Opponents say they’ll appeal and/or sue, after state regulators Thursday morning affirmed their earlier decision on a route for Enbridge’s proposed Line 3 pipeline upgrade in northern Minnesota. Winona LaDuke with Honor the Earth says, “[We] want the Public Utilities Commission to protect the public, and they’ve gone absolutely wrong on this.” Nancy Norr with the group Jobs for Minnesotans responds two commissioners changed their votes today, making it a unanimous decision for Enbridge’s preferred route with modifications to avoid Big Sandy Lake. “They felt that many parties had come together since that original vote and they were confident that, because those parties came together with Enbridge, with the tribal entities, that they would change their votes,” Norr says.
Governor Mark Dayton said earlier the P-U-C “chose to evade the very legitimate concerns” of the state Commerce Department about the Line 3 project, but it’s unknown whether he’ll appeal with only a few weeks remaining in his term.