Line 3 Review Fails to Address Tribal, Environmental Concerns

St. Paul, MN -- Today, the Minnesota Department of Commerce provided revisions to its final environmental impact statement (FEIS) on Enbridge’s proposed Line 3 tar sands pipeline. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) ruled in December that the FEIS was inadequate, though they sidestepped a number of concerns that have been raised by Minnesotans and several state agencies including numerous calculation errors and a failure to adequately explore alternatives to this pipeline expansion or any no-build scenario.

When the PUC ruled the FEIS inadequate in 2017 they also ordered that the Traditional Cultural Properties Survey be completed before construction starts, but not before a decision on the final permits is made. The Traditional Cultural Properties Survey is a survey along the proposed route to identify culturally significant locations like burial grounds or ancient villages. The importance of this type of survey was underscored in the recent controversy over the Minnesota Highway 23 project in which state and federal agencies did not adequately work with Fond Du Lac, resulting in gravesites being disturbed and the project being put on hold.

The Environmental Impact Statement is a critical part of evaluating the permits Enbridge needs to build Line 3 in Minnesota. The Department of Commerce has submitted testimony to the PUC concluding that there is no need for Line 3. The PUC will rule on the adequacy of the updated FEIS in early March.

In response, Margaret Levin, State Director for the Sierra Club North Star Chapter, released the following statement:

“This review still fails to address serious concerns raised by Tribes and landowners about Line 3. The PUC must make decisions based on the best interest of Minnesotans, not Enbridge, and that means ensuring that the public is given a full accounting of the risks of this dangerous and unnecessary project and any alternatives. The recent controversy over Highway 23 is a reminder that the PUC must take the Traditional Cultural Properties Survey into account as they make their decision, rather than ignoring it until a decision has already been made. We urge the PUC to take further steps to ensure a complete analysis is done.”