Update on the Keystone XL -- Press Release But No News

Looks like we are into summer reruns

It dawned on me, while waiting for tonight's NBA game, that I haven't seen a Keystone XL update in quite some time. In fact, I considered a poll asking how many could remember seeing a story on the pipeline in the past month.

But, the better part of valor was to see if google could provide an answer. An lo and behold, there was an article posted seven hours ago at the Daily Republic, byline Bismarck. A reminder: earlier this year the administration killed Keystone XL 1.0. Pending are two, maybe three projects:

• Keystone XL 2.0N (northern leg, Canada to Nebraska, 1,000 miles)
• Keystone XL 2.0G (the Nebraska gap, 88 miles)
• Keystone XL 2.0S (southern leg, Nebraska to the Gulf coast, the rest of the miles)

Data points:

• US State Department reaffirmed Friday (last week) that it would make a decision on the permit next year
• the State Department would open up review of the entire northern route, from Canada through Nebraska
• Sen John Hoeven expressed dismay that the entire 1,000 miles needed review
• Sen Hoeven suggested only the 88 miles through Nebraska needs to be reviewed 
• the original review took four years

So, the takeaways:

• no decision until well after the election
• the entire northern route will be reviewed, not just the Nebraska portion that was the original issue

Meanwhile, this past month the takeaway capacity for Bakken oil by rail jumped 55 percent.