North Dakota
Report says proposed dairy operation will impact groundwater near Abercrombie
ABERCROMBIE, N.D. — A private study says the
proposed dairy cattle operation near Abercrombie
poses serious risks to the area’s ground and surface water.
David Erickson, a principal hydrologist with Water and Environmental Technologies, a consulting firm with offices in Montana and Wyoming, recently finished a study of the proposal and its potential impacts on groundwater near a proposed 12,500-head dairy operation by Riverview Farms, a Morris, Minnesota-based dairy corporation.
The Dakota Resource Council and residents of Abercrombie are asking the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality to consider the study report and include it as part of the permit application submitted by Riverview Farms.
Riverview Farms hopes to build a $90 million facility just south of Abercrombie in Richland County.
It is also proposing a $180 million, 25,000-head operation southeast of Hillsboro
in Traill County. The two proposals would quadruple the number of dairy cattle in North Dakota, which the North Dakota Department of Agriculture estimates at just 10,000 cows across 24 dairy operations.
The facility would be 1.4 miles from the Wild Rice River and 1.8 miles from the Red River, on top of the Wahpeton Buried Valley Aquifer, which supplies drinking water to 28 domestic wells within a two-mile radius, as well as the communities of Abercrombie, Wahpeton and Breckenridge, Minnesota.
“By granting this permit, North Dakota is permitting and encouraging the polluting of thousands of acres around the proposed Abercrombie Dairy,” Erickson said in the report.
Riverview officials could not be reached for comment on the report.
Erickson studied Riverview’s permit application and identified contaminants commonly found in dairy lagoons, such as nitrates, hormones, antibiotics and pesticides that also have been found in drinking water wells near other cattle facilities in Washington, Wisconsin and California.
“The current permit application for the Abercrombie Dairy fails to protect North Dakota’s surface water due to insufficient requirements for manure application locations, timing and methods,” said Erickson in the report. “This facility directly threatens the Red River, the Wild Rice River and Antelope Creek.”
Erickson said that a proposed 24-foot-deep, clay-lined lagoon that can hold 106.7 million gallons of manure each year is compliant with North Dakota livestock regulations, however, the regulations do not require monitoring wells to detect potential leakage. Erickson said he has studied lagoon seepage since 1988 and based on his experience and other research, he expects the two lagoons will leak much more than the less than half-inch of wastewater leakage projected by Riverview’s permit.
“Given that the water table sits just two feet below the lagoon bottom, the 22 inches of annual seepage will contaminate the water table in just over a year,” Erickson said in his report.
Erickson counted fields that would receive some of the manure as fertilizer and 42 of the fields have direct connections to tributaries, 10 border Antelope Creek, 15 border the Wild Rice River and three are adjacent to the Red River.
“Acute and immediate impacts to water quality will result from application of manure in the volume and locations described in the permit,” Erickson said.
He also noted that residents will likely have to contend with other side effects of applying the manure produced by the dairy operation to nearby fields.
“The odor from the application process is overwhelming and rancid for days after the application regardless of the application method,” Erickson said. “Nearby residents will have to contend with rancid odors, spills and releases on the roadways from hauling, additional manure truck traffic and routine misapplication by farm personnel.”
Riverview staff have said the facilities will create jobs, expecting to employ 45 people, many of whom would be internal hires. The company expects the farm would increase job opportunities for other vocations, such as truck drivers and manure applicators.
Residents, who have called themselves Abercrombie Citizens for Responsible Growth, along with the Dakota Resource Council,
have been meeting regularly since this fall
to discuss and voice concerns about what the operation would do the water supple and quality of live in and around the town of about 261 people. They have requested the state Department of Environmental Quality address the concerns and they have formally requested a public meeting to review the findings.
Abercrombie Citizens for Responsible Growth said the community plans to meet once again at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 10, at the community center.
North Dakota
The Democratic Spirit: Reflections on North Dakota History and the Declaration of Independence at 250 – America250
A state and national public forum comprising a lecture, and then a question-answer session. Kwame Anthony Appiah’s lecture commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and explore its enduring significance in American life. Appiah’s scholarship on ethics, identity, and cosmopolitanism offers a unique lens for examining democratic ideals in a diverse society. By connecting these themes to North Dakota’s historical narrative, the forum fosters civic engagement, intellectual discourse, and cultural understanding within our community.
FARGO — Drivers can expect to see a slight uptick in gas prices as a result of the Iran conflict.
As of Monday, March 2, the average for North Dakota is $2.65 a gallon. While that is a $0.13 increase from a month ago, it is significantly lower than prices a year ago.
