PSC approves siting permit for Sacagawea Pipeline Project
PSC approves siting permit for Sacagawea Pipeline Project
By Jerry W. Kram
The North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved a siting permit for a crude oil pipeline that will be built in McKenzie and Mountrail Counties.
Sacagawea Pipeline Company, LLC, is planning to construct and operate the "Sacagawea Pipeline Project," a new 70-mile long, 16-inch diameter crude oil pipeline and associated facilities.
The pipeline has been controversial because it will cross underneath Lake Sakakawea and area citizens are concerned with a number of large leaks in older pipelines both on and around the Fort Berthold Reservation. A salt water leak near Mandaree unleashed a million gallons of brine, some of which likely reached the lake. A massive million gallon oil leak near Tioga has been under reclamation for a year.
The pipeline will go under the lake about 10 miles south of New Town. It will transfer oil from the Paradigm Midstream Services terminal about a two and a half miles south of Keene to the Phillips 66 Rail Terminal at Palermo. It will cross North Dakota Highway 23 about two miles east of New Town.
