Groups say federal review of Keystone line is inadequate

COMMENT: Increasingly, North Americans are focussing on the greenhouse gas emissions associated with Alberta's oilsands. In the news item that follows these comments, the intervention being reported on is in the US regulatory process for TransCanada's Keystone Pipeline, which is proposed precisely to move oilsands production to US refineries and markets. It is one example of how that focus on oilsands related GHGs is playing out.

See the Wikipedia entry on the Bakken Formation

Janell Cole
N.D. Capitol Bureau
Thursday, February 14, 2008

BISMARCK — The TransCanada Keystone Pipeline shouldn’t have a final go-ahead yet because a federal environmental study failed to heed the increased global warming caused by the “dirty” tar sands oil the line would carry, environmental groups said Wednesday.

The groups, including the Dickinson–based Dakota Resource Council, also charge that the proposed pipe strength isn’t good enough to ensure groundwater safety and that the federal study neglected to consider protection of American Indian cultural resources.

The 30-inch pipeline, set for construction beginning this spring, is to run from Alberta through Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas and Illinois. It will carry oil extracted from the northern Alberta tar sands to Illinois refineries, with a future branch extending to a crude oil hub in Oklahoma.

DRC joined with the Natural Resources Defense Council, headquartered in New York, and the Iowa-based Plains Justice to comment on the final federal environmental impact statement.

The groups said they “found that the final (EIS) failed to address the impacts of expansion in refineries for the dirty tar sands oil, and the local impacts of the pipeline.” And, they said, the study fails to show how “promoting and catalyzing expansion of tar sands oil” is in the national interest. Processing tar sands oil causes three times as much global warming per barrel compared to conventional oil, they said.

The State Department is eventually expected to issue a “record of decision” giving the federal approval for the construction. Meanwhile, the North Dakota Public Service Commission is also in the final stages of approving the route through the state, from near Walhalla to near Cogswell. The PSC meets again this morning to work on its draft order.

TransCanada spokesman Jeff Rauh said Wednesday, “The EIS is adequate.” He said it covers all the pertinent issues and “we look forward to starting on the project.”

Pipeline critic Janie Clapp of Lankin said Wednesday, as she and other opponents have said before, that the federal government’s approval of a slightly thinner pipe in sections of the line “may contaminate our drinking and agricultural water.”

But Rauh said the federal pipeline safety agency that has permitted the slightly thinner pipe determined it will be as safe as or safer than other pipelines. Its approval includes 17 pages – more than 50 special conditions – that the company must meet in order to use the slightly thinner pipe, he said.

Rauh also said the EIS contains 35 pages of detail about the consultation done with Indian tribes and the State Department regarding the line’s possible affect on native resources.

Janell Cole works for Forum Communications Co., which owns The Dickinson Press.

Once again North Dakota's beleaguered environment and protesting citizens are being swept aside by a big business juggernaut, the Canadian Keystone pipeline. If this pipeline is so essential for our never-ending gas guzzling habits, why can't it be built along the I-29 corridor? This siting would lessen environmental despoilation, the threat of an accident (remember Clear Brook, Minn.), and the inevitable risks of water contamination.

But no, Keystone says it will build where it wants to. The company apparently can get by with arrogant threats to resistant landowners and disdain for environmental concerns. They say they cannot change their plans because it would cost too much. Have we heard that argument before?

The next question to ask is, where is the North Dakota Public Service Commission? Are they in place to serve the interests of corporations or to protect North Dakota's environment and citizens? An excellent letter on the subject appeared in a newspaper in September 2007, pointing out the near-certainty that this pipeline - indeed any pipeline - will sooner or later leak.

Now is the time to contact the PSC. I understand that they will make the final decision in mid-February. The phone number is 328-2400 and the e-mail address is ndpsc@nd.gov.

KILLDEER - Cathy Trampe, of Dunn Center, said she made a deal with her husband, Ernest: If they got an oil well out in one of their grazing pastures, they'd sell the cows.

The well came and the cows got sold, though they're still waiting for their first royalty check in the mail.

