Proposed Grand Forks Fertilizer Plant Receives Water Authorization; Pearl Harbor Over At The Los Angeles Times -- December 7, 2014

The Dickinson Press is reporting:

The State Water Commission granted permission Friday for Grand Forks to pump additional water from its wastewater lagoons and the Red River to meet the needs of a proposed fertilizer plant and other industrial users.

Northern Plains Nitrogen is proposing a $1.85 billion, 340-acre fertilizer plant on the north edge of Grand Forks. Construction is scheduled to start next year, with startup expected in 2018.

The plant would produce about 1.5 million tons of fertilizer products per year.

To meet the plant’s water demands, the city sought permission to pump 7,287 gallons per minute from its wastewater lagoons, or 11,755 acre-feet of water annually. Currently, the wastewater is treated and released back into the Red River.

I track the proposed Grand Forks fertilizer plant here.

Back-of-the-envelope: the state-built Devils Lake outlet can discharge up to 100 cubic-feet of water per second. One-hundred cubic-feet was of water = 0.0023 cubic-acre of water.  At 0.0023 cubic-acre/sec, that is 8.3 acre-feet per hour, or about 72,000 acre-feet per year. Yeah, it looks like there should be more than enough water most years. [I often make simple arithmetic errors; if this information is important to you, go to the source and confirm the calculations.]

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73 Years Ago -- The Day That Continues To Live In Infamy

Even if you don't have a subscription you might be able to catch some of the photographs and some of the stories remembering Pearl Harbor. At the link, scroll down until you get to the photos. This is a dynamic link and the stories will be gone by tomorrow, I suppose.

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A Note to the Granddaughters

My dad -- your great-grandfather -- was discharged from the US Navy following the end of WWII in the Pacific; he was discharged at Wilmington, CA -- near the Ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach.

He hitchhiked home to Newell, South Dakota, following his discharge. Prior to beginning his trip home, he visited San Francisco to see a cousin.

Your great-grandfather spent about 2/3rds of his WWII time in the Atlantic, and about 1/3rd of his time in the Pacific. He served on the USS Wakefield.