us because of the bankruptcy protection law.

Now it is August 2010, and the corn is maturing in the field. It is silage chopping time.

No money. Promissory note is due in on Sept. 01, 2010. We cannot collect due to the Bankruptcy Protection Law.

Rumors have it that the dairy may get sold. Then there goes my money.

With the late fee contract, shelled corn that was sold, the promissory note and all the other financial agreements/contracts, the debt that is owed to us is over 1 million dollars.

While looking at the creditor’s list from the South Dakota Bankruptcy Court, it looks like over 300 creditors are listed. The dairy owes many vendors and growers. It looked like we weren’t the only ones that got caught in this web of deception.
The debt is over 60 million dollars.

As a farmer, my husband works hard and grew a product. We had signed contracts. We kept in touch with the dairy. We did everything we could think of to protect us financially except one thing. We should have never done business with the dairy.

We will never do business with the dairy until they make this right with us. I am asking all creditors that have done business with the dairy and that is owed money, stop all transactions with the dairy until you get your account settled.

We have to make a stand.

I believe the way Mr. Richard (Rick) Eugene Millner managed funds from the dairy is in question.

When I got into yelling matches with Mr. Millner., he would always tell me. Sandy, don’t take this to the personal level, I am taking this whole mess very personal. Wouldn’t you?

This dairy has been struggling for a long time. Ag Star Financial Services granted loans last fall (2009) to Veblen East Dairy. I do not understand how Veblen East Dairy could get a loan from Ag Star Financial Services and in 6 months, Ag Star is questioning the loan with a receivership.

Many growers including myself are owed a large sum of money. At this time, I believe an investigation should be done on this situation.

This crumbling situation is causing an economical disaster in the community and the surrounding community. It has caused hardship which includes everyone from the local store owner, to the grower who grows the corn for feed. For every dollar that was taken away from the local community and put into the hands of an attorney who has no ties to this area, is a dollar that is gone from the community. That dollar will not circulate and be spent at the local store or given to a local charity. Veblen South Dakota and its surrounding communities have lost money that should have been theirs.

In reality, Ag Star and the dairies in Veblen, South Dakota are not very popular around here and the money that is being paid to all the attorneys on both sides is very disheartening to the ones who are owed money.

My husband and I grew a product and worked hard for it and now we are owed a large amount of money. This does not sit right with me. The only thing at this time I can do is to inform anybody who wants to listen, what a mess this situation has become.

I am spear heading a campaign of "JUST SAY NO TO MOO". No selling of corn in any shape or form to the dairy without a settlement of all past debts that are owed and full payment of the new crop. All payments must be in the form of a wire transfer. No form of Escrows. All payment must made and be secured before any choppers enter fields.

May this situation resolve quickly and our community heal without any lasting injuries. Feel free to contact me through email with any comments or questions.

Sincerely,
Sandra Banish
Cayuga North Dakota
wifefarm at yahoo dot com

Dakotas: Huge GOP Donations, Huge Earmarks

Then again....

Here's a spectacular statistic: for the current election cycle, 77.1% of federal campaign contributions to South Dakota candidates have gone to Republicans. And Senator John Thune doesn't even have a race to run. That's the second-highest GOP-contribution advantage in the nation. The highest: 81.6% in North Dakota.

Over in Minnesota, land of Pawlenty and Bachmann, the GOP–Dem federal campaign donation split is much more even: the Minnesota GOP gets 50.6% of federal campaign donations in the state.

Now consider what those donors get for their money: According to OpenSecrets.org, South Dakota is receiving $91.2 million in earmarks in FY2010. That's over $112 of pork per person. The big GOP donors in North Dakota get even more bacon for the buck: North Dakota gets $151.1 million in earmarks, $233.6 per person. Neighboring Minnesota, nearly four times more populous than both Dakotas put together, is receiving $68.9 million. That's $13 per Minnesotan, the second-lowest per capita earmark haul in the nation.

