Fueling Minnesota Communities
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Project Overview
Building Minnesota’s energy future
However, for more than 50 years, Minnesota Pipe Line Company (MPL) has delivered crude oil from our Canadian neighbors to Twin Cities refineries. This stable, secure crude oil supply has helped fuel the economic growth and progress of Minnesota. The MinnCan Project will continue that 50-year history of being part of the energy solution for Minnesota and Minnesotans. Additional crude oil is being produced from proven oil reserves in Canada. Within the next 10 years, these reserves will produce more than one million barrels of oil daily. However, with the MPL system and other pipeline options operating at maximum capacity, the additional crude oil volume cannot reach refineries in Minnesota without expansion. To help remedy this crude oil supply crunch, Minnesota Pipe Line Company is building the MinnCan Project to expand the existing MPL system. MPL’s system begins in Clearbrook, Minnesota, and transports crude oil produced in Canada to the Twin Cities area, where the oil is refined into useful products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, and heating oil. The system is owned by Flint Hills Resources, Marathon Pipe Line LLC, and TROF, Inc. and operated by Koch Pipeline Company. Koch Pipeline Company – a wholly owned, independent subsidiary of Koch Industries – owns or operates about 4,000 miles of pipelines that carry about 900,000 barrels of crude oil, refined products, and natural gas liquids daily. The company’s Northern Division, headquartered in northern Dakota County, Minnesota, employs 60 people and operates five pipeline systems. State, local and federal permits In February 2007, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission voted 4-0 to approve Minnesota Pipe Line Company’s Certificate of Need and Route Permit applications for the MinnCan Project. These approvals affirmed the need for the project and the location of the 304-mile pipeline route. Minnesota Pipe Line Company is working with local governments in the 13 counties crossed by the MinnCan Project to secure the necessary local permits. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also has permitting authority for the U.S. waters and wetlands crossed by the MinnCan Project. The Corps’ permit was granted in August 2007.
Minnesota Pipe Line Company will pay an estimated $9 million in annual property taxes* to the following 13 counties crossed by the pipeline after it is completed:
*The $9 million is based on the assessed value of the pipeline and related facilities. The amount paid to each county depends on the number of pipeline miles in that county and the placement of pipeline-related facilities, such as pump stations.
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U.S. consumers and businesses are increasingly concerned about having their demand met for vital, cost-effective fuel products while depending on oil supplies from reserves located in relatively unstable nations in the Middle East and South America.
The more than $300 million MinnCan Project will provide hundreds of construction and construction-related jobs, create significant business for local vendors, and increase local property tax revenues. Once completed, the pipeline will be a nearly invisible, significant tax-generating asset in support of industry, commerce and consumers, with little impact on surrounding communities.