Promoting Fear as Righteousness is not becoming of the FOH
If Richard Smith and the Friends of the Headwaters really practiced what they advocate for, they would support replacing Line 3 for an INCREDIBLY simple reason. Yet, he and FOH continue to try and divide Minnesota with purposeful misrepresentations and outright made up partial-stories, aka: “Fake News”. In a recent letter to the PRE, he published more misleading information, instead of being honest about reality and the fact pipelines and energy will continue to be part an important resource that our economy, people, businesses, and communities depend on.
In that letter, he implies that Line 3 will be approved because of a “fix” or “manufactured” support. Really? He and I both know that if this were a voters issue and it was on the ballot, it would be a landslide in favor of. An insulting claim.
He says that Enbridge is “pretending” line 3 is “fait accompli” – They are not! I know many of the principals personally and that could NOT be farther from the truth. There is a legal process to follow and they (Enbridge) are following it with the “hopes” it gets approved as it should. Making Enbridge sound like the boogie-man is the goal of most opposing groups and it is unfortunate that fabricating fear is the only way they have to do that since factual matter does not help their case.
New Line 3 is NOT an expansion as he states! The capacity in new Line 3 is virtually the same as “old” Line 3, which operated at THAT capacity for over 50 years. With new technology and 2” larger diameter it will take LESS energy to operate and therefore be more efficient.
He mentions the DOC (Department of Commerce) report that did not support the project, but does not mention the response from Flint Hills Resources in Rosemount MN. Flint Hills responded with a scathing factual rebuttal that for every “point” attempted to be made by the DOC’s unfavorable opinion, Flint hills showed it to be completely and factually wrong. The FH rebuttal noted that no one from Flint hills was interviewed by anyone at the DOC for information about the refinery, its capacity or needs. There is not enough space here to get into those details, they are public and very embarrassing for the DOC. It appeared as though the DOC’s view of Commerce in the State of Minnesota is the “Wall” approach to commerce.
Their hypocrisy is amazing when FOH claims to be an organization that supports clean water while at the same time they oppose a project that would protect Minnesota’s water and waterways. That is undisputable. It is beyond deceptive to pretend Minnesota does not need an energy source or that the people who live and work here do not need access to affordable energy that we all use every day.
Approving Line 3 is not “rolling over,” but instead it is showing that we can have both a strong economy and protected natural resources in our great state. It shows that these are not mutually exclusive terms as some would like them to be.
Like it or not, we need this energy source now and for the foreseeable future. We need it to be healthy, to help us live a quality life, for science, and for us here in the northland to stay warm in “another” long winter. Some may not like that reality, but we need it now to be safe for our people and our environment. All known forms of alternative energy have not matured to the point that everyone can afford them. That will take time ,and like it or not, we all need this to bridge that gap.
To “close the valve” will hurt a lot of people. Rising energy prices as a result would hurt everyone’s quality of life, something we saw a few years ago when gas was $4 a gallon. FOH has lost sight of the “unintended consequences” of not replacing Line 3. Your opposition will hurt those who can least afford it the most.