Political Quotes

“Well, it wasn't that long ago that North Dakota became the second largest oil-producing State in the country. We are challenged in North Dakota because we don't have the mature infrastructure of Texas and the basin. We are challenged with transportation. But the amazing thing is, we produce the best crude in the world, light sweet crude. The problem with light sweet crude over the years is it wasn't the dominant crude that was produced in the United States. As a result, the refineries are basically geared up to refine heavy crudes. They are geared up to basically import crude from places such as Venezuela and some of the heavier crudes. That is what the refiners can do. And a lot of refineries that can handle light sweet crude are not on a pipeline system. So on top of producing this great-quality crude, we have additional transportation costs and we were seeing deductions. When you add to that the challenge of producing something that could be so important for energy security in our country but also national security and helping our allies with their energy security in Europe-- when you add the challenge of that product not being able to find a market, what that means is that this energy renaissance for the country that we are so proud that we participated in begins to basically dim.…”