Author: @SoDakCampaigns

Jordan Youngberg steps out of race for School and Lands. Brock Greenfield only candidate in the hunt.

@SoDakCampaigns

Despite earlier notes that he might still be in, the Argus Leader is reporting this morning that former State Senator Jordan Youngberg is out of the race for the office of School & Public Lands, and the path is clear for Senator Brock Greenfield to take it all:

But there will likely be one fewer race for the GOP nomination of a statewide office after former lawmaker Jordan Youngberg has bowed out of the contest for the open South Dakota Schools and Public Lands seat this week.

“I just want to concentrate on hanging out with my kids now,” said the 31-year-old Madison man who in February 2021 became the first to enter the race for the seat. “It’s more fun than any committee meeting I’ve ever been at.”

Read it here.

Convention races might start to be more dynamic & fluid now, but this definitely clears the deck for Brock to move forward to November and the win!

Postscript to the election. As always, there are winners and losers, and not sure 500k from Convention of States affected anything.

@SoDakCampaigns

Kind of an interesting primary last night. Some people I was cheering for won. Some people didn’t.

I think the number of people dividing up the vote in some of these races affected things. I think the quality of candidates mattered as much if not more than anything. I don’t know that the massive amounts of money pouring in from out of state did anything other than burn bridges for the next legislative session.

Speaking of the cash dumped in by Convention of States.. They targeted five candidates. Michael Rohl, Lee Schoenbeck, Tim Reed, Mary Duvall, and David Johnson.  The only one of them who lost was Mary in the narrow contest between her and former Pierre City Commissioner Jim Mehlhaff.  The rest just shellacked the poor to mediocre competition.

  • Michael Rohl was out there first and never let up, when his opponent didn’t seem to get active until the end. He won 71-29%
  • Lee Schoenbeck had an absolute fusillade of fertilizer thrown at him from every angle, whether true or not. His opponent could barely seem to spell legislature. Lee for the win, 59-41%.
  • Tim Reed had the COS just making stuff up that was woven from pure insinuation. He smashed the nobody running against him 60-40%
  • David Johnson defeated return legislative spouse Janet Jensen 57-43%. Nobody was looking for another Jensen last election, and they still aren’t.

In other words,  if you put money behind a known candidate, you might be able to fight it to darn near even. But if your candidate is not up to par, so shall be your results.

Other interesting observations from last night?  When faced with a lot of choices, people didn’t seem interested in wholesale change, but were more aiming down the middle, and there were a lot of close races.

In District 3 House, Carl Perry won, but in the competition for second place, there were less than 65 votes between Brandei Schaefbauer (2nd place) and Richard Rylance (3rd place).  Same thing in Brookings. Mellissa Heermann 1280, Roger Degroot 1245, and Doug Post 1184. 61 votes between 2nd and 3rd.   District 12 House – 13 votes between second and third. District 20 has 120 votes between 2 and 3. District 29  32 votes between 2 and 3.

In what might be the heartbreak of the evening, Julie Frye-Mueller, was almost taken out in a race separating that trainwreck from her opponent Tim Goodwin on a vote of 2848-2802, only 46 votes, within recount range.  We’ll have to wait for the canvas to see if anything drastic changes.  But, we handily kept Bryan Breitling in the Senate, and picked up Steve Kolbeck.

I don’t know that anyone can say there was a conservative surge or backlash, as much as there was a re-jumbling in the spirit of re-districting.  Arch-conservative Fred Deutsch returned, but came in alongside Kristi Noem ally Stephanie Sauder.  John Mills returned, but came in a distant second to former Cabinet official Tim Reisch.

When it comes down to it, I think it’s based mainly on the quality of the candidates, and the quality of the campaign they ran.

From reports, I think door to door campaigning is back, and candidates better make sure they’re doing it if they want to be competitive.

I’ll be picking these apart all day.. stay tuned.

Release: Navigator CO2, POET sign letter of intent to capture, transport, and store five (5) Million tons of CO2 Annually

@SoDakCampaigns

(As Steve Haugaard teams up with Democrats against pipelines…)

NAVIGATOR CO2, POET SIGN LETTER OF INTENT TO CAPTURE, TRANSPORT, AND STORE FIVE (5) MILLION TONS OF CO2 ANNUALLY

Navigator to provide CCUS services for POET’s facilities in Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota

DALLAS, June 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Navigator CO2 Ventures LLC (“Navigator”) announced today that they have signed a Letter of Intent to provide carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) services to POET, the world’s largest producer of biofuel and a global leader in sustainable bioproducts, on Navigator’s Heartland Greenway system.

The agreement outlines Navigator’s integrated CCUS services for approximately five (5) million metric tons of POET’s biogenic CO2 annually and establishes a collaborative path for the development of a central carbon offset marketplace and carbon use logistics platform. The system will phase in 18 of POET’s bioprocessing facilities across Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota, and is on schedule for operational in-service in 2025.

“We recognize that now is the time to take bold action to preserve our planet for future generations,” said Jeff Broin, POET Founder and CEO. “POET has been a leader in low-carbon biofuels and CO2 capture for commercial use for decades, and this project is another significant step in utilizing bioprocessing to accelerate our path to net-zero. We choose our partners carefully, and we believe Navigator has the expertise to deliver long-term value to rural America by further positioning agricultural commodities as a viable source of low-carbon liquid fuels to power our future.”

Both parties will leverage their respective expertise – relying on the unique breadth and scale of Navigator’s infrastructure development, construction, and operations and POET’s market-leading position in CO2 distribution, marketing, and logistics management. The joint efforts will create the largest combined distribution network for high-quality, biogenic CO2.

“This agreement is a testament to two industries coming together and using their resources to pave innovative pathways toward carbon neutrality and a more sustainable future. The breadth, scale, and technical acumen of each party’s platform is unmatched,” said Matt Vining, Chief Executive Officer of Navigator. “POET is an industry pioneer that has built a company on the pillars of safety, integrity, innovation, and being a good neighbor in the communities they call home, all of which align entirely with the culture and track record of Navigator. We look forward to this partnership with POET as we continue to fulfill our mission to provide sustainable carbon solutions to our communities, consumers, and customers.”

With the addition of POET to the platform, Navigator’s Heartland Greenway system will provide CCUS services for more than 30 industrial processors across the agriculture and food production value chains, representing over ten (10) million tons of annual CO2 emissions, including the two (2) largest bioethanol producers in the United States, in addition to highly efficient single-site production facilities. Navigator’s unique platform will now mobilize efforts to deliver up to 15 million tons annually of CCUS services through new pipeline laterals and parallel development of multiple storage sites.

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