A Minnesota congressman has joined the campaign to ensure “discriminatory practices” by Enbridge do not stand in the way of new pipelines to carry oil from the Bakken formation.
In a letter to the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Democrat Collin Peterson avoided naming any pipelines but argued there is a “critical need” for capacity in addition to the one pipeline that runs eastward from North Dakota to Minnesota.
“We need to ensure that new market participants have open access to the common carrier pipelines located across the country and are given the same treatment as more established companies,” he told FERC chairman Jon Wellinghoff.
His call to FERC for “fair and prompt consideration to these concerns in order to ensure a fair platform for the development of the energy infrastructure that is essential to meeting our energy needs” follows a formal complaint to FERC by High Prairie Pipeline, which accused Enbridge of refusing an interconnection with its existing line in Minnesota.
High Prairie has proposed a 450-mile line from North Dakota to Clearbrook, Minn., feeding into the Enbridge system to provide an outlet for rapidly increasing Bakken volumes.
It told FERC that Enbridge had the capacity to handle High Prairie’s planned flow of 150,000 barrels per day, but refused to make it available except on “proposed terms that are unjust, unreasonable and unduly discriminatory.”
FERC is currently examining that complaint.
—Petroleum News Bakken
