As Grist points out, this comes a mere 3 weeks before the election
(Interior Department) As part of the Obama Administration’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to expand domestic energy production, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced approval of a ‘land-into-trust’ application from the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. Today’s action is one in a series of necessary approvals that will enable the tribes to build the first U.S. refinery in decades, supporting American made energy — including domestic resources from the Bakken Formation — while also creating jobs. …
If all required approvals are granted, the proposed MHA Nation Clean Fuels Refinery would be the first new refinery built in the United States in more than 30 years. … As proposed, the 13,000 barrel-per-day facility would refine Bakken Formation crude oil into diesel fuel, propane and naptha products for the U.S. market. Since the President took office, domestic oil and gas production has increased each year, with domestic oil production currently at an eight year high, and natural gas production at its highest level ever.
We’ll know how serious they are if Team Obama starts touting this on the campaign trail. If they do, we’ll know it is simply a campaign trick, and the “series of necessary approvals” will never materialize. Furthermore, while more diesel fuel is good for truckers and some other vehicles, it doesn’t help the average driver.
