By Jeff Beach | Deputy editor
Republican Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring responds to his opponent, Democratic nominee Vern Thompson, during a debate on Oct. 13, 2026. (Photo by Jacob Orledge/North Dakota Monitor)
By Jacob Orledge
Republican Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring sparred with Democratic challenger Vern Thompson on tariffs, the farm crisis and more during a debate recorded this week.
The debate also crystallized a key difference in how the two candidates view the role of government when it comes to overseeing the development of data centers and other industries.
Kyle Haustveit, under secretary of energy at the U.S. Department of Energy, talks about the potential of enhanced oil recovery during a press conference hosted by the North Dakota Petroleum Council on Oct. 16, 2026. With Haustveit is Sen. John Hoeven. Photo by Jacob Orledge/North Dakota Monitor)
By Jacob Orledge
A coalition of oil industry leaders, state officials and a U.S. senator are rallying support for the next stage of an oil field research project that could have a significant impact on North Dakota’s economic future.
The research centers on enhanced oil recovery, a collection of technologies that officials hope will double the amount of recoverable oil in North Dakota and extend the Bakken oil field’s longevity by decades.
Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., is working with Under Secretary of Energy Kyle Haustveit, a Tioga native, to unlock $400 million in federal loan guarantees to help fund the expanded initiative.
Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said he expects there to be an ask for state funding during the upcoming legislative session.
Volunteers from North Dakota Native Vote set up a booth outside the Sioux County Courthouse on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024. (Jacob Orledge/North Dakota Monitor)
By Michael Achterling
The North Dakota Department of Transportation is traveling to all five tribal nations in the state next week to provide free nondriver photo identification cards ahead of the election.
The ID cards will be issued to North Dakota residents 18 and older who do not have a driver’s license. Paperwork will be processed overnight and photo IDs will be mailed to residents within five days, the department said.
The first event is Monday at Standing Rock.
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North Dakota gives certain low-producing oil wells a tax break intended to help them keep operating, but the designation is permanent even if a well later produces much more oil.
Monitor reporter Jacob Orledge joins host Craig Blumenshine to discuss his recent reporting, which found that North Dakota is on pace to miss out on about $66 million this year in tax revenue from wells that no longer meet the criteria for the tax break.
A Closer Look with the Monitor is a partnership with Prairie Public's Main Street.
TOP ND MONITOR STORIES OF THE WEEK
This oil well operated by XTO Energy in Williams County, pictured Sept. 2, 2026, is certified as a stripper well. It produced 280 barrels of oil per day in May, eight times the threshold for the tax exemption, state data shows. (By Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)
The Monitor published a two-part series supported by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism:
By Jacob Orledge
An obscure tax incentive to keep older oil wells afloat is potentially costing North Dakota hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue, even as many of those wells no longer meet the program’s criteria.
The state is on pace to lose $66 million in tax revenue this year from the more than 700 oil wells that no longer qualify for the tax break but continue reaping the benefits, a North Dakota Monitor investigation found.
Unlike other top oil-producing states, North Dakota’s tax exemption is permanent even when a well begins producing more oil.
“I just don’t think this is good policy,” said Rep. Jon Nelson, R-Rugby.
By Jacob Orledge
More than one-third of North Dakota’s stripper wells that are exempt from half of the state’s oil tax would not qualify for that status in other major oil-producing states.
That’s because North Dakota defines a stripper well differently than those states do. North Dakota’s threshold for most wells is 35 barrels of oil per day, while other top oil states set that standard at 10 or 15 barrels per day.
North Dakota’s higher threshold allows more productive wells to qualify for the tax reduction.
Tony Clark, executive director of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, right, speaks Oct. 14, 2026, in Fargo on a panel discussing data centers. Also pictured are, from left, Robert Mayo, research specialist at North Dakota State University, Paul Matthys, president and CEO of Cass County Electric, and agriculture commissioner Doug Goehring. (Photo by Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)
By Jeff Beach
There’s no way of stopping the development of data centers and artificial intelligence, a North Dakota State University researcher said Wednesday, adding that attempts to slow development would only push it to other areas.
