Necessity is the mother of invention, and we’ve experienced that first hand here in the North Dakota oil patch. The necessity was to survive an OPEC supply assault intended to force shale operators out of the market with lower prices. The invention[...]
Section: Business & Economy
News |
The amount of US land used to grow wheat is at the lowest in almost a century
Wheat markets are in flux right now, and the price is on the rise. A late season snowstorm in Kansas, drought in North Dakota are all factors, but so too is the fact that there were fewer wheat acres planted this year[...]
News |
ND coal studying supply of valuable rare earth elements
The same geological history that produced North Dakota’s coal history may hold additional value in the form of rare earth elements essential to the electronics and defense industries. Extracting those elements is the challenge, but investment from several government agencies is refining[...]
Commentary |
The Government Shouldn’t Compete With Private Businesses for Profits
Rob Port with the Say Anything Blog weighs in on the City of Minot’s proposed garbage pick-up policy revisions that would result in a mandated change of service from private haulers to City-provided garbage pick-up. The law change would capture about 1,200[...]
News |
Western governors back Endangered Species Act, with changes
The Western Governors Association, an association of 22-western Governors, met in Montana recently. Among the topics of business, a discussion and ultimately a resolution in support of the Endangered Species Act with a few caveats. Some of the concerns are that states[...]
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News |
Five members named to state Economic Development Foundation board
The Economic Development Foundation board was established by the legislature in 2001 to provide an oversight role for the state’s economic development efforts. What’s curious about the appointments and the larger board makeup is there isn’t a single member from Minot on[...]
News |
Minneapolis City Council gives tentative approval to $15 minimum wage
It appears the minimum wage experiments in cities across the U.S. will continue. Minneapolis is the latest large city to take up the economically-controversial topic with a proposal to raise minimum wages to $15 per hour. Seattle recently implemented their own mandated[...]
News |
Seattle’s minimum-wage increase made the most vulnerable workers poorer
In the battle for a higher minimum wage, the logic seems clear; raise wages for the lowest earners among us to bring them closer to a living wage. It’s great in intention, but it would now seem that in real world practice,[...]
News |
Oil country eases into break from frantic growth
Did the oil bust in Western North Dakota? Though we all know it slowed down, it doesn’t seem like ‘bust’ is the correct description. And the same can be said for at least some of the outside media coverage of North Dakota’s[...]
News |
Oil climbs on weaker dollar, but rise in U.S. drilling drags
The number of active drilling rigs in the U.S. has been growing in recent months and so has the oil output. Both have combined to put downward pressure on the price of oil which has recently risen above the lows produced by[...]
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News |
How Sweden is pushing toward the seemingly impossible goal of zero emissions
Our distant Scandinavian relatives have built themselves some pretty sustainable energy infrastructure, just 5% of Sweden’s energy comes from fossil fuels. But they’ve set an even higher goal — be 100% sustainable by 2045. And the problems they have to solve in[...]
News |
Bakken leads rig count increase
There are a lot of barometers we can use to measure the amount of activity taking place in the oil field and which direction it’s heading, and one of them is the rig count; that’s the number of active drilling rigs working in[...]
News |
Grand Forks Voters choose to build on Arbor Park after close vote
Grand Forks residents narrowly chose economic activity and a new development in downtown Grand Forks over keeping a park that was put in place following the 1997 flood. But a quote from Grand Forks City Council President Dana Sande is perhaps most telling[...]
Commentary |
Evidence for a New Economic Development Model?
Economic growth, economic diversity, these are buzzwords in North Dakota and in Minot right now. The City’s NDR application talks about it; our consultant on the project, CDM Smith, even has a $300,000 budget to create an ‘Economic Development Strategic Plan for[...]
News |
Shakeup at IRET Results in Leadership Transition to Minneapolis
One of Minot’s larger employers, IRET, is going through a company transition that will result in significant operating changes. In a news release available on the IRET website, the company announced the retirement and pending retirement of several top executives. In addition to the[...]
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Commentary |
Fact Checking Claims About Economic Incentives
In the doldrums of the oil downturn, economic resiliency, development, and diversity have never been more important. And it’s become apparent — especially here in Minot where we see evidence of businesses closing almost weekly, that we haven’t been very good at[...]