SD News Watch has a story they’ve posted today with House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach declaring that he has a mind to ban anyone being able to drill a water well west river in his march to ban things like development and progress. And he’s declaring war or economic development organizations like Elevate Rapid City/
Rep. Scott Odenbach, a Republican from Spearfish who is majority leader in the House of Representatives, said he began to think about water conservation in western South Dakota after seeing a U.S. Geological Survey study released in late July.
and..
Odenbach added that he is concerned that some individuals and entities in the Black Hills, such as the development agency Elevate Rapid City, are promoting “growth for the sake of growth” that could negatively affect the existing high quality of life in the Black Hills.
and..
Johnson said enacting legislative barriers to growth could backfire by creating “artificial markets” that interfere with the free market and unwittingly block the arrival of people who aren’t already wealthy. That, he said, can drive up the cost of housing and necessary goods and services and make it harder for locals to remain.
“It’s easy to pick on a group like Elevate because we try to work toward wealth and prosperity, not unfettered growth,” Johnson said. “We try to allow kids to stay here, for the next generation of kids to have jobs.”
Johnson said Odenbach is taking an “anti-growth” stance that will prevent the Black Hills and its current and future residents from reaching their highest potential.
“The problem with folks like Odenbach is they’ve got their piece of the pie, right? They’ve got the Black Hills that they want and they don’t want your kids or your kids’ kids to have a piece of that,” Johnson said.
As the House Majority Leader is doing everything he can to stop economic development out west, I have to go remind myself about those things the Republican Party’s platform says about development..
2.1. Economic Growth – We support the creation of new jobs, economic development, and job training which will encourage our youth and adults to stay in the great State of South Dakota.
2.3 Infrastructure – We support the development of modern infrastructure to foster economic growth.
2.4 Government Intrusion – We believe economic activity thrives in an environment of limited government intrusion and can be stifled by government overreach and excessive taxation and overregulation.
If Scott is so concerned about water availability, he should lead by working with others. State Senator Helene Duhamel has long been a champion of building in the infrastructure to make sure we don’t have water shortages. Yet, I don’t hear anything from him about supporting that effort which he actually voted for.
Instead, from Scott, we get BANANA talk – Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything.
Either we want places where we can live, grow, and have our families decide to return to because we have a quality of life and jobs. Or we are just going to be a bunch of old farts who die alone, lamenting that we wish our kids could have lived here after we made it impossible for them to do so.
What is his claim to the Black Hills? He came from Eureka. Maybe he should go back to his home town and stop interloping in the Hills. 🤷♂️
McPherson County has enough ultra right tin foil hat stop everything’s. The same group that is Hansen’s backbone of supporters and have buddied up with Pischke.
Yes, he’s from McCrazy County! He needs to go back and live with his kin folk there.
He’s always the top vote getter.
100% guarantee his message plays well to his voters.
You mean the wealthy top 1% in the hills who don’t want more neighbors and everything for themselves?
Looks like Senator Taffy Howard is using the same playbook trying to block TIFs in Rapid City.
The recent water study pointed out that the Black Hills are in a water crisis. Does it make any sense in any universe that Rapid City citiens should finance a project that makes their water crisis worse? Infrastructure development is key, but that water supply is sacred.
What project is going to make their water crisis worse? And why would it make is worse.?
IF Odenbach was in the Legislature in the 1920’s, South Dakota would have never approved of Mount Rushmore…………..guaranteed.
Or the battle to save Ellsworth.
Reminder, he’s on the Property Tax Task Force and firmly believe that making cuts on the State level will somehow lead to Property Tax cuts even though the state doesn’t receive a penny in property taxes.
No completely correct. Some Legislators, especially those on the Property Tax committee, would like you to believe this is a local problem. Although the State does not collect property taxes, they absolutely control how much we all pay in property taxes based on the Education funding formula. South Dakota’s education funding formula is heavily reliant on the Feds and Local Property Tax Owners. As a percentage of total Public Education Funding we are 2nd in the Nation for Federal Funding, in the top 20 percent in local funding and nearly dead last in State Funding (48th). Cuts made at the state level could increase State General Funding into the education funding formula and take some of the burden of the local levels. Wishful thinking.
Is he against ranchers being able to water their livestock and rural people to be able to have water to drink? He didn’t think this one through.
Oh no, “Boondoggle” and “Pipeline” have been mentioned.
Cue up pipeline Gretta on the bullhorn.
Here comes “Grassroots and We The People”
I’m curious what people like Odenbach, Howard, Hansen and the many other anti growth activists do support. It’s easy to say you’re against everything, there’s no accountability. Let us know what your ideas are, if any, to at a minimum keep pace with inflation.
No growth = Dying
If that’s their goal, please say so.
This is ripe for a good old Odenbach summer study on water where he will assign himself and his buddies. There goes more of our sales tax into Legislator’s pockets for attending the committee meetings he will schedule. That’s the real “boondoggle” aka summer studies.
Young Mr. Odenbach is practically the poster child for the Sierra Club, the Water Protectors, and every other greenie crusade this side of the Missouri and north of the Sandhills. He calls himself a conservative, but he’s really a tree-hugging liberal in disguise, wrapped in an oversized flannel lumberjack shirt that hangs on him like a picnic blanket on a scruffy lawn gnome. When Neiman finally shuts completely down, you’ll probably find Mr. Odenbach behind it.
One must wonder if the Ottenbach would be preferrable over the Odenbach. You know the one that is the fusion of the elder and the younger Ottens left and right upper halves with the lower portion of Mr. Odenbach’s buttocks and thighs, and the cloven hoofs of a Slavic Chort.
What’s with the plaid shirts he wears and the giant truck he drives? He needs a stepladder to get in his truck. Definitely a Democrat with a R behind his name.