Minnesota Regulator Delays Line 3 Construction to 2021
Jason Woodhead/FlickrCalgary-based Enbridge Inc. will have to postpone a large chunk of the work on its controversial Line 3 pipeline to 2021, after a Minnesota regulator announced a public hearing this summer to review the company’s plans to protect streams and wetlands.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has shifted its target date to give Enbridge a final water quality certificate from August 15 to November 14, the Thomson Reuters news service reports. As a result, the company said most work on the project will now be deferred until next year.
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“MPCA granted Enbridge a draft water quality certificate in February,” Thomson Reuters writes. “But during a public comment period, activist groups and two Indigenous bands submitted a joint petition raising concerns, leading the MPCA to schedule a hearing.”
Enbridge wants to replace the 1960s-era branch line “to boost its flow of oil from a Canadian oil hub in Edmonton, Alberta, to refiners in the U.S. Midwest,” the news story states. “A shortage of transport space has weakened Canadian oil prices in recent years, but pipeline capacity became ample this year after deep oil production cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic.”