Water is life, so the water protectors say. For pipeline fans, penalties for aquifer breaches aren't part of reality.
Via Forum News Service, Jimmy Lovrien reports in Enbridge to pay $11 million for aquifer breaches during Line 3 construction:
Enbridge Energy will pay $11 million to the state and an Indigenous band after a series of aquifer breaches during the construction of its Line 3 oil pipeline across northern Minnesota last year.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Department of Natural Resources on Monday said the money would be spent on penalties, ongoing monitoring, environmental projects and financial assurances for three aquifer breaches near Enbridge's Clearbrook Terminal, LaSalle Creek in Hubbard County and just west of the Fond du Lac Reservation.
The MPCA also found Enbridge "violated a series of regulations and requirements including discharging construction stormwater into wetlands and inadvertently releasing drilling mud into surface waters at 12 locations between June 8, 2021, and August 5, 2021."
Additionally, the office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Monday, Oct. 17, announced Enbridge admitted to the January 2021 breach in Clearwater County and that the company "further admitted that it understood or should have understood that the aquifer breach resulted from its construction activity, and that it delayed notifying the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources about the breach as required."
Repairs have stopped uncontrolled groundwater flow at the Fond du Lac Reservation breach while work has slowed the uncontrolled flow at the Clearbook breach to 20 gallons per minute and the LaSalle Creek to less than 1 gallon per minute, the MPCA and DNR said. . . .
Read the rest at the West Central Tribune. Here's the press release from the Minnesota Attorney General's office:
Enbridge admits it breached aquifer in Line 3 construction, will pay fine and perform environmental restoration
October 17, 2022 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced today that Enbridge Energy Limited Partnership, the owner and operator of the Line 3 Replacement Project in northern Minnesota, has admitted that in January 2021, it breached a confined aquifer in Clearwater County in the course of building Line 3 that led to an uncontrolled flow of groundwater. Enbridge has further admitted that it understood or should have understood that the aquifer breach resulted from its construction activity, and that it delayed notifying the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources about the breach as required.
Enbridge’s admission comes in the context of Attorney General Ellison filing one misdemeanor count against Enbridge in Clearwater County District Court for appropriating state waters without a permit through construction. This is the only criminal charge available under current Minnesota law for the acts the State alleges in its charge. Attorney General Ellison’s office undertook review of this case when the Clearwater County Attorney, who had original criminal jurisdiction over it, referred it the Attorney General’s office for review. Minnesota Statutes 8.01 provides that a county attorney may refer a criminal case to the Attorney General for review, charging, and prosecution.
Along with the criminal charge, Attorney General Ellison has entered into a diversion agreement, in the form of continuance for dismissal of the charge, in which the State and Enbridge agree that in exchange for Enbridge’s admission of the facts around the aquifer breach, paying a fine of $1,000 — the maximum fine available under the law — and agreeing to remain law-abiding and not further break the law, the charge will be dismissed after one year. In addition, and even though not required under the law, Enbridge agrees to perform a community service project by funding up to $60,000 for fen restoration in Marshall and Polk Counties.
The terms of the diversion agreement are greater than the State could have won if Enbridge had been convicted of the misdemeanor charge at trial.
Copies of the criminal complaint and diversion agreement will be available when the court has opened the docket with a case file number, which the State anticipates will happen later today.
The filing of the criminal charge and agreement with Enbridge comes in the context of other agreements with Enbridge that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa announced today in which Enbridge agrees to make cash payments, pay penalties, fund environmental restoration and monitoring, and provide financial assurances worth more than $11 million.
“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.
“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.”
“The Clearwater County Attorney’s Office would like to thank Attorney General Ellison and his staff for their dedication and hard work on this complex case,” Clearwater County Attorney Kathryn Lorsbach said.
At Minnesota Public Radio, Kirsti Marohn reports in Enbridge faces criminal charge, more fines over Line 3 construction:
Enbridge Energy faces a criminal charge and additional financial penalties related to construction of the Line 3 pipeline last year.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Monday that his office is filing one misdemeanor count against Enbridge in Clearwater County District Court for using state waters without a permit.
While installing the 330-mile crude oil pipeline across northern Minnesota in January of 2021, Enbridge crews punctured an underground aquifer in Clearwater County, causing uncontrolled flows of groundwater.
Ellison said Enbridge “admitted that it understood or should have understood that the aquifer breach resulted from its construction activity” and that it delayed notifying state agencies about the breach as required.
The charge will be dismissed after one year if Enbridge pays a $1,000 fine and remains law abiding. . . .
Winona LaDuke, executive director and co-founder of Honor the Earth said she applauds the attorney general for filing a criminal charge and praises the tribes, volunteer water monitors and water protectors who warned of the damages Line 3 could bring. . . .
The Line 3 pipeline started transporting oil in October of last year. In a statement, Enbridge said the pipeline was built “under the most comprehensive regulatory framework in the history of Minnesota,” including permits from federal, state, local and tribal authorities.
“This included construction oversight by agency and tribal monitors with the authority to stop construction at any time,” the statement read. “When events were identified, Enbridge reported them transparently and corrected them consistent with plans approved by the agencies.”
Enbridge stated that it acknowledges it inadvertently breached an aquifer near the Clearbrook terminal in Clearwater County, and “has worked tirelessly to address the issue” with the DNR and other state agencies. The company fundamentally disagrees with the attorney general that it committed any criminal act, the statement read.
Minnesotans for Line 3, a coalition of cities, labor unions and others that support the project, called the enforcement action “the result of continued efforts by project opponents to ignore reality and enormous economic benefits to main street Minnesota.”
We're not sure what part of "construction stormwater into wetlands and inadvertently releasing drilling mud into surface waters at 12 locations between June 8, 2021, and August 5, 2021" isn't reality, but we're sure we'll hear about that forever from Line 3 supporters.
Photo: Enbridge's Line 3 oil pipeline under construction near the intersection of Hohensee and West Moorhead roads in Carlton County in January 2021. Source: Clint Austin / File / Duluth News Tribune via the West Central Tribune.
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