A Minnesota-based railroad has a plan to pump hundreds of millions of gallons of the ground and send it over to the Southwest United States by rail, but the Minnesota DNR says the idea isn’t likely to go anywhere.
Empire Builder Investments, which is a part of Progressive Rail based in Lakeville, hasn't filed a formal permit yet but the DNR is already discouraging its proposal for the project.
The company would like to drill two wells on land it owns in Randolph, Minnesota, pumping up to 500 million gallons of water a year. The water would then be sent by rail to communities near the Colorado River, which has experienced prolonged drought conditions. The DNR says that volume of water would supply about 5,000 homes a year, but the chances of it supplying homes outside of Minnesota appears to be low.
On Friday, the DNR sent a letter to Empire Builder Investments saying a permit to drill and pump water will likely be denied.
“The Minnesota DNR is required to manage the state’s water resources for current and future generations. Based on our preliminary findings, the DNR does not believe that an appropriation of this nature is likely to meet the sustainability requirements in Minnesota Statute. We have determined that it is unlikely we would issue a permit to appropriate water, and we do not recommend that you proceed further with this proposed project.”
Not only is the DNR concerned about the volume and sustainability of the request, the location of the drilling is also a problem. The company proposed drilling down to the Mt. Simon-Hinckley aquifer, which covers most of southwest Minnesota and is one of the most protected water sources in the state.
For those reasons, DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen said, "We see virtually no scenario where the DNR would grant a water appropriation permit for the project."