It’s been two and a half years since the Dakota Access Pipeline was placed into service and the benefits of the $3.8 billion project continue to prove its value to North Dakota.

The pipeline, which connects the Bakken oil patch to the U.S. Gulf Coast, has substantially lowered transportation costs for producers and made Bakken oil more competitive with other producing regions like West Texas’ Permian Basin. Moving Bakken oil by train cost producers as much as $25 a barrel, while sending it through the Dakota Access Pipeline is estimated to be below $10 a barrel, according to Lynn Helms, …

A Democrat and former campaign worker for Sen. Bernie Sanders is warning her party that they must be careful in opposing pipelines in Minnesota, or else they could jeopardize their electoral chances in the reliably Democratic state.

In Real Clear Politics, Savannah Shoemake cautions Democrats over opposing Line 3 in Minnesota:

One such minefield is opposing a pipeline called Line 3 that’s being rebuilt and replaced in Minnesota. While it hasn’t garnered much attention on the national stage yet, it could very well become the next Dakota Access or Keystone XL fight in the months ahead and just in time