There's been increasing discussion about the prospect of drilling a borehole near my hometown of Rugby, N.D., just a few miles from my family's farm. It seems organizers hope the state-owned land will prove hospitable to nuclear waste.
In partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, UND's Energy and Environmental Research Center is helping to lead the project.
Local leaders and residents were unaware that such a project was being considered and have been none too pleased to hear of it. Indeed, the Pierce County Board of Commissioners imposed a temporary moratorium on the drilling involved.
But we all know that won't be the end of the story.
The EERC's project liaison was quoted as saying he was "surprised" by a meeting in January at which state officials expressed deep concern about the project.
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I am not surprised.
Since the state's formation, few have taken an interest in North Dakota's welfare unless there was a big profit motive. Absent that, the state's small and rural population came together to form a state bank, an electric cooperative and more.
Today, we need look no further than Flint, Mich., for proof that things are not always as the "experts" say. The brutal truth is that evidence matters less in places where there is the perception that the people will not use their collective voice to block potentially destructive action.
In this way, the people of my hometown are underestimated.
North Dakotans recognize that there is no "away" when we "throw away," whether nuclear waste or an old couch. The state already contributes to the world - agriculture, oil, gas, coal - so arguments that the state should do this for the "greater good" are vapid.
The project leaders have asserted that the project is not about nuclear waste, but about "science." The tone is condescending, to say the least. We may not understand the intricacies of nuclear waste storage, but face it: no one really does.
I invite the project leaders to stop speaking to North Dakotans as if we don't understand. We understand very well. We have something that the leaders want because no one else wants to deal with them.
Neighboring states, too, might be interested in knowing how the waste would be transported to North Dakota from across the country.
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And the project liaison should not feign surprise when North Dakotans refuse to accept a narrative in exchange for a wad of cash that won't pay for the unintended consequences. We can smell out insincerity as easily as we can identify deer droppings in the snow.
Kristi Rendahl
Minneapolis
