Enbridge Energy's plans for a new pipeline to carry North Dakota crude oil across northern Minnesota got a major boost Monday when an administrative judge concluded that the Sandpiper project is needed — and that other proposed routes are not as good.
The finding by Administrative Law Judge Eric Lipman is not the final word on the $2.6 billion proposed pipeline. But it was a clear defeat for environmental groups, which questioned the need, pointed to the risk of spills and suggested six alternative routes.
"Everyone agrees that an oil spill in Aitkin County or Carlton County would be very bad," Lipman wrote in a 104-page ruling released late Monday. "Whether it would be better, or less likely, for a pipeline to break in another community, nobody can say for sure."
The route favored by Enbridge takes a Z-shaped path, running east from the North Dakota border into Clearbrook, Minn., where Enbridge owns an oil terminal. Then the line would turn south toward Park Rapids following existing crude oil pipelines and run east to Superior, partly on a transmission line right of way. North Dakota has approved its portion of the 610-mile pipeline from the Bakken oil region.
Much of the Minnesota route is unpopulated, yet it runs through a region covered with wetlands and lakes.
Lipman concluded that Enbridge's proposed route "does the best job of minimizing potential impacts to human populations and environmental resources." Denying the company a certificate of need "would have an adverse effect on the future adequacy, reliability and efficiency of energy supply" in Minnesota and other states, he wrote.
Enbridge and its supporters were pleased by Lipman's finding, which is a recommendation to the state Public Utilities Commission. It has authority over crude oil pipeline development in the Minnesota.
"Sandpiper has broad and deep support throughout Minnesota," said Enbridge spokeswoman Lorraine Little in an e-mail, noting that 60 Minnesota legislators and most county commissions along the route favor the project.