The Rapid City Journal (S.D.)/Butte County Post (S.D.) – In the next two years, as many as 2,000 crude oil pipeline workers and their families could move into northwestern South Dakota as they install the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline, project officials told Butte County commissioners Wednesday.

The about 2,000-mile pipeline’s total cost is estimated at $7 billion. The pipeline, when finished, could ship 750,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Regional representative Jeff Rauh said Wednesday this project’s investment for South Dakota would be about $750 million.

Workers would install a buried, 36-inch-diameter steel pipeline. When finished, the crude-oil pipeline, from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf Coast refineries, could be the longest in North America. It would link to existing pipeline in Kansas. [read more…]