South Dakota
North Dakota officials object to Minnesota carbon-free energy law in public comments • Minnesota Reformer
North Dakota officials on Wednesday approved a letter to Minnesota regulators warning that the state’s recent carbon-free energy standard may be unconstitutional.
The Minnesota Legislature in 2023 adopted a policy requiring utility providers in the state to use exclusively carbon-free electricity sources by 2040. The rule applies not only to electricity produced in-state, but also electricity that comes from across state lines.
The North Dakota Industrial Commission — which comprises Gov. Doug Burgum, Attorney General Drew Wrigley and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring — fears the plan could put the state’s coal and gas industries in jeopardy. Minnesota is a major consumer of North Dakota energy, the North Dakota Lignite Energy Council told the North Dakota Monitor previously.
The Industrial Commission early last year sent a letter to Minnesota’s governor urging the state to make significant changes to the policy.
In its most recent letter, dated Wednesday and submitted as public comment to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, the Industrial Commission argues the state’s energy plan is unlawful in three main ways.
First, it claims the policy violates the federal Commerce Clause because it attempts to regulate the commercial activity of another state. It argues that the law conflicts with the Federal Power Act because it seeks to restrict wholesale electricity sales.
North Dakota also makes the case that the plan illegally tries to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, which it claims is a power given by the Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Clean Air Act.
A footnote in the letter states that North Dakota reserves the right to pursue legal action or other means of challenging the policy in the future.
North Dakota successfully took Minnesota to court over a similar energy policy the state passed in 2007. That law made it illegal for Minnesota to purchase energy from any new out-of-state coal plants.
A federal district court judge in 2014 struck down the law, finding that it unconstitutionally regulated the economies of other states. An appeals court in 2016 upheld that decision.
The 2023 policy “represents yet another improper attempt by Minnesota to export its wholly internal energy policy decisions to its neighboring states in patent violation of those states’ own rights and sovereignty,” the Industrial Commission stated in its letter.
The letter urges Minnesota to consider electricity produced using carbon capture technology as partially or fully compliant with the new rules so that North Dakota energy companies can retain Minnesota customers.
“Failure to properly include (carbon capture, utilization and storage) and other similar technologies as ‘carbon free’” means the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is “parochially and arbitrarily narrowing the definition of ‘carbon free’ to only those energy generation technologies that do not emit any carbon dioxide whatsoever, and exclusively to those that can be implemented within the borders of Minnesota.”
Like Minnesota Reformer, North Dakota Monitor is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. North Dakota Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Amy Dalrymple for questions: [email protected]. Follow North Dakota Monitor on Facebook and X.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Students at South Dakota Mines heard Wednesday from retired four-star general Maryanne Miller about her journey to the highest ranks of the U.S. military.
Miller is a retired four-star U.S. Air Force general. She is the only member of the Air Force Reserve ever to be promoted to this level.
She spoke about finding greatness and living a life of fulfillment. Her stories came from her time in the Air Force and as a volunteer for Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s Missionaries of Charity.
“We so much get focused on what is our next step in life, what’s the next career move, how do we make ourselves better in our career, and we forget about how do we make ourselves better as a human being,” Miller said. “Because they have to go tandem. If it’s not tandem, you’re going to get off track.”
Miller was commissioned in 1981 and rose through the ranks before becoming a four-star general in 2018. She was the only woman serving as a four-star officer in the military at the time. She retired in 2020 after serving for almost 40 years.
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South Dakota
USDA to offer distaster assistance to South Dakota agriculture producers impacted by winter storms
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering financial and technical assistance to South Dakota farmers and livestock producers who may have been impacted by the recent winter storms.
“I encourage impacted producers to contact their local USDA Service Center to report losses and learn more about program options available to assist in their recovery from crop, land, infrastructure, and livestock losses and damages.” said Richard Fordyce, Production and Conservation Under Secretary.
FSA’s Emergency Conservation Program and Emergency Forest Restoration Program can assist landowners with financial assistance to restore damaged land and conservation structures or forests.
“Our staff will work one-on-one with landowners to make assessments of the damages and develop methods that focus on effective recovery of the land.” said Jessica Michalski, Acting NRCS State Conservationist in South Dakota.
For more information about the disaster assistance program, click here.
Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden, left, and Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen unveil a plaque for retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams in the Hall of Honor at the Capitol in Pierre on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Meghan O’Brien/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) — There’s a new name in the South Dakota Hall of Honor at the state Capitol building.
One-hundred-year-old South Dakota native and retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams was celebrated at a Wednesday ceremony where a plaque honoring him was unveiled, although Williams did not attend.
“In spite of being outnumbered and facing incredible danger, Captain Williams engaged the enemy with courage and skill,” said Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden. “Our state has always had a strong tradition of service, and Captain Williams is the very best of that tradition.”
President Donald Trump awarded Williams the Medal of Honor, the country’s highest military honor, at the State of the Union address earlier this year. The medal honors actions by Williams that had been classified for decades.
“His story was secret for over 50 years, he didn’t even want to tell his wife, but the legend grew and grew,” Trump said during the speech in February. “But tonight, at 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves.”
On Nov. 18, 1952, over Korean coastal waters during the Korean War, then-Lt. Williams, from Wilmot, South Dakota, led three F9F Panthers against seven Soviet MiG-15s. He disabled three enemy jets and damaged a fourth.
The Soviet jets, according to the U.S. Naval Institute, were “superior to the F9F in almost every fashion.” The mission was the only direct overwater combat between U.S. Navy fighters and Soviet fighters during the Cold War.
Williams, one of 11 Medal of Honor recipients from South Dakota, now lives in California. The Hall of Honor at the South Dakota Capitol is located in the hallway that visitors enter immediately after going through security.
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