Yesterday, Bluestem noted that one Southwestern Minnesota small town was facing nitrate issues in the post Nitrates in Southwestern Minnesota water: 'Do not give the water to infants' in Ellsworth. That had followed use of commentary first published in MinnPost, Can the state control nitrates in Minnesota waters?.
Sadly, nitrates in the water isn't the only breaking clean water story in Minnesota. On Wednesday, Healing Minnesota Stories, which works with a water activist group tracking Line 3's environmental impacts called Waadookawaad Amikwag ) posted in We’re getting a slow drip of information on serious construction damage from Enbridge’s tar sands pipeline:
State regulators are stingy with information, so it’s up to citizen volunteers to make it public
This post is a collaboration between Healing Minnesota Stories and Waadookawaad Amikwag.
During Line 3 construction in 2021, we learned Line 3 construction breached three aquifers:
- Clearbrook: Clearwater County, 1855 Treaty Territory, about 10 miles from the Red Lake Reservation;
- LaSalle Valley: Hubbard County, 1855 Treaty Territory, about 10 miles from the White Earth Reservation;
- St. Louis County, 400 feet from the Fond du Lac Reservation, 1854 Treaty Territory.
Since construction ended, citizen volunteers have continued to patrol the pipeline corridor, identifying damage state regulators haven’t found yet, or at least haven’t made public. Volunteers include drone operators, ground spotters, and professional scientists.
In March, the group made public significant water problems at Walker Brook (Clearwater County in 1855 Treaty Territory, 10 miles from the White Earth Reservation). (Not an aquifer breach, but still damaging.)
The volunteer group now is confirming a fourth aquifer breach in a wetland just south of Moose Lake, a wild rice lake in Aitkin County in 1855 Treaty Territory, about 50 miles from the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe’s Reservation.
Expect more news on aquifer breaches
The volunteer group calls itself Waadookawaad Amikwag (Anishinaabemowin for “Those Who Help Beaver”).
Jeffrey Broberg, a retired professional geologist, helps the group interpret thermal images taken by drones flying along the pipeline corridor.
If they get a thermal signature that looks like a potential aquifer breach (cold water), they send out ground spotters to investigate.
“There has been a disturbing pattern of these aquifer breaches that have occurred because construction workers drove sheet pilings too deep,” puncturing shallow aquifer caps, Broberg said.
Both Enbridge and state regulators showed a lack of due diligence, he said. “If they had done soil borings and monitoring wells, they would have identified these.”
“We allege there are four dozen of these sites along the construction corridor.”
Getting state regulators to share information has been challenging. They don’t make public statements or issue media releases until investigations are complete and fines imposed.
It can be a long wait. Workers finished Line 3 on Oct. 1, 2021, more than a year and a half ago. Regulators haven’t made any public announcements about construction damage at Walker Brook or Moose Lake. They have responded to Data Practices Act requests on Walker Brook and Moose Lake. . . .
Read the rest of the article on the website--there's a wealth of information and analysis about the issues--and sign up for its updates.
As predicted, there's more news on aquifer breaches out since that was posted. At the Star Tribune, Jennifer Bjorhus reported Friday morning in Fourth aquifer rupture discovered along Line 3 in northern Minnesota:
Environmental activists first revealed the breach caused by construction of Enbridge's pipeline.
Enbridge Energy is working to fix another aquifer rupture caused by construction of the Line 3 replacement oil pipeline across northern Minnesota.
The Canadian oil company and the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) confirmed the breach in Aitkin County on Thursday, after it was first announced by Healing Minnesota Stories and a water activist group tracking Line 3's environmental impacts called Waadookawaad Amikwag, or Those Who Help Beaver.
The new breach is the fourth confirmed along the route of the pipeline, which started operating in the fall of 2021. The project generated fierce opposition in the state from environmental activists and tribes.
The rupture happened near Moose Lake in Aitkin County, a wild rice lake in an area of wetlands and peat bogs considered to have outstanding biodiversity. It's near an unincorporated community called Swatara in Macville Township, according to the DNR.
In a statement, the DNR said it's investigating the construction impacts at Moose Lake and described it as a "remote and hydraulically complex" place.
Groundwater at the new break is flowing to the surface at about 10 to 15 gallons per minute, the DNR said. That's "considerably lower" than the rate at which groundwater initially flowed from the other three breaks, it said.
The other three breaches, reported in 2021, occurred near the town of Clearbrook in Clearwater County; at LaSalle Creek in Hubbard County; and near the Fond Du Lac Band of Chippewa's reservation in St. Louis County. An estimated 280 million gallons of groundwater spilled from those ruptures. The flows have been stopped, but the DNR said it's still monitoring. . . .
Jeff Broberg, a geologist for Waadookawaad Amikwag, provided a letter he sent to the DNR. In it he said he thinks the artesian groundwater has been flowing from the Moose Lake rupture since construction in late 2021 and that regulators have failed to adequately protect the state's groundwater — a public resource — and the broader ecosystems.
Broberg and Waadookawaad Amikwag have been involved with the thermal imaging flyover of the pipeline route in 2021 led by the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. The footage revealed as many as 45 spots along the 355-mile pipeline where groundwater appeared to be flowing to the surface.
Map:
Related posts
- Oops: Enbridge to pay $11 million for series of aquifer breaches during Line 3 construction
- MN Reformer: Enbridge fined $3.3 million for aquifer breach during Line 3 construction
- Not Cows and Rocks: water protectors confront Governor Walz at a DFL fundraiser in Alexandria
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