# FLOOD UPDATE: President Obama aware of unfolding ND flooding



## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

*FLOOD UPDATE:* President Obama aware of unfolding ND flooding disaster

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id ... roup/home/

WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Barack Obama is well aware of the flooding disaster that has struck North Dakota this week and mentioned it this afternoon during a meeting with six hand-picked journalists from around the country.

The president mentioned the flooding while answering a question about North Dakotans being concerned how a "cap-and-trade" greenhouse gas reduction policy could hurt the state's coal and power-generating industries.

Obama said that considering how bad the flooding is now in North Dakota, imagine what it could be if global warming exacerbates the issue.

"I actually think the science around climate change is real. It is potentially devastating," he said. "If you look at the flooding that's going on right now in North Dakota, and you say to yourself, 'If you see an increase of 2 degrees, what does that do, in terms of the situation there,' that indicates the degree to which we have to take this seriously."

The meeting with the reporters, which was about 30 minutes long, was in the Roosevelt Room of the White House's West Wing.

For more details about Janell Cole's exclusive interview with President Barack Obama see Tuesday's Forum.


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## KurtR (May 3, 2008)

Haha that is almost so stupid it sounds like he is joking around


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## Longshot (Feb 9, 2004)

I would like to know where he is getting this 2 degrees from. He must be using that Gore hockey stick graph.


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## Bowstring (Nov 27, 2006)

Give the Leader a break :roll: He never had to deal with floods in downtown Chicago! The past"community organizer" is more experienced in creating meetings, entertainment, and groupies. Kind of like whats going on now .

Interesting article but it doesn't say anything about his answer to cap and trade and the financial impact on North Dakota, typical.


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## Alaskan Brown Bear Killer (Feb 22, 2005)

> WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Barack Obama is well aware of the flooding disaster that has struck North Dakota this week and mentioned it this afternoon during a meeting with six hand-picked journalists from around the country.


And what ACTIONS has he taken to help?
If he treats this as any other task he had so far he'll just talk your problem away uke:


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

> Obama said that considering how bad the flooding is now in North Dakota, imagine what it could be if global warming exacerbates the issue.


It would take a total fool to think it would exacerbate the problem in Fargo. For all their predictions there is not a scientist on earth that knows which areas would receive more precip or less. The guy is a politician using an issue to score points for a liberal pet political club. I can't believe what a jerk he is. I mean, when the first thing that comes to his mind is a political advantage more so than the thought of the people. I have zero respect for the man, but what I do think of him just went down another notch.


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

> The guy is a politician using an issue to score points for a liberal pet political club


Amen!!


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## fox412 (Mar 18, 2005)

I second the AMEN


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## goodkarmarising (Feb 8, 2008)

x


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## hunter9494 (Jan 21, 2007)

typical Obama "showmanship"....this jerk is back on TV again tonight??
might as well get channel "O". people will eventually get tired of this $hit.

he had a chance to address the impending disaster and he said nothing about providing help? this a-hole is so out of touch with real problems affecting real people, it is just pitiful. i wager he will do very little to help, as his focus is on spending trillions and getting hhis health care and global warming agenda funded next. as some have said, we will soon be a banana republic, with bread at $10 a loaf...vote all the dems out in '10.
if we don't send the"spenders" a message, we are screwed!


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

We should throw them all out.

I heard a little of Rush and Hannity today. I heard the audio clip where Maxine Waters is reaming Geithner. Rush and Sean I think thought that would perhaps slow down Obama some. I think it's all an act to make us think things could get held up while behind the scene they are all pushing for socialism as fast as they can. I don't think we have two years. With the destruction they are causing to capitalism they may accomplish their objective within one year.

Today they made a huge power grab. They have asked congress for the president to have the power to take over any bank or lending institution that looks like they have financial problems. That would let them control the entire economy. If this doesn't scare you then you belong in Russia and not the United States.


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## hunter9494 (Jan 21, 2007)

funny how most of the Wall Street execs gave huge amounts of money to the Obama campaign and now they find their bonuses and status as heads of their companies under attack....i guess as some of said, "we didn't think it was going to be like this"...well, if those idiots would have listened, he virtually told you what he was going to do....my gawd, some folks are just plain ignorant and fall for the glitter and the smile..fools.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

To think Obama was not going to take us to socialism one would need to have on blindfolds so you could not read, ear plugs so you could not hear, and drink vats of Obama Cool-Aid. I still have to pinch myself to believe anyone voted for him. Forty years ago the man could not have been elected dog catcher, and his color would have had nothing to do with it. It would be because he lacks honesty and integrity. Also, they would have made him prove citizenship if he wanted to be president, but then that was when the democrat party still had some integrity left.