Flipping the Bird Protected Speech? Not for Public Employees at the Office

I have my occasionally beefs with South Dakota's Public Utilities Commission, but at least they aren't GOP yahoos like their North Dakota counterparts on the Public Service Commission. I learn from Prairie Sun Rising that a PSC employee was allowed to hang two anti-Obama posters in public view in the PSC space in the North Dakota Capitol. One poster mocks President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize; the other features a little girl poutily raising her middle finger and calling the President a seven-letter synonym for anus.

The North Dakota commissioners plead ignorance and say the posters are inappropriate. But the commissioner running for re-election, Kevin Cramer, tries to turn the posters into a First Amendment issue:

Commissioner Kevin Cramer said he agrees the posters were “distasteful” and were “inappropriate” to have in clear view of the hallway. However, he also supports freedom of speech.

“I think of all the places in North Dakota that stand as a symbol of free expression, the state Capitol is the best,” he said [Teri Finneman, "North Dakota Democrats attack PSC for anti-Obama posters," Fargo-Moorhead Forum, 2010.07.07].

I beg to differ. Mocking the President's Nobel award might pass Constitutional muster. But if I go the State Capitol and start flipping people the bird, I'll expect to get thrown out. Heck, I've been fired from a public job for using the above-mention a-word.

The posters are down now, and that's no infringement of the First Amendment, at least in the case of the finger poster. Public employees like me are entitled to speak our minds on political issues, but not with public displays of obscenity in the office.

SD Mines Beats SDSU for Return on Investment; Black Hills State Last

Bloomberg Businessweek has released an analysis of the financial return on investment at over 500 American colleges and universities. Their major finding: overall, estimates of how much more you'll make with a college degree than without are vastly overestimated:

But new research suggests that the monetary value of a college degree may be vastly overblown. According to a study conducted by PayScale for Bloomberg Businessweek, the value of a college degree may be a lot closer to $400,000 over 30 years and varies wildly from school to school. According to the PayScale study, the number of schools that actually make good on the estimates of the earlier research is vanishingly small. There are only 17 schools in the study whose graduates can expect to recoup the cost of their education and out-earn a high school graduate by $1.2 million, including four where they can do so to the tune of $1.6 million. At more than 500 other schools, the return on investment, or ROI, is less—sometimes far less. College, says Al Lee, director of quantitative analysis at PayScale, "is not the million-dollar slam dunk people talk about" [Francesca Di Meglio, "College: Big Investment, Paltry Return," Bloomberg Businessweek, 2010.06.28].

The study analyzes ROI for in-state and out-of-state students separately, so public schools get two rankings. It measures ROI at three South Dakota schools: South Dakota State University, School of Mines and Technology, and Black Hills State (alas! no comparisons with DSU or Augie).



School of Mines comes out on top in South Dakota and pretty good nationwide. the ROI resident students get ranks 288th out of 852 rankings in the analysis. Non-resident ROI ranks 294th.

South Dakota State University ranks 580th by resident rates and 598th by non-resident rates. SDSU's ranking is helped by its 51% graduation rate, compared to a 37% graduation rate at Mines. But interestingly, SDSU graduates make little more than Mines students who don't graduate. Among non-residents, Mines non-grads actually edge SDSU grads in ROI. Sometimes, winning is just a matter of showing up.

The worst way to invest your educational dollar is to come from another state and attend BHSU. The ROI for non-residents at Spearfish ranks 852nd out of 852. South Dakotans attending BHSU do only marginally better, producing an ROI that ranks 850. In other words, if you're concerned strictly about earning potential and you're thinking about attending Black Hills State, you might do just as well to skip college, go straight to work, and make up the earning difference by putting in extra hours for a couple summers at Zesto's.

The best investment in the region is private Carleton College over in Northfield, Minnesota. And alas, even with lower tuition, SDSU lags behind the flagship public universities of Minnesota, Nebraska, and North Dakota.

Now a couple notes on methodology:

1. This analysis examined 1.4 million graduates, but the data is self-reported, allowing for all sorts of inaccuracy.
2. The return on investment includes assumes earning power is delayed, figuring that if you don't go to college, you spend those first four years out of high school working your tail off.
3. The overall ROI is more a measure of the institution's performance, not specific graduates. Having lots of students who don't graduate counts against a school's ranking, but it doesn't change the fact that if you get that degree, you will earn more.

