Court Says Disputed $2.6B Minnesota Pipeline Fix Can Continue | Columbus Ohio Dump Trucks

Enbridge said in a statement it is “not surprised” by the decision of the Minnesota Court of Appeals to reject a request by two Ojibwe tribes to halt construction of a 337-mile section of line in the northern part of the state in a replacement and modernization of the1960s-era Alberta to Wisconsin carrier. The ruling upheld two project halt denials in December by the state public utilities commission.

Pipeline opponents want the Biden administration to also stop current columbus oh dump truck work on Line 3, which stretches nearly 1,100 miles from Edmonton, Alberta, across the border to a terminal in Superior, Wis. The entire replacement is an estimated $9-billion project.

Precision Pipeline, a unit of Coral Gables, Fla.-based contractor MasTec, began columbus oh dump truck work began Dec. 1 on the Minnesota section, with the Line 3 overhaul already completed on the Canadian side and in other U.S. sections.

In response to the Minnesota decision, members of a coalition of tribal leaders and environmental organizations called on the Biden administration to stop the project.

“It’s up the Biden Administration to cancel this project once and for all,” said Margaret Levin, state director of the Sierra Club North Star Chapter, in a statement.

Biden could do this by “directing the Army Corps of Engineers to revoke the project's water crossing permit,” a group of Minnesota state lawmakers noted in an op-ed in the Star Tribune newspaper, referring to the project's Nationwide-12 federal permit.

Biden has not publicly commented on the case, and an administration spokesperson did not directly respond to a Feb. 4 press briefing question on the Minnesota court decision.

However, a move to cancel Line 3 would likely cause more public disagreement with Canada's government.

“We support the Line 3 Replacement Project, and construction is complete on the Canadian side. It will improve the integrity of the pipeline network, reduce the transportation of oil by rail and on public roads, and increase environmental safety,” said Ian Cameron, a spokesman for Canadian Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan. “We look forward to working with the Secretary of Energy in the U.S. on strengthening North American energy security and other issues.”

He added that “Canada’s strong climate plan and regulatory regime ensure Canadian products flowing through this pipeline are produced to the highest environmental standards.”

Related to the Keystone XL decision, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is expected to seek compensation under still-existing provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement related to the province's $1.2-billion investment last year in the project. That agreement was replaced in the Trump administration by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement. But according to observers, such a claim requires involvement of project owner TC Energy, and could be a difficult proceeding.

There are also key differences between the Keystone XL situation, which involves a new pipeline, and Line 3, which is an “operating pipeline,” said Juli Kellner, a spokesperson for Enbridge, in a statement. Precision Pipeline also had been selected as Keystone-XL contractor.

“Replacing Line 3 is a safety and maintenance ... pipeline improvement that will protect Minnesota’s waters and the environment for decades to come. It is also the most studied pipeline project in state history,” Kellner stated.

She said project environmental review has included 70 public hearings, a 13,500-page Environmental Impact Statement, four separate analyses by independent administrative law judges, and 320 route modifications in response to stakeholder input and reviews.

While columbus oh dump truck work is set to finish by the end of 2021, the state appeals court has yet to hear the merits of the tribes' case, with oral arguments set for March. A bid for an injunction in a separate federal court suit by the Red Lake and White Earth tribes is still pending.

“The Red Lake Nation is very disappointed that the Minnesota Courts place more weight on the employment of out of town pipeline workers than it does on the irreparable harm that construction causes," to the region's environment, said Joe Plumer, attorney for Red Lake Nation, in a statement.

Meanwhile, Minnesota safety officials continue a probe into the Dec. 18 death of Jorge Villafuerte III, a Utah-based union pipeline worker employed on the project by Precision Pipeline, who was killed in a construction yard forklift collision that the Atkins Country Sheriff's office, in its initial report, said was an accident with no criminal wrongdoing.