XL Pipeline Update

The projected annual tax influx is $12 million. The two, year-long construction camps would bestow short-term economic tidings on the county, buoying regional business and padding the local government’s coffers.

The fiscal boon of the pipeline is incontrovertible to some, and a moot point to other, environmentally-bent parties. In absence of firm federal approval or an unceremonious nixing, the XL bill —along with all the variant, polarized opinions it procures from an anxious populace — dangles high above the heads of congressmen and cattle herders alike, tantalizingly close, but too high for even the tallest senator’s groping fingertips to reach, clasp, and control.

“It certainly would help our budget,” said Bruce Peterson, Chairman of the Valley County Board of Commissioners.

Peterson notes that, though the $12 million figure would be split among towns, the state, schools, and the county, the annual monetary boost would nearly double the county’s operating income. 

The county currently receives $4 million a year in federal payment for the natural gas line which runs through its land. The route has operated for 30 years. “It runs under the road,” said Peterson. “You’d never even know it was there.”

Ecological concerns abound, due both to the pipeline’s proposed path, which would carry it under both the Milk and Missouri Rivers, major sources of fresh drinking water for Northeast Montana and surrounding areas, as well as the effect a spill would have on air quality. 

Though the history of such spills on other, older pipelines is well-established fodder for alternative energy hounds, Peterson points to improved building techniques and vigilant upkeep as risk-deterring factors which must be taken into account.

“They’ve taken the evidence from events such as the Little Buffalo spill [In April 2011, the Plains Midstream Pipeline ruptured, leaking 4.5 million liters of crude oil in NW Alberta, Can.], learned from the errors, and made the necessary changes to the process,” said Peterson.

Keystone would run between 20-35 feet below the riverbed. Whether this is a safe buffer between crude and water, only actualization can determine — a fact which proves a sticking point for President Obama.

“Because [the bill]…cuts short thorough consideration of issues that could bear on our national interest — including our security, safety, and environment,” he said in February, “it has earned my veto.” The project has been in a holding pattern since the President’s unilateral decision to overrule its congressional approval.

After construction is completed, a pumping station, located halfway between Hinsdale and Glasgow, would be installed, and would be responsible for the pipe’s maintenance in Valley County. The station would employ at most one permanent employee, and the project’s opponents cite misleading statistics concerning long-term, permanent jobs the pipeline would facilitate to prop up their argument. The interim boom between non-existence and full-scale operationally, though, must also be noted.

“We visited a Williston man camp,” said Peterson. “It was spotless. They have no-tolerance policies on alcohol and drug abuse, the cafeteria serves steak and shrimp every day, and the bedrooms are comparable to college dorms.”

Because of this, Peterson downplays the idea that the arrival of 2,000-2,400 people in Valley County would exacerbate social strife and criminal endeavors. “These workers are all professionals,” he said. “The people running the camps keep them relatively trouble-free, and keep things pretty self-contained. They love to hire local, too.”

Valley County’s two work camps would be set up outside Hinsdale and Fort Peck.

“NorVal, [Valley County’s power provider], is ready for it,” said Peterson. “It’d more than double their current demand if this thing were green-lit.”

Until Washington can strike a definitive consensus, however, the traffic signal flashes yellow, and Valley County flaps as loose sail in uncertainty’s sharp breeze.

A map of XL’s would-be path hangs tacked to the wall outside Peterson’s office in the County Courthouse. For now, it is but an unrealized dream held prisoner by a conflicting conflagration of opinion.

“It appears most people here are in favor of it,” said Peterson, leaning back in the old chair behind his time-scarred desk. “All we can do is keep moving forward and do the best with what we’ve got.”