How North Dakotans Deal With Mega Loads: Quietly And Efficiently; Another Incredible Story Coming Out of North Dakota

Remember all the hullabaloo over the "mega loads" in Montana? In the end, the faux environmentalists were able to slow things down but not stop progress.

Look at this North Dakota mega load (and look at the photo at the linked site; click on it to zoom in): I don't recall any stories about this mega load until now -- after all the permits worked out and issued. I am, again, very, very impressed with the no-nonsense North Dakotans. Working to get things done instead of setting up artificial obstacles.

KXNET is reporting:

Something two-thirds as tall as the capitol is on it's way to Beulah.

This tower is on the move from Minnesota. The huge piece of equipment is for the anhydrous ammonia facility at the Great Plains Synfuels Plant.

The tower "strips" the carbon dioxide from the solution.

The tower is 157 feet-three inches long and weighs 219-thousand pounds.

It was built by Arrow Tank & Engineering in Cambridge, Minnesota. It left there Tuesday at midnight and is arriving in Beulah today.

Total weight of truck, trailer, and cargo: almost 500,000-thousand pounds according to the story.

Considering the cargo weighs about 220-thousand pounds, one wonders if there is a typo in this, "cut and paste" from the article:

Combined with the truck and trailer--the overall weight going down the road is 443,000 thousand pounds. It's all held up by 110 tires.

The space shuttle (empty) weighs about 175,000 pounds. 

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Here's a bit of background on the synfuels plant at Beulah:

Near Beulah, North Dakota, a coal gasification plant. 

Basin Elecric Power Cooperatiave (Basin Electric), through its for-profit subsidiary, Dakota Gasification Company (Dakota Gas), owns and operates the Great Plains Synfuels Plant (Synfuels Plant). The Synfuels Plant is the only commercial-scale coal gasification plant in the United States that manufactures natural gas. It is also the cleanest energy plant operating in the state of North Dakota, according to a comparison of emissions data available from the North Dakota Department of Health.

• Average daily production of natural gas is about 153 million cubic feet, the majority of which is piped to Ventura, IA, for distribution in the eastern United States.

• The Synfuels Plant supplies carbon dioxide to the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project in the world in Saskatchewan, Canada. Dakota Gas currently captures between 2.5 and 3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.

• The $2.1-billion plant began operating in 1984. Using Lurgi gasifiers, the Synfuels Plant gasifies lignite coal to produce valuable gases and liquids. Located five miles northwest of Beulah, ND, the Synfuels Plant has been owned and operated by Dakota Gas since 1988.

• About $477 million has been invested in the Synfuels Plant since 1988 to achieve environmental compliance, improve efficiency, and invest in new byproduct development. 

Talk about another incredible story coming out of North Dakota.

With all that natural gas being produced by North Dakota, I'm beginning to think North Dakota is supplying a lot more energy to the East Coast than folks realize.