Bakken Pipeline Project Scaled Back Due to Uncertainty of Keystone XL

Link here.

The BakkenLink Pipeline LLC was intended to carry up to 100,000 barrels of oil from oil truck unloading stations and a pipeline gathering system in three North Dakota counties to Baker, in southeastern Montana.

The length of the proposed line is being reduced from 250 miles to about 144 miles, and the project’s cost is now estimated at $126.5 million, roughly half the cost of the original plan, Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer said.

North Dakota’s Public Service Commission said Wednesday that BakkenLink now intends to build its pipeline to a rail loading station that is being developed near Fryburg, about 30 miles west of Dickinson in southwestern North Dakota.

Not even worth the time to comment. Except to say that it will be listed as a nominee for one of the Top Ten stories of the year. This is huge.

Okay: one comment. Folks will see this differently, and I'm probably in the minority on this, but it's my impression the governor of Montana does not support the Keystone XL. If he is said to support it, then either his support is very lukewarm, or he is following the polls on this one, or perhaps listening to the farmers who, according to the media, don't want the Keystone XL running through their property. But unless I see something strongly supportive from the governor, my impression is that he is, at best, mildly lukewarm in supporting this project. I think Hillary Clinton supports it but it tiptoeing carefully through this political minefield.