The Enbridge energy corporation is proposing to increase its pipeline capacity to pump 800,000 barrels of tar sands crude oil through its Alberta Clipper Line 67. Line 67 currently pumps up to 450,000 bpd of tar sands crude from Alberta, across North Dakota and Minnesota to Wisconsin and the shores of Lake Superior, passing through state, tribal, federal, and private lands, including prairie, forests, farms, rivers, and lakes. Enbridge seeks to almost double the pipeline’s capacity to 800,000 bpd, nearly the same as TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline, and to construct two new tar sands storage tanks on the shores of Lake Superior. To increase capacity in this existing Line 67 pipeline is done by ratcheting up the pressure inside the pipeline, forcing more tar sands through and increasing the physical stress on the pipeline. Expanding Alberta Clipper’s capacity expose’s our northern Minnesota communities and Tribes to more risks of spills and leaks and potentially devastating cultural and historical resources. In addition to the Anishinaabe Nations, Enbridge Line 67 (and its other pipelines) could impact burial sites and other historical and cultural resources of Dakota, Mandan, Cheyenne and other Indigenous Nations that once resided in this region. The project requires an amended Presidential Permit, which requires a draft and final Environmental Impact Statements and a National Interest determination (similar to the KXL pipeline decision process). The Alberta Clipper capacity expansion requires a range of state and federal government permits, granted or denied through a process in which the voices of affected communities will make the difference. The project requires a Certificate of Need from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. (this is where the proposal application is at right now). The decision will turn in part on whether the project will “increase reliability of energy supply in Minnesota and the region.”
Posted on: Sun, 20 Apr 2014 13:34:53 +0000