Oh yeah, best return on investment: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MHS grad Mike Stunes will be rolling in dough in a few years!

How Do Dakota Conservatives Cut Federal Spending?

An eager reader notes the campaign rhetoric of Rick Berg, Republican candidate for North Dakota's lone U.S. House seat. He sounds an awful lot like South Dakota's GOP hosue candidate, Kristi Noem. He says he wants to "return common sense" to Washington. He says he will "work to make Washington more like North Dakota."

Jack Zaleski of the Fargo-Moorhead Inforum says North Dakota's balanced budget and economic success actually depend on Washington's continued big spending:

North Dakota gets approximately $2 in federal money for every $1 state taxpayers send to Uncle Sam, according to the Tax Foundation. That’s one helluva return. Without it, the state’s bright budget picture might be dim.

...Lawmakers who are in the mode of biting the hand that feeds them would be hard-pressed to come off as such economic wizards were it not for the billions of dollars that flow into the state from federal programs. Tick ’em off:

• Military spending at two Air Force bases, which has more to do with pumping dollars into the state’s economy than with national defense.
• Farm programs that range from crop subsidies and emergency disaster appropriations to conservation incentives and food security.
• Social Security payments that rise annually as the state’s population ages.
• Medicare for Grandma and Grandpa – and, of course, for the thriving elder-care industry and medical/hospital sector, where good jobs are being created daily.
• Flood control projects, water-delivery systems and highway and road work that would never get done without federal participation. Good jobs there.
• Education and research grants to enhance public/private partnerships on the state’s university campuses. More good jobs.

Washington more like North Dakota? In practical, measurable terms, there is little difference. The state feeds at the federal trough not because it’s wedded to pork, but because history, geography and climate put the state at a disadvantage. That disadvantage has been addressed by the federal government since before statehood – from the Homestead Act to the most recent farm bills [Jack Zaleski, "Make Washington Like North Dakota?" Fargo-Moorhead Inforum, 2010.06.27].

Hmm... sound like any Dakota you know?

I ask Kristi Noem and her supporters the same question Zaleski asks Berg (and the same question the Tea Party faker she beat, R. Blake Curd, could never answer consistently): to put your "common sense" rhetoric into practice, what federal assistance to South Dakota will you eliminate? The new drone program at Ellsworth Air Force Base? The farm subsidies that kept your ranch afloat? Medicare and Social Security? Funding for the U.S. Forest Service and the Mount Rushmore National Monument?

Let's see Noem spin her way out of that one.

North Dakota Chats up South Dakota; Minnesota Ignores Us

Rebecca Blood turns my attention to Lexicalist.com, which analyzes online text and demographics to figure out who's talking about what where. You type in a word, Lexcialist calculates the prevalence of that word in online conversations by state, sex, and age.

So I type in South Dakota. The results:


Lexicalist.com ties most of the conversation about South Dakota, 81.2%, to speakers/bloggers/tweeters in South Dakota. Among outsiders, we figure most prominently in the consciousness of our northern neighbors: North Dakotan online sources contribute 6.2% of mentions of "South Dakota (certainly 5.2% are prefaced with the phrase, "Gee, why can't we be more like..."). Wyoming produces 4.0% of South Dakota mentions; Iowa 2.5%. Our Minnesota neighbors provide only 0.7% of South Dakota mentions, a tick fewer than even Montanas make... and Montanans have Yellowstone and the Rockies to distract them. Minnesotans talk about North Dakota twice as much. What gives?

Plug "Minnesota" into the Lexicalist search query, and you find that Minnesotans provide only 35.3% of their own mentions. 13.0% come from North Dakota, and 10.2% come from South Dakota. (I leave it to the Minnesota Department of Tourism to speculate as to what words precede our mentions of our easterly neighbor.) Hmmm... are South Dakotans more self-absorbed than Minnesotans? Mentions of Minnesota are more spread out among other states, suggesting their marketing and top-of-mind-awareness are better than ours... or that they just get more online press thanks to the Twins.