“It’s important to understand that AI is coming. These data centers will be built. There is nothing that can be done to stop it,” Robert Mayo, a research specialist at NDSU’s Challey Institute of Global Innovation and Growth. “All we can do is, through good public policy, choose how it develops and where it develops.”
Balconies of an apartment building are seen Sept. 8, 2026, in Bismarck, N.D. (Photo by Jack Dura/North Dakota Monitor)
By Jack Dura
A long-awaited federal grant has come through for the only fair housing organization in the Dakotas, resolving a monthslong funding gap that led the group to furlough half of its staff.
The Grand Forks-based High Plains Fair Housing Center had been waiting on the $425,000 final installment of a three-year Fair Housing Initiatives Program grant initially expected in May. But the delay extended over the summer, leading the center to furlough four of its eight staff last month.
A notification reached center Executive Director Michelle Rydz on Saturday that the grant money was in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s financial system for disbursing funds, she said.
THIS WEEK’S ELECTION 2026 COVERAGE
Rep. Mike Motschenbacher, right, is also the executive director of the North Dakota Gaming Alliance. Pictured here: The Republican lawmaker from Bismarck reviews hearing handouts next to Scott Meske, center, lobbyist for the North Dakota Gaming Alliance, and Rudie Martinson, executive director of the North Dakota Hospitality Association, during an administrative rules hearing on charitable gambling on Feb. 18, 2026, at the North Dakota Capitol. The hearing was outside of a legislative session. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
By Jack Dura
A Bismarck-area lawmaker says he is “completely separated” during the legislative session from his job heading a trade group for charitable gambling, a critical topic and burgeoning area of state law in recent years.
An ethics expert said Rep. Mike Motschenbacher could do more to better navigate the two jobs and potential conflicts of interest. A Democratic-NPL leader said he hasn’t been totally transparent with voters and should recuse himself from certain bill votes.
Motschenbacher, R-Bismarck, is seeking a second four-year term for District 47, an area of north Bismarck. Since late 2020, he has been the executive director of the North Dakota Gaming Alliance.
Motschenbacher takes a four-month, unpaid leave of absence from his job during the regular biennial session and does not sponsor or speak on gambling-related legislation, he said.
Democratic-NPL U.S. House candidate Trygve Hammer, right, speaks to moderators Rob Port, center-left, and Chad Oban, center-right, during a U.S. House debate with Republican incumbent Rep. Julie Fedorchak at Bismarck State College on Oct. 13, 2026. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
By Michael Achterling
North Dakota’s Republican and Democratic-NPL candidates for U.S. House debated the national debt, surging healthcare costs and farming concerns during their first – and probably only – debate of the 2026 election.
Republican incumbent Rep. Julie Fedorchak and Democrat Trygve Hammer also clashed over the Iran war during a recorded episode of Plain Talk, hosted by Forum Communications columnist Rob Port and Chad Oban, at Bismarck State College on Tuesday.
North Dakota Superintendent Levi Bachmeier, left, and superintendent candidate Tracy Foss, right, check the camera locations next to Plain Talk Podcast hosts Rob Port, center-left and Chad Oban, center-right, at Bismarck State College on Oct. 13, 2026, before beginning their debate for superintendent for the Department of Public Instruction. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
By Michael Achterling
Candidates for superintendent of the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction discussed teacher bonuses, tech in the classroom and funding public schools during a debate this week.
The debate hosted by Plain Talk Podcast co-hosts Rob Port and Chad Oban featured Superintendent Levi Bachmeier, a former business manager for West Fargo Public Schools who is running in his first statewide election, and Tracy Foss, a teacher with more than two decades of classroom experience from middle school to college students.
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