North Dakota
Burgum, a potential Trump VP pick, backs a controversial CO2 pipeline favored by the Biden White House
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is one of Donald Trump’s most visible and vocal backers, sprinting around the country to drum up support for the former president’s comeback bid while auditioning to be his running mate.
Far from the glare of the campaign trail, however, Burgum is wrestling with a mammoth carbon dioxide pipeline project in his home state. The $5.5 billion venture has split North Dakota and left him straddling an awkward political divide as Trump and President Joe Biden offer voters starkly different visions about how to deal with climate change.
A Republican little known outside North Dakota, Burgum is a serious contender to be Trump’s vice-presidential choice. The two-term governor has stood out in the narrowing field of choices due to his executive experience and business savvy. And Burgum has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs whose money Trump wants to help bankroll his third run for the White House.
Burgum is championing the pipeline project, which would gather planet-warming CO2 from ethanol plants across the Midwest and deposit the gas a mile underground. The pipeline aligns with Biden’s push to tackle global climate change, a position that could put him at odds with Trump.
In backing the pipeline, Burgum is navigating the tricky issue of land ownership in deep-red North Dakota and the politics of climate change inside the GOP.
While Burgum has outlined plans to make North Dakota carbon neutral by 2030, he’s steered clear of describing the pipeline or other carbon capture initiatives as environmentally friendly. Instead, he touts them as a lucrative business opportunity for North Dakota that might ultimately assist the fossil fuel industry.
“This has nothing to do with climate change,” Burgum said in early March on a North Dakota radio program. “This has to do with markets.”
The pipeline
The CO2 pipeline, known as the Midwest Carbon Express, is financed by hundreds of investors and will be built by Summit Carbon Solutions of Ames, Iowa. The 2,500-mile pipeline route snakes through Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota before ending in west central North Dakota, where up to 18 million metric tons of CO2 would be entombed each year in underground rock formations.
The North Dakota Industrial Commission, which Burgum chairs, is expected to decide in the coming months whether to approve Summit’s application for a permit to store all the CO2 it collects. Regulators in nearby states are also weighing approval of the pipeline.
As part of Biden’s investment in combating climate change, companies may receive $85 from the federal government for every metric ton of CO2 collected from industrial facilities and permanently sequestered. They can also get $60 for each ton stored and later used to produce more oil, a process that involves injecting carbon dioxide into oilfields to keep them productive.
Summit stands to receive as much as $1.5 billion annually from the tax credits. The company said it has no plans to use CO2 in oil drilling, which is known as enhanced oil recovery, or EOR. But a carbon dioxide storage permit application drafted by Summit appears to leave open the potential for the CO2 to be used for that purpose.
“Our business model is for 100% sequestration,” the company said in an emailed response to questions. “No customers have ever approached us to move their CO2 for EOR.”
For several environmental and public interest groups, providing tax credits for more climate-polluting oil is a handout to oil drillers that upends the goal of weaning corporations and consumers off fossil fuels.
“It’s just not the right answer,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity. “You’re incentivizing the extension of the use of fossil fuels for many more years or decades to come.”
Burgum’s office declined a request to interview the governor for this story. He has hailed his state’s underground CO2 storage capacity as a “geologic jackpot.” North Dakota, according to Burgum, has the capacity to store 250 billion tons of carbon dioxide underground.
That message has been amplified by North Dakota’s mineral resources department, which has estimated CO2 can help extract billions more barrels of oil from the rich Bakken shale formation. The Bakken is a 200,000-square-mile deposit that spans North Dakota, Montana and southern Canada.
Pipeline blowback
In North Dakota, the blowback to the Summit project has been intense, with Burgum caught in the crossfire.
There are fears a pipeline rupture would unleash a lethal cloud of CO2. In 2020, a pipeline carrying compressed carbon dioxide ruptured in Satartia, Mississippi. At least 45 people required hospital treatment and 200 more had to be evacuated from the area, according to the federal agency that oversees pipeline safety.
Summit said the CO2 line in Mississippi may have contained high amounts of hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas. Its system will transport nearly pure carbon dioxide, the company said, and any hydrogen sulfide or other elements in the stream “will not be considered impactful.”
