Politics is the means through which we choose who gets to make the law and what the law says. Politics should not govern us. All too often, it does. To illustrate this point, let me turn to what might seem like an odd example. There is a business in Grand Forks called the Northern Air…
“If This Didn’t Have the Name Keystone on It, Nobody Would Really Be Paying Much Attention to It”
The latest news about the Keystone pipeline spill near Edinburg, North Dakota, is that it was much larger than previously estimated. Which isn’t unusual. Initial estimates about these spills are just that. Initial estimates. They’re almost always revised once cleanup efforts commence and the true scope of the spill comes into focus. In this case,…
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…
Latest Tactic in the Environmental Left’s Drive to Obstruct Human Progress Is to Declare That Plants Have Rights
If plants had rights, would you even be able to mow your lawn? Laugh if you want, but that’s the direction far-left activists like Winona LaDuke want to take us. “Manoomin (wild rice) now has legal rights,” she wrote in a recent column. “At the close of 2018, the White Earth band of Ojibwe recognized…
Doing Bad Things to the Environment in the Name of Environmentalism
Certain very large, very noisy factions of the American left have taken to opposing the construction of pipeline infrastructure vigorously. I’m not just talking about political and legal obstruction. Roadblocking a pipeline by gumming up the regulatory process, or seemingly endless litigation, is one thing. But often these projects are opposed with violence and criminal…
The Dakota Access Pipeline Has Reduced Oil by Rail Shipments by 20 Percent in First Month of Operation
The opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline, many of them political extremists with a propensity for vandalism and violence, told us that the line was a risk. The truth beyond those talking points is more complicated, as it so often is. According to a recent report from the North Dakota Pipeline Authority (see below), rising…
Trump’s “Buy American” Idea Is Decidedly Un-American
The oil industry, which overall has benefited from President Donald Trump’s leadership in the White House, is not happy with his plan to mandate the use of U.S. steel in their projects. They have a point: Donald Trump’s allies in the oil industry are warning the president that his bid to boost U.S. steelmakers could…
Audio: Line 3 Pipeline Project Manager Says There Will Be More Environmental Impacts if Old Line Isn’t Replaced
UPDATE: This post originally said the public hearings were being held by Enbridge. That was an error. They’re being held by the State of Minnesota. Public hearings regarding Line 3 pipeline replacement project have begun in Minnesota. And of course, because pipelines are a hot political topic these days, those hearings are featuring push back from…
Hold the Company, Not the Entire Industry, Responsible for Belle Fourche Pipeline Leak
Scroll down for an update The Belle Fourche Pipeline has leaked over 176,000 gallons of oil into Ash Coulee Creek in western North Dakota. It’s a major spill, and the response to it has been complicated by North Dakota’s severe winter weather. The latest word is that some five miles of the creek have been contaminated. As…
#NoDAPL Protests Inspire Attacks Against Five Other Pipelines
Declaring themselves in solidarity with the #NoDAPL protesters fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline in south central North Dakota activists claimed to have shut down five other pipelines in the U.S. today, including one near Walhalla, North Dakota. A group calling itself “Climate Direct Action” reported online that the actions were taken early Tuesday against Enbridge…