One more random note for the watercooler: The three states that talk about New York the most are New York (12.6% of mentions), New Jersey (5.7%), and North Dakota (4.3%). South Dakota ties with Alaska for talking about New York the least, not even registering on Lexicalist's count. Hmmm....

Excel Dairy Permit Denied; Veblen Dairy Dozen Declaring Bankruptcy in ND, MN

Just one minute ago, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency unanimously affirmed these findings of fact and upheld the denial of permit to Excel Dairy in Thief River Falls, Minnesota.

This denial comes on top of a month of deep doo-doo for Veblen's Dairy Dozen. The company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on its Five Star Dairy near Milnor, North Dakota, and on its Excel Dairy near Thief River Falls, Minnesota. Excel Dairy was shuttered due to environmental violations (review the file on that mess at the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's proposed findings of fact).

These filings come in addition to a Chapter 11 filing for the Veblen West CAFO this month and the placement of the Veblen East CAFO in receivership in March. Dairy Dozen chief Rick Millner says the bankruptcy filings are a legal business strategy to keep the doors open and maintain the possibility of paying creditors:

“We could quit and walk away from it and nobody would be getting paid,” [Millner] said. “Or we can reorganize and get our plans put together with everyone getting paid in full. As long as we are in the fight, we can pay people. As soon as we get knocked out, people are going to go unpaid” [Kevin Bonham and Stephen J. Lee, "Excel Dairy Hearing Set for Tuesday in St. Paul," Grand Forks Herald via Agweek, 2010.04.26].

With Excel dairy's permit denied, Millner has fewer doors to keep open. Let's hope the courts can still hold him accountable for bad environmental and business decisions and make sure the Dairy Dozen's creditors get paid their due.

Small Town Development: You've Got to Want It

Sometimes even cash and free land aren't enough to keep new people on the prairie. AP reports that the town of Hazelton, North Dakota, population 240, offered free lots and $20K toward new homes and $50K toward new businesses. One Florida family—one— took Hazelton up on the offer. The Tristanis gave it a go for four years. Now, despite low taxes, low cost of living, and a good school, they've given up.

The article cites lots of reasons, like the cold and lack of jobs. But the biggest reason may be cultural:

...the family also found a cliquey community that treated them like outsiders. "For my wife, it's been a culture shock," he said.

Rural communities across the Great Plains, fighting a decades-long population decline, are trying a variety of ways to attract outsiders. But the Tristanis show how the efforts can fail even at a time when many people are desperate.

"It's been quite an experience, 50-50 at best," Tristani said. "It hasn't been easy. No one really wants new people here" [James MacPherson, "Florida Family Gives up on Small-Town North Dakota," AP via Yahoo News, 2010.02.15].

"Not everybody fits in a small town," says Tom Weiser, a Hazelton resident who helped develop the free-land economic development project. Unfortunately, that's the conclusion reached by every one of the hundreds of people he says inquired about the town's giveaway incentives.

Perhaps it is comforting to say some folks just aren't a good fit for a community. But small towns can't afford to be picky. Saying some people don't fit in our small rural communities assumes that there is a way our communities should be and that it is more important to preserve the status quo than to let our communities evolve to make a place for the new people we need to survive and grow.

Miami blogger Kyle Munzenrieder takes a harder hit at small-town culture. I won't go as far as he and pick Miami over the prairie... but he and I might agree that expecting new people to come rejuvenate your small town but not create any change is an contradictory recipe for failure.

Growth is change. You've got to want. From the sounds of it, Hazelton didn't really want it. Does your small town? How ready is your town—Madison, Howard, Flandreau, etc.—to embrace not just new homes and businesses and members of the tax rolls but new ideas and new lifestyles?

