Media Alert: Carbon capture loans could leave North Dakota taxpayers on the hook for $250M

From the Jamestown Sun:

“It’s approved unless there’s evidence that it shouldn’t be,” said Dustin Gawrylow, the managing director of the North Dakota Watchdog Network, which keeps tabs on state spending. Though Bank of North Dakota officials operate independently, Gawrylow said, “they know they’re going to be hearing it from certain people” if they reject a loan application from such a high-priority project.

Though Republican leadership said making the $250 million available to Project Tundra was always a top objective of the recent legislative session, Gawrylow noted the funds didn’t show up in a bill until late March, after much of the formal hearing process had ended.

“They were trying to hide the ball,” Gawrylow said. He argued the loan program would have had trouble passing if it was introduced on its own, particularly on the House side where Democrats and libertarian conservatives make up a sizable voting block.