Governor Doug Burgum shares outlook on the state of the North Dakota

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - Governor Doug Burgum shared his outlook on the state of the state at the Fargo theater.

“The state of our state is strong and it’s growing stronger by the day,” he said.

Governor Doug Burgum says the state is in a promising position.

In the last two years, there were more than $30,000 new businesses and a total of $21 billion in capital investments in industries such as agriculture, energy, and technology.

“This isn’t happening by accident. This massive investment is an accumulation of years and decades of intentional efforts by our state leaders to build a stable business tax regulatory environment and to build a business-friendly North Dakota.

There were some historic challenges.

H says last year, North Dakota defended against 4.5 billion cyber attacks.

“This includes K-12, higher education, and anybody else touching our state network. That’s more than double the number of attacks than two years ago,” he said.

The state also suffered through record drought conditions, the worst in its 133-year history.

“We provided over $6 million in water supply and transportation aid.”

The state’s also investing in its future.

In the last 5 years, $6 billion has gone towards new infrastructure projects including the f-m diversion.

“The diversion is 35% complete, reducing catastrophic flood risk to a metro area that includes over 20% of K-12 in our state, over 25% of current hospital capacity in our state, and $25 billion of property value.

Even with the spending, Burgum says the state also has about $750 million in its rainy day fund.

Burgum also said after nearly six decades, eastern North Dakota is set to begin receiving a backup water supply from the Missouri River.

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