It may be the largest energy project ever approved by the North Dakota Public Service Commission.
The PSC has okayed the corridor and route for the Sandpiper Pipeline. The 24-inch line would carry 250-thousand barrels of Bakken crude from Tioga to Minnesota and Wisconsin. It was proposed by Enbridge, under the name North Dakota Pipeline Company. The line would be over 600 miles long – half of which would be in North Dakota. It’s a $2.6 billion total project – with $1.3 billion in North Dakota. It would carry 250,000 barrels of oil each day.
"This project provides critical, infrastructure to serve the industry," said Commissioner Julie Fedorchak, who holds the PSC's pipeline portfolio. "It'll take trucks off the road -- an equivalent of 4,384 trucks per day."
Fedorchak says the pipeline could eliminate up to 4 oil trains per day.
"It will reduce the pressure on the rail system," said Fedorchak.
Commissioner Randy Christmann says there's been a lot of national attention on the Keytsone XL pipeline, which could carry up to 100,000 barrels of Bakken crude.
"This pipeline (Sandpiper) will carry more than twice as much North Dakota oil as Keystone XL would," said Christmann. "And it has the capacity to be upgraded significantly from that."
Fedorchak says it's estimated the construction of Sandpiper would create more than 10,000 construction jobs along the route.
Fedorchak says the company wants to get started on the North Dakota part of the project as soon as possible. Minnesota permits and permissions are still pending.
