By Zach Kayser / Bemidji Pioneer
Representatives from Canadian oil company Enbridge Energy met with residents in Clearbrook, Minn., on Wednesday, the first in a series open houses ahead of another massive pipeline project.
Enbridge’s Line 3 was originally built nearly 50 years ago, in 1968. It forms part of Enbridge’s Lakehead System, which transports crude oil from Canada and North Dakota across Minnesota to refineries in Superior, Wis., and beyond.
Enbridge wants to replace all 1,031 miles of Line 3 with larger, higher-capacity pipe in what is slated to be one of the largest infrastructure projects in North America. For the 340-mile stretch of Line 3 planned to go through the U.S., Enbridge estimates about a $2.3 billion price tag. However, since the majority of the pipeline will be in Canada, the cost for the entire project is close to $7.5 billion. Enbridge aims to have the new Line 3 up and running in 2017, if regulators sign off on the project soon enough.
The new line will run parallel to the existing Lakehead System until it gets to Clearbrook, where Enbridge has a pipeline network terminal facility. Then, it will swing south toward Park Rapids, to follow the route of Enbridge’s proposed Sandpiper crude oil line.
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Arshia Javaherian, Enbridge Senior Legal Counsel, said it was difficult to predict whether regulatory process for Line 3 would be as intense as that of the Sandpiper line, which was delayed earlier this year due to environmental concerns.
“On paper, it would be the same,” he said. “As far as the statues go and the rules go, there’s really no difference.”
Minnesota Department of Commerce pre-hearings on the Line 3 route could occur as soon as April, he said.
However, the process of requiring right-of way from landowners along the pipeline segment after Clearbrook already most mostly complete, Javaherian said.
“South of Clearbrook, we’re already at 70 percent acquired,” he said. “North of Clearbrook, we’re not quite that far.”
The old Line 3 will continue to operate until the new Line 3 is completed, at which point Enbridge will “deactivate” the old line, clean the oil out and leave the pipe buried in the ground.
That didn’t sit well with environmentalist Marianne Baum, who came to Clearbrook from Minneapolis to attend the open house.
“I don’t think they’re being entirely honest about the fact that the pipeline itself...will remain in the ground, they’ll just leave it there,” she said. “Enbridge is an octopus. They’re building pipelines in so many different places, it’s all the activists, landowners, community members, tribal members can do to keep on top of it.”
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Enbridge officials said it was safer and less disruptive to landowners to leave the old pipe in place. Enbridge will continue corrosion control measures even after the former line is deactivated.
Clearbrook landowner Vernon Johnson is in talks with Enbridge to sell part of his property. He was in favor of the Line 3 project, and said the majority of Clearbrook residents have the same stance.
“The people that are around here, they are really for it,” he said. “But, we’ve got a few outspoken radicals that have never had a job, that are talking.”
More than 30 people attended the Clearbrook open house in the first hour alone.
Open houses will be held today in Thief River Falls and Hallock and in Park Rapids, Pine River on Dec. 10 and in McGregor and Carlton on Dec. 11.
For more information, visit Enbridge’s web page on the project at www.enbridge.com/Line3ReplacementProgram/Line3ReplacementProgramUS.aspx
