Public meetings locations determined for proposed Minnesota pipeline project

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission recently voted to confirm that a public meeting would be held in every Minnesota county that a proposed route for the pending Line 3 Pipeline Replacement Project will affect.

The Department of Commerce will hold the 22 meeting over a three-week period. The department will provide the public with information about the proposed project and opportunities for comment at the meetings.

The directive does not require that public meetings be held in counties in which a System Alternative, specifically SA-04, is located, because the proposed project does not involve locating any portion of the Line 3 Project in those counties. A System Alternative relates to the Certificate of Need requirement for the project, as opposed to the pipeline route. SA-04 will be inspected and be subject to public comment as part of the environmental review required by the Certificate of Need process.

The project, proposed by Enbridge Energy, Limited Partnership, would include the installation of a 337-mile long 36-inch diameter pipeline that would replace 282 miles of the existing 34-inch Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota. The project would begin near Hallock on the Minnesota-North Dakota border and extend to Clearbrook, Minnesota and to shipping points on Lake Superior crossing into Wisconsin at a point south of Carlton, Minnesota. After the new pipeline is installed, tested, and operational, Enbridge Energy plans to deactivate the old pipeline.