North Dakota has many projects on the horizon, official says

Apr. 28—JAMESTOWN — North Dakota has many projects on the horizon, said Rich Garman, director of economic development and finance for the North Dakota Department of Commerce.

Projects include a fertilizer plant, a biodegradable plastic plant, more value-added agriculture, a hydrogen hub and mineral ore processing among others.

"Our portfolio of potential projects is well over $40 billion right now," Garman said at the Jamestown/Stutsman Development Corp.'s annual meeting on Wednesday, April 26, at Harold Newman Arena.

Garman said the projects will require a lot of infrastructure and he is encouraging the state to use the model of the Spiritwood Energy Park Association industrial park at Spiritwood.

"We learned a lot of lessons on how to do things right and how to do things wrong," he said after the meeting. "We made a few mistakes here and there but we learned a lot. The lessons learned on that project on bringing in water, bringing in natural gas on building a rail, building a road. We just learned a lot of lessons that I'm taking to the state now, and transferring that institutional knowledge to other projects."

Garman said the SEPA industrial park has great rail access that is very valuable and will support the Green Bison Soy Processing facility and the Dakota Spirit AgEnergy ethanol plant. He said the SEPA industrial park is also close to Interstate 94, has upgraded township roads near the area and has a good water supply.

The JSDC administered more than $347,000 in Flex PACE interest buydown loans in 2022 that leveraged almost $800,000 in grants from the Bank of North Dakota, according to Tory Hart, president of the JSDC Board of Directors. That resulted in more than $3 million in investments in community projects that the JSDC participated in, he said.

Jamestown Monument received the Community Development Award that recognizes recipients as great assets to the community by providing services, activities and other opportunities that enrich the lives of the residents.

Green Bison Soy Processing received the Growing Jamestown Award. The criteria for the award include the business currently working with JSDC or having done so in the past and the business having a positive influence on the local economy.