Wind Juices Local Economies in Nebraska & Dakotas

More folks across the Great Plains are figuring out that wind power is a key part of economic future. Today's notes:

• Thanks to a $5-million tax credit from Uncle Sam, TPI Composites will open a wind turbine blade factory in Grand Island, Nebraska. What does Grand Island get out of the deal? More than 200 jobs.
• As reported here earlier, Iberdrola is building enough wind power in Brookings and Deuel counties to replace more than half of the capacity of the canceled Big Stone II coal plant... and doing it for less cost per megawatt. The Brookings County Commission is taking its time to make sure the Buffalo Ridge wind developments don't cause interference with ITC's phone lines. Tuesday, the commission got a reminder that Buffalo Ridge is good for local business: local concrete contractor Winter, Inc. is pouring concrete bases for towers that may be 484 feet tall.
• Every little bit helps: Art Mariner started GR-8 Country Wind Power about a year ago. He's sold a handful of small turbines for home and farm use. His wind company employs himself and two others. Thre jobs here, three jobs there... that's exactly the kind of rural job creation SB 58 and the other components of the PUC's Small Renewable Energy Initiative will support.
  

South Dakota Not to Blame for Greenhouse Emissions?

If the planet does get warmer, seas rise, civilizations fall, etc., take heart, fellow South Dakotans: they can't blame us! Well, not much. A new report from Environment America finds that South Dakota generated less fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions in 2007 than all but two states (Rhode Island and Vermont) and the District of Columbia. Our 13.7 million metric tons of fossil fuel CO₂ emissions in 2007 constituted just 0.23% of the United States' total emissions of almost six billion metric tons. Our percentage of emissions is even less than our meager 0.27% of the country's population, so surprise! you might argue South Dakota is even greener than our net emissions ranking might suggest.

South Dakota's per capita CO₂ emissions, 17.2 metric tons, are indeed below the national average, 19.9 metric tons. So we've got coal to burn before those hippies lay a pollution guilt trip on us, right?

Maybe not. According to the Energy Information Administration, South Dakota produces 144 trillion BTUs of energy. We consume 292 trillion BTUs. Over half of our energy is produced in other states. Looking at electricity alone, in 2007, we generated 6,137 gigawatthours of electricity, over half of that from those squeaky clean hydroelectric dams. But we consumed another 5,390 GWh generated in other states. Most of that juice comes from our neighbors, North Dakota and Wyoming... which lead the nation in per capita CO₂ emissions (WY: 124.2 metric tons; ND: 82.1 metric tons).

South Dakota's existing green power on the Missouri River (achieved, by the way, with money and foresight from the federal government) already makes us leaders in keeping our per capita pollution relatively low. Strong climate change legislation, plus the PUC's recommendations for better interconnect rules and other support for small wind and other sources of distributed generation, can help South Dakota get even further ahead of the curve, reeduce our dependence on fossil fuels from other states, and keep the planet cleaner.

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p.s.: If Palauans aren't treading water in ten years, thank the recession. The global economic downturn has us on track to see greenhouse gas emissions down 9%. A good 1930s-style depression would cut those emissions 23%. There's always a bright side....

pp.s.: The above study does not appear to assess the greenhouse impacts of bovine flatulence or Senator Thune's speeches... two strikingly similar gases.

Millner, Dairy Dozen Not Paying Bills; Stiffed Farmers Speak Up

Things keep getting worse for Rick Millner of Veblen and his Dairy Dozen factory feedlot operations. Millner is not only violating federal law; he's also bilking the farmers he does business with. According to a report in AgWeek, since last year, Millner's business has regularly failed to fully pay for livestock feed contracted from farmers around the Five Star Dairy in Milnor, North Dakota. One farmer is selling off equipment to pay the bills that he can't otherwise pay while Dairy Dozen dodges its obligations to him.

“I’m tired of being Five Star’s banker,” says Dan Mund.... As of Oct. 6, Mund says he is owed $80,000 for his 2008 corn crop by Five Star Dairy of Milnor, N.D. Five Star is a 1,600-cow operation that is part of a stable of five larger dairies.

“I just want to be paid and then be left alone,” he says [Mikkel Pates, "Supplier-Farmers Stung by Dairy's Economic Woes," AgWeek, 2009.10.19].

Mund has done business with the nieghboring feedlot since 1997. When Millner bought and expanded the operation in 2006, he told Mund, "I’m the kind of guy you don’t need a contract with... A handshake is good enough.”

