ST. PAUL -- Two Minnesota environmental groups filed suit in state district court Friday asking for a broader environmental review for the proposed Enbridge Energy Sandpiper oil pipeline across northern Minnesota.
The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy and Friends of the Headwaters jointly filed the suit in Ramsey County asking for a full-fledged Environmental Impact Statement for the pipeline.
Both the need and the route for the proposed Sandpiper line currently are under review by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. Enbridge is conducting an extensive environmental review as well.
But the groups say the project is advancing to the point where the Public Utilities Commission could make a decision on the certificate of need for the project without conducting an EIS, which they say is a violation of state law.
The groups name both the Public Utilities Commission and the state Environmental Quality Board as defendants and have asked the court to delay any decision on the certificate of need until after an EIS is conducted.
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The groups say that not only do the construction and route of the pipeline need to be scrutinized but also the potential for future oil spills, especially in northern Minnesota’s water-rich environment.
“The lack of effective environmental review for oil pipelines has been troubling to MCEA for years. We need clarification of this statute, not only for Sandpiper, but for others to follow,” said Kathryn Hoffman, attorney for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. Minnesota needs “to do a better job evaluating the risks of pipelines,” she added.
An Enbridge spokeswoman did not immediately respond to comment on the suit.
The 610-mile, $2.5 billion Sandpiper pipeline would run from Beaver Lodge in northwestern North Dakota’s Bakken oil field to Superior. This all-new pipeline is planned to follow an existing line across North Dakota. But from Clearbrook, Minn., to Superior the line could either follow the existing Enbridge corridor or a new, more southerly route across land where owners haven’t dealt with pipelines before. Enbridge is favoring the southern route, both for Sandpiper and reconstruction of its Line No. 3 pipeline.
About 300 miles of the pipeline would cross Minnesota.
Friends of the Headwaters say they are not against the pipeline, just against the southern route that crosses too many rivers and wetlands and too near to many lakes.
“When you consider the potential impacts, this cannot be the route Minnesotans would choose for an oil pipeline,” said Richard Smith, president of the group that’s based in Hubbard County.
