BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – Bruce Hagen, who served on North Dakota’s Public Service Commission for 39 years, died Thursday at age 94 in Bismarck.
Hagen is believed to be the only Democrat to serve on the state’s Public Service Commission.
The Devils Lake native was appointed to fill a vacancy on the three-member board in 1961 by Gov. William Guy. He was reelected to six six-year terms, choosing not to run for reelection in 2000.
He was known for reaching across party lines.
“Two parties are healthy for all levels of government and regulatory commissioners are no exception,” he wrote in an article submitted in 2006 to the National Regulatory Research Institute.
The PSC regulates utilities and telecommunications, oversees siting for pipelines and energy projects and has a hand in grain and railroad regulations. Hagen and his contemporaries are credited with spearheading the regulation of coal, electricity, oil and gas and electricity in North Dakota.
His career spanned North Dakota extending telephone service to the entire state in the 1970s to regulating cellphone service in the 1990s.
“I believe that in our capitalist democratic system of government, regulation of monopolies is very important. The counter-balancing power of the people through a fair system of regulation helps preserve democracy,” Hagen wrote in the 2006 article.
After leaving office, Hagen cited accomplishments such as the PSC taking on reclamation of coal-mined land in 1969, creating what he referred to as “the best reclamation system in the world.”
Hagen also chaired a committee under Gov. George Sinner’s administration to coordinate the state’s first observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1986, after it became a federal holiday.
He made unsuccessful runs for Congress in 1968 and 1978.
Former North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan said that Hagen stood out among state leaders for his lifelong service.
“There was one North Dakotan named Bruce Hagen who, for decades, relentlessly continued his dedicated public service to our state,” Dorgan, a Democrat, said Friday in an email. “He was a thoughtful, quiet leader whose judgement on important issues always supported the best interests of the people he served.”
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