South Dakota

B-21 Ellsworth expansion getting mixed support in Pierre

Published

3 months ago

March 1, 2024

B-21 Ellsworth expansion getting mixed support in Pierre

Bart Pfankuch
| South Dakota News Watch

BOX ELDER, S.D. – The 2024 South Dakota Legislature considered two spending measures for construction projects aimed at preparing for an influx of military personnel and civilians arriving with the launch of the new B-21 Raider bomber program at Ellsworth Air Force Base.

The state funds were proposed in one bill to help build a new elementary school to accommodate rapid student population growth in Box Elder and through another measure that would include the Rapid City Regional Airport in a funding package to aid expansion of airports across the state.

In this tight budget year, lawmakers rejected the plan to spend up to $15 million to help pay for a new $60 million elementary school in the Douglas School District, which serves many families that live and work in and around the base.

But as the 2024 legislative session winds down, legislators are still considering a proposal to spend up to $90 million in state funds to offset costs of expansion projects at municipal airports across the state. At the Rapid City Regional Airport, some of it could help pay for $220 million in planned improvements and expansions to prepare for expected large increases in passengers and flights due to the launch of the B-21 program at nearby Ellsworth.

Ellsworth was officially chosen in June 2021 as the main base of operations and training location for the Air Force’s new B-21 Raider bomber, a $700 million long-range stealth jet with nuclear capabilities that is intended to replace the B-1B Lancer bomber that has been based at Ellsworth for years.

BRAC memories, worries still fresh

In pitching the spending packages, lawmakers from western South Dakota argued that state financial support is needed for the school and airport projects to accommodate the B-21 program and to ensure the long-range viability of the base that was nearly closed by the federal government during the Base Realignment and Closure process in 2005-2006.

Sen. Helene Duhamel, R-Rapid City, sponsored Senate Bill 204 to help fund the proposed elementary school, starting at a $15 million request and then reducing the ask to $5 million after debate. Duhamel reminded members of the Senate Education Committee of the harrowing process South Dakota leaders went through in trying to keep Ellsworth off the final BRAC list in 2006. Duhamel said the effort required support from the South Dakota congressional delegation, state officials and local leaders to persuade the federal government to keep Ellsworth open.

“This did not happen by accident,” Duhamel testified. “It was hard work, investment with an eye on the future and a willingness to help when needed.”

When the 2005 BRAC process began, Ellsworth was home to about 3,500 active duty personnel, 800 civilian employees and created a $350 million annual impact in South Dakota, Duhamel said. Saving the base protected jobs and revenue across the region, and now helping the local school system and regional airport would show the Air Force that Ellsworth is valued not only within the military but by South Dakota and the local community as well, she said.

“It’s time to help again,” Duhamel said, pointing out that the annual economic impact of the base will rise to $480 million a year once the B-21s arrive. “South Dakota needs to do its part to support the military when the military supports us.”

Military wants to see local investment

Scott Landguth, executive director of the South Dakota Ellsworth Development Authority, told lawmakers that local investments are an important factor for the military when it decides whether to maintain or expand its bases. Air Force officials often ask about local “quality of life” issues, which includes the local school system, he said.

Ellsworth has obtained greater stability by aggressively seeking new and expanded roles within the Air Force, Landguth said. Examples include the addition of the Air Force Financial Services Center at Ellsworth in 2007, adding the command and control mission for the MQ-9 Reaper drone program to the base in 2010 and the 2015 opening of the 35,000-square-mile Powder River Training Complex, a major airspace training expansion northwest of Ellsworth.

“We’ve always been on the offensive so we’re not back to where we were (with BRAC),” Landguth said. “The quality of schools is definitely on the radar of the Air Force because they want their airmen and families to be taken care of. And they want the communities where they are investing to be part of that.”

Ellsworth colonel: Investments help ease stress

Col. Derek Oakley, commander of the 28th Bomb Wing at Ellsworth, said at a recent meeting in Rapid City that the Air Force will embark on nearly three dozen individual construction projects on the base at an estimated cost of at least $1.5 billion.

The B-21 program will add more than 4,000 new military personnel, families and civilian workers to the base over the next 20 years, bringing the total base population to nearly 12,000 people, Oakley said.

The Air Force projected in its B-21 Economic Impact Statement that development of the new bomber program at Ellsworth will create nearly 600 local jobs and almost $24 million in local economic impact. Once the bombers arrive, some state officials estimate the program will create an annual benefit of $480 million to the state.

