MANDAN – Members of the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now (MAIN), a coalition of stakeholders from the business, labor, and agricultural communities, underscored the need for expanded energy infrastructure in North Dakota following a hearing convened by the Public Service Commission (PSC) in Mandan this week. In addition to offering comments to the PSC in person on Thursday, members of the group issued the following statements in support of the PSC’s careful consideration and approval of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
“This week’s Public Service Commission hearings in Mandan represent an important step forward in the state of North Dakota’s crucial ongoing effort to improve its pipeline infrastructure,” said Andy Peterson, President of the Greater North Dakota Chamber of Commerce. “Pipelines like Dakota Access provide a safe, reliable, and efficient way to transport the crude oil that has fueled our state’s economic surge from the ground to American consumers, spurring billions in private investment and relieving pressure on rail and truck transport in the process. We strongly support this project and urge the PSC to do the same.”
“The Dakota Access Pipeline represents an opportunity not just to create thousands of new jobs, but also to significantly improve the state’s ability to safely move its critical energy resources to market,” added Pam Link of the Laborers District of North Dakota and Minnesota. “Dakota Access will move around a half million barrels of North Dakota crude to market safely, and will represent a lasting improvement to the state’s critical energy infrastructure. We’re pleased that the state of North Dakota’s consideration of this vital project is moving forward.”
“New pipelines – especially those that service the Northern Plains and the Bakken region in particular – are urgently needed,” said Ed Wiederstein, former president of the Iowa Farm Bureau and MAIN chairman. “Dakota Access would take four to seven unit trains of crude oil off of the region’s rails, helping the region’s farmers and other commodities shippers to gain greater access to the affordable railcars needed to transport their products. Infrastructure improvements of this nature carry benefits that reach far beyond the energy sector, and deserve our support.”
MAIN’s statements come on the heels of an editorial published Wednesday in the Bismarck Tribune noting the importance of the project to the state of North Dakota’s economic outlook. For more information about the Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now, visit our website at www.MWAllianceNow.org, and follow the coalition on Twitter and Facebook.
About MAIN: The Midwest Alliance for Infrastructure Now (MAIN) is a partnership of entities from agriculture, business, and labor sectors aimed at supporting the economic development and energy security benefits associated with infrastructure projects in the Midwest. MAIN is a project of the Iowa State Building and Construction Trades Council. Visit us online at www.MWAllianceNow.org.