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GRAND FORKS – The Study ND, formerly Humanities North Dakota, has received $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for a statewide theater and humanities initiative in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
This commemorative investment is meant to bring historical events and figures – such as the framers of the U.S. Constitution – to life through virtual and live performances that celebrate the nation’s history.
The grant, along with funding from private sources, has made it possible for The Study ND to host “America 250” activities after the organization sustained a considerable cut in funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities last year, according to Brenna Gerhardt, The Study ND executive director.
“We absorbed a 50% budget cut, resulting in a loss of $467,645 in funding,” Gerhardt said. “As a result, we had to significantly scale back our American 250 initiatives focused on American history and civics education.”
Funds received from the National Endowment for the Arts will be used to present public readings, theatrical portrayals and guided discussions to encourage audience members to reflect on the nation’s founding in 1776 and on its democratic ideals, while engaging in contemporary conversations about civic life.
All of the programming in the series organized by The Study ND, titled “American Heroes,” will be livestreamed statewide.
In the grant application submitted to the National Endowment for the Arts, “we framed the project around a simple idea: democracy requires more than information, it requires citizens who can think historically, listen well, and argue in good faith,” Gerhardt said.
“This series uses living history performances to bring consequential figures into the room, then turns the room into a civic space through moderated dialogue and related public events. We define ‘heroism’ as civic courage under pressure, the willingness to contend with hard truths, and the capacity to enlarge a community’s moral imagination,” she said.
“The project does not ask audiences to agree on a single interpretation of a figure. It invites them to grapple with complexity together, and to connect the past to the responsibilities of the present.”
When Gerhardt and her colleagues received the application for grant proposals from the National Endowment for the Arts, “we were already planning a line-up of America 250 events and it fit perfectly with what we were already planning, so then we just wrote the grant,” she said.
Private funds, including matching funds from the Bismarck-based Tom and Frances Leach Foundation, have also been provided for this project.
Details about all the events will probably be posted on the website
www.TheStudyND.org
in March, Gerhardt said.
The America 250 events, which are planned to take place at Bismarck State College, are 5-6 p.m. July 8, “Reading of the Declaration of Independence, with John Adams,” and 6-7:30 p.m. July 9, “Alexander Hamilton Speaks,” both performed by William Chrystal.
The Living History programs are planned for 7-8:15 p.m. Sept. 17, “Thomas Paine,” performed by Doug Mishler, and Oct. 6, 7-8:15 p.m, “Frederick Douglass,” performed by Nathan Richardson. Both will be moderated by Susan Frontczak.
The performers Chrystal and Richardson live in Virginia, Frontczak in Colorado,and Mishler in Nevada.
Another program, “Hemingway and Gellhorn,” is set for Sept. 16-18 at Bismarck State College, Gerhardt said. “It is part of our broader Chautauqua/living history programming connected to America 250 … (and) will feature performances and discussion centered on Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, using their lives and writing as a way to explore major questions about American identity, war reporting, public memory, and the stories we tell about freedom, conflict and responsibility.
“What I am excited about with this event is that it gives us a way to approach America 250 beyond founding-era material. In other words, it helps us show the American story is not just about 1776, but also about the generations that followed and how Americans wrestled with democracy, power, truth and moral courage.”
This program “expands the initiative beyond commemoration into reflection, dialogue and interpretation, which is where the humanities are especially valuable,” she said. “It helps us reach audiences who may be drawn in through literature, journalism and performance, not only traditional history events.”
The Hemingway and Gellhorn program fits in with America 250 in that “it broadens the frame and adds depth to the larger effort.”
Gerhardt is hoping that these activities will give participants “a better understanding of all the debates and issues going on when our country was founded, and how those debates are continuing today,” she said, “and just to be more thoughtful and informed citizens.”
College students and members of the general public will also be invited to participate in a workshop aimed at teaching participants how to build a living history performance from primary sources and historical research.
Last year, The Study ND lost a substantial amount of funding – nearly $468,000, about half of its annual budget – from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its fiscal 2025 year.
The loss of that much funding was discouraging, Gerhardt said. “Very much so, because we had a lot of activities planned for America 250 and we had to cancel a lot of them, or – like in this case – seek other funding, which we were lucky to get.”
The Study ND currently has four full-time employees, she said. “We eliminated a part-time marketing position after the cuts.”
A nonprofit organization, The Study ND provides civics, arts and cultural education programming. The organization’s programs – which include online classes, book talks, lectures and more – reached about 24,000 people in 2024, Gerhardt told the North Dakota Monitor in April 2025.
During the summer, the organization hosts a civics education program for high school and middle school social studies teachers, she said.
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