As on-base preparations take off, signs of growth are visible throughout Box Elder, which for years has had strong population growth but not significant retail or commercial development. New houses and apartments are being rapidly constructed, and the town of 12,000 a few miles east of Rapid City has several new businesses already built or in progress, including a McDonald’s, a Starbucks, a Pizza Hut, new bank branches and at least two major gas station/convenience stores.

During a November luncheon hosted by the Black Hills Forum and Press Club, Oakley spoke of the importance of making sure base personnel are well cared for as they take on extended duties due to the B-21 preparations and eventual arrival.

Oakley stressed the importance of ensuring that existing airmen and airwomen, as well as the new arrivals, are not overworked or face hardships outside their work lives.

“It’s a lot to put on their backs for airmen right now,” Oakley told News Watch in an interview. “Our biggest challenge is keeping them engaged and not overworking them. We talk about mental health and taking care of our airmen on and off the base, making sure they have the right time off and things like that.”

South Dakota officials, lawmakers oppose school money

Many of those new military personnel have young children, and Douglas schools will have an estimated enrollment increase of 1,500 in the next 15 years, said superintendent Kevin Case.

The district has already spent $6.2 million on planning for the new elementary school, he said. The federal government is expected to pay about $40 million of the $60 million total construction cost. The district has a limited tax base upon which to draw, and sought the state money to make the deal complete, Case said.

But Morgan Gruebele, a budget analyst with the state Bureau of Finance and Management, told senators it would be unfair to provide extra state money to Douglas schools when other districts across the state are not receiving it.

She also noted that the district currently carries no debt, has an existing capital fund of $2.4 million, accepted $10 million in COVID-era funding and received $24.8 million in “impact aid” that the federal government provided Douglas in 2023 to cover lost property tax revenues due to the base’s presence in the district.

“Douglas has many funding sources,” Gruebele said in opposing the spending measure. “If the state would decide to fund the Douglas school construction, there would be many other schools wondering why they didn’t receive state support for their projects.”

The Senate Education Committee passed the bill on a 5-2 vote, but the Joint Appropriations Committee rejected it in an 11-7 vote.

FAA funding dip a reason for state aid to airports

As of Feb. 28, the proposal to use state funding to expedite expansion of airports statewide still had life in the Legislature.

The Joint Appropriations Committee passed Senate Bill 144 on a 15-2 vote, but lowered the funding level to $1 prior to passage. Passing the bill with no meaningful funding allows for negotiations to continue by appropriators to find a funding level that will be acceptable to the full Legislature and Gov. Kristi Noem.

Initially, the measure would have provided $90 million over five years for airport projects that the state Aeronautics Commission deemed appropriate. The sponsor submitted an amendment cutting the spending to $30 million, but appropriators so far have not decided on a spending level.

Airport officials told lawmakers the state money is needed because funding from the Federal Aviation Administration has been stagnant and is not sufficient to make expensive improvements needed to accommodate passenger growth, especially in the Sioux Falls and Rapid City markets.

The Sioux Falls Airport Authority in 2022 approved a $170 million, two-phase plan to add eight new gates to the airport as well as other improvements, including a concourse expansion. State money is needed to help pay for those improvements, Sioux Falls Regional Airport executive director Dan Letellier told lawmakers.

$220M plan includes more California flights

The Rapid City Regional Airport in late 2023 embarked on a three-phase expansion effort estimated to cost $220 million over the next few years, according to Megan Johnson, spokeswoman for the airport.

The first phase, now underway, would redo the aging baggage handling and Transportation Security Administration checkpoint areas at a cost of $83 million, Johnson said. Future projects would add five new gates and upgrades to the rental and baggage claim areas, she said.

Johnson told News Watch that the airport expansion is driven by steadily rising passenger counts in recent years but also due to the expectation that departures and arrivals will need to increase to accommodate growth from the B-21 program.

“We certainly expect an influx of travelers, families and support personnel due to the base,” she said. “I would say that the state funding is critical if you want to expand the airports because federal funding doesn’t cover every part of every project.”

Airport officials expect to see increased arrivals, especially from Southern California, where the B-21 planes are built. The airport recently announced the launch of a new Allegiant Airlines direct flight between Rapid City and Los Angeles that will start in June.

“When we speak to airlines, we have to provide a case for service to new cities,” Johnson said. “When we speak with airlines, we tell them, ‘Hey, we have Ellsworth Air Force Base and they’re bringing in these new jets.’”

