50 Million bucks to Theodore Roosevelt Library

[BrokenBackJack]

Harold Hamm, the oil tycoon, is donating $50 Million to the Theodore Roosevelt Library.
Looks like it is going to be built.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Libraries are so last century... Gotta be a better way to invest this money?

 

[Zogman]

Libraries are so last century... Gotta be a better way to invest this money?

I think it will be more like a Memorial/Museum, not 100% sure. Last time I was out there I did buy a couple of TR's books. I don't care for the looks of the concept of the building. But that's just my worthless opinion.

 

[LBrandt]

Could build a pretty good sized log cabin for that if we could keep the government out of the picture. LB

 

[BrokenBackJack]

I hope they build the building like Old Medora Buildings but guessing they won't.

 

[eyexer]

50 million for a damn library is ridiculous beyond comprehension. Would love to see who’s stuffing their pockets with this cash

 

[Jm1986]

Wonder what’s in it for him. Somebody with his power and wealth just doesn’t donate that much money out of the goodness of his heart.

 

[FightingSioux]

Wonder what’s in it for him. Somebody with his power and wealth just doesn’t donate that much money out of the goodness of his heart.

He has been pouring money into UND and UMary. The Bakken has made him a ton of money and he is giving some of it back! Great guy!

 

[Allen]

Well, maybe not a "great guy", but he sure knows where his bread is buttered. Not having been affiliated with UND's Geology and Geological Engineering Department for a few years, but I would have to imagine his investment at UND is to push their focus towards oil reservoir research. Something which would give him a larger fraction of oil in place as production. For the time being, I think recovery rates are still well under 10%. So, improving that by just a few percentage points is money well spent.

 

[Allen]

As far as the library. Nice tax write-off and overall good public relations. Again, money well spent when he goes to the legislature for something in the future.

 

[Allen]

50 million for a damn library is ridiculous beyond comprehension. Would love to see who’s stuffing their pockets with this cash

Why do you give a shiite what Harold Hamm spends his money on? It's not like if it didn't go to the library we were going to see it go to the General Fund or property tax buy downs.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Why do you give a shiite what Harold Hamm spends his money on? It's not like if it didn't go to the library we were going to see it go to the General Fund or property tax buy downs.

Just because hes contributing to the construction cost, that doesnt mean that staffing and maintenance wont fall on the taxpayers shoulders for decades to come... That 50m is only a small portion of what they are planning to spend on this project.

"In 2019, the state legislature approved a $50 million operations endowment for the library, made available in 2020 after $100 million was raised from private sources. The project is estimated to cost between $400 million and $900 million."

IMO, knowing how 'estimates' go, this could cost a cool 1B after all is said and done...

 

[Zogman]

50 million for a damn library is ridiculous beyond comprehension. Would love to see who’s stuffing their pockets with this cash

The architect, engineer and construction management.

 

[eyexer]

Why do you give a shiite what Harold Hamm spends his money on? It's not like if it didn't go to the library we were going to see it go to the General Fund or property tax buy downs.

Oh Allen. I don’t give a crap what Harold Hamm does. You missed the point. It’s the fact they think they need to spend 50 million is what’s absurd. Well it’s actually way more than fifty million after you add in what the tax payers contributed

 

[eyexer]

The architect, engineer and construction management.

Of course. It’s absurd. Then that money gets laundered back to politicians

 

[Allen]

Just because hes contributing to the construction cost, that doesnt mean that staffing and maintenance wont fall on the taxpayers shoulders for decades to come... That 50m is only a small portion of what they are planning to spend on this project.

"In 2019, the state legislature approved a $50 million operations endowment for the library, made available in 2020 after $100 million was raised from private sources. The project is estimated to cost between $400 million and $900 million."

IMO, knowing how 'estimates' go, this could cost a cool 1B after all is said and done...

So far, it would appear the construction of the library is coming along fairly nicely with private funding. The State has setup a $50 million dollar endowment for operations, that's a one-time cost intended to supplement the cost of maintaining and operating the library in the future. Add in visitor fees and continued contributions going forward and I don't see a problem with the business plan here.

One can piss and moan about the $50 million from the State if they want, but as long as they continue to get private funding for the actual construction...I am still curious as to why anyone should care what Hamm does with his money? It's not the State's money. This is no different than when Ralph Engelstad donated $100 million to UND with the understanding of he was going to use it to build a new hockey facility. The faculty at UND lost their damn minds about "how dare he tell us how to spend his money". In the end I think ol Ralph caught wind of the faculty whining and that made him spend every damn dime of that money (and then some) on the hockey facilities. The original plan was for UND to be able to keep anything left over after he built a hockey arena, so Ralph said screw them and built one of the finest pure hockey facilities in the world to spite them.

 

[Wall-eyes]

Walmart family gave 50 million they were from here, Burgum gave bunch, some family that had the land donated that I thought. Was talk about when it all started.

 

[Allen]

Oh Allen. I don’t give a crap what Harold Hamm does. You missed the point. It’s the fact they think they need to spend 50 million is what’s absurd. Well it’s actually way more than fifty million after you add in what the tax payers contributed

Other than the $50 million endowment, what investment in this do the state's taxpayers have?

 

[db-2]

It has always been that the non-doers are quick to complain about those that do. db

 

[Dryfly36]

Walmart family gave 50 million they were from here, Burgum gave bunch, some family that had the land donated that I thought. Was talk about when it all started.

The land was bought from the US Forest Service and Waltons dropped their gift back to $15 Million.