Re-Posting A Most Important Story -- February 8, 2017

Updates

Later, 8:51 a.m. Central Time: one also needs to remember the Red Services rail yard east of Williston. I think it may compare in size to the Port of North Dakota. Certainly in the "same ball park"

Later, 8:44 a.m. Central Time: somewhere in these meandering notes I noted that BNSF had built-out its network during the Bakken boom; one needs to remember the Port of North Dakota, Minot, ND:

• 120 acres, with an aggressive plan to expand 2,500+ acres to the north of the current facility. At the current location, NDPS can handle a full intermodal unit train along with approximately 80 manifest rail cars

Later, 8:22 a.m. Central Time: a reader provided an answer to my rhetorical question below. The reader's reply:

• the acreage from Jamestown to Fargo (the southeastern quarter of North Dakota) was "wheat-intensive" 15 to 20 years ago; since then the farmers have moved to soybeans; impression: more profit per acre in soybeans vs wheat
• soybean oil: multiple uses, from cooking to paint
• crushed bean meal: primarily used for animal feed
• add to corn (distillers grain) from ethanol production and you feed massive quantities of pigs, chickens, turkies
• land prices in southern MN -- much higher than in ND
• MN feedlot pollution laws very strict
• Smithfield (Armour, Farmland brands) bought by Chinese
• combination of cost of land; cost of labor; cost of energy; feedlot pollution laws: live pigs will be shipped west on BNSF for processing in states west of Minnesota in next decade or so
• MDU building natural gas pipeline to Spiritwood, ND area?
• North Dakota wants jobs; Minnesota more concerned about "Trump's travel ban" 
• southwest MN: "pig production buildings" as dense as oil well pads in the Bakken; building continues

Original Post

Remember: Al Franken (D-MN) is now the progressive's best best for presidential nominee.

Bakken economy: multi-million dollar soybean processing plant announced for Spiritwood, ND

• note: Spiritwood, ND, near Jamestown, ND, is in eastern North Dakota; nowhere near the geographical Bakken

• Minnesota Soybean Processors; a membership cooperative with another operation in Brewster, MN
• $240 million soybean processing plant; Spiritwood Energy Park; 150 acres
• first of its kind in North Dakota
• first question: why is this being built in ND and not in Minnesota? transportation costs are a wash; processed soybeans will need to be transported to Minnesota and points east (if question is too difficult, scroll to bottom of this page)
• 125,000 bushels of soybeans / day
• the NDSP facility would produce 900,000 tons of soybean meal annually
• don't you just hate it when writers mix units (bushels vs tons, for example -- yes, I know the reason)
• everything you need to know about soybeans
• crushing soybeans yields about 11lbs of oil and 44lbs meal per bushel of soybeans, these yields can vary slightly, but most use these values in the price analysis that will follow. 
• 900,000 tons / 365 = 2,500 tons daily = 5 million pounds daily / 60 (pounds/bushel) = 80,000 bushels daily (compare to capacity of plant)
• remember: with the Bakken book, BNSF built out the railroad network in North Dakota; North Dakota has a robust, rail network

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Flashback: Minnesota vs North Dakota

 
Link here.

Original Post

January 21, 2011

President Obama will focus on jobs this year, he says, as the 2012 election approaches.

He might want to talk to Senator Al Franken (D) from Minnesota to find out what's happening out in the trenches.

For one thing, a very well-respected company and, should we say, an icon of Minnesota has recently expanded, building three new plants on the North Dakota side of the border.

Warroad-based Marvin Windows and Doors has opened North Dakota plants in Fargo, West Fargo and Grafton.

Marvin’s John Kirchner explained why the firm expanded to North Dakota in the last several years: “The regulatory and tax climate in North Dakota ... tend to be more friendly toward the business."

Also, Kirchner said, it takes too long to get state permits, delaying expansion plans.

While pledging that “we are not going to walk away from Minnesota” and saying Warroad will remain Marvin’s home and biggest factory, North Dakota is a good location for company manufacturing plants, he said. 

Wow, wow, and wow.

• Regulatory climate.
• Tax climate.
• Too long to get state permits.

Wow, wow, and wow.

If I didn't know better, that sounds like Washington and the federal government.

If President Obama wants to keep jobs in the US from moving overseas he should note that it is not just the corporate taxes everyone seems to talk about.  And it's not just just the regulatory climate. But it's also the phenomenal delay to get anything done, generally due to a) bureaucratic inefficiencies; and, b) legal delays on minor or technical issues.

How long can it take? Well, just to get the environmental impact statement completed can take five years. Not five months, not even a year. But five years.