Enbridge misses Minnesota hiring goals for Line 3, exceeds promised spending with Indigenous firms

Enbridge fell short of its Minnesota hiring goals for its new Line 3 oil pipeline, but the Canadian company exceeded its target for spending on tribal-owned businesses.

That's the bottom line of an Enbridge report filed Monday with state utility regulators, chronicling some economic impacts of the controversial pipeline, which was completed four months ago.

Enbridge anticipated that at least half of the construction jobs for new Line 3 would be filled through "local union halls," according to filings with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. The other half would be union workers directly hired by Enbridge's contractors.

Of the 12,155 workers hired to build the pipeline during the project's duration, 37% were Minnesota residents. Another 10% were from the Dakotas, Wisconsin or Iowa. (Peak daily employment on Line 3 was 5,500 workers in February 2021.)

Looking at it another way: Minnesota residents put in 32% of the 10.8 million work hours on the project, while workers from the four adjoining states contributed 9%.

At least two key Minnesota union locals on the Line 3 project have members in Wisconsin and the Dakotas.

The U.S. portion of the new pipeline cost Enbridge over $4 billion — most of which was spent on a 340-mile stretch across northern Minnesota. Much smaller sections of new pipe are in North Dakota and Wisconsin.

The pipeline, which ferries heavy Canadian crude to Superior, Wis., was one of the largest construction projects in recent Minnesota history.

"It was really a big deal at really the right time," said Kevin Pranis, marketing manager for Laborers' International Union of North America in Minnesota and North Dakota. "A lot of projects kind of vanished for us during COVID."

Construction on Line 3 began in December 2020 after Enbridge received its final regulatory approvals.

Pranis said that from the Laborers union's perspective, Enbridge essentially met its local hiring goals. Three Minnesota-based Laborers union locals supplied workers for the Line 3 project; one of those also has jurisdiction in northwestern Wisconsin, the other in North Dakota.

Over 50% of the laborers on Line 3 were from the three locals — meeting the goals of the union contracts with Enbridge, Pranis said.

Enbridge also met the hiring goals in the contract with the heavy equipment operators union, said Jason George, business manager for Local 49 of the International Union of Operating Engineers.

Local 49 has members in Minnesota and the Dakotas, and George said that 60% of the operating engineers on Line 3 were from his local. "Every local operating engineer who wanted to work on this project did," he said.

The other two main pipeline work classes — truck drivers and welders — are represented by the Teamsters and the United Association, a pipefitters union. The United Association has a local in Oklahoma that serves as a central hiring hall for pipeline welders throughout the country.

The new pipeline replaced the 1960s-vintage old Line 3, which was corroding and operating at only half capacity for safety reasons. The project wound through the regulatory process for six years and faced fierce opposition from environmental groups and some Minnesota Ojibwe bands.

They argued that the new pipeline — which partly follows a new route from the old Line 3 — opens a new swath of Minnesota waters to degradation from oil spills, as well as exacerbates climate change. Enbridge argued the new pipeline would be a significant safety improvement.

Line 3 has been divisive in some Ojibwe communities. Some Indian-owned businesses took part in its construction, while some others protested against it along the construction route.

Enbridge had committed to spending $100 million on tribal businesses and Indigenous workers for Line 3. "We are excited to be reporting that we more than tripled that," said Paul Eberth, Enbridge's director of U.S. tribal engagement.

According to its report with the PUC, Enbridge's total tribal spending on the Line 3 project was $336.7 million — 86% of which went to Minnesota businesses owned by tribal members or directly by bands.

That number includes wages paid directly by tribal businesses. In addition, $41 million in wages went to Minnesota tribal members employed by Enbridge's main contractors on the job.