Just when I couldn’t keep my conspiracy theories together, thinking Mike and Lloyd made a trip to the Antarctica of the Dakotas to invest in housing up there, this unique little story pops up (H/T – Red Angel);

Energy Transfer Partners LP of Dallas, Texas, says it expects to have the $3.7 billion, 1,100-mile Bakken Pipeline completed and in service by the end of 2016.

South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Chairman Gary Hanson said officials there first learned about the project from landowners three to four weeks before being contacted by company officials.

“At first it was very much a stealth pipeline type of a situation for us, because we heard about it from landowners who had been contacted by the company,” Hanson said. “We didn’t hear about it originally from the company itself, which is unusual.”

The pipeline would continue its diagonal route through South Dakota, passing near Redfield and Sioux Falls, and bisect Iowa before reaching its final destination in Patoka, Ill.

See, XL is probably dead in the water, they are looking at moving the pipeline to Canada. Now we have this new pipeline to contend with. But the fight with podunk farmers will probably be an easy one, and our push over PUC will also cave. Then comes Harrisburg and Sioux Falls. Lot’s of money to be made in land deals, and who could sell the city residents on such a deal? Well of course the best damn salesperson turned mayor we have ever seen (doesn’t hurt he is ooozing with transparency 🙁

See, he sold us another Walmart (maybe two) an events center, a tennis center (so his wife can play in winter) an indoor pool, etc., etc. What is stopping him on selling us a pipeline?

It will be fun to watch city leadership when it comes to developing this pipeline. Looks like it is time to wake up the petition gathering folks, this will probably be the biggest fight city hall has ever seen.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nyg5mEV3_iM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]