County Brief; Keystone Pipeline Chatter

Last week, county commissioners spoke with Robert Latimer of Omaha, Neb., about the Keystone Pipeline and the possibility of the project continuing. While they remain optimistically cautious, they discussed how the pipeline is projected to proceed should it be approved for construction.

Most of the plans in place will likely remain the same with some slight tweaks. The proposed man camps in Hinsdale and by Fort Peck will still be in place, should the project come to fruition. They also spoke about tax impact and were assured that Montana and South Dakota should be in good shape.

Certain details at the time, like acquiring Presidential Permits and other paperwork to move forward, still have to be figured out. Latimer has confidence the incoming administration will move forward.

It is projected that 830,000 gallons of oil per day would move through the pipeline from Canada to Nebraska. The line would also carry oil from the Bakken Oil Fields which would be fed into the pipeline from the Baker Ramp, in Baker, Mont. Commissioner Bruce Peterson stated currently the United States imports around 6 million barrels of oil a day of which between 3.5 and 4 million barrels come from Canada.

The commissioners also pointed out that they passed a motion to continue the provisions for the pipelines construction in Valley County and similar actions have been taking place in other counties across the state.

Latimer implicated that the pipelines construction has yet to be completed on the Canadian side of the border and there are still many details that need to be hashed out to move forward. He added that both Montana and South Dakota are in good shape with the permitting processes, but Nebraska is at least one year from obtaining the necessary permits. If all goes as it is projected to, the project will likely break soil in the U.S. sometime in 2019.