You may think that's harsh, but I hear it more and more from people every day. Here in North Dakota many democrats are getting very ticked. I think some who have voted democrat all their lives may vote republican. I have an acquaintance that was an active democrat party person for thirty years, and I think he will vote republican next time. Dorgan has always been very safe in North Dakota, but if the republicans run a half decent candidate they have a very good chance this time.

One of my older friends (83 years) in church who would never say anything bad about someone if they whizzed in his Cheerios seriously hates Obama. He is a lifelong democrat and retired farmer.

Like Rush I want America to succeed, but I will enjoy watching Obama take a beating.


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

*Obama says N.D. has important role in proposed 'smart grid'*

http://www.jamestownsun.com/articles/in ... n=homepage

WASHINGTON, D.C. - North Dakotans worried about the state's robust coal mining and power generation industries shouldn't fear its being crippled by a federal "cap-and-trade" program to regulate greenhouse gases, President Barack Obama said Monday during a meeting with Forum Communications and other newspaper representatives.

"I don't think this is something to be afraid about," he said.

Obama also said the state has an important role in a proposed national "smart grid" to transmit electric power from the state's power plants and wind farms to urban markets and said the federal stimulus package passed recently should help bring more broadband infrastructure to rural areas. And he's optimistic about reaching an accord with Congress on his proposed federal budget, despite disagreements with lawmakers that include Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who is the Senate Budget Committee chairman and a sharp critic of the president's budget, saying it will create much bigger deficits than the White House predicts.

Forum Communications' North Dakota Capitol Bureau was one of six newspaper representatives invited to the White House Monday for a roundtable discussion with the president. The event in the West Wing's Roosevelt Room was the third in recent weeks, Obama's press aides said.

In addressing Forum Communications' question about how cap-and-trade may affect the state, Obama brought up on his own that he is aware of the flooding emergency unfolding in the last couple of days and warned that global warming could lead to similar disasters.

Obama said, "In terms of cap and trade, it would be great if climate change wasn't actually going on and we could just pretty much burn any fossil fuel we wanted for as long as we wanted and not have to worry about the consequences of it. It'd certainly make my life easier. I've got enough on my plate." "I actually think the science around climate change is real. It is potentially devastating. The flooding in North Dakota that could result if you start seeing severely changing weather - which is going on. I can't ascribe that in particular to climate change. If you look at the flooding that's going on right now in North Dakota, and you say to yourself, 'If you see an increase of 2 degrees, what does that do, in terms of the situation there,' that indicates the degree to which we have to take this seriously."

He said there are many ways that cap-and-trade can be organized, but the idea is to give industry incentives to switch from dirty energy to clean energy, "or ways to make dirty energy clean energy."

Cap and trade is a system in which companies would cap their emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, and then trade emissions rights with each other.

North Dakota's lignite industry, Public Service Commission and others have said cap-and-trade schemes could devastate the economy. The Lignite Energy Council, which represents the state's coal producing companies, said a study of the carbon dioxide reductions anticipated by last year's Lieberman-Warner cap-and-trade bill in Congress showed the state would lose 2,732 to 4,110 jobs by 2020 and that it would lead to higher energy prices, reducing North Dakota's household income $840 to $2,722 per year by 2020. In Minnesota, the study showed the state losing 22,426 to 33,735 jobs by 2020 and higher energy prices reducing Minnesota's household income $1,066 to $3,455 per year by 2020, the council said.

But Obama, noting that he comes from a coal-producing state, Illinois, said there are many different ways to do cap and trade. He said, "I'm a big believer in pursuing carbon sequestration technologies that would allow us to use coal in a clean, nonpolluting fashion. But that's going to require some incentives" - some from government and some from private sector. "That's happened in dealing with acid rain," he said. "The technology caught up, it ended up being much cheaper than anybody expected."

He believes the outcome will be good.

"I don't think this is something to be afraid about. I think this is an opportunity. It goes hand in hand with the whole issue of energy independence," he said.

On transmission line siting, he said - as North Dakota officials have noted for years - the state produces, and can produce huge amounts of power, but needs to get it to urban market areas such as the Twin Cities and Chicago. "You can't do that in the absence of a new electric grid," he said. "Almost everybody agrees that a smart grid will save us billions of dollars in greater efficiency, reduced leakage, that nobody benefits more than places like North Dakota."

