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Minn. court denies petition to revisit ruling on Enbridge's $2.9B oil project

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Minn. court denies petition to revisit ruling on Enbridge's $2.9B oil project

Enbridge Inc. and the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission can proceed with plans to amend an environmental study on the pipeline giant's stalled US$2.9 billion oil pipeline replacement project after the state's top court rejected petitions to set aside the entire document.

The Minnesota Supreme Court on Sept. 17 denied petitions from environmental groups and Native American bands to revisit a June ruling by the state's Court of Appeals that sent an environmental impact assessment back to regulators for further study. That court found that the assessment of the Calgary, Alberta-based company's plan to replace and reroute an oil pipeline through the state failed to adequately study the impact the project would have on the Lake Superior watershed. The lower court ordered further study on that point while affirming the adequacy of the rest of the assessment. The Supreme Court upheld that position.

The ruling means that Enbridge will be able to restart the permitting process for the Line 3 replacement project, which has been delayed more than a year by a regulatory hurdles in Minnesota. Enbridge proposed the C$9 billion project to replace an aging conduit that it has been running at half capacity because of safety concerns. The C$5 billion Canadian portion of the line and the short Wisconsin leg are complete. The entire project would see Line 3's capacity restored to about 720,000 barrels per day from the current available level of about 360,000 bbl/d.

"We agree with this decision from the Minnesota Supreme Court which now allows the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to move forth with the permitting process for the Line 3 replacement," Guy Jarvis, Enbridge's head of liquids pipelines, said in a statement. "We look forward to the MPUC providing their guidance on the remaining process and schedule."

The line's proposed route would cross about 337 miles of Minnesota and about 13 miles of North Dakota. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been a vocal opponent of the project, which was approved by utilities commission in June 2018. Walz has backed efforts to overturn the decision, ordering the Department of Commerce to petition the regulator's decision in February.

The American Petroleum Institute, which has been a supporter of the project, applauded the court decision.

"The MPUC will now be able to move forward with the Line 3 Replacement Project's EIS, providing guidance on the remaining process and timeline to complete the project, which is the most studied pipeline project in state history – having undergone four years and thousands of hours of environmental review," Erin Roth, executive director of API Minnesota, said in an e-mailed statement. "Line 3 helps to provide the reliable and affordable energy Minnesotans use every day and it's time to move the replacement project and the [US]$2.9 billion investment in Minnesota forward and update our state's energy infrastructure."

Line 3 makes up part of Enbridge's mainline system, a network of pipes that mostly run in a common right of way with a capacity of about 3 million bbl/d. That right of way was originally established through land-use agreements reached prior to the construction of the company's original line in the early 1950s. The new line would run outside of the mainline right of way through Minnesota because the existing line continues to operate.