ST PAUL, Minn. - Three days after a state regulator ruled a Canadian oil company can build a pipeline across much of northern Minnesota, opponents are fighting back, rallying Sunday outside the governor's mansion in St. Paul.
After months of fighting, opponents say the decision was both a disappointment and a shock, bringing Calgary-based Enbridge another step closer to replacing a line that's now 50 years old. It'll follow the existing path from Canada to Wisconsin partway through northern Minnesota, then veer south to bypass the Leech Lake reservation. Enbridge claims the new $7 billion pipeline will let it move double the oil of the current one, plus create jobs and revenue. But critics say regulators simply chose money over the environment.
“It's pretty egregious,” said Andy Pearson of MN350, a climate-focused nonprofit in Minneapolis.
“They looked us in the eye on Thursday and told us, ‘We did hear everything you had to say and we don't care,’” said Akilah Sanders-Reed of an activist group called Youth Climate Intervenors. “‘We are afraid of this oil company and we're going to cave to them rather than following the law and the request of our people.’”
Those people are mostly young, saying they'll be most affected by future pollution, rallying support from environmental groups and others who say the decision is both wrong and illegal. And they say the fight's not over, since Enbridge still needs 29 local, state and federal permits, which Governor Mark Dayton says are no sure thing.
“The governor has already said that he intends to put a very high level of scrutiny on those permits,” said Pearson. “Again, his state agencies have concluded that this pipeline shouldn't be built.”
And if it is, opponents say they won't make it easy, vowing to use physical blocks if legal ones fail.
“When the state is unwilling to enforce its own laws,” said Sanders-Reed, “I know there are people up north who are willing to put their bodies on the line to stop this illegal pipeline from being built.”
But first they'll continue protests, ask regulators to reconsider, then appeal this fall. Enbridge, meanwhile, has its own plans, saying it hopes to finish its new pipeline within a year.
If Enbridge builds the new pipeline, it has to remove the old line and guarantee clean up of any environmental damage.