CEAC-2021-01-January

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently approved Enbridge Energy’s final federal permit for its Line 3 crude oil pipeline replacement. Opponents argue
that the project threatens the waters where Native Americans harvest crops, and that the tar sands it would carry would help facilitate climate change. (AP
Photo/Jim Mone, File)
safer way to transport the oil to Midwest refineries while
creating 4,200 construction jobs and generating millions of
dollars in local spending and tax revenues.
Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s administration has faced criticism
from both sides over its handling of the project. Twelve of
17 members of an MPCA advisory group on environmental
justice issues resigned after the agency approved a major
water quality permit for the project Nov. 12. The Republican-controlled
Minnesota Senate ousted Walz’s commerce
commissioner in September, after his agency appealed the
PUC’s most recent approval of the project. The department
contends Enbridge failed to meet a statutory requirement
for producing a legally adequate long-range oil demand
forecast.
Volume 86 · Number 1 | 37