Update On The Propane Terminal At Hannaford, ND -- September 19, 2014; BNSF Wants To Resolve ChokePoint In Idaho

TwinCitiesPioneerPress is reporting:

Officials see a new propane terminal at Hannaford as a way to combat the shortages and high prices seen last year. The $6.5 million terminal is a project of CHS and Central Plains Ag Services and will bring propane from the Oil Patch to users in eastern North Dakota.

The terminal will operate under the CHS propane terminal name.

Previously, most propane marketed in eastern North Dakota was delivered by the Cochin Pipeline from Canada, Kumm said.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, owners of the Cochin Pipeline, reversed the flow of the pipeline to deliver refined products from Illinois to Canada. This led to shortages and high prices last fall and winter, according to Ken Astrup, general manager of Dakota Plains Cooperative in Valley City.

The Hannaford terminal will take delivery of propane by rail, Kumm said. The bulk of the propane will come from a CHS-owned loading facility at Ross, and originates from the Bakken oilfields. CHS also has suppliers in Canada for diversity in case the supply from the Bakken is interrupted.

I didn't see the article say it specifically, but perhaps the terminal is operational; the story back in April suggested it would be up and running in time for the 2014 harvest. 

Again, another "thank you" to a reader for sending me the link. The same reader sent the following story.

The Bismarck Tribune is reporting:

Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad wants to build a second bridge in northern Idaho to handle an expected increase in traffic that includes coal and oil trains.

The one bridge now at Sandpoint handles about one train every half-hour, a bottleneck for BNSF's busy Hi-Line that connects the Pacific Northwest to the Midwest.

Montana Rail Link trains also use the single-track bridge that crosses Lake Pend Oreille where it meets the Pend Oreille River.

"It's known by rail fans as the funnel," BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said. "And it's a choke point."

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Antarctic Sea Ice Extent Sets All-Time Record

Off the Bremen chart. 

If I recall correctly, the warmists now tell us that the extent of sea ice (Antarctic, Arctic, or otherwise) no longer correlates with global warming but "to be honest with you" (would I ever not be honest with you?), I think one can find almost any theory or any explanation or any temperature or almost anything one wants to hear about global warming. The only thing I pretty much know for sure: the Statue of Liberty won't disappear underwater due to global warming as the National Geographic suggests.

Perhaps it's time to pull out the 1976 HAB theory. 

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Renewable Energy Department At Risk?

Politico is reporting:

The New York Times leadership is currently considering a new round of buyout offers that is likely to slash at least 50 positions from the company, and possibly several more, sources at the paper told POLITICO this week.

The official plan is being hammered out at this week's Times Company board meeting on the West Coast, the sources said. Executive editor Dean Baquet, who is attending the meeting, is expected to make an announcement as early as this afternoon or next week. The buyouts are likely to affect both the newsroom and the business side.

The impending buyouts come amid significant personnel growth on the Times digital side, as well as in its video department. The Times has launched several ambitious new digital and mobile projects in recent months and is expected to launch more in the weeks ahead.