Regulators Fail to Protect Our Water

Scott Russell

We Minnesotans value clean water, air, forests, and prairies. We want to leave our children an environment that’s better than what we inherited.

In Minnesota, it’s up to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to protect our natural resources. But, according to citizen scientists on the ground, these agencies aren’t doing their jobs, and they need to be called out.

Enbridge, a Canadian pipeline company, broke the law and harmed natural resources during Line 3 construction across northern Minnesota by breaching at least three aquifers and releasing hundreds of millions of gallons of groundwater, violating state law.

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) negotiated an agreement with Enbridge to pay $11 million in fines and costs to repair and monitor these aquifer breaches.

But this is an insignificant fine for a company of this size; only .03 percent of Enbridge’s 2021 annual revenue. If you made $80,000 a year, an equivalent fine would be $24, less than a parking ticket in Minneapolis.

In October, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office filed criminal charges against Enbridge over its aquifer breach in Clearwater County. Enbridge has admitted causing the breach and failing to report it promptly. Ellison charged Enbridge with one misdemeanor, carrying a maximum fine of $1,000: the only charge available under state law for "appropriating waters without  permit."

“For far too long, Enbridge has operated with impunity in Minnesota and across the Midwest, running their toxic tar sands oil through our waterways and communities without regard for the devastating impacts of their numerous leaks, spills, and safety violations,” said Margaret Levin, Sierra Club’s Minnesota state director. “We applaud Attorney General Ellison for doing what he could within existing law to finally hold Enbridge accountable for their egregious safety record. The law needs to be changed so that polluters are fully held accountable for their crimes, with penalties proportionate to the damage."

Volunteers step in where state regulators have stood aside

Because it appears that the DNR and the MPCA are not adequately monitoring Line 3, Waadookawaad Amikwag (Those Who Help Beavers), a volunteer group of water protectors and citizen scientists, has stepped into the void.

Using drones and citizen legwork, Waadookawaad Amikwag is monitoring and documenting unreported construction damage. The Sierra Club has supported independent thermal drone imaging and helped advance Waadookawaad Amikwag’s case with Ellison, state regulators, and US Representative Betty McCollum.

Waadookawaad Amikwag and the Sierra Club pressed Ellison and state regulators to  do no more harm to Northern Minnesota wetlands and bogs.

“We are seeking an independent panel of scientists to study the frac-outs, aquifer breaches, hydraulic disturbances and ecological damages,” Waadookawaad Amikwag wrote in a recent alert. “This work should no longer be entrusted to Enbridge …, nor to state regulators who have continued to downplay the damages.”

Sierra Club will continue standing with Waadookawaad Amikwag by calling for further investigation into Enbridge's illegal activities which damage our environment.

Enbridge should not be trusted to operate in the Great Lakes

The damage Enbridge caused in Minnesota underlines the risks in the company’s plan to rebuild its Line 5 pipeline through Wisconsin and Michigan.

Enbridge proposes building Line 5  through very sensitive environments including tunneling in the Straits of Mackinac, the connecting waterway between Lakes Michigan and Huron of the Great Lakes, the largest freshwater system on Earth.

We are committed to continuing to expose and publicize Enbridge’s illegal activities in Minnesota, as part of an ongoing pressure campaign to shut down Line 5.

Scott Russell is a volunteer with the Beyond Oil Team.