Latest North Dakota Headlines
All the headlines from our North Dakota Topic Page, ordered by recency.
North Dakota Farmers Accused of Intentionally Spoiling Spuds Plead Not Guilty
Feb 28 2014 // Two brothers who operated a North Dakota potato farm pleaded not guilty to charges they intentionally spoiled their spud crop after the 2006 harvest in order to collect federal disaster payments. Aaron Johnson, 50, and...
U.S. to Mandate Tests of Oil Being Transported by Train
Feb 26 2014 // Federal regulators issued an emergency order on Tuesday requiring oil from North Dakota being loaded onto trains to be tested and properly labeled to reflect its volatile nature after a series of explosive train...
Industry Agrees to New Oil-by-Rail Safety Measures
Feb 24 2014 // Many oil-by-rail shipments will slow down through urban areas and track inspections will increase on high-traffic areas in response to a string of fiery derailments in the last several months, the American Association of...
Keep Away from Small Farms, Lawmakers Tell Safety Agency OSHA
Feb 4 2014 // Small farms have been off-limits to the federal agency that oversees workplace safety for decades. But lawmakers in North Dakota and other states have grown sufficiently concerned that they’re warning the Obama...
N.Y. Gov. Orders Agencies to Review Emergency Response Plans for Oil Trains
Jan 29 2014 // New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday ordered state agencies to review and update emergency response plans for rail shipments of crude oil that pass through the state in the wake of recent derailments out of North...
Canada, U.S. Safety Agencies Urge Fast Action on Oil-by-Rail Cars
Jan 24 2014 // North American regulators should phase out the type of rail car involved in last July’s deadly Lac-Megantic crash “sooner rather than later,” Canadian investigators said on Thursday, urging the United...
Remapping, Subsidy Loss Raising North Dakota Flood Insurance Costs
Jan 17 2014 // Had Greg Larson, a realtor and riverside homeowner in Bismarck, N.D., and his family changed their flood insurance policy, their cost would have gone from $705 a year to $4,200. Increases in flood insurance rates are...
Punctured Cars in North Dakota Train Crash Spilled 400K Gallons of Crude Oil
Jan 15 2014 // Eighteen of 20 tanker cars carrying oil that derailed in the fiery crash of two trains in North Dakota in late December were punctured, spilling more than 400,000 gallons of crude oil, safety regulators reported. In a...
New Rail Oil Tank Car Safety Standards Expected This Month
Jan 10 2014 // U.S. officials have promised to issue within weeks new safety standards for the kind of tank cars involved in a spate of fiery derailments in recent months, a lawmaker said on Thursday. Rail cars carrying crude oil out of...
Pressure Mounts to Improve Oil-Rail Safety; Older Tank Cars in Canada Crash
Jan 10 2014 // Political pressure to quickly improve the safety of crude oil rail shipments intensified in Washington on Thursday, while Canadian officials said two of the cars involved in the latest fiery derailment were of an older...
U.S. Sen. Schumer Seeks to Turn Up Heat on Railcar Safety
Jan 7 2014 // U.S. Senator Charles Schumer on Monday called for an overhaul of old rail tank cars used to carry crude oil after a spate of explosive derailments over the past year. The New York Democrat joined a growing number of...
North Dakota Train Fire Restarts Oil Transport Safety Debate
Jan 2 2014 // The derailment and fire that led to the evacuation of a North Dakota town has renewed the debate over whether it’s safer to ship oil by rail or pipeline as the U.S. completes a review of the Keystone XL...
Crude Oil Train in North Dakota Catches Fire After Derailing
Dec 31 2013 // A BNSF Railway Co. train carrying oil caught fire after a collision with railcars in North Dakota, causing a series of explosions that prompted police to urge local residents to evacuate the area. There were no injuries to...
U.S. Opens Skies to Test Use of Aerial Drones
Dec 31 2013 // The U.S. government took a step on Monday toward opening the skies to aerial drones, authorizing six sites where unmanned aircraft can be tested for a variety of uses. The Federal Aviation Administration already had...
North Dakota Workers’ Comp Mulls Suing Aon eSolutions Over Failed Project
Dec 12 2013 // North Dakota’s workers’ compensation agency is considering suing a company that failed to complete a $17 million computer system overhaul. Workforce Safety and Insurance hired Chicago-based Aon eSolutions in...
Workplace Fatalities Up in North Dakota, Stay the Same in South Dakota
Dec 4 2013 // Workplace fatalities in North Dakota last year totaled 64, up 20 over the year. In South Dakota, workplace fatalities last year totaled 31, unchanged from the previous year. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics says...
State Insurance Commissioners Lack Consensus on Cancellations
Nov 21 2013 // Kansas, North Dakota and other state insurance commissioners snubbed a meeting with President Barack Obama set up to discuss allowing some people to keep medical plans that don’t meet the requirements of the U.S....
Flood Grant Program Proving Popular In North Dakota City
Nov 15 2013 // A program that will help homeowners in Minot, N.D. with repair costs following devastating Souris River flooding two years ago is proving popular. More than 700 people have applied for assistance from a program that offers...
North Dakota Commission OKs Spending For Disaster Recoveries
Nov 14 2013 // The North Dakota Emergency Commission has approved spending requests for weather-related disasters this year. The Bismarck Tribune reported National Guard state commander Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk brought the requests...
Oil Tank Train Derails in Alabama; Cars Erupt in Flames
Nov 10 2013 // Several oil tank cars that burst into flames after a train derailed in rural Alabama were expected to keep burning into Saturday, potentially reigniting the push for tougher regulation of the boom in moving oil by...
