By Dave Thompson
Bismarck, ND – The Public Service Commission will be asking Governor Hoeven to include four new staff positions in his budget recommendations to the 2009 Legislature.
Three of the new positions would be in the utility division -- and the PSC says that's because the Commission's workload will be increasing because of anticipated electric and natural gas rate increases.
"This is an agency that literally is one-third smaller than it was 20 years ago," said Commissioner Kevin Cramer. "Now is a time when we need to grow a little bit to meet the demand."
One position would be paid for through federal money -- and that would be assigned to the Abandoned Mine Lands program.