Was The Sandpiper Keystoned? -- September 18, 2015

I'm not sure what this means, but it seems concerning. WDIO is reporting:

The Minnesota house speaker is questioning whether the Dayton administration quietly supported environmental groups fighting the Sandpiper Oil Pipeline.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed a decision by state regulators to grant a "certificate of need" for the Sandpiper Oil Pipeline.

Here's more of the background, as reported by the Park Rapids Enterprise:

A judicial panel overturned a state commission decision that a crude oil pipeline across Minnesota is needed, at least until the project's environmental impact can be studied.
It was not immediately clear what impact Monday's Minnesota Appeals Court decision could have on construction of the Sandpiper pipeline.

The decision means that the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission cannot issue a "certificate of need" to a subsidiary of Enbridge Energy Partners until the environmental study is complete. The PUC on June 5 voted to issue the certificate that the court now has overturned.

There was no immediate response from Enbridge or the PUC about how the ruling will impact the pipeline construction timetable or whether Monday's decision will be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

So, it's dead.

The crude oil unit trains will keep rolling through Minneapolis-St Paul. 

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And So Is Minnesota

Link here.

Typical wages in Minnesota and across the country remain flat despite a low unemployment rate and economy that's largely recovered from the recession, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau Thursday. The numbers point to continued income equality in the state and nation, largely based on race.

The median household income in Minnesota was $61,481 in 2014. That's just $30 more than the 2013 numbers and only slightly up from the 2010 household income.
Minnesota also continues to struggle with racial income disparities. The median household income for whites ($61,481) and Asians in Minnesota is twice that of African-American households ($27,026). American Indian households also had less income, with median earnings of $32,764 (casinos?).

Median household incomes for whites in the state rose almost $7,000 between 2010 and 2014 while household income for black or African-American residents rose just over $150.

The median household income for African-Americans in Minnesota dropped by almost $4,000 between 2013 and 2014, according to the Census data.

"There remains to be a lot of individuals in our economy that are not experiencing the kind of improvement that even these kinds of overall figures would suggest," Hine said.

The poverty rate for African-Americans has increased by 5 percent in Minnesota, or about 20,000 people. The new data shows that about 113,000 black Minnesotans now live below the poverty line. 

But "no" on jobs if connected to Big Oil.  But $15 / hour for those flipping burgers.