By Rep. Jeff Howe
We should transport people and commodities in the safest, most economical, most efficient manners possible. Disappointingly, it does not always happen that way and the ripple effects are widespread.
Take, for example, how Minnesota’s cumbersome regulatory system is causing damaging consequences for practically all of us by delaying a project that would transport more North Dakota oil across Minnesota via pipeline.
The permitting stall in Minnesota reportedly will delay this pipeline project by at least a year. This means 70 percent of North Dakota oil will continue to be transported by train. Too many oil cars will continue to clog our railroads, impeding farmers who are struggling to get their harvest to market. That, in turn, forces more loads of ag. products to be carried by trucks, increasing motor-vehicle traffic along busy roads like highways 23 and 15, and I-94. And it all comes back to the taxpayers, who will have to pick up the tab for extra wear and tear our roads and bridges.
Our system is bogging down in many ways simply because we are not using the safest, most economical, most efficient means of transportation for oil. Reports show, to date this year, Minnesota’s corn growers have lost $70 million and our soybean growers have lost more than $20 million because of delays in moving their harvest.
The proposed Sandpiper oil line from North Dakota, through northern Minnesota to Superior, Wis., would alleviate this problem by carrying an estimated 250,000 barrels per day. That would be the same as more than 4,300 trucks a day. Think how much that would benefit our roadways in terms of increased efficiency, reduced congestion and improved surface preservation.
It is interesting how the current administration in Minnesota is handling this. Around the same time Gov. Mark Dayton’s commissioners stalled this project, Dayton himself sent a letter to North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple asking for heightened safety measures on trains.
There is a common-sense solution to this and it starts with transporting oil through the Sandpiper pipeline – the safest, most economical, most efficient method for this particular product. Failure to do this is causing farmers to keep their paychecks in storage bins and increased damage to our roadways. Taxpayers cannot handle the financial burden that failure to do the right thing is causing.
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