Four Bears Pipeline means fewer trucks, more oil moving to market

WATFORD CITY, N.D. - Senator John Hoeven said that the Four Bears Pipeline is a key addition to the state’s oil transportation infrastructure. He joined state and local officials and industry leaders at an open house on Jan. 20 celebrating the 77-mile Four Bears Pipeline, which is designed to move up to 80,000 barrels of oil per day (b/d) through Dunn and McKenzie counties to existing pipeline infrastructure near Belfield.

"This Four Bears Pipeline is an efficient means of moving Bakken sweet crude from North Dakota to market, and transporting more Bakken oil is good for western North Dakota, our state and nation. We've worked hard to make it possible for important infrastructure like this to be constructed," Hoeven said.

The Four Bears Pipeline is expected to remove the need for more than 300 truck trips down Highway 85 and Highway 22, which translates into 30,000 miles per day off these congested corridors. It now delivers crude oil to the Butte pipeline at Baker, Mont., and the Bakken Oil Express rail terminal near Dickinson. In the future, Four Bears will deliver oil to the Belle Fourche pipeline and the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which, once constructed, will have the capacity to deliver 830,000 b/d, including 100,000 b/d from the Bakken region.

The Four Bears Pipeline is operated by Bridger Pipeline, LLC. Bridger and Belle Fourche pipelines are a part of the True companies of Casper, Wyo., operating more than 3,400 miles of pipeline systems in western North Dakota, eastern Montana and Wyoming.

Koch Bros. help fund attack on Obama's rejection of Keystone XL Pipeline

Americans for Prosperity, the conservative group partly funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, on Jan. 18 slammed President Barack Obama for rejecting the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

"We will continue to support private industry and job growth, even as the President blocks efforts like the Keystone pipeline that would create good paying private sector jobs and help our economy recover," the group said.

"Unfortunately, President Obama's idea of job growth is increasing unemployment benefits, which does little other than keep unemployment high while causing our national debt to skyrocket."

TransCanada attacks Cornell report on Keystone XL jobs

TransCanada has criticized a study from the Cornell University Global Labor Institute stating that the company's Keystone XL project would only generate up to 4,650 temporary direct construction jobs for two years. 

"Why groups like (the Natural Resources Defense Council) and Cornell continue to question job creation in the United States is a concern," said Terry Cunha, a spokesman for TransCanada. "We fully understand the jobs that are needed to build a piece of infrastructure of this size. We like to think of ourselves as the experts," Cunha added.

Obama rejects Keystone XL line from Canada, triggering controversy

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Jan. 18 denied a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, touching off a torrent of criticism from Republicans, whom the White House blamed for forcing a decision.

President Barack Obama, who was under a 60-day deadline imposed by congressional Republicans, left open the door to approve the 1,661-mile pipeline in the future. He also suggested the possibility of an alternative pipeline that could get Canadian oil sands crude to refineries and ports in Texas.

The company that wants to build Keystone XL, TransCanada Corp., said on Jan. 18 that it would apply for a new permit which, if approved, would allow the pipeline to be built by late 2014.

Environmentalists had made the project a test case on whether the administration was serious about fighting climate change. And though Obama didn't rule out future pipelines, they declared victory.

Business groups, congressional Republicans and the GOP's presidential candidates hammered Obama for rejecting the project, which they said would create jobs.

In a statement, Obama said he was siding with his State Department and denying the permit because of a "rushed and arbitrary deadline" that congressional Republicans attached to a payroll tax-cut extension in December.

"This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people," Obama said.

Obama said his administration would "continue to look for new ways to partner with the oil and gas industry to increase our energy security," and he said that would include a potential pipeline from Cushing, Okla., to the Texas Coast. An existing Keystone pipeline from the oil sands ends at Cushing. Extending it could be an alternative way of getting the oil sands crude to the Gulf Coast.

