Free Republic

A Predator drone designed to catch terrorists in Afghanistan was used to track a recalcitrant North Dakota rancher and his sons accused of cattle thieving and monitor them to see when they were unarmed and alert the police in a case believed to be the first where an American citizen was arrested with the aid of a drone. On Jan. 14, 2014, Rodney Brossart was acquitted of stealing cattle and criminal mischief, but convicted of terrorizing police (a conviction he is appealing) and sentenced to three years in prison with all but six months suspended. This all stems from an...

BNSF plans to invest $5 billion in its railroad this year, including $900 million to expand capacity in the Northern Plains where crude oil shipments are surging. The railroad said Tuesday its 2014 spending plan is roughly $1 billion higher than last year. BNSF says it’s responding to significant volume growth. Some projects should help alleviate congestion near the booming Bakken oil field in North Dakota and Montana...

An unusual coalition of lawmakers from both parties, labor and business leaders, veterans groups and Canada's ambassador to the United States joined forces Tuesday to push for quick approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Five Democrats joined Republicans at a Capitol news conference to urge President Barack Obama to approve the pipeline following a State Department report last week that raised no major environmental objections. The $7 billion pipeline would carry oil from tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. The project has lingered for more than five years and has become a symbol...

Government investigators have found crude oil being transported from North Dakota’s Bakken region was misclassified in samples taken from 11 out of 18 truck shipments en route to rail loading stations, federal transportation officials said Tuesday. Hazardous materials shipments are supposed to be classified into one of nine categories depending on the risk involved. If the materials are misclassified, they could wind up being shipped in less protective rail tank cars and emergency personnel might follow the wrong protocols when responding to a spill. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said it has proposed fining three companies involved in...

The State Department today released its long-awaited environmental impact analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline. The analysis is key because President Obama announced last summer he would not approve the pipeline unless it was found to have no significant impact on climate change. And that’s what the analysis finds. It argues, as many other analysts have concluded, that if we block the pipeline, Canada will just ship the oil out by rail. So, what public policy reason is there to block the pipeline? There really isn’t one. Indeed, the environmentalists' obsession with Keystone began as a gigantic mistake. Two and...

January 31, 2014, 03:09 pm Keystone pipeline clears hurdle By Laura Barron-Lopez The controversial Keystone XL pipeline cleared a major hurdle on Friday as the State Department ruled the project wouldnÂ’t significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions. The finding puts the pipeline one step closer to approval, and sets up a new battle between environmental groups and oil companies over whether the project is in the national interest. The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the project reiterates key parts of a draft analysis released early last year, finding that oil sands extraction would continue regardless of whether the pipeline is built....

It’s no coincidence that sage grouse habitat also happens to intersect both the largest untapped coal deposits in the country as well as large parts of the Bakken oil field. It’s clear the primary motivation to focus on sage grouse for ESA listing is to provide yet another tool for special interest groups to block energy development. And in this obstructionist toolbox, there’s no heavier sledgehammer than the Endangered Species Act. What an interesting irony, then, that so much effort is going into “protecting” one bird from energy development, when the Obama administration is turning a blind eye to hundreds...

<p>A North Dakota farmer convicted of terrorizing law officers two years ago is the first American to be sentenced to prison with the help of a Predator drone, Forbes reported.</p> <p>Rodney Brossart, who was accused at the time of stealing six cows from a neighbor, was arrested after a summer-long standoff in 2011. Authorities say Brossart family members refused to allow deputies on their farmstead and didn't show up for court hearings.</p>

Among Washington's most important but rarely covered realities is the daily close coordination among Democratic politicians, executive branch bureaucrats and the left side of the non-profit activism community. Emails obtained recently through a Freedom of Information Act request submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency by the Energy and Environment Legal Institute exposed a slice of that coordination in the campaign to stop construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The emails show, according to Fox News correspondent John Roberts, "senior policy officials at the EPA working closely with environmental groups in what appears to be an effort to kill the pipeline."...

Inquiring minds are digging into a George Washington University paper on State Fiscal Conditions, a ranking of 50 states, by Sarah Arnett. PolicyMic Produced this Chart of State Fiscal Conditions based on the working paper. Highlights and Lowlights Let's return to the original working paper for some highlights and lowlights. At the bottom of the rankings are New Jersey and Illinois. New Jersey faces long-run solvency problems due in part to nearly 15 years of underfunding its state and local pensions. It has an estimated unfunded pension liability of around $25.6 billion as well as $59.3 billion in unfunded liabilities...

