North Dakota
EERC showcases ‘energy research of tomorrow’ at annual summit – UND Today
North Dakota poised to lead nation and world in carbon capture, hydrogen development, rare earth element extraction
Last week, UND’s Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) hosted its annual Energizing North Dakota’s Future Summit. The event brings together academics, industry professionals and state policymakers to discuss topics critical to the future of energy production in North Dakota.
Charles Gorecki, CEO of the EERC, kicked off the event — now in its eighth year — by highlighting the state’s position as a major player in the global energy supply chain.
“I really believe providing clean, reliable and affordable energy starts at home,” he said. “We have the opportunity with the resource base we have to solve those challenges — North Dakota is an ideal place to do that. We can export that technology around the country and globe, so we can have more clean, reliable and affordable energy for a growing population that demands it.”
David Straley, director of government and public affairs at the North American Coal Corp. and chair of the EERC Foundation’s board of directors, agreed. Straley also praised the work of the EERC’s more than 200 employees.
“These are some of the best and brightest scientists in America solving real-world problems,” he said.
Delivering the event’s keynote address, UND President Andrew Armacost thanked state legislators in attendance for their continued support of higher education in North Dakota. He cited the $182 million earmarked toward research expenditures at UND last year — up $72 million from four years prior — plus a new science, technology, engineering and mathematics complex and recently launched degree programs in biomedical and aerospace engineering, as evidence of robust scholarship on campus.
Furthermore, the EERC’s work is a key component of UND’s national security initiative — a partnership with the departments of Defense and Homeland Security to bolster research, education and workforce development, Armacost added.
Make no mistake, “energy policy is national security policy,” he said. “How we embed our research in energy systems will be a vital part of this whole national security and space initiative.”
Heartland Hydrogen Hub
As one of seven regional clean energy projects selected to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the Heartland Hydrogen Hub is a planned project to decarbonize sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing, while producing clean hydrogen for use in power generation. The EERC will work with industry partners Xcel Energy, Marathon Petroleum Corporation and TC Energy across five states – Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Wisconsin.
The total amount allocated toward the project — currently under negotiation — is up to $925 million, funded in part through the federal Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.
Chad Wocken, assistant director of clean energy solutions at the EERC, said one of the project’s goals is to expand upon hydrogen’s existing applications.
“The hope is that over time, those can expand from what have been traditional industrial uses of hydrogen and start to look at using it as a fuel for heavy duty transportation,” he said. “EERC’s role in the hub is overall program management. As an impartial third party, we can facilitate the public-private partnership — we don’t have a commercial stake in the game.”
Zachary Thobe, senior business development representative at Marathon, said North Dakota is a natural fit for the hub due to its “abundant resource capabilities” in the fields of natural gas and carbon capture — both essential ingredients for producing clean hydrogen
The project also has a workforce development component that will partner with the region’s technical colleges and universities to train students for the jobs that will support the hub’s operations.
Rare Earth Elements
Another area in which North Dakota is poised to be a leader is in the extraction of rare earth elements, harvested from the vast deposits of lignite coal present in the western part of the state.
Jason Laumb, director of advanced energy systems initiatives at the EERC, listed a host of applications requiring the use of rare earth elements, including magnets and batteries.
Laumb added that carbon is critical to making the batteries used in consumer electronics and defense applications. One of carbon’s derivatives, graphene, is particularly useful due to its flexibility, resistance and strength.
“As we become a more electrified society — using more batteries — we’re going to need more carbon,” he said. “In what form? Graphite and graphene. A strand of graphene the thickness of a human hair can lift a grand piano. It’s 200 times stronger than steel.”
Despite graphene’s potential, Laumb said, its high cost remains a major barrier to widespread application.
Laumb also said increasing domestic output of rare earth elements will be a boon to national security.
“Think about an F-22 Raptor – 800 pounds of rare earths are used in one airplane,” he said. “Where do those come from right now? China. I don’t want to get the parts for our airplanes from China, do you?”
