On January 3, 2019, Governor Doug Burgum gave his 2019 State of the State address to the 66th Legislative Assembly. “Today, the State of the State is that we stand at the cusp of North Dakota’s history. And by harnessing the courage that dared greatly, we will cultivate a prosperous future for generations to come. With action, we will shine,” Burgum said.
Burgum highlighted in his speech that to continue that prosperity, it requires legislative action to support what the state’s agricultural and energy industries have already been collaborating on. He is proposing $200 million for research in agriculture, oil, gas and lignite in his executive budget.
“Our lignite industry continues to innovate and invest — providing essential baseload electricity to the grid — despite long-term economic and regulatory uncertainty created by over-reaching federal policy in the previous administration. Project Tundra — which aims to capture carbon dioxide that can be used to revitalize old oil wells — was recently awarded the largest grant in the history of the Lignite Research Council, $15 million. This partnership between the Energy and Environmental Research Center at UND —lignite — and the oil and gas industry — is transforming power plant emissions to a marketable, value-added commodity,” Burgum said.
The full Transcript can be found here: Governor Burgum’s State of the State Address