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South Dakota

New solar will help keep power on during scorching summer, report says • South Dakota Searchlight

Published

6 hours ago

May 25, 2024

Press Room

New solar will help keep power on during scorching summer, report says • South Dakota Searchlight

With some parts of the country already facing heat waves, the organization in charge of setting reliability standards for the American electric grid is warning that a scorching summer could lead to a shortage of power generation in some regions.

The warning comes as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there’s a 99% chance that 2024 will rank among the five warmest years on record and 55% chance it will be the hottest on record.

Overall, though, the analysis by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation painted a rosier picture than last year’s report, in part because of a surge in solar power development.

The nation has enough energy supply to handle normal peak demand, called “load” in the electric industry, largely because of 25 gigawatts of new solar power capacity — at full capacity that’s the rough equivalent maximum output of 25 large fossil or nuclear power plants. (The number of homes that can be powered from one gigawatt of solar can vary widely across the country). But the new panels have helped move some areas from what NERC calls “elevated risk” of power shortfalls in last year’s analysis to “normal risk” this year.

“Resource additions are providing needed capacity to keep up with rising peak demand in most areas,” Mark Olson, the organization’s manager of reliability assessments, told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Thursday. New power transfer agreements, growth in demand response programs, which incentivize customers to reduce power usage during times of grid stress, and delayed power plant retirements “are also contributing to an overall improved resource outlook for the upcoming summer,” NERC says.

A solar surge

A separate FERC staff presentation said solar will make up 10% of overall national electric generation capacity by the end of this summer, with natural gas providing 42%, coal providing 14% and wind power at 13%.

Solar power is growing fast across the country, with the U.S. hitting five million total solar installations (most of them residential), per the Solar Energy Industries Association. Reaching that milestone took 50 years, but the industry group projects that hitting 10 million solar installations will only take six years. Solar power for the first time accounted for more than half of new electric generation capacity added in 2023, the group noted.

Federal solar power grants include $260 million for South Dakota tribes, rural areas

The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects “a record addition” of new utility-scale solar power this year, with about 36.4 gigawatts projected to be installed. More than half of that new capacity is planned for Texas, California and Florida.The Gemini facility scheduled to begin operation this year near Las Vegas, with a planned solar capacity of nearly 700 megawatts and battery storage capacity of up to 380 megawatts, is expected to become the nation’s largest solar project. Battery storage is also growing rapidly, with more than 14 gigawatts expected to be added this year, according to the EIA. Batteries complement solar generation well, since solar’s peak production doesn’t generally line up with peak demand on the grid, which happens later in the day. Batteries allow excess solar power to be banked for when it’s needed.

But a changing power mix also comes with new challenges and risks, NERC warned.

In his presentation to FERC, Olson said that while the overall summer electric reliability outlook has improved, some regions are seeing what he described as growing risks during extreme weather.

“Shortages could occur when demand is high and solar, wind or hydro output are low,” he said.

Those regions include parts of the Midwest and South in the grid area managed by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, New England, Texas, much of the Southwest and California. Grid operators, though, are becoming increasingly adept at planning and running electric grids with large amounts of intermittent resources.

“It’s refreshing to finally get the recognition that renewables can help with reliability,” said Simon Mahan, executive director of the Southern Renewable Energy Association.

Shifting seasons and climate change

While most of the country has historically been “summer-peaking,” meaning regions hit their highest demand for electricity during the summer months, some areas are increasingly seeing demand spike in winter, a trend that is expected to continue as result of heating electrification, other decarbonization policies and more extreme, protracted cold weather events. Indeed, the majority of recent electric grid failures have been during severe winter weather, such as Winter Storm Elliott in 2022, which caused blackouts in several southern states and Uri in 2021, which caused a catastrophic collapse of the Texas electric grid that caused an estimated 246 deaths.

Regulators approve early start for largest solar farm in state

But summer heat still poses risks, NERC says, contributing to both high demand and power plant outages, such as at natural gas power plants.

“Last summer brought record temperatures, extended heat waves and wildfires to large parts of North America,” the organization said. And though energy emergency alerts were few and no electricity supply interruptions happened as a result of insufficient power resources, grid operators “faced significant challenges and drew upon procedures and protocols to obtain all available resources, manage system demand and ensure that energy is delivered over the transmission network to meet the system demand.” Utilities and state and local officials in many areas also “used mechanisms and public appeals to lower customer demand during periods of strained supplies,” NERC added.

