Current Refinery Capacity in in US = 17,322,178 Barrels per Day
Petroleum Product Supplied (sold) in US
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_cons_psup_dc_nus_mbblpd_m.htm
Current US consumption of refined products = 16,539,000 BPD
We haven't built any new refineries lately, but we have been expanding and upgrading the existing ones for decades. It is far cheaper to do so.
Combined with our fallen demand, it has lead the US to become a net exported of refined products. We import more crude than we use, refine it (keeping jobs and spare capacity in the US), then export some products to improve the trade balance.
U.S. Net Imports of Total Petroleum Products
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MTPNTUS2&f=M
And I think you have the chicken and egg thing going on.
Please understand that the economic comparison needs to be based upon existing infrastructure already in place, only needing additional crude transportation capacity to the refineries. We don't need additional capacity, just replace the crude imported from overseas with more North American produced crude.
The Washington example was to meet a refinery shortage, not just a new supply of oil.
Unfortunately, not all decisions end up being made solely on the basis of economic factors.....that YOU need to understand. If the eco-idiots politically prevent the construction of the necessary pipeline(s), then putting in a new refinery closer to the source of feedstock will be the only possible alternative to make use of that source of crude here in the US. I'm sure the Canadians will quite happily sell to the Chinese, Japanese, and/or anyone else that pulls up a tanker at the outlet of the proposed pipeline in British Columbia if we shoot ourselves in the foot.
"The Washington example was to meet a refinery shortage, not just a new supply of oil."
Any major plant construction is based on multiple factors. The key point is that none of the Washington refineries had access to the "pipeline infrastructure" that you say is absolutely needed to transport product, yet they were built and continue to operate, in spite of having to use "other than pipeline" means to get their products to market.
A ND refinery would undoubtedly ship mostly by rail, but there are plenty of gigantic customer bases within quite short rail distances, and a quite good rail infrastructure already in place.
Don't get me wrong...I'm all in favor of pipelining the oil to the Gulf Coast, but one needs to keep other possibilities in mind and not blindly focus on only one alternative.