Since the last update, our main activities have really been taken up by preparing for the Annual Meeting, Research and Development activities and mostly legislative work.

First and foremost, our legislative activities have continued to consist mainly of working on securing the additional R&D resources we’ve discussed. Our Government Relations Committee has met several times to work on a response to Al Carlson’s request for a legislative proposal he could pass.  Thank you for your support through the Government Relations Committee—we are working on a response that discusses the skewed market created by the Federal PTC, which creates a huge economic advantage for wind in the marketplace.  Mr. Carlson understands this issue pretty well, and he just sent a letter (attached) to Senator Hoeven attacking the federal PTC.
We examined a model that Illinois is working on to “subsidize” its nuclear plants, which are having similar marketplace struggles.  However, that model is just fighting one subsidy with another, and wouldn’t pass muster in North Dakota.  The similar attempt in PJM runs into the same problem, making both unworkable.
We are trying to come up with a solution that properly values reliability and baseload capacity, since those are two specific issues that Mr. Carlson mentioned as wanting to protect and focus on.

Aside from the additional R&D funding, the bill to break out the Environmental Section into its own agency seems to be on track.  We have worked this issue very closely with the ND Petroleum Council, and will see if we can get it across the finish line tomorrow.

Other state issues include the most recent meeting of the Industrial Commission, in which our Special Grant Round projects were considered.  These were the CarbonSafe and Allam Cycle projects, and both were approved by the NDIC.

We also done several meetings in our Public Affairs roles, presentations to various groups highlighted by Tyler speaking at the UND Law energy symposium with the Petroleum Council and state officials.  .In other Public Affairs news, we are planning the annual Public Opinion Survey.  We’ll run this through the Committee itself, but if there are any questions or topics you’d like us to include in this year’s survey please let me know.  We use this survey to guide our messaging during the upcoming year.

Federally, we continue to hear “this is the week” that President Trump does something about the CPP, but it really is finally here tomorrow.  We’ve got a small campaign planned around the important economic contribution that our industry makes, and pushing back against the environmentalist messages that will follow the announcement.

We are also working with Congressman Cramer on a hearing that he is participating in regarding energy policy and parity, and thanked him for a letter he sent regarding coal research dollars.  The administration’s proposed budget cuts many of the areas where fossil fuel research spending has occurred in the past, so we are communicating with all three members of the delegation regarding the importance of a path forward for fossil fuel research dollars in the future.  Similarly, while we are cheering many of the proposed cuts at the EPA, we are making sure that our delegation understand the importance of properly funding the EPA’s core mission, since our state isn’t well positioned to make up any federal shortfall with state dollars, which could theoretically put our primacy at risk.

We had planned a visit to Washington, DC to the National Coal Council, but a “blizzard” along the East coast resulted in cancelled flights and finally the NCC just postponed that meeting.

As far as the Annual Meeting goes, I’m pleased to announce that Kay has secured the participation of Governor Burgum for our Opening Breakfast, the entire Congressional delegation for in person updates, and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem for our CoalPac breakfast.  It’s a great result from her hard work and the scheduling shift we made to move the Annual Meeting to the Easter Congressional recess.

I’ll continue to update you all as the legislative session progresses, but if you would like additional information or have questions, please don’t hesitate to give me a call.