Oct 30, 2008 - 04:06:07 CDT
Cheryl Bergian already has a role model on North Dakota's Public Service Commission - the incumbent Republican whom the Democratic candidate wants to replace."I think she's done a good job. I think of her as the consumer advocate on the commission," Bergian says of Susan Wefald, who is leaving in December after 16 years on the three-member regulatory panel.
Bergian's Republican challenger, Brian Kalk, a North Dakota State University professor and former Marine logistics officer, believes his military and academic background have given him a pro-consumer outlook as well.
"I was a 20-year-old Marine private. That's about as low on the food chain as you can get. There's no better consumer advocate than a Marine private," Kalk said. "When I look at issues, I look at how they affect that 20-year-old kid, or that 25-year-old, or that 60-year-old."
Kalk, 42, and Bergian, 47, are competing to work in an agency that has taken on an increasingly prominent role in overseeing the state's energy projects.
It is Bergian's second PSC campaign in two years. She lost a close race to incumbent Republican Tony Clark in 2006, getting 48 percent of the vote.
The Public Service Commission regulates the locations of large wind farms, oversees pipeline siting, and is in charge of examining proposals for new and expanded coal mining. It supervises land reclamation when the property's lignite supply is exhausted.
It reviews electric and natural gas rate increases for North Dakota's stockholder-owned utilities, which have become more likely with rising energy prices and plans for new electric power plants.
The commission also licenses grain elevators and auctioneers, inspects residential natural gas pipelines for possible safety violations, and enforces standards on weights and measures.
The agency has 41 employees and a two-year budget of $12.9 million. The three commissioners are elected to six-year terms and paid $81,743 annually. The commission's other two members are Republicans Clark and Kevin Cramer.
Kalk's campaign has focused on the commission's role in promoting increased energy production.
He holds a Ph.D. in natural resources management from NDSU, where he teaches logistics, resource management, civil engineering and political science.
"I want to develop energy, I want to create jobs, I want to use my (academic background) to make sure we do it the right way," Kalk said. "That's been my message, and I've stuck with it, because that is who I am."
Kalk, a retired Marine Corps major and Iraq war veteran, was a logistics specialist during his service. For two years, he was a compliance officer at Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego in southern California, where he had to make sure strict environmental rules were obeyed.
"I've worked on projects to site pipelines. I've worked on projects to develop power lines. I've worked on integrated natural resource plans," he said. "I've got the hands-on experience."
Bergian, an attorney, consultant to nonprofit groups and former director of the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition in Fargo, has been a student of the PSC's operations since her first campaign.
Bergian said she listens to the commission's Web broadcasts of its meetings and pores through public filings on its Web site. She has followed the progress of new wind energy projects and a proposed coal gasification plant in southwestern North Dakota, and monitored an Xcel Energy request to increase its electric rates.
She believes the commission, while overseeing increased energy production, should do more to encourage conservation. Wefald has made a point of encouraging the use of compact fluorescent light bulbs, which use less energy than traditional bulbs.
The commission also should improve its efforts to reach out to North Dakotans who are directly affected by energy projects and inform them about the possible consequences of development, she said.
"I want to be the voice of the consumer," Bergian said.
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