The North Dakota Public Service Commission has warned in recent months that it is far better suited to pick sites for transmission lines than the federal government.

Obama said, "Our interest is cooperating as much as possible with state regulators on this." The president said the stimulus package also contains millions of dollars, to come through the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Commerce, "to ensure that broadband lines are available everywhere."

He said, 'That's not only the kind of spending that creates jobs right now, but also then creates the infrastructure for companies wanting to locate in some of these communities that have fallen behind."

He said the idea is "to make the private sector want to locate in areas that have great quality of life but oftentimes don't have the infrastructure to support what they need. Then, we want to have government filling some of that gap."

The meeting lasted about a half hour.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

I wonder if Obama has even a hint that the flooding in North Dakota is more affected by wetland drains than temperature. If you get a lot of snow in North Dakota the normal response would be deeper wetlands. If you get little snow you have shallow wetlands with many going dry in June. If you drain them you get eight 100 year floods out of ten. Nothing to do with global warming.

I will believe the studies done in North Dakota on job losses before I believe a narcissistic Chicago politician who wants to use global warming to drive the capitalist economy low enough to get people to accept socialism.

The man is has less than zero value for America.

What did anyone really expect? Did they think he will say "you better worry North Dakota"? It boggles my mind that there are still people who believe anything the man says. Sort of like the story we didn't know there was bonus money in the AIG stimulus. Oh, myyyyyyy God. :homer:


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## Alaskan Brown Bear Killer (Feb 22, 2005)

I seen on the News tonight that you folks are not waiting for the Government to save you like the folks in New Orleans did...... Good for you! We know how things always turn out better when you help yourself instead of counting on the Government.
Refreshing thing see.... thanks for not laying down..... I don't mind helping those that are willing to help themselves.

Prayers sent!


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## TK33 (Aug 12, 2008)

Plainsman said:



> I wonder if Obama has even a hint that the flooding in North Dakota is more affected by wetland drains than temperature. If you get a lot of snow in North Dakota the normal response would be deeper wetlands. If you get little snow you have shallow wetlands with many going dry in June. If you drain them you get eight 100 year floods out of ten. Nothing to do with global warming.
> 
> I will believe the studies done in North Dakota on job losses before I believe a narcissistic Chicago politician who wants to use global warming to drive the capitalist economy low enough to get people to accept socialism.
> 
> ...


Another agricultural trend that is not helping flooding is the relatively new process of drain tiling fields. It seems like any new technology screws somebody else 

It is going to get worse, the more the global demand for food rises the more things we will see to increase production. Those things are inevitably going to have a negative on humans and wildlife. The tough thing will be finding balance.


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## swift (Jun 4, 2004)

It seems that the flooding is yet to come. Reading the presidents quote you would think houses are floating down the read river as we speak. It strikes me as someone that heard it is going to flood and really has no idea of what is actually going on.



> Obama said that considering how bad the flooding is now in North Dakota, imagine what it could be if global warming exacerbates the issue.


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## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

*FLOOD UPDATE: President Obama getting briefed on flooding in Red River Valley and North Dakota*

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id ... roup/home/

North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad is meeting with President Obama today at 11 a.m. our time to discuss flooding in the Red River Valley and North Dakota. Conrad's office asked The Forum for electronic copies of recent news pages to help Conrad illustrate to the president exactly what's happening regarding the flooding.

Conrad's office asked The Forum for electronic copies of recent news pages to help Conrad illustrate to the president exactly what's happening regarding the flooding.


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## 6162rk (Dec 5, 2004)

just tell mr. obama to send 1 billion dollars for land aquisition for permanent water holding areas for the red river valley. the hard working people of this area deserve it far more than many others that have gotten this and more. 1 billion dollars in hundred dollar bills will fit on 10 pallets.


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## Nodak_Norsk (Aug 5, 2007)

Do you suppose, like the Clintons, Obama will single handedly take ALL the credit for recovery efforts like Hillary did for the 97 flood in her election speech in GF? :lol:


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Nodak_Norsk said:


> Do you suppose, like the Clintons, Obama will single handedly take ALL the credit for recovery efforts like Hillary did for the 97 flood in her election speech in GF? :lol:


If he sends $10 he will. You can bet he and Washington, D. C. Conrad talked a lot more about political strategy than our flood. They don't see it as a disaster, they see it as an opportunity. We will do the work, and they will talk about how much better job they did than Bush did in New Orleans. You can take that to the Obama National Bank.

As for land to hold the water, it already existed, but the farmers up stream drained it.


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