06/07/2026
A Message from Rep Bill Tveit:
You might have seen some of the attacks against me from political insiders. These attacks, usually without any specifics, claim that I’m “anti‑coal.” Let me set the record straight: I’m pro‑coal and pro‑worker—but I am not pro‑cronyism.
As a young man, I worked in this industry myself at Basin Electric’s Leland Olds Station—swinging a shovel as a laborer, working as a boiler attendant, equipment operator, and in mechanical maintenance. I know what it means to put on a hard hat, work long shifts, and depend on that paycheck to support a family. North Dakota coal is a blessing and an economic powerhouse for our communities, and I will always stand with the real people of the coal industry.
Now ask who’s paying for these attacks. They’re funded by wealthy coal executives, Bismarck lobbyists, and political insiders -- not by the men and women in District 33 who work the mines and plants. The folks attacking me spend a lot more time in boardrooms and back rooms than they do on jobsites.
I have never voted against the coal industry. What I have done is stand up for individual liberty and property rights—the same freedoms our Constitution is built on. Being “pro‑coal” doesn’t mean government can steamroll landowners or hand special favors to private corporations just because they say it’s for coal. That’s not conservative; that’s cronyism.
Too often, anything that hands out tax dollars or special treatment to a company gets slapped with the label “pro‑coal.” But if a proposal threatens your property rights, sticks taxpayers with the bill, or gives insiders an unfair edge, I’m going to ask hard questions and vote my principles. I’m proud to support coal, and I’m just as proud to defend the workers, landowners, and communities who make coal country what it is -- not the political insiders trying to hide behind them.
