Enbridge has said it is pleased with the decision taken by the Minnesota Court of Appeals, which acknowledges the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission’s review of the Line 3 Replacement Project (L3RP) and confirms that commissioners appropriately approved the project’s environmental impact statement, certificate of need and route permit.
Line 3 is an existing 1,097-mile crude oil pipeline, originally installed in the 1960s, that extends from Edmonton, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin, and is an integral part of Enbridge’s Mainline System.
L3RP is the largest project in Enbridge history and represents an improvement of its pipeline infrastructure. It has been thoroughly vetted and regulatory and permitting review consisted of 70 public comment meetings, appellate review, and reaffirmation of a 13,500-page EIS, four separate reviews by administrative law judges, 320 route modifications in response to stakeholder input, and multiple reviews and approvals by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission for the project’s certificate of need and route permit.
The replacement project is finished in Canada, Wisconsin and North Dakota and construction is more than 60% complete in Minnesota. The project is on track to be in service in the fourth quarter of 2021.
“After six years of community engagement, environmental review, regulatory and legal review, it’s good to see confirmation of previous decisions on the Line 3 Replacement Project,” said Vern Yu, Enbridge’s president of liquids pipelines. For more information visit: www.enbridge.com
