Williston On Pace to Break Last Year's Record Building Permits, Dollars

Link here to The Williston Herald.

The department is trying to keep up as it’s on track to break last year’s record of 929 building permits totaling nearly $358 million.

At the end of September, the department had already approved 856 permits totaling nearly $288 million.

Williston State College Opens New "Learning Commons"

Link to Williston Herald.

Williston State College officially opened its new Learning Commons, a facility located in Stevens Hall. Formerly the college’s library, the Learning Commons is located on the second floor of the building and took months to fully renovate, creating a space which is conducive to studying and research. 

According to a WSC press release, the new facility provides students with the latest technologies which they can work with and use in an environment that is not only functional, but comfortable as well. The facility is furnished with sofas surrounding a fireplace, tables and chairs where students can work in groups and a countertop outfitted with new technologies.

Go to the link for the rest of the story; sounds like the only thing they need in the "Learning Commons" is a Starbucks.

And for all I know, they have that, too. 

More Companies Seek Crude Oil Export Licenses

Updates

Later, 7:37 pm: oil is not particularly useful if it is not refined into useable products, such as diesel or gasoline. There won't be any new refineries built in the US, except for boutique refineries such as the three being promoted in North Dakota. Sea-going tankers can transport refined products just as easily as oil; and Canadian refineries can push gasoline and diesel back to the US. This is not rocket science. For all the talk about a global economy, ....

Original Post

From Wall Street Cheat Sheet:

Exxon Mobil Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell, and BP are among the six companies that have applied to the United States government for crude oil export licenses, says The Financial Times. 

American exports could substantially affect oil trading patterns among North America, Europe and West Africa along with exerting pressure on prices of Brent in particular and other crudes.

BP already has a license, I believe, to export US oil to Canada (recently announced, posted, if I recall correctly).

On Track For 2,535 New Oil and Gas Permits for Calendar Year 2012

On October 6, 2012, I posted that at the rate of new permits being issued, North Dakota was on track for 2,459 new permits this calendar year.

Now, about a week later, as of October 12, 2012, North Dakota is now on track for 2,535 new permits this calendar year.

Back on June 1, 2012, I posted these stats:

My database showed the following number of permits (may or may not include salt water disposal wells):

• 2012: 2,093 (est) -- based on 866 permits issued as of May 31, 2012

• 2011: 1,940

• 2010: 1,684 

• 2009: 629

• 2008: 956

• 2007: 497

• 2006: 422

The pace of permitting has increased significantly since June 1, 2012.

With A Stroke of a Pen, 20 Million Acres, 445 Square Miles Opened to Industrial Solar Farms

Presidents are agents of change. Link to the LA Times. 

The Obama administration has formally adopted a plan to help create large-scale solar energy plants, offering incentives for solar developers to cluster projects on 285,000 acres of federal land in the western U.S and opening an additional 19 million acres of the Mojave Desert for new power plants.

The plan places 445 square miles of public land in play for utility-scale solar facilities. The program, announced Friday by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar at an event in Las Vegas, will apply to new projects only and not the 17 solar facilities already awarded permits or the 78 currently in the approval pipeline.

Environmentalists should love this.  No dual-use once those solar farms are in place. Solar panels preclude dual use. Desert tortoises will have lots of shade under those panels.

Solyndra will probably be offered the role as overall coordinator to develop these 20 million acres (19,285,000 acres to be exact).

Quid pro quo: after nine years of study, almost four years on President Obama's watch, the Federal government finally approved a permit for a small oil refinery in North Dakota, which might take up 200 acres of land, at most.