The Trampes and more than 130 others from the Dunn County area were in Killdeer on Tuesday night for a town hall meeting that was all about oil, though first and afterward it was about visiting over chips, beer and beef sandwiches in the commodious Buckskin banquet room.

There's a lot to talk about in Dunn County these days, with 13 oil rigs lighting up the night like prairie skyscrapers out there.

A lineup of speakers made it clear the well on the Trampes' land is just the tip of what could be the most sustained and lucrative oil "iceberg" in state history.

That deep iceberg of oil in the Bakken formation is situated like a horseshoe, dropped irregularly on the northwest quadrant of the state and covering more than 24,000 square miles. The Bakken's oil reserve could contain as much as 200 billion to 400 billion barrels of oil, which makes the 1.6 billion barrels produced in all of state history so far seem like a proverbial drop in the bucket.

The size of the reserve is under study by both the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources and the U.S. Geological Survey, with the new numbers expected out in the next two months. But records for state oil production and number of new wells permitted are teetering now.

Lynn Helms, director of the mineral division, told the packed house that daily oil production will likely surpass the state's record set in 1985 by mid-year.

North Dakota, long ranked ninth among states in total oil production, is now ranked eighth ahead of Montana and could move into fifth or sixth place, he said. This year could breech the record for new well permits. That record is 1,098 permits issued in 1981.

The Bakken may take another 40 to 50 years to fully develop making it an extremely sustained oil event. Helms said the micro-porosity of the rock may make it a good candidate for enhanced recovery using carbon dioxide, rather than a water flood, when that stage comes.

Dunn County is in the heart of the best of the Bakken production so far, along with wells in Mountrail County.

Helms said the oil industry expected good production from the Bakken to spill over from Montana closer to the state line, but the surprise has been to find it further afield. That could put Mercer County in a good position for oil development as evidenced by strong interest in Mercer County when the State Land Department auctioned 21,000 mineral acres in the county two weeks ago.

"It's the march to the lake (Sakakawea)," Helms said of the oil rigs' path. "The industry believes there's Bakken potential all the way to mid-Mercer County."

Helms said oil production in Dunn and Mountrail counties is "shooting straight up." A fairly steady increase of daily oil production at around 2,000 barrels jumped up to 7,000 barrels when wells in those counties came in recent months, he said.

He said Bakken formation produces a sweet crude oil that's being "gobbled up" by Tesoro's Mandan refinery. "It's the best oil in the world," Helms said.

Mark Makelky, director of the state's Pipeline Authority, said crude oil pipelines - particularly the east-west Enbridge pipeline - are expanding capacity.

"It's not enough yet," Makelky said. Enbridge will go from 110,000 barrels capacity to 160,000 in its next expansion phase. That phase will max out the pipeline, and the next step is to build another line, he said.

All the natural gas coming off the oil wells and flaring now in Dunn and Mountrail will be eventually gathered, though there are some constraints on the smaller pipelines that feed into the main 42-inch Northern Border Pipeline that exports much of the state's gas production, Makelky said.

Ron Ness, who directs the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said the boom is back, especially in view of oil tax revenue. The state's share of oil taxes could amount to more than $600 million this biennium alone, he said.

A proposed constitutional measure will divert some of that revenue into a trust that could eventually yield $75 million a year in interest, Ness said.

Like pipelines constrain product, North Dakota's available workforce could constrain the boom. Ness said the industry needs 12,000 new and replacement workers over the next four years "to get the job done."

The North Dakota Association of Oil and Gas Producing Counties coordinated the Dunn County meeting and others still to be held.

They're scheduled at noon Feb. 22 in Bowman at the Sweetwater Golf Course Clubhouse; at noon Feb. 25 at the Farm Festival building in Tioga; at 6 p.m. Feb. 25 at the Two Way Steakhouse in Stanley; and at noon Feb. 26 at the 4 Bears Casino at New Town.

Vicky Steiner, director of the county association, said each meeting will be tailored with information for each oil location.