State Representative Dan Fabian from Roseau says he’s disappointed and angered that protesters were allowed to disrupt and force cancellation of Tuesday’s Public Utilities Commission meeting on the controversial Enbridge Line 3 pipeline upgrade. Fabian says, “A short outburst or something like that, that’s one thing…. But to get to the point to where people are feeling threatened… and there is some concern for public safety, that’s unacceptable.”
Fabian adds, “It’s easy to ‘Tuesday afternoon quarterback,’… but if something like that happened in the [Environment and Natural Resources] Committee when I was chairing it in the House, I would have called the sergeant-at-arms, I would have had the room cleared, and we would have proceeded with our business… [at] hand.”
State Public Utilities Commission officials say they “will be confirming appropriate measures for when this matter is rescheduled for hearing” and “it will be taken up again as soon as possible.” Protesters shut down the meeting just as regulators were beginning to discuss Enbridge’s insurance policy for the planned pipeline upgrade.