Sense And Sensibility In Minnesota -- August 1, 2015

The StarTribune is reporting:

Minnesota regulators on Thursday approved a $125 million upgrade to a pipeline that delivers North Dakota and Canadian crude oil to the Twin Cities’ two oil refineries.

Unlike other pipeline projects, this one provoked almost no controversy.

The construction, to begin next year with 40 to 50 workers and finish in 2017, doesn’t require laying new pipe, and won’t significantly increase the overall flow of crude oil from a terminal in Clearbrook, MN.

Minnesota Pipe Line Co., owner of four pipelines that are the sole source of the refineries’ crude oil, plans to build six new pump stations and upgrade two others along the 305-mile route. The 24-inch-diameter pipe was installed in 2008, and sized so its capacity could be increased.

Once known as MinnCan, it is now called simply Line 4. While the extra pumps will more than double the line’s capacity to 350,000 barrels per day, the company said the expansion is needed so that all the oil can be shifted to Line 4 when three older pipelines undergo maintenance. All of them are decades old, and require more maintenance.

Huge story. So with little fanfare this "little refinery on the Plains" will ramp up to 350,000 bopd. To put that in perspective, Saudi Arabia recently announced plans for two new refineries, each capable of 400,000 bopd, and Kuwait just announced plans for a new 615,000 bopd refinery.

It was not mentioned until later in the article, but most of this is owned and operated by a subsidiary of ... drum roll ... the evil Koch Brothers. 

And there are signs the Minnesota regulators are exhibiting a new sensibility and a bit more common sense:

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission voted 4-0 to grant the project a certificate of need, a key regulatory hurdle. The commission considered but dropped the idea of requiring the pipeline to have a carbon-neutral footprint if oil shipments increased substantially in the future.

Eric Swanson, an attorney for Minnesota Pipe Line Co., said that when Line 4 is used to relieve the other pipelines serving the refineries, it will operate more efficiently and draw less power. That means its footprint is carbon-neutral unless at some future date the overall oil flow increased.