“I see North Dakota leading the world in making these products more sustainable — better, stronger and faster,” Laumb added. “Why? Because we don’t shy away from opportunity.”
Enhanced oil recovery
Already the third largest oil-producing state behind Texas and New Mexico, North Dakota’s oil fields hold even more potential due to enhanced oil recovery (EOR).
North Dakota’s oil fields come in two forms — conventional and non-conventional — the latter of which comprises the Bakken Formation. The difference in fields lies in the construction of oil wells, with the Bakken’s wells stretching as deep as three miles and using hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” technology.
EOR increases output by injecting gases into wells. These gases are typically carbon dioxide, but sometimes involve a mixture of methane, ethane and propane, altering the physical properties of oil to allow it to flow more freely.
James Sorensen, director for subsurface research and development at the EERC, said there is the potential to extract upwards of a billion additional barrels of oil from conventional fields in North Dakota. And the prospects in the Bakken are even more promising, he said.
“We believe there’s about 3-7 billion barrels of oil that could be had from applying EOR in the Bakken,” he said. “The way we’re going to achieve those numbers is to innovate, make things more efficient and economical.”
Gorecki added that increased oil production will bring in more tax revenue, as “half of the state’s tax revenue comes from the extraction and production tax of producing Bakken crude” — and those dollars pay for many of the state’s public services and infrastructure projects.
BRECKENRIDGE — Coaches, teammates, friends and family gathered in the south parking lot of Breckenridge High School for another state tournament sendoff.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
This year, it was Troy Berndt taking the ceremonial convertible ride. He is headed to St. Michael-Albertville High School for the Minnesota Class A State Track and Field Meet on June 4-6.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
He will be running in the third heat of the 400-meter prelims, scheduled for 4:52 p.m. June 4. There are seven athletes in each heat, 21 total, and nine will advance to the finals at 6:20 p.m. June 5.
The top two finishers in each heat advance, along with the next three best times. Berndt’s personal best time of 50.67 has him seeded 13th, but the 10th-, 11th- and 12th-seeded runners are less than five hundredths of a second ahead of him. The eighth- and ninth-seeded runners are also close, at 50.33 and 50.39, respectively.
Berndt dropped nearly seven-tenths of a second from his previous personal best at the Section 6A West Subsection Meet on May 21, running 51.35, and shaved another 0.68 seconds off at the Section 6A Championships on May 28 with a time of 50.67. If he keeps lowering his time, he will have a shot at reaching the podium against the best runners in Class A.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
Results and photos will be available online immediately following the race June 4 and in the June 10 print edition of the Wahpeton Daily News.
Corbin Lee is a sports reporter for the Wahpeton Daily News and Richland County News-Monitor. Corbin can be reached by calling (701) 291-3551 or emailing corbin.lee@wahpetondailynews.com.
On this day in 1971, Rugby repeated as North Dakota’s high school sand greens golf champion behind medalist Dwight Stempson’s winning performance.
Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:
Rugby Repeats As Sand Greens Golf Champion
RUGBY, N. D. — Rugby repeated as North Dakota high school sand greens golf champion here Wednesday, posting a four-man total of 293 strokes for 18 holes.
Led by medalist Dwight Stempson’s medalist 36-35 — 71, the Panthers were eight strokes ahead of runnerup Stanley, which had a 301. Following were Garrison 311, Beulah 315, Leeds 322, Ashley 323, Bottineau 328, Pembina 329, Tioga 332, Parshall 341 and Hettinger 342.
Stempson and teammate Bruce Carlson each had one-under par 71s, but Carlson was unable to be at the regional and wasn’t qualified for individual honors.
Rounding out the Rugby totals were Delwin Wilson 40-37 — 77 and Dennett Hutchinson 35-39 — 74. Gary Kirchoffner, 41-39 — 80, was Rugby’s fifth entrant with the best four-of-five scores counted.
