ST. PAUL, MINN. (WKZO-AM) — A proposed oil pipeline spanning from North Dakota to the Great Lakes region has been dealt a regulatory blow by a Minnesota appellate court.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled earlier this week to reverse previous permit approval for Enbridge Energy’s $2.6 billion Sandpiper Pipeline, which would have delivered Bakken crude from the North Dakota oil patch to terminals in Superior, Wis. and Clearbrook, Minn.
The court said an environmental impact study is needed for the project, which would have expanded the Canadian company’s already sprawling pipeline system in the Midwest by as early as 2017, to be constructed in the state.
The decision comes about two weeks after Gov. Snyder put together a 15-member board to implement new safety measures on an often-protested 62-year-old Enbridge line under the Straits of Mackinac and other pipelines in the state.
– Anthony Pollreisz