Landowners also worry their property values will plummet if the pipeline passes under their property. And they’re outraged over what they allege are hardball tactics employed by Summit to secure easements for the project.
Burgum has largely avoided the dicey subject of eminent domain. If landowners don’t want the pipeline on their property, he’s said, the route can be shifted, and someone else can get the “big check.”
Julia Stramer, whose family owns cropland in Emmons County and opposes the pipeline, said the amount of money Summit offered her for a 99-year easement was insulting.
“I have informed Gov. Burgum that we have not received an offer of ‘the big check,’” she told North Dakota’s Public Service Commission earlier this month.
Stramer scoffed at the safety measures Summit says it is taking, telling the commission the pipeline is to be buried only 4 feet deep.
“We bury people deeper than that,” Stramer said.
Kurt Swenson and his family own or have an interest in 1,750 acres at or near the proposed CO2 storage site. At a public hearing earlier this month on Summit’s storage permit application, Swenson said he had a warning for anyone who attempts to take his land without his consent.
“It seems like everybody wants what isn’t theirs,” Swenson said. “You’re going to end up taking it from my cold, dead hands. And you’re going to see how that works out for you.”
Summit said it has signed easement deals with landowners along 82% of the pipeline’s route in North Dakota and obtained 92% of the lease agreements needed at the storage site. The company added that the project also is supported by state lawmakers and emergency managers.
Concerns over Summit’s project in North Dakota’s second most populous county, Burleigh, led the county commission to approve an ordinance restricting the pipeline from running too close to residential areas, churches and schools.
“I have not gotten one single contact from anybody that’s not affiliated with Summit asking me to support this pipeline,” said Brian Bitner, the Burleigh County Commission chairman. “Every contact has asked me to oppose it.”
Gaylen Dewing, who has worked as a farmer and rancher near Bismarck for more than 50 years, criticized Burgum for what he sees as the governor’s tilt to the left. Burgum’s embrace of carbon neutrality has put the governor in cahoots with the “Green New Deal people,” he said.
“Although he professes to be a conservative, he is anything but when it comes to environmental issues,” Dewing said.
Not a climate warrior
When he’s out stumping for Trump, Burgum doesn’t sound at all like a climate warrior.
Speaking at the North Carolina Republican Party Convention last month, Burgum accused the Biden administration of trying to shut down the oil and gas industries and declared that Trump would reverse the federal rules and mandates that he said are stifling energy companies.
Trump has long criticized federal and state efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and has been backed by the oil and gas industry in his three presidential bids. The former president, who in the past called global warming a “hoax,” claims on his campaign website that Biden has surrendered to the “crazed climate crusaders.”
Oil and gas interests have already donated nearly $8 million to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, according to the political money website Open Secrets.
Burgum, with his close ties to his state’s dominant industry, is the type of running mate who could help boost such donations.
If Burgum is not selected to be the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee and does not take a job in a second Trump administration, he can always return to North Dakota to finish out his last term, with key decisions looming for the pipeline.
Copyright 2024 KFYR. All rights reserved.
North Dakota
West Fargo Fire Department to host ND Ethics Commission public meeting – KVRR Local News
BISMARCK, N.D. (KVRR) — North Dakota Ethics Commission is getting out of its dingy office setting in Bismarck to hold a public meeting in West Fargo.
The stop is part of the commission’s commitment to accessibility and public engagement.
They are hitting the road on Friday, April 24 for a 9 a.m. meeting at West Fargo Fire Department.
You can learn about their work and listen to their discussions and decisions.
You can also take part in the newly adopted public comment period.
Dr. Cynthia Lindquist, Chair of the Commission, says they want to meet people where they are and make it easier for North Dakotans to engage.
The tiny town of Kindred, N.D., just southwest of Fargo, has a population of about 1,000 people.
When a few high-profile visitors rolled through Kindred Public School District 2 on Jan. 26, it was not a surprise that the middle schoolers sharing a building with Kindred High School could hardly contain their excitement.
“Hey, Michigan is here!” young students squealed to their teachers.
“Notre Dame’s here!”
Indeed, football coaches from both staffs had made the trip to Kindred on the same day. Stanford came, too.
