I’m watching the North Dakota Public Service Commission’s hearing on a proposed expansion of the Dakota Access Pipeline today ( it’s on-going, you can live stream it here, I’m not sure if or when an archive will be available). The proceedings are mostly unfolding as you’d expect. A sober, if at times pointed, discussion of…
Print Column: Let’s Hope the Anti-Pipeline Activists Don’t Set Any Fires This Time
MINOT, N.D. — North Dakota’s Public Service Commission will be holding a hearing in Emmons County this week concerning a proposed expansion of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The capacity would roughly double to more than 1 million barrels per day. There is a large turnout expected from both supporters and critics of the pipeline. What many North…
Dakota Access Pipeline Expansion Expected to Bring in at Least $33 Million Per Year in Tax Revenues
Next week you’ll be hearing a lot about the Dakota Access Pipeline. As I mentioned in a post yesterday, the North Dakota Public Service Commission is putting on a meeting on Wednesday at the Emmons County Courthouse to hear public comment about a proposed expansion to the line. The line can carry about 500,000 barrels…
As Dakota Access Pipeline Fight Heats up Again Poll Says Nearly 70 Percent of North Dakotans Support Expansion
On Wednesday next week, North Dakota’s Public Service Commission will be holding a public hearing at the Emmons County Courthouse in Linton to allow comment on a proposed expansion of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Currently, the line has the capacity for about 500,000 barrels per day. The expansion would take that into the neighborhood of…
Greta Thunberg to Visit Site of Violent Protests Against the Dakota Access Pipeline
According to a press release from the Lakota People’s Law Project, child activist Greta Thunberg will be visiting North and South Dakota this week. She will visit the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota on Sunday, October 6. On Tuesday, October 8, she’ll visit the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Standing Rock straddles the North…
It’s Ridiculous That the Army Corps Won’t Take Responsibility for Failing to Address Trespassing by #NoDAPL Protesters
The violent protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline cost the State of North Dakota nearly $40 million. That dollar figure is based on what it cost to have law enforcement, first responders, the National Guard, and various state/local agencies address the situation. There were a lot of factors at play during the protests but one…
Saudi Attacks Should Make Us Thankful the Environmental Zealots Have Been (Mostly) Losing Their War on American Oil Development
Over the weekend the American news media was obsessed with another salacious (though ultimately not nearly so salacious as initially reported) story about the Trump administration. Largely overlooked in that furor were coordinated drone attacks on roughly half of Saudi Arabia’s crude oil production facilities. Though the Saudi national oil company, Aramco, acted quickly to…
Elizabeth Warren’s Attack on the Dakota Access Pipeline Is Why So Many Republicans Tolerate Donald Trump
Why do so many Republicans support someone like Donald Trump? I get asked that question a lot, most recently by a couple of reporters who work here in North Dakota. They don’t understand why someone like President Donald Trump – a serial philanderer with only a rhetorical adherence to the mores of social conservative, an…
Plain Talk: Expanding Capacity for the Dakota Access Pipeline, and What Can We Really Do to Stop Mass Murder Attacks?
“Nothing changes with respect to the operating pressure.” That’s what Glenn Emery said of the expansion of the Dakota Access Pipeline on this episode of Plain Talk. He is the Vice President of Commercial Operations and Business Development for Energy Transfer Partners – the company which owns DAPL – and he says the construction of…
What Have the Anti-Oil Activists Ever Done for Us?
A few recent headlines in the regional media are interesting, given their juxtaposition. Our state’s battle to be reimbursed for the heavy costs of handling the violent and often unlawful #NoDAPL protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline continues. “North Dakota’s congressional delegation is calling on President Donald Trump’s administration to address the state’s year-old request…