The administration's decision was a delay, but not necessarily the end of the line, when it comes to linking Canada's oil sands with Texas. The State Department last summer said it found no major environmental problems with the pipeline, but later it changed course because of concerns about the pipeline's route through Nebraska's sensitive Sand Hills region and asked for a review of alternative routes.

TransCanada president Russ Girling said the company would reapply for a permit and "largely maintain the construction schedule of the project." He said a route would be found by October to avoid the Sand Hills.

But he charged that "until this pipeline is constructed," the U.S. will continue to import oil from "foreign countries who do not share democratic values Canadians and Americans are privileged to have. Thousands of jobs continue to hang in the balance if this project does not go forward."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, who spoke before the administration announced its decision, blamed Republicans for launching a "purely partisan effort to score a political point." He said the State Department had warned that forcing a decision within 60 days "would make it virtually impossible for an adequate review."

He said the concerns under review included environmental effects on air and water quality in Nebraska and a request by Nebraska's governor to consider an alternate route.

"We don't even have an alternate route identified yet, so how could anyone possibly review it thoroughly in the manner that is expected in this process?" he said.

Carney insisted Obama doesn't necessarily oppose the construction of pipelines.

"This president's commitment to expanding domestic oil and gas production is firm," he said.

Environmental groups opposed the Keystone XL pipeline chiefly because of climate change, but also because of the risk of oil spills. Canada's oil sands require more energy to extract and refine the crude, and that means a greater release of greenhouse gases than from refining conventional oil. They also argued that oil sands crude wouldn't improve energy security because it could be exported from Texas ports. 

President Barack Obama's rejection of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline demonstrates a "clear lack of leadership" and that politics played a role in the ruling, said Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute. Gerard said that API would pursue all legal and legislative options to get the pipeline constructed. "These are serious national decisions that shouldn't be made on political whims. The president has fallen victim to a small group that is anti-oil and gas," he added.

President Barack Obama should overturn his decision to reject TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, several House Republicans said, arguing that otherwise job generation and the country's push for energy independence would be affected. "It's not too often that the president of the United States has the opportunity, with one swipe of his pen, to increase private sector jobs by thousands of employees, while at the same time increasing our energy independency and energy security," said Rep. Ben Quayle, R-Ariz. "This is the wrong decision at the wrong time," he added.

Republicans are studying alternative ways to get TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline built after the Obama administration decided to reject the project. "This is not the end of the fight. Republicans in Congress will continue to push this because it is good for our country, it is good for the economy and it's good for the American people," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing next week on President Barack Obama's rejection of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, and committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., has invited Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify. The State Department was in charge of the review of the project.

Republicans pushed President Barack Obama to reject TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline when they shortened the decision-making schedule for the project, said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "If the Republicans care so much about the Keystone pipeline, they would not have narrowed the president's options by putting it on the time frame that they did," Pelosi said. "They left him very little choice."

Environmental study of Keystone XL done by firm with ties to TransCanada

NEW YORK - The U.S. State Department assigned an important environmental impact study of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline to a company with financial ties to the pipeline operator, flouting the intent of a federal law meant to ensure an impartial environmental analysis of major projects.

The department allowed TransCanada, the company seeking permission to build the 1,700-mile pipeline from the oil sands of northern Alberta to the Gulf Coast in Texas, to solicit and screen bids for the environmental study.

At TransCanada's recommendation, the department hired Cardno Entrix, an environmental contractor based in Houston, even though it had previously worked on projects with TransCanada and describes the pipeline company as a "major client" in its marketing materials.

While it is common for federal agencies to farm out environmental impact studies, legal experts said they were surprised the State Department was not more circumspect about the potential for real and perceived conflicts of interest on such a large and controversial project.

John D. Echeverria, an expert on environmental law, referred to the process as "outsourcing government responsibility."

The subsequent study, released at the end of August, found that the massive pipeline would have "limited adverse environmental impacts" if operated according to regulations. That positive assessment removed one of the last hurdles for approval of the pipeline.

Cardno Entrix also played a substantial role in organizing the hearings on the project for the State Department, the last of which was held Oct. 7 in Washington.