CLEARWATER COUNTY, Minn. — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office announced Monday that Enbridge Energy Limited Partnership, the owner and operator of the Line 3 pipeline project in northern Minnesota, admitted to breaching an aquifer during construction and delayed notifying the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Enbridge, which was charged with a misdemeanor for appropriating state waters without a permit through construction by Ellison's office, admitted that the Jan. 2021 breach in Clearwater County led to an uncontrolled flow of groundwater and that the company should have realized the breach was the result of their own construction.
According to the AG's office, this is the only criminal charge available under current Minnesota law. Ellison's office and Enbridge agreed that in exchange for their admission, a fine payment of $1,000, and an agreement that they'll remain law abiding in the future, the charge against Enbridge would be dismissed after one year.
Additionally, Enbridge has agreed to fund up to $60,000 for fen restoration projects in Marshall and Polk Counties.
The criminal charge from Ellison's office dovetails with the announcement from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Fond du Lac Bank of Lake Superior Chippewa that Enbridge will pay more than $11 million after an investigation identified water quality violations and three aquifer breaches related to Line 3 pipeline construction.
According to the MPCA, those violations include discharging construction stormwater into wetlands and inadvertently releasing drilling mud into surface waters at 12 locations in 2021 between June 8 and Aug. 5.
“The facts that Enbridge admits today about its breach of the aquifer constitute in the State’s view a criminal violation of the law. Corporations rarely admit facts that constitute a violation of criminal law. Unless and until the Legislature changes the law, a misdemeanor is the only charge against Enbridge the State can support with probable cause under current state law. I am pleased that the agreement we have reached with Enbridge is greater than any penalty we could have won against Enbridge at trial,” Attorney General Ellison said in a statement.
“Today’s resolution of the criminal charge I filed against Enbridge, coupled with the other settlements the State has reached, constitute an important step forward in holding Enbridge accountable for the damage it caused to Minnesota’s water and environment, and for restoring that damage.”
As part of Enbridge's agreement, a portion of the $11 million will go toward addressing an aquifer breach at Milepost 1102.5, just west of the Fond du Lac Reservation and aquifer breaches near the Clearbrook Terminal and the LaSalle Creek Crossing.
“At the start of this project, the MPCA issued our most stringent water quality certification to date and permits that were strong, enforceable, and protective — and this enforcement action holds Enbridge accountable for the violations that occurred during construction,” said MPCA Commissioner Katrina Kessler in a press release. “We are committed to protecting Minnesota’s wetlands and streams and will continue to monitor the company’s ongoing work to return the site to its pre-construction condition.”
On Monday afternoon, Minnesota House Republicans released this statement on the fines:
“Today’s news is the latest in a disturbing trend of the Walz Administration and Democrats weaponizing the state regulatory process in Minnesota. If Gov. Walz and Democrats had their way, the Line 3 replacement pipeline wouldn’t have been built and Minnesotans would be paying even more at the gas pump. Time and time again, they have proven that they are openly hostile to projects and policies that would lessen the burden on Minnesota families crushed under the weight of historic inflation and soaring energy costs. It's clear these fines — which are coming less than a month before the election and 12 months after the project was completed — are politically motivated by the demands of far-left Democrat environmentalists.”
The Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, which begins in Alberta, Canada and runs through North Dakota and Minnesota before connecting with an Enbridge terminal in Superior, Wisconsin, has been a point of contention among various groups for years.
The pipeline became operational in Oct. 2021 after six years of legal battles and stiff opposition from local tribes, environmentalists and others who argued that the 337-mile pipeline violated treaty rights, would worsen climate change and would risk spills.
In Nov. 2021, a delegation from Minnesota presented at United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland
In their panel presentation, the group drew connections between Line 3 and the ongoing climate crisis happening worldwide, while focusing on the damage they claim the pipeline has caused in northern Minnesota.
Enbridge has long maintained that replacing the aging pipeline, which was built in the 1960s, was the safest option for maintaining the oil supply to the Midwest and creating thousands of jobs.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities in our YouTube playlist:
