Enbridge Says Oil Pipeline Expansion Is Proceeding Legally

Environmental Groups Have Sued State Department Over Project, Saying It Has Violated Federal Law

By
Ainsley Baldwin (CC-BY-SA).

The energy company Enbridge, Inc. says that their oil pipeline expansion to the city of Superior is happening lawfully, despite what environmental and Native American groups are alleging in a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department.

Enbridge wants to nearly double the capacity of its Alberta Clipper pipeline that carries Canadian tar sands oil across Minnesota to Superior. Winona LaDuke, a founder of the native organization Honor the Earth and a member of the White Earth Nation, said that for Lake Superior’s sake, the State Department should not have given the project temporary approval before the completion of a more comprehensive environmental review.

“The Enbridge company is proposing to bring a lot of oil across the north,” said LaDuke. “There’s no cumulative environmental impact statement and there’s no assessment of what happens to all that oil when it hits Superior. All of those are international issues, because Lake Superior is also not wholly owned by the United States.”

Stay informed on the latest news

Sign up for WPR’s email newsletter.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

LaDuke said that several pipelines already affect various Native American reservations in northern Minnesota.

Enbridge says that it believes the State Department acted lawfully with its temporary approval of the increased oil flow. The firm also says the way it shifted some of the oil into another pipe at the U.S.-Canadian border is allowed under an existing permit.

The State Department is still looking at the longer-term plan, and isn’t commenting on the lawsuit.