Regulatory Madness: First US Oil Refinery In 41 Years Finally Gets EPA Approval In North Dakota

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Written By:
Rob Port

Jun 30, 2012
9:20pm

Eight years ago the Three Affiliated Tribes – which reside on the Forth Berthold Reservation in North Dakota – began plans for an oil refinery to be built on their land. Now, after nearly a decade of wrangling with the federal government over permission to build the refinery, the Associated Press reports that they’ve received “final permit approval” from the EPA for the refinery.

It will be called the Thunder Butte Refinery and it will be built west of Makoti.

This is the first oil refinery built in the contiguous United States in 41 years (a small refinery was built in Valdez, Alaska in 1993).

“It only makes sense to have a refinery here. We are sitting right on top of the Bakken Formation and importing oil and fuel into the state,” tribal Chairman Tex Hall told the Minot Daily News. “Thunder Butte can now refine and make available these products at a much lower rate. The refinery will also maximize the economic interests of Indian mineral owners as well as the tribes.”

To be fair, the refinery projects had a few setbacks along the way (such as switching their model from accepting Canadian synthetic crude to Bakken crude), but on what planet is an eight year regulatory approval process fair?

We have too much federal government.