It's Here! And No Protests Along The Way

The Bismarck Tribune is reporting:

Southwestern North Dakota residents may have looked twice at two trucks hauling a large tube down Interstate 94.

The equipment on the rig is the crude distillation tower for MDU Resources’ Dakota Prairie Refining, MDU spokesman Tim Rasmussen said.

The tower is the core piece of the refining process, used to separate the crude oil into different products. including diesel fuel.

It is 140 feet long, more than 14 feet in diameter and weighs more than 100 tons.
The vessel was fabricated in Asia and loaded on a ship in Taiwan on Nov. 6. It crossed the Pacific Ocean through November and early December.

Once reaching the U.S., it was loaded on a custom- designed trailer and departed the Port of Houston on Jan. 3. Then it traveled 1,723 miles to Dickinson.

The refinery should be in operation by the end of year, assuming the president doesn't sign an executive order halting construction.  I honestly don't know if all the environmental impact statements have been signed off by all federal agencies involved.

MDU-Calumet want this refinery on-line by the end of the year (2014).

The Dickinson Press provided a full run-down on the route.  And a photograph.