Sandpiper pipeline update: February 2015
Published by Elizabeth Corner,
Senior Editor
World dzԹ,
Route talk
Regardless of environmental feasibility, the Sandpiper pipeline project might not happen if the originally proposed route is not followed.
Paul Eberth, SandpiperdzԹs Project Manager, testified last month at an evidentiary hearing for the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission that the North Dakota Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of Enbridge, may scrap their application for the roughly 616 mile pipeline if it doesndzԹt follow what the company deems as critical factors in the application - a pipeline that stretches from near Tioga, N.D., to Clearbrook, Minnesota, and on to Superior, Wisconsin.
Eberth was asked if a pipeline built along one of the eight proposed dzԹsystem alternativesdzԹ - routes proposed by entities other than NDPC, most of which do not pass through Clearbrook or Superior - could benefit the local economies of towns near the route. He agreed towns along system alternative routes would benefit financially from having a pipeline near them, but said he doesndzԹt think any pipeline outside of EnbridgedzԹs preferred route would actually be built.
dzԹI personally dondzԹt think those benefits would be realised because there isndzԹt economic support for the system alternatives,dzԹ Eberth said.
dzԹThe system alternatives proposed by others are fundamentally different projects,dzԹ Eberth said after TuesdaydzԹs session. dzԹConnections at Clearbrook and Superior are the underpinnings of our contracts with shippers and our approved Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rate structure. There is no commercial support for the system alternatives.dzԹ
That particular route gives Enbridge a high degree of interconnectivity to existing terminals and pipelines. Oil could be sent from the Clearbrook terminal to Twin Cities refineries, while Bakken crude sent to SandpiperdzԹs proposed terminus could be sent south to refineries in Illinois. Routes that do not hit those two terminals give EnbridgedzԹs clients, the oil companies shipping the crude oil from the Bakken, fewer options on where to refine their product, Eberth said.
Threatened bat species
A bat that may soon be added to the Endangered Species List could interrupt plans for the pipeline.
The potential pipeline would run 150 miles through the habitat of the northern long-eared bat, which has been decimated by white nose syndrome. Federal officials are about to determine whether it should be listed as threatened or endangered, after a series of meetings and public-comment periods last autumn. Their deadline is 2 April.
Edited from various sources by
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Read the article online at: /project-news/19022015/sandpiper-pipeline-update-february-2015/
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