2024-03-15 06:00:00
The plan was put together by the DEQ, consulting firm Environmental Resources Management, and the University of North Dakota Energy and Environmental Research Center.
North Dakota received a $3 million grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to support the effort as part of the Climate Pollution Reduction Grants program authorized in the Inflation Reduction Act to reduce heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions. The plan will be submitted to the EPA for an implementation grant of between $2 million and $500 million under the second phase of the program this year.
The DEQ gathered public input for the state’s plan at 24 in-person meetings in eight of North Dakota’s larger cities, along with three online sessions and an online survey. There were 65 people at the in-person sessions, 125 logged on for the Zoom meetings, and 121 completed the online survey. The state also engaged with all five tribal nations in North Dakota, three of whom have their own CPRG planning grants from the EPA.
DEQ Director Dave Glatt said for this round of funding the group putting together the plan was looking for projects that are “shovel ready.” He said the projects chosen represent a middle ground between those who showed up to the meetings more concerned about the environment and those more concerned about the state’s larger industries.
There will be more rounds of funding from the EPA later for other programs he added.
“We’re able to identify these projects that are ready to go now, and they can apply for grants in the short term and get this ball rolling,” he said. The DEQ identified programs, but they are and will continue to be implemented by other government or private entities.
Expanding programs
On the efficiency front, funding could expand a program administered by the North Dakota Department of Commerce to provide political subdivisions and tribal governments with more energy-saving technologies for electricity and heating in public buildings. The document also included an ongoing plan by Fargo — North Dakota’s largest city — to replace all of its streetlights with LEDs that require less energy and last longer. Bismarck already is in the midst of such a program, and Mandan plans one.
Improving agricultural land management practices can help naturally sequester carbon dioxide, reduce nitrous oxide emissions and local pollution, and in some cases require less fossil fuel use by farmers. The funding would expand the Climate-Smart Agricultural Program administered by the North Dakota Farmers Union to increase the availability of incentives for practices such as cover crops, reduced and no-till farming, crop rotation, prescribed grazing, hay planting and more.
Another land management project that could get expanded is a soil health program administered by the North Dakota Association of Soil Conservation Districts. This would also make cover crop programs and no-till technology more accessible. A number of conservation programs are better for soil health and the climate but can be expensive and difficult for farmers to implement without added funding.
More funding could also go to a statewide tree planting initiative, also run by the Association of Soil Conservation Districts, which has received 200 more applications than what can be funded every year since the program was first implemented in 2017, according to the document.
Estimated emissions reductions of the combined programs would be a little more than 530,000 metric tons of CO2 by 2030, and just over 2.3 million metric tons by 2050.
Net emissions in North Dakota in 2019 were equivalent to 85 million metric tons of CO2, according to the document.
Emissions inventory
In addition to its plan, the DEQ also released an inventory of state greenhouse gas emissions from 2019 accounting for CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions — the latter two gases are much more potent than CO2, but are not as prevalent. To get a standard measurement of emissions, they are often written in their equivalent to CO2. Some other gases were examined too, though they account only for around 3% of emissions, according to the report.
Industrial emissions from manufacturing, food processing and fertilizer production led the state’s greenhouse gas output with 18.2 million metric tons of CO2. This was followed by oil and gas production at 16.8 million metric tons, agriculture at 15.1 million metric tons, electric power generation at 13.7 million metric tons, commercial and residential buildings and waste at 11.5 million metric tons, and transportation at 9.7 million metric tons. Agriculture’s total emissions were technically higher — totaling 19.9 million metric tons — but since cropland also can act as a carbon sink, 4.8 million metric tons of CO2 were offset.
Measurements were based on a structure provided by the EPA, according to Glatt.
Most North Dakota oil is exported and most oil and gas emissions come from use, not production, according to the International Energy Agency. Glatt said there were some end uses included in the measurements for oil and gas, though those can be more difficult to account for.
Gov. Doug Burgum in 2021 set a goal for the state to be carbon neutral by 2030, which is mentioned a number of times in DEQ’s document. So far, this goal has mostly involved efforts to deploy carbon capture technology at emissions sources such as power plants and ethanol processing facilities.
Glatt said DEQ will be just one of many state agencies to help try to reach that goal.
“Whether you believe in climate change or not, this is identifying things that are good for sustainability reasons, a wise use of the resources, and they can save you money, so why not?” he said. “And then for those that really find it rewarding, they can get the emissions reduction on top of that.”
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