Dakota Access Pipeline Is A Milestone For ND Energy Development

The demonized Dakota Access Pipeline will go into service soon, likely early this week, and will begin delivering 470,000 barrels of Bakken crude oil every day to a distribution hub, providing better access to important markets. In all the pandemonium over the pipeline, with months of noisy protests, the importance of the pipeline to North Dakota has been overshadowed.

The Dakota Access Pipeline will make North Dakota’s roads and railroad crossings safer, a big plus for public safety. It has the capacity to eliminate 500 to 740 rail cars or more than 250 trucks each day.

The $3.8 billion pipeline will bring as much as $100 million a year in additional tax revenue to North Dakota, a welcome infusion as the state struggles with low prices for energy and farm commodities. It will transform the economics of oil production by reducing transportation costs an estimated $3 a barrel. By increasing the competition among existing pipelines, it will help to further alleviate transportation costs. High transportation costs have long dogged Bakken producers.

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