A committee in the Republican-led Minnesota Senate has approved a bill to halt the state Commerce Department’s legal challenge to Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline. Park Rapids Senator Paul Utke says, “This thing has been studied and studied and studied some more, and it’s time to move it forward.” Roseville Democrat John Marty responded, “Senator Utke said, you know, they’ve gone through all of this process over all these years. Well, I can guarantee you the opponents went through this whole process all these years as well — and saying therefore because they’ve been through this process means it ought to be approved, that doesn’t make any sense.”
D-F-L leaders in the House are refusing to move the bill forward — that’s after Governor Tim Walz decided to let predecessor Mark Dayton’s legal challenge continue. Deputy Commissioner Joe Sullivan defends the state Commerce Department’s appeal. “We view that on the merits of the case that the [Public Utilities] Commission got the decision wrong, so we are just following through with our legal appeal rights.” Republican Senator David Osmek from Mound keyed in on Governor Walz’s comment that projects like Line 3 “don’t only need a building permit to go forward, they also need a social permit.” Osmek says, “I’d like to know where I go to get a ‘social permit’ in the State of Minnesota, and I don’t think we’ve quite found that agency yet. When I find it — or if you find it — let me know.”