Controversial meetings involving North Dakota legislators, Summit Carbon Solutions Co-founder Bruce Rastetter and Continental Resources founder Harold Hamm will be opened to media, conservative media figure Scott Hennen said Friday.
The meetings this coming Tuesday in Bismarck and Fargo were billed in invitations as "Legislators Only" events, with a group run by Hennen and prominent oil businesswoman Kathy Neset hosting a "fireside chat." The closed nature of the meetings drew criticism earlier this week from Dustin Gawrylow, a Bismarck-based conservative activist who runs the North Dakota Watchdog Network, and two Democratic lawmakers.
State Attorney General Drew Wrigley on Thursday said the event's setup did not violate the state's open meetings law.
Gawrylow filed a complaint with North Dakota's Ethics Commission, saying in part "it appears ... this event is a de facto lobbying effort to convince undecided legislators to publicly support the (Summit) project," and that if it is lobbying, "it is clearly the unregistered kind."
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Summit's planned regional carbon dioxide pipeline has been controversial in several states including North Dakota, where some landowners oppose it. Summit defends its project, maintaining it's safe and has broad landowner support.
The meetings will take place this coming Tuesday first at North Dakota State University in Fargo and then at the University of Mary in Bismarck, hosted under the banner of the nonprofit group Friends of Ag and Energy, headed by Hennen and Neset.
Hennen also has ties to a company that was approved for $300,000 in state funding to implement a CO2 marketing and education program. State Industrial Commission Deputy Director Reice Haase told the Tribune the legislator meetings do not have any connection with state CO2 education efforts. Gawrylow in his ethics complaint questions that.