Line 3 pipeline construction damaged sensitive wetlands, state says

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said on Thursday he was ordering Enbridge Energy will pay $ 3.3 million for damaging a sensitive aquifer during the construction of the controversial line 3 pipeline. It turns out that the water protectors opposed to the pipeline may have been on to something.

In a Release, the DNR stated that it is Enbridge had to pay for “Non-compliance with environmental laws” at a site near its Clearbrook terminal in Clearwater County, Minnesota. MNR said it also determined that Enbridge broke a law that criminalizes altering or appropriating state waters without a proper permit and referred the case to the Clearwater County District Attorney for possible prosecution.

“MNR is committed to playing its regulatory role on this project and takes seriously our responsibility to protect and manage natural resources within the framework of existing state legislation,” said the MNR Commissioner. Sarah Strommen in a statement. “Enbridge’s actions are gross violations of state law and also of public confidence. This should never have happened and we hold the company fully accountable. “

According to MNR, Enbridge violated official construction plans and dug a trench approximately 8 feet (2.4 meters) deeper than he had told the state he would do. This, in turn, caused the rupture of an aquifer and the flow of groundwater into the trench. The area in which Enbridge was working is a particularly sensitive wetland known as the limestone marshes, which a DNR information sheet described as a “rare and distinctive” area which is dependent on a “constant supply of ascending groundwater”. The violation, MNR reported, resulted in 24.2 million gallons of groundwater flowing from the aquifer.

TThe groundwater leak occurred in January. Enbridge did not notify MNR of the leak, however, but independent monitors hired by the state noticed “Unusual amounts of water in the trench” at the Clearwater site. However, since these controllers did not have access to Enbridge’s construction plans, they did not know that this water was the result of the alleged violation. It was not until June, during discussions with the controllers, that the MRN identified the problem and launched an investigation.

The Line 3 project effectively replaces an aging pipeline, but takes a new route through Minnesota, crossing the Fond du Lac reserve and several Ojibwe band treaty lands. This part of the pipeline has been hotly contested as indigenous groups claim their rights are being violated and the pipeline threatens their lands and waters. The indigenous demonstrators organized under the rallying cry “Water is life”, and one of the main sites where the organizers presented their opposition notes that they are working to “protect water and our future generations.

While resistance to the pipeline has been brewing for years, it really taken this year as Enbridge wraps up the project. Hundreds of people have been arrested during protests against Line 3 since the start of the summer alone, as local authorities sometimes have worked hand in hand with Enbridge to remove the opposition. Earlier this month, Minnesota state soldiers were arrested 70 demonstrators during a demonstration outside the governor’s mansion, as the state is considering criminalize demonstrations against pipelines.

Conservationists have also questioned whether state and federal governments have done their due diligence in approving the project, which, when completed, would transport 760,000 barrels of heavy crude oil per day from the sands fields. bituminous from Canada to the United States, and would block the use of fossil fuels for decades to come.

When Joe Biden took office, defenders saw a chance for him to stop the project or at least mandate the environment more Evaluation. But in June, the Biden administration makes the surprising gesture ask a court to dismiss Indigenous complaints against Line 3 and allow the project move forward, putting the weight of the federal government behind the pipeline. The type of accident that happened in January, advocates say, which is precisely why the Biden administration must intervene.

“Enbridge is a rogue company that caused the largest inland oil spill in the United States.S. history and has now damaged Minnesota’s most precious waters during the construction of the Line 3 oil sands pipeline, ”said Winona LaDuke, Executive Director of Honor the Earth and one of the most visible figures of the resistance movement from Line 3, in a statement. “The Biden administration would only be doing their due diligence by finally demanding a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) before any oil enters this hastily constructed new pipeline. Minnesota state leaders like Governor Walz and Senators Smith and Klobuchar should mitigate the damage already done to our water—and protect our common climate– asking the US Army Corps for a full EIA before more crude oil from the tar sands flows. ”