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Line 3 posts court victories: Minn. delivers setbacks to opponents
Gary Park for Petroleum News
Enbridge has added two more legal victories to its battle for final approval of the Line 3 crude oil pipeline.
The Calgary-based company is now within sight of starting shipments within four months of 760,000 barrels per day of oil sands bitumen from Alberta to its refining terminal in Wisconsin.
The Minnesota Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from opponents of the pipeline, closely followed on Aug. 30 by the state’s Court of Appeals which affirmed a decision by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, MPCA, to issue a water quality certification for the project.
Enbridge said construction is “nearly completed” in Minnesota, with the Canadian, North Dakota and Wisconsin sections already finished, setting the stage for the new line to start operations in the fourth quarter.
Line 3 will replace a pipeline built in the 1960s that operates at half its original capacity because of corrosion and cracking risks.
The company said the new line, which will carry an incremental 390,000 bpd, is about safety and maintenance, with the upgraded pipe made of thicker steel and technically advanced coatings that “will better protect Minnesota’s environment for generations to come.”
Objections remain However, Margaret Levin, director of the Sierra Club’s Minnesota chapter, said it was disappointing that the appeals court would not hold the MPCA “accountable for their failure to protect our clean water … now it’s more urgent than ever that President (Joe) Biden step in, live up to his commitments to climate action and environmental justice, and stop Line 3.”
She said Enbridge has “already had dozens of drilling fluid spills during the course of construction.”
The appeals court said the MPCA’s approval was “supported by substantial evidence in the record,” including its certification last November that cleared the way for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to issue the remaining federal permit for the pipeline.
From concept to reality Kevin Birn, analyst with IHS Marketing, said Line 3 is now “moving from a theoretical concept to something that is physical.”
“There have been lots of pipeline projects in the past, but very few have made it to the finish line,” he said. Referring to the abandonment of three large-scale plans to export crude bitumen out of Canada - Northern Gateway, Energy East and Keystone XL, which had potential combined shipments of almost 2.5 million bpd.
Birn noted it has taken an average of more than seven years for two surviving projects - Line 3 and the Trans Mountain expansion - to advance from initial regulatory filings to anticipated completion.
Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage, who spent seven years with Enbridge before entering politics, told the Calgary Herald that getting Line 3 so close to completion “is certainly a big relief” for oil sands producers to “have this additional capacity.”
Enbridge said Line 3 has involved spending of US$287 million in Native American communities and small businesses and will provide millions of dollars in additional local spending and tax revenues.
- GARY PARK
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