State utility regulators Monday reapproved a controversial pipeline Enbridge wants to build across northern Minnesota, putting the Canadian company closer to starting the long-delayed project.
First, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted 3-1 to approve a revised environmental review for the pipeline, saying it adequately assessed the effects of an oil spill in the Lake Superior watershed. Then by the same vote, the PUC reapproved the certificate of need and route permit for the proposed 340-mile pipeline, which would replace Enbridge's aging Line 3.
"We are very happy with the outcome today," said Barry Simonson, the new Line 3 project director for Enbridge. "This has been a five-year process for the Line 3 replacement project."
Simonson declined to speculate on when Enbridge expects to begin construction on what would be one of the largest construction projects in recent Minnesota history.
But the publicly traded company — whose investors are clamoring for the added profits from a new pipeline — would likely begin construction in the spring if it secures the rest of its permits.
The PUC's Line 3 approval Monday doesn't go into immediate effect. Opponents have a few weeks to file "reconsideration" petitions with the PUC, which are likely to be denied. The PUC then must write a formal order.
Enbridge also must still receive project permits from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the state Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Supporters have pointed to the thousands of construction jobs the $2.6 billion project would create, as well as the improved safety the pipeline would provide. Opponents said the pipeline would worsen climate change and threaten a new region of Minnesota lakes and rivers with a crude-oil spill.