Climate Fast Facts: North Dakota

Climate & Energy Resources

• Latest Climate Science (Union of Concerned Scientists)
• Global Warming & North Dakota (National Wildlife Federation)
• Cost of Delay (Environmental Defense Fund)
• Meeting the International Clean Energy and Climate Change Challenges (The White House)

Jobs

North Dakotans stand to gain much by green investment. A $150 billion clean energy investment across the country would bring 4,000 jobs and about $330 million investment to the state, reducing unemployment by 1.2 percent. Low-income workers’s wages would increase by 2.4 percent.

• Clean-Energy Investments Create Jobs in North Dakota (Center for American Progress/PERI)
• Green Prosperity: How Clean-Energy Policies Can Fight Poverty and Raise Living Standards in North Dakota (Natural Resources Defense Council & Green For All)
• Clean Energy and Climate Policies Lead to Economic Growth in North Dakota (Environmental Entrepreneurs)

Opportunity

Investments in renewable energy sources will deliver a significant boost to the North Dakotan economy. An investment in green infrastructure in the United States of $100 billion would bring 331 solar jobs and  271 in wind to the state.

• ACES Funding for Efficiency Investments-ND (Environment Northeast)

• Charting a New Path for North Dakota’s Electricity Generation and Use (National Wildlife Federation)
• The Clean Energy Economy: North Dakota (Pew Environment Group)
• Renewable Energy Works: North Dakota

Cut Costs

The average family in North Dakota will save $10.95 per month on vehicle fuel costs if the American Clean Energy and Security Act was enacted.

• Climate Bill Cuts Electricity Bills (Natural Resources Defense Council)
• Climate-Protection Policies Cut Fuel Bills (Natural Resources Defense Council)
• Summary of Competitiveness Provisions in ACES (Center for Clean Air Policy)
• Analysis of Allowances to States, Energy Consumers Under HR 2454 (World Resources Institute)
• Carbon Cap Critics Predict Healthy Economy in North Dakota under Cap-and-Trade (PERI/UMASS)
• Cumulative Natural Gas & Electricity Savings from a National RES (Union of Concerned Scientists)

Climate Consequences

If the climate crisis is not addressed, significant health, agricultural and water issues will implact South Dakota. Heavy rainfalls will increase expontentially, with big storms historically seen only once every 20 years instead coming every 4 to 6 years by the end of the century. Flooding and severe flooding will be especially devastating for crops and lead to increase cases of waterborne diseases.

• Human Health Impacts of Global Warming on North Dakota (Pew Environment Group)

• Climate Change Impacts on the U.S. Great Plains: North Dakota Case Study (World Wildlife Federation)
• Heavy Rainfall and Increased Flooding Risk: Global Warming’s Wake-Up Call for the Central United States (National Wildlife Federation)
• Global Climate Change Impacts in the Great Plains (U.S. Global Change Research Program)
• Global Climate Change Impacts on the U.S.: Great Plains Assessment (Union of Concerned Scientists)
• Hotter Fields, Lower Yields: Global Warming's Impact on Agriculture (Environment America)

• The Corn and Climate Report (US Climate Change Science Program)
• A Preliminary Analysis of the Effects of HR 2454 on U.S. Agriculture (USDA)

• Climate Change in the United States: The Prohibitive Costs of Inaction (Union of Concerned Scientists)

State Actions

While Congress debates climate and energy legislation on the Hill, the North Dakotan state government has set goals for state renewable portfolio standards and has instituted financial incentives that promote biofuels.

• Repower North Dakota (Alliance for Climate Protection)
• State Action on Global Warming (Pew Center on Climate Change) (see maps on state actions)
• North Dakota Alliance for Renewable Energy (NDARE)
• Seven North Dakota conservation, faith-based, environmental and agricultural groups have formed the North Dakota Climate Solutions Partnership
• International Climate Stewardship Solutions Conference

Regulating Carbon Markets

• Five Reasons Why Trading Allowances Will Help Meet Our Climate Objectives (Natural Resources Defense Council)
• The Senate’s Role in Getting Carbon Market Regulation Right (Natural Resources Defense Council)

News & Opinion

• An Array of Experts Tackle Climate Change (Bismarck Tribune)
• Johnson and Chiaro, Washington, column: Farming, coal mining and climate change (Grand Forks Herald)
• Father Schuster: Limiting CO2 Worth the Cost (Bismarck Tribune)
• Do What We Can About Climate (Bismark Tribune)
• Viewpoint: Cap and Trade has worked in the past (Grand Forks Herald)
• Co-ops Bear Responsibility (Bismark Tribune)