The leader of a Minnesota environmental group says he’s “cautiously optimistic” after Enbridge announced a big investment in a pipeline other than proposed the Sandpiper line crossing Minnesota. But Richard Smith with Friends of the Headwaters in Park Rapids adds “Until they [Enbridge] really relay their intentions… regarding Sandpiper to the state, I think we kind of have to withhold any judgment just yet.” Enbridge has formed a joint venture with Marathon Oil on a pipeline that would ship North Dakota Bakken oil through South Dakota and Iowa into Illinois, but would only say it will evaluate the “scope and timing” of the Sandpiper project in Minnesota.
Smith says even if Enbridge drops Sandpiper, it still wants to upgrade the aging “Line 3” pipeline and so “this fight isn’t over. There is still the prospect of a larger and new tar sands oil pipeline running through the middle of Minnesota’s most valuable waters.”