Now why would Al Jazeera have any reason to publish a biased story on energy development in Montana?
Montana Media Trackers has this:
Qatar-based news organization Al-Jazeera painted Montanans as uniting against energy infrastructure projects such as the Keystone XL Pipeline in a Monday story on energy development issues in the American West, despite public opinion indicators showing the exact opposite.
“Across this massive state, with scenery ranging from snowy mountains to virgin prairies, a diverse collection of Montanans, in love with their land, is opposing new transportation infrastructure for coal and oil,” stated Al-Jazeera. “Three proposed projects — the Keystone XL pipeline, a new coal railroad and a trucking route for mining equipment the size of apartment buildings — have triggered protests in different regions of the state, and not just from people who dislike fossil fuels.”
Betraying the anti-U.S. energy production bias of a Middle Eastern news source, Monday’s Al-Jazeera article made little attempt give the other side of the issues raised in this article, only providing a single pro-Keystone quote from Phillips County Commissioner Richard Dunbar who is President of the Montana Association of Oil, Gas, and Coal Counties.
WSJ: Moving Crude by Railcar Stalls on the Track
Half a dozen companies are trying to build rail terminals on the coast of Washington state to receive trainloads of crude from the Bakken field in North Dakota. The oil would then be transferred to ships and barges that could carry it to refineries in the Pacific Northwest or south to California.
Analysts say regulatory hurdles make it difficult to build the necessary rail yards and tank farms in California, and it’s more expensive to ship crude there. But getting a permit in Washington is proving more challenging than companies expected.
Companies that want to transport crude by rail say the risks are minimal, and the rewards are great. Refiners have said shipping crude by rail from North Dakota to Washington is a bargain at as little as $10 a barrel, compared with $13 to $16 for a barrel of crude to travel by rail to California and $16 to ship a barrel to the East Coast.
And here’s a must-read article in The Bakken Oil Business Journal: Outgoing Sidney Mayor Isn’t Going Quietly
From Bakken Oil Business Journal http://t.co/Nm6u2k9pZq pic.twitter.com/s7efeRGQKF
— Aaron Flint (@aaronflint) December 5, 2013
Click here to check out the full column, especially Mayor Smelser’s remarks on impact fees and urban sprawl.