Enbridge claims pipelines are the “safest way” to transport oil but fails to ask if oil is needed for Minnesota.
Our Department of Commerce ruled that, not only was the new Line 3 not needed for our region, but the current Line 3 could also be eliminated as unnecessary as well.
State Rep. Steve Green envisions “a boom economy,” failing to consider the near-term fossil fuel BUST many predict. I concur with Green – the jobs numbers are “unbelievable” and I wonder how Kipp Hanson foresees a bankrupt Enbridge providing “pensions.”
The Enterprise failed to note that PUC commissioners will hear citizens on Jan. 31, a rare occurrence; it is the second time for Enbridge. The first astonished PUC commissioners who learned much from citizens that Enbridge had failed to mention. This resulted in the first Environmental Impact Statement in Minnesota for Enbridge’s Sandpiper pipeline, which Enbridge subsequently abandoned. If Mayor Ryan Leckner wants to know more, perhaps he should investigate why.
Park Rapids’ Friends of the Headwaters, noting wetlands are the worst place to put a tar sands pipeline, offered an alternative route (SA-04), an existing pipeline corridor Minnesota’s Pollution Control Agency deemed “best,” likely for ease of leak detection and remedy. Enbridge, interested only in their “preferred” route through the cleanest waters in our state, refused it.
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While not all identify as “environmentalists,” don’t we all believe in stewarding our land, air and water for future generations? Data shows Enbridge’s high-skilled maintenance jobs have kept Line 3 functioning – jobs Minnesota can support as we transition from fossil fuels. Our clean water, oxygen-generating trees and wildlife, providing both sustenance and solace, must not be sacrificed to a dying industry.
If we needed tar sands from Alberta, the safest transport is shipment as semi-solid bitumen, completely safe – even to marine animals – via BitCrude carriers.
If this is about freeing up trains for grain, we can again blame the fossil fuel industry, which promoted individual cars over public transit, like rail. If we’d not kowtowed to big oil then, perhaps we’d now have high-speed magnetic trains operating from solar or wind power that Christa Munson’s husband built locally. Years wasted supporting this dirty industry resulted in a burning planet.
Let’s abandon the fossil fools who’ve lied for too long about their damage to our environment. Settling for Line 3 jobs instead of new energy economy jobs, Minnesota’s rural population would again be left behind.