Now not even a court order is good enough: a district judge ordered Millner to pay Mund in full back in March; Mund is still waiting for his $80,000.

Millner's feedlots are the sort of business for which our state government does all sorts of favors, including helping rich foreigners jump the immigration queue. Millner's business takes all this state assistance, then fails to pay its bills and leaves its smaller business partners holding the bag.

Millner has proven once again that he just can't operate as a good neighbor. More farmers need to speak up against his abuse of contracts and environmental laws, and our government officials need to take more action to stop these abuses and compensate the folks who have suffered from Millner's anti-social business practices.

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Update 2010.01.19: Pates reported that as of November 30, 2009, Mund and Martinson were paid in full. The Carver County (MN) sheriff collected the money for them, requiring Bongards' Creameries to issue payment for a delivery from Five-Star to the sheriff rather than the dairy. The sheriff then transferred the money to the aggrieved farmers.

What Recession? SoDak Economy Chugs Along, Socialist NoDak Chugs Along Faster

Economically, you could argue that 2008 wasn't that bad, at least not west of the Mississippi. The Bureau of Economic Analysis just released numbers that show that, yes, economic growth slowed nationwide, from 2.0% in 2007 to a wimpy 0.7% in 2008. But the economy actually shrank in only 12 states. And we flatlanders kept our economies chugging along pretty well, right beside our mountain buddies: the Plains area growth of 2.0% was second only to the Rocky Mountain area growth of 2.2%. (Ah, country living.) South Dakota had the third-strongest economy in the nation last year, behind only Wyoming and North Dakota.


Don't forget: North Dakota more than doubled our economic growth rate, and they have a state income tax (socialists!). And their growth wasn't just from those lucky oil strikes: BEA says the largest contributors to growth in North Dakota were agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting.

Other interesting notes from the report:

• Alaska had the worst economic performance, with real GDP dropping 2.0% (lesson: don't base your economy on petro-dollars).
• Real GDP per person:
• U.S.: $37,899
• S.D.: $37,690 (I'm evidently not pulling my weight!)
  
• N.D.: $37,832
• Minn: $41,573 (again, I thought income taxes were supposed to kill economic activity)
  

New Fortune 500: North Dakota 1, South Dakota 0

In response to the argument that South Dakota's low-tax environment is great for business, I often ask why we don't have any Fortune 500 companies headquartered here.

Well, the new 2009 Fortune 500 list is out, and MDU Resources has joined the list at #479.

MDU Resources of Bismarck, North Dakota... where they have corporate and individual income tax. Grrr... socialists have all the luck.

South Dakota did make the Fortune 1000 with one company at #701: VeraSun... which is now bankrupt and bought by Texans.

More Reason to Read SD Blogosphere: Northern Profs Discuss Incarceration

Professors David Newquist and Ken Blanchard remind us of the usefulness of the South Dakota blogosphere for sharing intelligent civil discourse. Dr. Newquist's thoughtful Thursday observations on incarceration inspire Dr. Blanchard to respond with a three-part (so far) series on the topic. I recommend reading both authors' works.

We build knowledge in conversation and interaction. The for-profit mainstream media don't (and don't want to?) give us that. When's the last time you saw KELO and KSFY or the Press and Dakotan and Daily Republic develop a story together? In the blogosphere, as Northern Valley Beacon and South Dakota Politics contend and critique, they also collaborate, building knowledge together not as a finished consumer product or platform for advertising, but as an evolving understanding that all South Dakotans can share and contribute to.

Among the key points the good professors bring out:

• NVB notes that South Dakota incarcerates twice as many people as North Dakota. 6.3% of our state workforce and 7% of the state budget go toward prisons.
• SDP points to Census figures that between South and North Dakota, South Dakota has a much higher rate of violent crime while North Dakota has a much higher rate of property crime. "[I]t would appear," observes Dr. Blanchard, "that North Dakotans are both less violent on average and less respectful of their neighbor's property." In his intelligence and restraint, Dr. Blanchard misses the chance to say, "That's what you'd expect from those income-taxing North Dakota socialists."