Saturday Morning -- February 14, 2015; TransCanada Looking To Transport 300,000 BOPD Of Light, Sweet Bakken Crude Oil INTO Canada; ObamaDrones To Be Made In North Dakota

TransCanada, the Keystone XL folks, are looking to build a new pipeline to transport Bakken crude oil INTO Canada. Can't make this stuff up. The Dickinson Press is reporting:

Pipeline company TransCanada Corp. is planning to ask the U.S. government for a permit to build a new 200-mile pipeline from North Dakota across the border into Canada, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unnamed source.

The company expects to announce the $600 million Upland Pipeline Project proposal in its earnings report on Friday, the newspaper reported. The project aims to transport up to 300,000 barrels a day of North Dakota crude to a connection in Saskatchewan and on to TransCanada's planned Energy East pipeline.

If approved the Upland Pipeline won't be in service until 2018. I'm not holding my breath. At 300,000 bopd, that would account for about a third of North Dakota's current production. You really think Warren Buffett is going to sign off on this for the president? LOL.

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For Investors Interested In Dividends

I added a link to a nice article over at Seeking Alpha on dividends, sent to me by Don after my earlier article on dividends. Remember: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read here or think you may have read here.

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JV Team Is Beating Global Varsity Players

New Coach Needed?

CNN is reporting: 

An Iraqi tribal leader said Saturday that ISIS militants are gaining ground in Anbar province, predicting a "collapse within hours" of Iraqi army forces there if tribal forces withdraw.

Sheikh Naim al-Gaoud, a Sunni Muslim leader of the Albu Nimr tribe, called for more U.S. intervention -- including ground troops, arming tribes directly or at least pressuring the Iraqi government to give the tribes more firepower.

While U.S. officials have said that ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic State, is on the defensive in Iraq and Syria, al-Gaoud says that's definitely not the case where he is.

"In Anbar, we are losing ground, not gaining," he said.

Downright scary. Maybe we will know in time for tomorrow's Sunday morning talk shows. I assume Brian Williams is embedded with ISIS.

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ObamaDrones: Hecho In Nord Dakota

The Bismarck Tribune is reporting:

A partnership was announced Friday that would launch the state’s first manufacturing agreement to produce unmanned aerial systems.

... the joint venture between Wahpeton, ND-based ComDel Innovation Inc. and Gainesville, FL-based Altavian.

North Dakota was among six national UAS test sites announced in late 2013 by the Federal Aviation Administration. The site, located in Grand Forks, was given FAA certification in April.

Cool. 

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$350 To Opt Out

It's An Opportunity To Share

Cornell students have to pay $350 for school's health insurance program to opt out.

Students who do not opt in to the $2,352 per year plan must pay the $350 fee, which “most likely” won’t be covered by financial aid, according to campus newspaper The Cornell Review. The newspaper also said the university plan is run through Aetna, whose CEO, Mark Bertolini, is a Cornell MBA grad. In addition the fee, students will have to pay a $10 co-pay fee when visiting the school’s health center.

Ah, yes, welcome to the "real world."  I assume illegal immigrants attending Cornell on a full scholarship are exempt.

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Even Denmark Won't Meet Goal

The New York Times reports on the obstacles that Denmark faces to end all "fossil fuel burning" by 2050. Even Denmark knows it can't be done ... unless they give up cars completely. Without a subscription, one can access 10 free articles at the New York Times every month. If you don't have a subscription, I would not waste one of your free ones on this article.

The trouble, if it can be called that, is that renewable power sources like wind and solar cost nothing to run, once installed. That is potentially a huge benefit in the long run.

But as more of these types of power sources push their way onto the electric grid, they cause power prices to crash at what used to be the most profitable times of day.

That can render conventional power plants, operating on gas or coal or uranium, uneconomical to run. Yet those plants are needed to supply backup power for times when the wind is not blowing and the sun is not shining.

With their prime assets throwing off less cash, electricity suppliers in Germany and Denmark are on edge. They have applied to shut down a slew of newly unprofitable power plants, but nervous governments are resisting, afraid of being caught short on some cold winter’s night with little wind.

The governments have offered short-term subsidies, knowing that if they force companies to operate these plants at a loss, it will be a matter of time before the companies start going bankrupt.

Don't you just love that word, "subsidies." Where do these writers think that money comes from. Taxpayers. So the Danes get to pay more in taxes to support more expensive wind energy and smaller, inefficient coal-burning cars.

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Europe And Energy

Statoil to spend $29 billion on developing North Sea field:

Norway's Statoil is moving ahead with plans to develop a giant $29 billion oil field, Europe's costliest offshore energy project, expecting to produce some of the world's cheapest oil that will be profitable even after the recent price crash.

Statoil said on Friday it would start the Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea by 2019 and expected to produce up to 3 billion barrels of oil equivalents (boe) over 50 years, giving Norway's fading oil industry a second life. The project is expected to break even at under $40 per barrel, giving Statoil a huge margin even after Brent crude plunged to around $60 from over $100 last June.

Once the project is running, operating costs are seen under $5 per barrel.

EU again says "no" to shale:

The European Union's top court has clarified EU rules on shale gas exploration in a judgment that could require some member states to change their legislation, lawyers said. The court confirmed impact assessments are not obligatory, but could be required depending on particular circumstances.

The case, heard at the EU's Court of Justice (ECJ), was referred by an Austrian court after a complaint from the municipality of Strasswalchen, where shale gas exploration has taken place. Industry and environmental campaigners said they welcomed the ECJ ruling published on Wednesday and the Austrian Environment Ministry issued a statement saying the court had backed the Austrian position.

"Failure to take account of the cumulative effect of one project with other projects must not mean in practice that they all escape the obligation to carry out an assessment when, taken together, they are likely to have significant effects on the environment," the court said.