Governor Dalrymple praised the work of the ND Energy Impact Grant Advisory Committee saying "very well done" at the ND State Land Board meeting in the State Capitol yesterday.  The Advisory Committee is made up of local officials, and their task during this grant round was to review the energy impact grants for city infrastructure. 

It took the Advisory Committee two conference calls to complete its review process of the numerous grant applications.The total amount requested by western communities was over $422 million. In the end, however, the Advisory Committee made suggestions on adjusting the criteria for the grants, and landed final pledged dollars for this grant round at almost $71 million. The money will be officially awarded in July, but the Land Board supported their recommendation to begin the process.

Lance Gaebe, State Land Commissioner, (pictured left) presents the recommendations for city infrastructure grant awards to members of the ND State Board of University and School Lands (State Land Board).

New factors were applied for this go-round because of the shortage of available dollars. Sustainability became a major factor for grant awards. Does the city have a public safety issue, a school, medical facility, incorporation, a definite downtown, located near active oil rig activity, financial need, an active local government involved in planning? Those and other factors fed into a scoring sheet used to prioritize the grant requests. Also, the Advisory Committee recommended a 20% local match to stretch the $71 million as far as possible toward infrastructure projects. $9 million will be awarded to cities for infrastructure needs next year. Specific scoring factors for this grant round are available in the next article. According to the Energy Infrastructure and Impact Office (EIIO) handout, there would be no funding for mismanaged or neglected infrastructure. 

Advisory Committee members include Jim Arthaud, Dave Hynek, Brent Sanford, Lyn James, Floyd Miller, and Barry Jaeger.

Energy impact grants to be awarded in the 2013-15 biennium total $239.3 million. The impact program pays for its administrative costs out of the grant award so it's not the $240 million often cited by the press.

Of the $239.3 million, $143.5 million will be awarded in fiscal year 2014, and the remaining $95.7 million will be awarded in the second year of the biennium. State law requires no more than 60% to be allocated in the first year. The grand total includes specific allocations toward airports, dust control, emergency services, higher education for security, hub cities, K-12 schools, and a $16 million contingency. A total of $80 million is set aside for cities and villages. Villages are unincorporated cities. More information on the energy impact grant schedule is located on page 1 of this memorandum that was presented to the Land Board yesterday.  

The City of Bottineau received a $154,107 grant for its sanitary sewer expansion project from the remaining fund balance of the 2011-13 biennal appropriation. The largest awards dedicated by the Land Board were Tioga and Watford City at $10 million.

No action was taken on the $7 million allocated for law enforcement grants. The Land Board established an advisory committee, to be made up of law enforcement officials, in order to guide the process of awarding those grant dollars. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said he will add more western ND sheriffs to the existing Drug and Violent Crime Policy Board (DVCPB) to make up that advisory committee. The DVCPB already includes Sen. Stan Lyson and Mountrail County State's Attorney Wade Enget. All western sheriffs who are interested in serving are asked to call the Attorney General's office at (701) 328-2210 to let him know. More information on law enforcement grants is available on page 11 of the Land Board memorandum. 

Energy Infrastructure and Impact Office (EIIO) staff held regional meetings with applicants May 21, 23, 30, 31 and June 4 at locations throughout the west. Scoring was performed following the regional meetings by two EIIO staff and a contract engineer who assisted with the grant round. A score of 0 to 5 was given to each score criteria. The criteria and weighting factors used are listed below:  

• Meeting the grant round objective - weighting factor 10
• Financial need based on levy, cash, debt, revenue and other financial data - weighting factor 9
• Result of energy activity, relating to the latest county production numbers and active well counts obtained from the industrial commission website - weighting factor - 9
• Project addressing a public safety issue - weighting factor 10
• Project readiness, i.e. ready to implement - weighting factor 5
• Contributing to long term economic activity - weighting factor 4
• A complete application being submitted - weighting factor 3

The Energy Impact Grants Advisory Committee reviewed all applications and then by consensus the committee developed additional criteria to develop a recommendation for awards. The criteria included:

• Only water and sanitary sewer projects be considered
• Funding to projects that results in serving increased permanent population on a long-term basis
• No funding for neglected or mismanaged infrastructure (Arnegard, Wildrose wastewater)
• No funding for roads or bridges
• No funding for operation, maintenance and replacement of existing facilities, partial consideration provided to increase system capacity
• Non-critical infrastructure, like meter replacements, not included
• Only applications from cities in oil and gas producing counties recommended for funding
• No applicant to exceed a total of $10 million award
• Grant not to exceed 80% of water/sewer project cost, not more than requested amount
• Cities with more services were given priority consideration (examples cities with K-12 schools, medical, retail etc) 

The lignite industry has also been a stable component of the state's economy, accounting for about one in every 20 jobs in the state. The industry also provides about $100 million in taxes every year for the state and about $3 billion in total economic activity.

Substituting natural gas for coal to generate electricity would be a poor public policy decision as it would drive up the price of natural gas and electricity. In our cold climate, many North Dakotans heat their homes with natural gas. 

WTI Crude: $95.64

Brent Crude: $102.01

Natural Gas: $3.71

ND Rig Count: 187