Officials extend comment period for proposed pipeline

Kim Skornogoski, December 7, 2008, Great Falls Tribune -- The U.S. Department of State responded to five farm-interest groups Friday by extending the initial public comment period on a proposed pipeline starting in Alberta's oil sands and crossing through Montana to the Gulf Coast.

The comment period for both the presidential permit and the environmental impact statement will be open for 45 days after completion of the draft EIS.

The proposed pipeline, 36 inches in diameter, would cut across Montana from the Port of Morgan in Phillips County, through Valley, McCone, Dawson, Prairie and Fallon counties, and into South Dakota. Two other routes also are being considered, with one going through the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and into North Dakota, and the other going north around the reservation before entering North Dakota.

The 282 miles of pipe that would go through Montana in the preferred route would cost about $1 billion to build, and would generate an estimated $60 million annually in property taxes, according to the governor's office.

TransCanada and Houston-based ConocoPhillips Co. will spend about $7 billion to add 500,000 barrels of daily capacity to the Keystone Pipeline, a 1,980-mile project connecting Hardisty, Alberta, to a delivery point in Port Arthur, Texas.

After passing through Montana, the line would travel through the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

The presidential permit is required for the Keystone XL pipeline to cross the border between the United States and Canada. It also starts an important permitting process that includes an environmental impact statement for the entire length of the project.

Landowners and the Northern Plains Resource Council, Dakota Resource Council, Dakota Rural Action, Plains Justice and the Western Organization of Resource Councils protested the Dec. 4 comment deadline because they believe getting a copy of the permit application was a difficult and time-consuming process.

The 30-day comment period began on Nov. 4, Election Day. The farm groups said many people missed the notice amid election coverage and insist that even if people did see it, the notice wasn't written clearly.

"I am pleased that the State Department has agreed to provide landowners with much more information and more time to comment on the proposed Alberta tar sands pipeline that is going to cross eastern Montana, South Dakota and, possibly, North Dakota," said McCone County rancher Lyle Quick, a Northern Plains Resource Council member.