County Representation

I attended the pre-primary Cavalier County Commissioner candidate forum and was intrigued by the fact that some of the candidates felt that counties could have better representation in the state legislature if county commissioners served as legislators.

I’m sure a commissioner would know the needs of his or her particular county commission, but I believe that’s the extent of the “advantage”.

Legislators must represent all of the people, not just county commissioners. However, preceeding the two sessions I have served District 10, I have met with the commissioners of all three of our counties and asked them to indentify specific needs in their individual counties. I also attend Township Officer Association meetings to identify needs of townships within District 10. I have regular contact with water resource boards within and beyond our District. I also try to attend various events and meetings throughout the area to get a feel for peoples’ interests and concerns and be available for people to approach.

This brings to light another misconception - that serving in the ND Legislature requires only four months of time every other year. True, that is the maximum amount of time in session, but the position requires much more dedication of time than just the session. There are interim committees, any number of the meetings discussed previously, and personal contacts, phone calls, email, etc., etc.

Being a ND Legislator involves a huge time commitment, and I knew that when I made the decision to serve. I am honored to be entrusted with the duty of bringing the issues of District 10 before the Legislature and willingly dedicate my time to fulfilling that challenge. In spite of my best efforts I feel there are issues that have slipped through the cracks, and I’m still concerned about them.

Personally, I believe the combined time commitment for legislative and county commissioner duties would diminish the quality of service to one, if not both, of the positions.

Best regards,

Chuck

Sincere Thanks!

Thanks just doesn’t seem adequate. I really wish I could shake the hand of each of you who supported me with your vote in the June 10 primary election! I hope we can carry and increase this support into the November general election. It truly has been an honor and privilege to serve you in the ND Legislature the last four years and I honestly believe I can serve you better in the coming years with the experience I’ve gained. Once again, my most sincere, heartfelt thanks!

PS   I will be posting my thoughts and comments on issues on this website. I welcome your comment as well. Comments will be screened. Thanks again!

Food, energy, the high price of grain, and global warming.

Busy harvest.

(An article written by Chuck Damschen for the Monday, March 24, 2006 edition of the Cavalier County Republican, Ag Outlook.)

As we head into the 2008 crop season we do so with guarded optimism that the commodity prices we have enjoyed the past several months will carry on for the new crop. I’m no marketing expert, but when I can lock in a reasonable profit with some protection, I’m fairly well satisfied. So I contract most of next year’s barley as malting for $6.13 - 6.81/bu. and almost half of my anticipated wheat for $10.10/bu. I know, I know, I missed the market peak for new crop. I missed with all of my 2007 crop, too. But I sold on the upswing instead of after it peaked, for the most part, and I’m thankful for what I did get.

The question remains as to how long these prices will last. We have a pretty good idea how long the higher input prices will last. A number of reasons have been sighted for high commodity prices. I heard an author analyze that it was the planned use of ethanol that caused $20+/bu. wheat. While it may be true that all of our present agricultural production, if dedicated to energy production, would be only a small portion of the energy we now consume, I doubt many of us believe that’s why wheat hit $20+. The spike above $12/bu. is more likely attributed to speculators bidding to cover their positions with little grain left in the country.

I believe the turn toward renewable energy supplements has certainly contributed to increased grain prices. More so, the fact that the world has consistently consumed more food than i has produced, dwindling the supply. Market analysts predict that this trend will continue into the future which whould mean good prices for our commodities. I hope they’re right!

The problem with high grain prices is that it prices itself out of economic feasibility in the renewable fuels market. As the renewable energy industry develops it will very likely advance in its efficiency of converting grain or biomass into fuel. If and when it will become competitive with fossil fuels has not been determined. In the meantime we should be utilizing all of our resources wherever they are available.

One of the greatest obstacles to utilization of our resources is extreme environmentalism making the construction of oil refineries and coal fired power plants cost prohibitive as well as blocking the development of oil fields in several prime areas. The myth that human activities have caused global warming and that global warming is a crisis it he latest obstacle to efficient energy production. An article concerning global warming, entitled “Anatomy of a Fake Consensus“, by Joseph Bast, appears in the Heartland Institutes’s Environment and Climate News magazine. It has this to say about the UN climate alarmist branch, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC):

The best that can be said about the latest IPCC report [claiming a scientific consensus on man-made global warming] is that it represents a negotiated political statement by about 50 scientists and many politicians, UN bureaucrats, and green activists.

We can use all of the energy we are capable of producing right now. Cooperation between the traditional and renewable energy industries is essential. In the meantime, let’s make the best we can of the positive effect this changing world is having on production agriculture. And let’s hope the government will promote the development of all of our available energy resources.