DRC LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Friday, February 23, 2007

LOBBY DAY!
There will be a lobby day next Thursday, March 1 for members who wish to come up to the Capitol and attend hearings and/or lobby legislators on a bill.  We will meet in the Capitol cafeteria at 7:30 a.m. central time for breakfast and a briefing of the day’s events.  It will be fun and educational!  Please call or email Mary in the Bismarck office if you plan to come or have questions: mary@drcinfo.com  or 701-224-8587.
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ACTION ALERT!!!!  YOUR CALLS ARE NEEDED!!
The Senate Hearing on HB 1229 was held this morning and we need calls and emails generated to the Senate Natural Resources Committee asking them to support this bill. This bill addresses oil well set backs and notification to landowners and adjoining landowners. Ask them to:

• Protect landowners from having wells drilled too close to their homes. A set back of 500 feet is not far enough. That is barely 1/10th of a mile. This distance needs to be at least one-half mile. The bill started out with a setback of 660 feet and was amended to 500 feet.
• Tell the committee members that a landowner who lives near a proposed well needs to have the opportunity to appear at the meetings of the Industrial Commission. Without such notice, they could not possibly be aware of such meetings.
• Tell the committee members that if there is no adjoining landowner notification, they cannot, with any certainty, know that they need to have a water quality and quantity test to protest their water sources.
• Tell the committee that this notification needs to be required within one-mile of a proposed oil or gas well.

The oil lobby testified in hard opposition to this bill and the committee needs to know that problems with wells being drilled too close to homes are a problem and not a “rare” happening.

Senator Stan Lyson, Chair        slyson@nd.gov                 701-572-7025
Senator Ben Tollefson, Vice Chair  btollefson@nd.gov      701-839-4949
Senator Layton W. Freeborg                no email                701-442-5712
Senator Joel Heitkamp                  jheitkamp@nd.gov    701- 242- 7968
Senator Jim Pomeroy           jpomeroy@nd.gov                  701-281-0286
Senator Constance Tripplet ctriplett@nd.gov                      701-772-8009
Senator Herb Urlacher              no email                            701-974-3682        

Any legislator can be reached by calling the Legislative Message Center at 1-888-635-3447 
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Note:  Now that crossover is past, the majority of the bills have switched houses, with the exception of resolutions.

ACTION IN THE PAST WEEK

Ag Bills

• HB 3061: DRC testified before the House Agriculture Committee in favor of this study, which would direct the Legislative Council to study the financial and environmental impacts of confined animal feeding operations on property owners and communities and to recommend laws concerning siting and regulation.  We recommended that the study also look at social impacts to communities.  Farmers Union also supported the bill.
• SCR 4007:  DRC, along with other ag groups, supported this bill, which is a resolution urging Congress to adequately fund state meat inspection programs and to allow interstate sales of state-inspected meat products.

Coal and Transmission Bills

• HB 1193: This bill received a 7-0 “do pass” recommendation from the Senate Natural Resources Committee.  DRC had testified against the bill in the House but it was clearly on a roll. It was introduced at the request of Basin Electric, proposes to classify electricity generated from hydropower as renewable.  This would enable Basin to deduct its WAPA allotment from its total generation in order to calculate its renewable requirements.  DRC opposed this provision in the House because it would slow the development of new renewable technology.

Renewable Energy Bills

• HB 1231: DRC was again the lone dissenter in opposing this bill before the Senate Natural Resources Committee.  It would allow the sellers of property to maintain the rights to wind payments after the property is sold.  DRC opposes this bill because we see it as a form of severing wind rights.
• SCR 4033:  (Sen. Potter, Rep. Glassheim) DRC was alone it its testimony in support of this late resolution that calls for a study of federal and state initiatives to aid ND’s energy industry in efforts to control carbon emissions and pollutants.  The bill was heard Friday by the Senate Natural Resources Committee.

Oil and Gas Bills

• HB 1229: DRC member Tom Irgens and staff Cindy Klein testified in support of this bill. Originally worded to restrict oil or gas wells from being drilled within 660 feet of a residence, it was amended to 500 feet.  Aspects from a notification bill, HB 1182, were amended into HB 1229, which would require companies to notify owners of occupied dwellings ¼ mile from the proposed drilling sites of their intent to drill at least 20 days before applying for a permit.  We are hoping to amend the bill in the Senate to specify a distance of 1mile.  Oil and gas industry reps testified in opposition to the bill.

ACTION IN THE COMING WEEK

Ag Bills:

• HB 1099: (Industry, Business and Labor Committee at the request of the State Board of Higher Education).  This bill would define two existing provisions in state law regarding proprietary information.  This bill comes on the heels of an attorney general’s opinion, requested by DRC, that determined that the NDSU research foundation’s records dealing with its contracts with Monsanto are public record.  DRC is tracking this bill.  Senate Judiciary Committee, Fort Lincoln Room, Wednesday, February 28, 10:30 a.m.
• SB 2128:  (Agriculture Committee at the request of the State Seed Commission).  This is the seed department bill that DRC initially had concerns about but which was amended.  Supposedly, it was to update seed regulations to conform to actual practices but originally seemed to prevent individuals from registering developed seed.  We will be monitoring it. House Agriculture Committee, Peace Garden Room, Thursday, March 1, 9 a.m.
• SB 2335:  (Sens. Urlacher and Klein) Some DRC members might be interested in this bill, which would provide an appropriation to expand organic production and processing in the state.  House Agriculture Committee, Peace Garden Room, Thursday, March 1, 9 a.m.
• HCR 3033:  (Reps. Froelich and S. Meyer), Would urge Congress not to allow imports of Canadian cattle over 3 months of age into the U.S.  Senate Agriculture Committee, Roosevelt Park Room, Friday, March 2, 9:45 a.m.

Renewable energy bills

• HCR 3020:  (Reps. Mueller, Gulleson, Nelson, Vig and Sens. Taylor, Triplett)  This resolution would support a federal renewable energy goal of 25% by 2025.  DRC supports this bill.  Senate Natural Resources, Fort Linclon Room, Friday, March 2, 9 a.m.
• SB 2288: (Sens. Nething, Erbele and Heitkamp and Reps. DeKrey, Gruchalla and Nelson) This bill as introduced would have created a $20 million renewable energy fund. DRC supported it. However, the Senate Agriculture Committee gutted the bill, knocked the appropriations down to $3 million, and changed it from a “renewable energy” to an “energy independence” bill.  DRC had supported the bill but is re-evaluating its position.  House Natural Resources, Pioneer Room, Thursday, March 1, 9 a.m.
• SB 2180:  (Sens. Klein, Wanzek and Wardner and Reps. Belter, Brandenburg and Pollert), This bill would permit animal feeding operations using by-products from a biofuels plant to qualify for money under community expansion fund and would change the Biodiesel Partnership to the “Biofuels Partnership.”  House Natural Resources Committee, Pioneer Room, Thursday, March 1, 9 a.m.