Oil Pipeline Would Tunnel Beneath Lake Sakakawea

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A pipeline company is asking state and federal regulators for permission to build an oil pipeline beneath North Dakota's Lake Sakakawea.

Enbridge Inc. says the pipeline would carry up to 60,000 barrels of oil daily. It would cost $136 million to build, and the company wants to start operations by the end of 2013.

North Dakota's Public Service Commission will review a proposed route for the line. Commissioner Kevin Cramer says the project will get thorough scrutiny.

The pipeline would be 12 inches in diameter. It would run for 36 miles north from Johnson's Corner, east of Watford City in McKenzie County, to Enbridge's Beaver Lodge station southeast of Tioga.

The federal Bureau of Land Management is taking comment on the project. Some of the route goes across federal land.

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