Geoff Simon's Quick Connects -- April 18, 2025

Golden Eagle at risk. Link here.

• Coal Creek Station among US coal plants granted emission exemption -- KX News

• Keystone Pipeline resumes operating after oil spill in ND -- North Dakota Monitor

• Federal oil, gas lease sales total $39M in five western states -- The Center Square

• Technology firms' 'ideology will change real quick' for ND energy -- Dickinson Press

• Leading opponent of CO2 pipeline in South Dakota expected to run for governor -- Aberdeen Insider

• Fedorchak: cutting wind, solar subsidies sends 'the right signals' to power companies -- Dickinson Press

• Lawmakers fear coming crisis in electric rates due to AI data center demand -- North Dakota Monitor

• House-Senate conference committee prepared to determine fate of property tax relief bill -- KFYR-TV

• Wildfire status in North Dakota: Two hurt in McClusky fire, other blazes dot the landscape -- KX News

• Wildfire disaster relief fund in North Dakota has distributed nearly $1 million -- Bismarck Tribune

• Senate passes bill to set aside $100K for grants to promote tribal culture, history, events -- KX News

• North Dakota Senate rejects bill that would have required annual legislative sessions -- Dickinson Press

• Lawmaker's vacation among 195 missed days by North Dakota legislators -- North Dakota Monitor

• ND Senate adds funding for local wastewater projects to replace federal cut -- North Dakota Monitor

• Current Minot City Council member Rob Fuller announces intent to run for Minot mayor -- KFYR - TV

• North Dakota House passes bill establishing $1 million for rural grocery store grants -- Dickinson Press

• ND Legislature advances bill to back rural improvement projects, strikes another -- Dickinson Press

• 'This system is broken': Dickinson homeowners erupt over steep property valuations -- Dickinson Press

• Williams County approves new Builder-Buyer program to spur housing development -- KFYR - TV

• The last charges being processed against Ian Cramer are now officially closed -- Beulah Beacon

• North Dakota senators pass education budget, setting up future conference committee -- KFYR - TV

• Tribes, North Dakota partner to update 30-year-old textbooks on Native history -- North Dakota Monitor

• Minot Public School board approves new hires and discusses vacant buildings -- Minot Daily News

• Teacher development, negotiations and hiring discussed by Divide Co. school board -- Crosby Journal

• Bismarck State College enhances hands-on energy program thanks to donated LACT Unit -- KFYR - TV

• Letter: Actual education reform is possible; North Dakota Legislature not serious about it -- Fargo Forum

• U.S. energy secretary says shale industry will 'survive and thrive' despite plunging crude prices -- CNBC

• Global oil demand and U.S. supply to grow more slowly on Trump tariff tensions, IEA says -- Reuters

• Environmentalists threaten to sue after Burgum announces new BLM regulations -- OK Energy Today

• US energy firms add oil and gas rigs for first time in four weeks, Baker Hughes says -- Reuters

• Appeals court temporarily halts lower court's order enabling release of climate funds -- The Hill

• Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling: "Beautiful Clean Coal is affordable too, ensures reliability -- Daily Caller

• Trump launches investigation that would lay groundwork for tariffs on critical minerals -- The Hill

• US Department of Energy prepared to axe $10 billion in "clean energy" projects -- Oilprice.com

• NY Times falsely claims climate change will trigger "global economic disaster" -- Climate Realism

• Trump administration plans to shut down NOAA's "woke" climate research division -- Daily Caller

• NASA's new chief is likely to wind down the agency's wasteful climate alarmist operation -- Newsmax

• Colorado may require pump labels warning drivers that gas causes climate change -- Just The News

Geoff Simon's Quick Connects -- April 11, 2025

 

• Senator Hoeven speaks on the importance of Dakota Access Pipeline -- KX News

• State Senate passes power line bill that would limit local control -- Dickinson Press

• ND Legacy Fund change could put more cash in energy projects -- Bismarck Tribune

• State's congressional delegation reacts to Trump's coal executive orders -- WDAY

• Armstrong meets with Trump, thanks him for executive orders supporting coal -- Office of the Governor

• Summit sued landowners for survey access, property taking; pipeline project now in limbo -- KX News

• Some believe pipeline bill gave state 'black eye' among business community -- SD Public Broadcasting

• SD says Summit must show path forward to keep permit application active -- North Dakota Monitor

• North Dakota's Legacy Fund lost $1 billion amid early April market turmoil -- Dickinson Press

• Bill requiring Legacy Fund disclosure website sees support in ND Legislature -- North Dakota Monitor

• North Dakota Senate passes bill for gov't efficiency task force -- after federal DOGE -- Dickinson Press

• ND legislature approves creation of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People taskforce -- InForum

• Term limits bill reconsidered, headed to North Dakota conference committee -- North Dakota Monitor

• North Dakota Legislature passes resolution to raise bar for amending constitution -- Dickinson Press

• Armstrong believes primary residence credit could be increased in conference committee -- WZFG

• Senator John Hoeven introduces new bill to protect western North Dakota's wild horses -- KX News

• TrueNorth Steel president believes new tariffs will help long-term; cites uncertainty -- WZFG The Flag

• Major grassfire in southwestern ND destroys structures; region remains tinder dry -- Bismarck Tribune

• Dickinson Rotary Club reads to 216 preschoolers in record-breaking literacy push -- Dickinson Press

• Williams County Tourism Grant Program application now open with $80,000 available -- The Journal

• Watford City Mayor advocates for four-lane expansion in Washington DC -- McKenzie County Farmer

• Loss of $20M in FEMA infrastructure grants 'devastating' to ND communities -- North Dakota Monitor

• Special Minot mayoral election verified: Next steps, mayoral candidacy requirements -- KX News

• Settlement reached in Badlands County ranch family's prolonged bridge dispute -- Dickinson Press

• Valuations of residential and commercial property in Minot will be going up -- Minot Daily News

• House passes bill to establish public charter schools in North Dakota 64-29 -- North Dakota Monitor

• Student cellphone bills pass ND Legislature; bell-to-bell ban comes back -- North Dakota Monitor

• Four seats up for election for Williston Basin school board with seven candidates running -- KFYR - TV

• Over 1,000 middle schoolers in Minot explore career opportunities at T4 Summit event -- KFYR - TV

• Williston Basin school board approves new boundary lines, hears project updates -- Williston Herald

• Wilkinson Elementary principal runs for 24 hours to fundraise for an updated playground -- KFYR - TV

• Trump funding freeze of $27B clean-energy program strands local projects -- North Dakota Monitor

• The Energy Department considers more than 40 percent of its staffers to be nonessential -- The Hill

• US electric utilities grapple with Big Tech's massive power demands for data centers -- Reuters

• Trump signs a series of executive orders aimed at boosting the struggling coal industry -- KFYR - TV

• Mideast stock markets tumble as tariffs, low oil prices squeeze energy-producing nations -- KX News

• Fuel analysts say tariffs on imports are not to blame for 20-cent jump in gas prices in last week -- KFGO

• Interior will no longer pursue lengthy analysis for oil and gas leasing decisions -- US Dept. of the Interior

• Job numbers jumped 7% in North Slope and Northwest Arctic regions thanks to oil projects -- Oil Price

• China utilizing AI and automation to reshape coal industry profitability, productivity -- Oil Price

• BLM nominee Kathleen Sgamma's abrupt withdrawal from nomination stuns senators -- E&E News

• Fedorchak introduces bill that would phase out wind, solar tax credits by end of decade -- E&E News

• US power consumption to hit new record highs in 2025; Short Term Energy Outlook -- Reuters