To: Senate Finance Committee
Re: Please Oppose SF 1757
March 21, 2019
Dear Senator:
As organizations who are working to accelerate the urgent transition to clean energy in Minnesota, we are in opposition to SF 1757.
The Line 3 “replacement” project is a proposal by Enbridge Energy to build a new oil pipeline through northern Minnesota which would carry 760,000 barrels of tar sands oil each day along a new corridor. The project jeopardizes Anishinaabe treaty territory, the heart of northern Minnesota lake country and the Mississippi headwaters, as well as private property.
In December 2018, the Department of Commerce (DOC) filed an appeal of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC)’s approval of the Line 3 Certificate of Need. The Walz Flanagan administration re-filed the Petition for Reconsideration in February.
The project is inconsistent with Minnesota’s overall energy needs. The social cost of carbon resulting from the project is too high for it to be justified. Further, it would provide an ill-timed subsidy to the flagging tar sands oil industry, whose especially polluting form of crude oil – 25% more carbon intensive than other, more readily available sources – is facing falling demand as transition to cleaner energy sources accelerates.
Since completing their expert analysis in fall of 2017, the DOC has maintained that Enbridge did not meet their burden of proof for a Certificate of Need permit, because it is not needed and the risks outweigh any potential benefits. The PUC voted to permit the pipeline along Enbridge’s preferred route in spite of these findings, as well as the recommendations of the Administrative Law Judge assigned to the issue, and the desires of several Ojibwe bands and tens of thousands of Minnesotans.
The authorities and independence of the Department of Commerce to protect the long-term well being of Minnesotans should be maintained. We agree with the DOC that Minnesota’s future will be in clean, renewable energy, in both the electric utility and transportation sectors. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Steve Morse
Executive Director
Minnesota Environmental Partnership
Alliance for Sustainability
A.C.E.S. (Austin Coalition for Environmental Sustainability)
CURE (Clean Up Our River Environment)
Clean Water Action- Minnesota
Environment Minnesota
Friends of the Cloquet Valley State Forest
Friends of the Minnesota Scientific and Natural Areas
Friends of the Mississippi River
Friends of the Parks and Trails of St. Paul and Ramsey County
Izaak Walton League – Minnesota Division
Land Stewardship Project
Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy
Minnesota Native Plant Society
Minnesota Ornithologists Union
MN 350 Action
Northern Waters Land Trust
Renewing the Countryside
Save our Sky Blue Waters
Sierra Club – North Star Chapter
St. Croix River Association
Wilderness in the City