A few fiery and explosive derailments of oil-by-rail shipments, including a very scary one near Casselton, created a new narrative for anti-oil activists to pounce on, and
Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak, a Republican, sought funding from the Legislature to begin a state-run rail inspection program.
The federal bureaucracy is typically in charge of that, but their coverage leaves much to be desired.
State inspectors help them cover more rail.
But some of North Dakota's lawmakers, even as they've funded the rail inspection program, have been hostile to it. Some of them would rather leave it to the federal government. Others resent the modest cost, which currently stands at just $600,000 for the two-year budget cycle. Every time the program is funded, a sunset provision is put in.