As Raye Miller plainly sees it, a move by the federal government to sell 8 percent of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to raise $3 billion to $5 billion is “a dumb idea.” Miller is president of Regeneration Energy Corp. in Artesia, New Mexico and a veteran oil man, whose business has a “whopping number of four employees.” Miller has seen his share of twists and turns in the Permian Basin, as well as the ups and the downs that characterize this tumultuous industry. “If they were going to take it out, they should have at least considered doing it at high prices instead of selling it out at $40 a barrel,” Miller told Watchdog.org. One provision in a proposed deal reached by the White House and congressional leaders Monday night includes tapping the strategic reserve to help shore up the budget.
Almost immediately after the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan was posted on the federal register, dozens of states filed a lawsuit challenging the regulations. But North Dakota didn’t join those other states as co-plaintiffs. Instead Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, a Republican who is expected to run for governor in 2016, filed a separate suit against the federal government. The Clean Power Plan requires a 32 percent nationwide decline in carbon emissions from power production by 2030. Stenehjem says there are aspects of the situation that are unique to North Dakota warranting a separate lawsuit. “We can and often do join other states in these type lawsuits and there are benefits to that,” Stenehjem told Watchdog, “but in this case there were reasons to file separately.” Final rule ‘quadrupled’ emissions goal…
The Department of Housing and Urban Development provided a $9.4 million loan guarantee to renovate an apartment complex here eight months after the owner convinced the county to value the complex at just $3.8 million, a Watchdog.org investigation found. The loan for Apollo Village Apartments defaulted and the property was foreclosed on in 2012 with HUD losing as much as $4.5 million on the deal, public trustee records show. Pete Sepp, president of the National Union of Taxpayers, said these government programs put a substantial amount of taxpayer money at risk and should be eliminated. “Unfortunately, many government loan programs to individual business people aren’t necessarily dictated by the best interests of taxpayers or the laws of the marketplace,” he said after reviewing information Watchdog.org provided him on the loan. “It’s a classic dilemma we see with the federal subsidies programs.”....
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