Energy Briefs

BILLINGS, Mont. _ A new study says jet fuel made with the oilseed crop camelina could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 84 percent compared with jet fuel from petroleum.

The study was done by the Sustainable Futures Institute at Michigan Technological University; it was funded by the camelina industry and used jet fuel created from camelina seeds developed by Sustainable Oils of Bozeman.

The study’s finding is expected to be used by the aviation industry as it weighs a number of alternative fuels with the potential to cut costs and curb emissions. Camelina is considered wellsuited to Montana and other arid Northern Plains states because it needs little water to grow. However, camelina companies have struggled to attract growers willing to switch to the crop.

Oil riches go to schools

Oil development has made millionaires of some North Dakota schools, which must spend the money soon before it’s deducted from the next year’s aid.

State law says that if a school’s carry-over as of June 30 tops 45 percent of its general fund, the extra money will be deducted from the following year’s state aid. Killdeer’s school got a $1.4 million check last month from lease sales on federal land.

The New Town Public School got a $6 million check. The Twin Buttes school got $23,000, Mandaree got $33,000, Tioga $850,000, and Parshall $1,900.

Pipeline study presented

A new study says building a pipeline from northwestern North Dakota to TransCanada Corp.’s new Keystone pipeline in southern Saskatchewan would be the most efficient way to move the region’s oil production.

North Dakota officials pitched the $199 million project at a regional oil conference in Regina, Saskatchewan, said Lynn Helms, director of the state Department of Mineral Resources. Justin Kringstad, director of the state Pipeline Authority, was scheduled to outline the study’s conclusions at the conference.

Kringstad and Helms said its data will be used to attempt to interest private pipeline companies in the project. The Pipeline Authority commissioned the study, which was done by two engineering firms and explored three possible pipeline routes. Each began at a point near the north border of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, between Parshall and New Town.

Sale of leases more than $13 million

The Bureau of Land Management says its most recent sale of oil and gas leases in Montana and North Dakota totaled more than $13.7 million. BLM officials say CP Energy Inc., of Lafayette, La., and Slawson Exploration Co., of Wichita, Kan., together bid $6.7 million for leasing rights on a 1,523-acre parcel in Mountrail County.

Missouri Royalty Corp. of Bismarck had the highest per-acre bid of $4,900 for a 992-acre parcel in Mountrail County. Of the 67 parcels offered, 51 were in Montana and 16 in North Dakota. BLM says all the North Dakota parcels drew bids. The agency says six parcels in Montana did not get bids. Competitive oil and gas lease sales are conducted at the BLM’s Montana state office in Billings.

Wind project gets first customer

The developer of a wind power project near Rugby has agreed to sell part of its output to a South Dakota utility. Iberdrola Renewables Inc. is building 71 wind turbines capable of generating up to 149 megawatts of electricity.

The company announced it is selling 40 megawatts of the power to Missouri River Energy Services of Sioux Falls. The organization supplies power to about 60 municipal electric systems in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. In North Dakota, it serves Cavalier, Hillsboro, Lakota, Northwood, Riverdale and Valley City.

Iberdrola’s project is being built in northern Pierce County in north-central North Dakota. Spokeswoman Jan Johnson says it should be finished by year’s end. PSC says yes to wind project The state Public Service Commission has given the go-ahead to a proposed $950 million wind center in Logan County.

A company called Just Wind wants to build a wind farm with 160 turbines, rated at 2.4 megawatts each. The PSC has approved the sites for all but six of the turbines. Commissioner Tony Clark said that in those six instances, the PSC has normally required the turbines to be at least 1,400 feet away from homes and businesses.

The agency wants more information. Clark said the company wants to start construction later this year.

- Briefs compiled by Business Watch staff from Bismarck Tribune and Associated Press reports.