It’s not often that college football coaches flock to North Dakota for recruits, but it’s also not often that North Dakota — a state that, as recently as last year, didn’t have a player ranked among the top 2,000 prospects in the country — is pumping out blue-chippers.
This year, the state has two four-stars in the same class for the first time in the modern recruiting era, which dates back to 2002. And it just so happens that tight end Brooks Bakko, the nation’s No. 120 prospect, and athlete Luke Starcevic, No. 216, attend the same high school — a school with just over 400 students in grades 7-12.
“It’d be hard to put a number on it,” Kindred head coach and middle school principal Eric Burgad said of the number of college teams that have come through his program to visit the star-studded duo. “It was crazy, though. It got to a point where I had to ask myself, ‘OK, do I need some help with this?’ because I’m our middle school principal and I’ve got a job to do during the day, and the number of coaches that reach out and just want to be in Kindred … is a lot.
“We’re happy when the dead period comes around, and these guys can catch a breath.”
Bakko, who received his first Division I offer from Minnesota around this time last year, committed to the Gophers late Monday night, waking his parents up around midnight to tell them the good news once he got off the phone with tight ends coach Eric Koehler.
#AGTG COMMITTED❗️❗️
I am blessed to announce my commitment to the University of Minnesota 〽️〽️ I would like to thank my Family, Coaches, and teammates for this opportunity! ROW THE BOAT! @CoachKoehler @Coach_Fleck @CoachHarbaugh @nick20lee @kindredfootball #skiumah pic.twitter.com/bSguMs0rjf— Brooks Bakko (@BakkoBrooks) April 7, 2026
Starcevic has upcoming official visits planned to Notre Dame, Kansas State and Oregon, and is hoping to issue a commitment within the next month or so.
The two pals have known each other since fifth grade, dating back to their days playing grassroots basketball together.
Now they’re putting North Dakota high school football on the map.
“Going through it together has been unique, obviously, and we’ve both had a lot of fun, and it’s been a really cool opportunity for us,” Starcevic said. “Maybe we’ll look back in a little bit and realize how special it is. It’s been cool to be, I guess, the face of football recruiting in the state, and it’s just been a fun journey. We’ve both worked hard for this, and we’re happy it’s all paying off.”
Burad has been a high school coach for a dozen years and a head coach for three. He’s aware that North Dakota isn’t exactly the first (or most convenient) stop on the list for college recruiters who routinely flock to Georgia, Florida, California and Texas for talent.
Recently, however, Burad has noticed that North Dakota seems to be producing more FBS-caliber recruits. Riley Sunram, a former four-star defensive lineman out of Kindred, signed with Minnesota in the Class of 2024. Starcevic’s older brother, Jake, a former three-star linebacker, enrolled at Army in the Class of 2025 before transferring home to North Dakota in December.
Burgad has a theory for the shift.
“I honestly think social media has made the recruiting just really kind of open up,” he said. “It’s easy for these kids to take their highlights from a Friday night game or the first four games of a season and put them on their X (account) and that stuff, coaches are very well connected.
“If a coach in Minnesota sees it, it might make its way to a coach in the South and a coach on the West Coast, and I just think those things circulate a lot better. We’ve always had really good players in our state — maybe it’s just a little bit easier to access them now.”
Bakko and Starcevic have both received double-digit offers, many from schools in the Big Ten and Big 12. Because North Dakota is so cold, they play multiple sports year-round and don’t just focus on football — another advantage from Burgad’s perspective that makes his recruits more well-rounded athletically in this era of hyper-specialization. It helps that both players are comfortable playing in the snow, too.
Starcevic’s recruitment has been particularly interesting because some schools are recruiting him as a defensive end, others project him as an offensive lineman and Oregon is pursuing him as a tight end.
He played tight end and defensive end as a junior this past season, with Burgad and the school’s offensive coordinator jumping at the opportunity to put him on the field with Bakko in 12-personnel packages.
“He’s one of the best football players I’ve seen,” Bakko said. “So I’m proud of him, I’m going to support him wherever he goes.”
Kindred rolled through the 2025 regular season with a 10-0 record but was upset, in overtime, by Devils Lake in the Division AA semifinal.
