Letters: Sept. 13, 2021

Cramer pens letter to Senate leaders about energy policies

U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the Senate Budget Committee, wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Wednesday, expressing his opposition to Democrats’ proposed $4 trillion spending package and the energy policies contained in it.

“I write to you to express my opposition to your pursuit of passing another massive spending package filled with partisan wish-list items and higher taxes on the American people,” wrote Senator Cramer. “As our colleague Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal, ‘Instead of rushing to spend trillions on new government programs and additional stimulus funding, Congress should hit a strategic pause on the budget-reconciliation legislation.’ I agree.”

The letter focuses on the negative impact of a fee on methane emissions from oil and natural gas facilities, a plan based on Democratic legislation known as the Methane Emissions Reduction Act of 2021. This proposal would assess an escalating $1,800 per-ton fee on businesses based on their share of activity in a particular geologic basin versus the company’s actual emissions. Groups including American Petroleum Institute and the North Dakota Petroleum Council, the American Gas Association, the Interstate National Gas Association, and the Gas & Oil Association of West Virginia have recently voiced their opposition as well.

“One of the most concerning aspects of your proposal is its attack on U.S. energy, [and] I am particularly concerned with the proposed fee on methane emissions from oil and natural gas facilities,” wrote Senator Cramer. “Given the magnitude of the fee, natural gas utilities will likely seek cost recovery from rate regulators which then results in increased costs for consumers at every income level.”

In the letter, Senator Cramer outlined how such a penalty is unnecessarily punitive and would lead to companies making fewer investments in lowering carbon emissions. The senator notes the economic harm it would cause energy producing states and contrasts the proposal with the bipartisan infrastructure bill the Senate recently passed which streamlined the permitting process for projects that reduce methane emissions.

“If passed, these measures will lead to job loss and reduce funding for schools, parks, and other programs directly and indirectly funded by industry royalties and taxes. Most ironically, these proposals would increase global emissions by making us dependent on dirtier foreign sources of energy,” concluded Senator Cramer. “I urge you to resist the insatiable demands from the environmental left and do what is right for all Americans by opposing a new fee on methane emissions from oil and natural gas facilities.”

Letter to Gov. Burgum regarding childcare crisis

Dear Governor Burgum,

Child care is a critical component of a thriving economy. Access to affordable child care is essential for parents to stay in the workforce. Many communities across North Dakota lack accessible and affordable child care to meet the demand for our state’s working families. Fourteen counties in North Dakota meet less than 60 percent of the demand, and eight of these counties also experience high unemployment or poverty. Parents that need care during non-traditional hours find even fewer options. Only three percent of licensed programs are open during the weekends, four percent open during evenings, and 25 percent open during early morning hours. For families that do find care, the cost is often out of reach. Child care is as expensive as in-state tuition at UND or NDSU. This means for full-time infant care, families spend between $7,600 and $9,500 on average each year. At the same time, child care businesses struggle to stay open and often must sacrifice worker pay to continue operating. Child care workers earn $24,150 per year, if working full time at the median wage of $11.61, just barely hovering above poverty level for a family of three.

A better child care system is in reach for North Dakota. As the state spends $76 million in relief money from the American Rescue Plan Act, we are urging policymakers to invest in solutions that balance the needs of working families and child care businesses. Our specific recommendations to improve child care in North Dakota include:

Access

• Prioritize federal child care funding to reach areas with the most significant need.

• Provide start-up or capacity grants to support new and existing providers with the ability to expand their capacity in areas with low-income child care supply.

• Expand Head Start capacity and Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships, particularly in tribal communities operating tribal Head Start programs.

Quality

• Provide additional support to expand mental health resources for child care providers.

• Identify and remove barriers for participating in the quality rating and improvement system (QRIS).

• Align licensing and quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) requirements with Head Start.

Affordability

• Reach more families eligible for child care assistance.

• Expand a shared services model to make it easier for child care businesses to coordinate common services.

• Increase pay for child care workers and ensure professional development opportunities are within reach.

The undersigned organizations express our support for strengthening the child care system in North Dakota. Now is the time to invest in child care and build a system that works for parents, child care providers, and moves North Dakota’s economy forward.

North Dakota KIDS COUNT

North Dakota Department of Public Instruction

North Dakota United

North Dakota AFL-CIO

North Dakota Farmers Union

North Dakota’s Building Trades Unions

North Dakota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics

North Dakota Rural Health Association

North Dakota Women’s Network

American Civil Liberties of North Dakota

North Dakota Human Rights Coalition

Northern Valley Labor Council, AFL-CIO

Northern Plains United Labor Council, AFL-CIO

Missouri Slope Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO

Northern Chapter of the Missouri Slope Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO

Community Action Partnership of North Dakota

Fargo-Moorhead Coalition to End Homelessness

High Plains Fair Housing Center

Family Voices North Dakota

Hunger Free North Dakota

North Dakota Voices Network