Runnerup Stanley was led by Steve Springan’s 34-38 — 72 and Joe Springan’s 36-38 — 74. Their two-man total of 146 strokes was good enough for the doubles title. Two strokes back with a 148 was the duo of Stempson and Wilson. Stan Saathoff and Mike Stepina of Garrison each had 76s for a 152 total and the Ashley combo of Steve Maier (76) and Dave Kretschmar (78) was fourth with a 154.
Stempson was the driving contest winner with a distance of 280 yards. Chris Knutson of Garrison headed the pitch and putt competition.
Kate Almquist is the social media manager for InForum. After working as an intern, she joined The Forum full time starting in January 2022. Readers can reach her at kalmquist@forumcomm.com.
Walhalla keeps the oldest buildings in North Dakota, fur-trade posts from the 1840s still standing near the Canadian line. Medora sits out in the Badlands, where a French aristocrat tried to build a beef empire in 1883. Garrison fishes one of the largest reservoirs in the country, and Jud has turned nearly every wall in town into a mural. The frontier era left marks across North Dakota that most of the Plains has paved over, and these ten towns still carry them. Each one holds a specific piece of the state’s history and geography.
Garrison
Garrison sits on the north shore of Lake Sakakawea, the reservoir the Garrison Dam holds back on the Missouri River and one of the largest reservoirs in the country. Anglers come year-round for walleye, northern pike, and chinook salmon, and the lake also draws boaters, campers, and shoreline hikers. In town, the open-air Heritage Park Museum preserves a one-room schoolhouse, a railroad depot, a country church, and a homesteader cabin from the turn of the last century. Fort Stevenson State Park, three miles southwest, marks the site of an 1860s military post with an interpretive guardhouse, a marina, a campground, and lakeside trails. Garrison leans into its self-declared title as the Walleye Capital of North Dakota with Wally the Walleye, a 26-foot fiberglass fish on Main Street.
Mayville
Mayville State University anchors this Red River Valley town in Traill County. The public four-year college opened in 1889 as one of the six original state normal schools authorized at North Dakota statehood, and its calendar still drives the town through Comet athletics, theater productions, and the annual Festival of Trees. Island Park, set along the Goose River where it runs through downtown, holds the town’s main recreation space with picnic areas, playgrounds, and a community pool. The volunteer-tended Rainbow Garden along the riverbank mixes themed plantings with folk-art sculptures. The Mayville Water Park runs its pool and slides from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
Lisbon
Lisbon grew up along the Sheyenne River in Ransom County as a Northern Pacific Railroad town, and its 1889 Opera House, now restored and on the National Register, still hosts theater and music. Brick storefronts from the same era line Main Street. Just south of town, the Sheyenne National Grassland protects 70,000 acres of tallgrass prairie, the largest publicly owned tallgrass prairie in the country, with trails open to hikers, riders, and limited hunting. Prairiewood Vineyard, about six miles out, grows cold-climate grapes and pours tastings on weekends.
Fort Ransom
Fewer than 100 people live in Fort Ransom year-round, deep in the wooded Sheyenne River Valley. Fort Ransom State Park preserves the site of an 1867 Army outpost built to guard settlers and the wagon route toward the Black Hills, and it now offers camping, paddling on the Sheyenne, and cross-country skiing. The park’s Sodbuster Days each September run horse-powered farming, threshing, and traditional-craft demonstrations, and the Sheyenne Valley Arts and Crafts Festival fills it over the Fourth of July weekend. The town anchors the Sheyenne River Valley Scenic Byway, a 63-mile route through some of the most varied terrain in the state.