In many ways, Bakko and Starcevic are the only two people in North Dakota who know exactly what the other is experiencing. Many times when a college coach would visit the school and the two friends would temporarily be excused from their respective classes, they’d walk through the hallways together, wondering about who might be waiting for them.
“Having Luke, one of my best friends, by my side through it and helping each other out, visiting places together, it’s been really fun,” Bakko said.
The duo has one more season of high school football together before Bakko heads off to Minnesota and Starcevic is off to his school of choice. In addition to Kansas State, Notre Dame and Oregon, Starcevic said he might schedule a few more official visits.
If these two are successful at the next level, it will only help put the spotlight on one of only five states in the U.S. with fewer than 1 million people.
“I definitely think it’s growing and people are finding out more about the talent in our state, which is good,” Starcevic said. “Hopefully it continues to grow in the future and North Dakota keeps thriving.”
SUNDAY EVENING – MONDAY MORNING: A low-pressure system brought scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms to the northern areas Sunday morning and afternoon. Temperatures also reached the 40s and 50s in most areas, with only a few 60s and 70s in the southern Valley. By early evening, any leftover rain will be out of the northern areas. There is a chance of an isolated thunderstorm in the southern Valley Sunday evening, so we’ll keep an eye on the risk. Otherwise, expect increasing clouds and temperatures in the 40s and 50s during the evening hours. Overnight into Monday morning, overcast skies will settle across our region. Morning lows will be in the 30s to low-40s.
FIRST ALERT MONDAY: After a cool morning, Monday will start the workweek on an active note. A low-pressure system will lift moisture and instability into the Northern Plains. As a result, rain showers will lift into the northern Valley and international border. The northern areas will see rain during the late morning and afternoon timeline. Meanwhile, Lakes Country may see a few isolated showers and storms. There is a Level 1 risk for severe weather in Lakes Country and the southern Valley. That means there is a chance of isolated severe storms producing large hail, damaging winds, and a few downpours. The timeline of the threat is in the early afternoon to late evening. Therefore, keep the VNL Weather App handy for the storm threat. The first round of moisture moves out before midnight. By that time, expect about 0.2 – 0.4″ of rain in some areas.
Besides the showers, the workweek will start with mostly cloudy skies. Afternoon highs will “only” reach the mid-40s up north and the 50s down south.
TUESDAY: Another round of showers will lift into the northern Valley early overnight into Tuesday morning. The precipitation will come down as a rain/snow mix. The bulk of the mix will be in northeast ND and the international border. The rain and mix will push out of our region early afternoon, leaving between 0.25″ to over 0.5″ of moisture in some areas. Of that amount, up to 1″ of snow is expected on grassy surfaces.
After the showers move out, we’re looking at a mostly cloudy, mild day. Morning lows will be in the upper-30s and afternoon highs will be in the 50s.
WEDNESDAY – THURSDAY: Towards the middle of the week, an upper-level ridge and warm front will drag warm air into our region. As a result, morning lows will be in the 40s and afternoon highs will be in the mid-to-upper-60s. Additionally, we’re looking at mostly sunny skies. Overall, this coming midweek will feel like late spring. Thursday night, however, rain showers may push into our region, ahead of our next weather maker.
FRIDAY – WEEKEND: On Friday, a complex low-pressure system will sweep into our region. It’s likely to bring wintry mix at times, which may cause a few impacts. Therefore, we’ll keep an eye on the upcoming system. Heading into the weekend, any leftover moisture will move out of our region, leaving partly to mostly sunny skies over the weekend. As for temperatures, Friday and the weekend will be on the cool side. Morning lows will be near-freezing and afternoon highs will be in the 40s.
FARGO 7-DAY FORECAST:
Monday: Breezy and cooler. Showers north. Chance thunderstorms south. Low: 40 High: 56
Tuesday: Partly cloudy. AM rain/mix north. Low: 38 High: 57
Wednesday: Sunny skies. Low: 41 High: 68
Thursday: Mostly sunny. Late PM isolated shower chance Low: 45 High: 67
Friday: Cooler with chance showers/mix. Low: 32 High: 45
Saturday: Cold morning. AM chance mix. Mostly cloudy. Low: 26 High: 43
Sunday: Mostly sunny. Breezy. Low: 28 High: 51
Copyright 2021 KVLY. All rights reserved.
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