Abundant, low-cost energy courtesy of the shale revolution incentivizes chemical producers and manufacturers to shorten their respective supply chains and return production facilities to the United States. As a result, railroads, trucking companies, marine shippers and even airlines are well-positioned to enjoy new growth opportunities. So says PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which recently released a study outlining how transportation and logistics companies should benefit from oil and gas production from shale plays. Key conclusions of the report, "Shale energy: A potential game-changer," include: In addition to moving greater volumes of crude oil from shale plays, railroads provide a flexible and cost-effective option...

Where crude oil is concerned, Canada waits for no country. It doesn’t matter how wealthy or how friendly that country is -- or whether that country is the United States. With the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline stuck in limbo on the U.S. side, Canada’s Energy Board recently gave a thumbs up to a $6.5 billion pipeline designed to carry 525,000 barrels of oil per day from the oil sands of Alberta to ships on the British Columbia coast. The final destination is most likely Asia. The development has the U.S. oil industry attacking the Obama administration over its drawn-out process....

Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) said he thinks President Obama will approve the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. In the wake of multiple crude-by-rail train accidents in North Dakota -- leaving railcars ablaze and nearby residents at risk --Hoeven said on "Platts Energy Week" that the U.S. needs more pipelines. The U.S. needs pipelines "not only to improve conditions in terms of rail, but trucks," Hoeven said on Sunday. "With the Keystone pipeline, we'd take 500 trucks a day off our roads in western North Dakota." "So clearly pipelines are a part of the solution. But also we have to do everything...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., blocked a last-ditch effort by Republicans Thursday to restore full military pensions. Their proposal would have been paid for by denying tax credits to undocumented immigrants. Pensions to retired and disabled veterans were cut last month in a budget compromise hammered out by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wa., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., according to the Washington Free Beacon.

The Great American Oil & Gas Boom & the Future of Iran No country, No Nation, has ever added oil production capacity – yes ever – like the United States has in the past few years. America has gone from producing 5 Million barrels of oil per day in 2011 to over 7.5 Million barrels this past year; and will soon surpass 10 Million barrels of oil production domestically. It’s an incredible oil boom that will have a profound impact on the lives of ordinary Americans. By the time Obama leaves office, he will have presided over a country that...

Energy Policy: An oil-laden train collides with another and bursts into flames in a small American town, proving why pipelines are safer and why environmentalist opposition to a pipeline from Canada is misguided. Casselton, N.D., had a near brush with tragedy after a train of tank cars carrying crude oil derailed, resulting in fiery explosions and a call from the town's mayor for a re-examination of how such fuel is transported across the United States. The railroad runs right through the middle of Casselton, a town of 2,400 people about 25 miles west of Fargo, and Mayor Ed McConnell said...

The Bakken Shale is driving another hiring surge in North Dakota, with one oil field services company planning to hire 300 new workers by the spring, according to the Bismark Tribune. Power Fuels, a subsidiary of major Bakken services company Nuverra Environmental Solutions, recently released a call for 300 new employees, the newspaper reported. And at least one local job search firm is bracing for a jump in openings. Employees are needed in various fields, from truck drivers to human resources to gas plant workers, the report noted, though the biggest needs are for well operators and wellhead pumpers. “We’re...

CASSELTON, N.D. — A mile-long train carrying crude oil derailed just a mile before it would have cut through the heart of a small North Dakota town, shaking residents with a series of explosions that sent flame and black smoke skyward. No one was hurt, but officials were evacuating as many as 300 people as a precaution. Casselton Train Derailment

BREAKING NEWS: A train is derailed west of Casselton, North Dakota. It happened at 35th Street and 154th Avenue Southeast just before 2:20 p.m. Monday. Several area emergency teams are on scene and are setting up an incident command center. A viewer who is about a half mile from the derailment tells Valley News Live she can see large flames. Several train cars are on fire and huge plumes of black smoke can be seen for miles. Emergency crews are urging people to stay inside and a code red alert has been sent out to residents in a two mile...

Continental basks in shale glory The company leads production of the Bakken shale of North Dakota and Montana The US shale revolution is “the best thing going on in the world since the computer chip”, says Harold Hamm, chairman and chief executive of Continental Resources. “Look at what’s going on today, how the world’s changing. It’s the best thing for America, in my opinion, in 40 years. It’s completely transformative.” No one embodies that transformation better than Hamm. Continental, which has its origins in a company he founded back in 1967, is now the leading producer in the Bakken shale...