Christy Walsh, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Sustainable FERC Project, said the reliability reports show how climate change is central to the pressures facing the electric grid.

“And it needs to be at the center of our solutions too,” she said in a statement to States Newsroom. “Earlier and more intense hurricanes brought on by increasing sea temperatures are a new and noteworthy concern, and this underscores the need for more large-scale transmission and connections between regions. Most of the new additions were wind, solar and storage, and last summer especially we saw just how crucial these resources can be during extreme heat events. We need to make sure we have a grid that can withstand the weather and move resources around during times of stress.”

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South Dakota

South Dakota airport terminals to get upgrade

Published

13 hours ago

May 25, 2024

Press Room

South Dakota airport terminals to get upgrade

PIERRE, S.D. (KELO.com) — Airport improvements are about to take-off.

The South Dakota Department of Transportation announced the launch of the South Dakota Airport Terminal Program.

The program will support airport terminal projects across the state.

$10 million in funding was allocated by the state legislature in the 2024 legislative session.

These are one-time appropriations, and applicants must meet strict guidelines and be approved by administrators of the program, who will determine amounts to be granted.

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South Dakota

South Dakota Family Gets Actual Brain Worms After Eating THIS! – Perez Hilton

Published

20 hours ago

May 25, 2024

Press Room

South Dakota Family Gets Actual Brain Worms After Eating THIS! – Perez Hilton

Members of an extended family (not pictured above) gathered last month in South Dakota for a much-anticipated family reunion, but disaster struck when SIX of them came down with trichinellosis!

If you don’t know what trichinellosis is, don’t worry — we didn’t either until just a minute ago. LOLz! Basically, trichinellosis is the medical term for what we casually might call “brain worms.” Like, literal brain worms! Real, actual tiny worms deposited inside a human being’s brain and releasing larvae and wreaking havoc! SO gross!!!

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the Dakota family gathering went south after six relatives came down with worms. The unnamed family members hailed from Arizona and Minnesota in addition to South Dakota itself. And one specific thing they ate at the gathering is thought to be the cause: undercooked bear meat!! Yes, we said bear.

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Per the CDC, one family member brought a bunch of bear meat to the gathering. They’d frozen it prior to the reunion with the intention of killing any parasites in it. But that apparently didn’t work out so well! At the reunion, the meat was “thawed and grilled with vegetables” according to the CDC. Then, it was doled out to family members in the form of kabobs.

As the CDC later determined, the meat didn’t actually get cooked right the first time! Not even close, in fact! The public health outfit stated:

“[The bear meat was] initially inadvertently served rare, reportedly because the meat was dark in color, and it was difficult for the family members to visually ascertain the level of doneness.”

Uh-oh!

Thankfully, one family member in attendance piped up once they noted the bear meat wasn’t fully cooked. So, the meat was “recooked before being served again.” But it was too late for six members of the family who’d eaten enough of the meat to start suffering the parasitic effects of the microscopic worms hidden inside!!

Days later, a 29-year-old man who’d been at the family gathering and eaten the meat became severely ill. His sickness got so bad he was hospitalized twice in two weeks. When doctors noticed his symptoms — including swelling around the eyes and severe muscle aches — they asked him to think back to what he’d recently eaten. That’s when he informed them about the bear meat at the reunion, and a connection was made.

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Doctors suspected trichinellosis, notified the local department of public health, and ordered a Trichinella immunoglobulin (Ig) G antibody test for the man to confirm their hypothesis. Sure enough, it came back positive. When public health officials started re-tracing all the family members who’d been at the South Dakota gathering, they determined six of them ranging in age from 12 to 62 had gotten ill! And here’s the crazy part: two of those six didn’t eat ANY of the bear meat! Just the vegetables with which it had been grilled! So, the worms were able to transfer over to the veggies, too?! Whoa!!

Two more of those six had to be hospitalized due to their sicknesses, but thankfully, all six recovered. They were given antiparasitic medications meant to kill the adult brain worms and prevent further release of larvae, and that was that. But still, DAMN!

FYI, the CDC claims that even though undercooked pork is usually the source of a trichinellosis infection, bear meat is thought to have been responsible for the majority of trichinellosis outbreaks in the United States in the last decade. So, if you’re going to eat bear meat — or any meat — make sure it’s fully cooked!!

[Image via ABC/Facebook/Peacock/YouTube.]

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