Devils Lake
Devils Lake takes its name from the Dakota “Mni Wak’áŋ,” or Spirit Water, and sits beside the largest natural lake in North Dakota. Between 1993 and 2011, floodwaters more than doubled the lake, swelling it from roughly 70 square miles to over 200 and swallowing roads, farms, and woodland as it rose. Today it holds one of the most productive perch and walleye fisheries in the Upper Midwest. Graham’s Island State Park, on the western shore, is the main access point, with cabins, a campground, a swimming beach, and boat ramps. Fort Totten State Historic Site nearby preserves an 1867 military post with sixteen original buildings restored to tell its story through 1890.
Medora
Medora is the gateway to the south unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, set in the Badlands of western North Dakota. The Marquis de Mores, a French aristocrat, founded the town in 1883 and named it for his American wife, Medora von Hoffman; his Chateau de Mores hunting lodge still stands as a state historic site with the family’s original furnishings. The Maltese Cross Cabin, near the park visitor center, is the cabin Theodore Roosevelt used during his 1880s ranching years, the period that shaped his later conservation work. Each summer the Burning Hills Amphitheatre stages the Medora Musical, a Western-themed show running since 1965 in a natural bluff theater over the Badlands. The North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame keeps permanent exhibits on ranching, rodeo, and Indigenous horse culture.
Walhalla
Walhalla, founded in 1845 on the banks of the Pembina River, is among the oldest towns in North Dakota. The Kittson Trading Post, built by American Fur Company agent Norman Kittson, stands at the Walhalla State Historic Site and is often called the oldest building in the state; the nearby Gingras Trading Post, the 1840s home and store of Métis trader Antoine Blanc Gingras, holds an equal or older claim. Pembina Gorge State Recreation Area cuts the deepest canyon in North Dakota, carved by the Pembina River, with trails for hiking, biking, and ATVs. Frost Fire Mountain runs downhill skiing and snowboarding in winter and an outdoor theater season in summer.
Valley City
Valley City earns its nickname, the City of Bridges, from the eleven bridges that cross the Sheyenne River and its tributaries within the city limits. The Hi-Line Railroad Bridge, finished in 1908 and listed on the National Register, runs 3,860 feet across the valley and stands 162 feet above the water, one of the longest single-track railroad bridges in the country. The town sits at the eastern end of the 63-mile Sheyenne River Valley Scenic Byway, and Valley City State University, founded in 1890, keeps the local calendar busy with Vikings athletics and the annual Hi-Liner Days festival.
Jud
Jud holds fewer than 100 residents in LaMoure County and is named for Judson LaMoure, an early state legislator. Since the early 2000s, residents and visiting artists have painted murals across nearly every building in town, including the post office, the grain elevator, the fire hall, and several houses, turning the place into a walkable open-air gallery of prairie wildlife, rural scenes, and abstract patterns. The annual Jud Art Festival each summer brings in regional artists and live music. Most travelers come for the murals and the sight of an entire town organized around one creative project.
Bottineau
Bottineau sits a little over ten miles south of the Canadian border as the gateway to the Turtle Mountains. Its mascot, the 30-foot fiberglass Tommy the Turtle, went up in 1978 riding a 34-foot snowmobile and is billed as the world’s tallest turtle statue. Pride Dairy on Main Street is the last small-town creamery still operating in North Dakota, known for its Juneberry ice cream. Lake Metigoshe State Park, about fifteen miles north, offers boating, kayaking, fishing, and winter ice fishing. Bottineau Winter Park, the largest ski area in the state, runs ten runs across 200 vertical feet plus a tubing hill, and Dakota College at Bottineau, established in 1906, anchors the campus side of town.
Where The Frontier Still Shows
What these ten towns share is how much of the frontier they kept. The Missouri River and Lake Sakakawea shaped Garrison. The Sheyenne River Valley runs through Fort Ransom, Lisbon, and Valley City. The Pembina Gorge holds Walhalla on the Canadian border, the Badlands hold Medora, and the Turtle Mountains rise behind Bottineau. Each one still keeps its 19th-century buildings and the kind of small-town institutions that have closed almost everywhere else.
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