Join these Minnesotans and support replacing Line 3

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Continue to show your support by signing this letter to Governor Walz

Thank you for your continued support of Minnesotans for Line 3. Please join us in adding your name and support to a letter that will be delivered to the Walz Administration in their first week of office. The letter highlights three reasons why Line 3 needs to be replaced and confirms Governor Walz’s continued support of the project:

The need to replace aging infrastructure
The thoroughness of the review process
The importance of investing in local jobs

Governor Walz, please take action; join us with your continued support of replacing Line 3 and direct your agencies to finalize the permitting process promptly.

Join 15,268 other Minnesotans by signing the letter today!

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January 2019

Dear Governor Walz and Lt. Governor Flanagan: We look forward to working with you and continuing to make northern Minnesota a great place to live, work and enjoy all that our natural resources have to offer.

We are writing to you, during your first week in office, to convey our steadfast support for Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement Project, and to ask you to respect the process by rescinding a last minute legal challenge from the previous Administration’s Department of Commerce of a reasoned review and approval of the project by that same Administration’s Public Utilities Commission. We also ask you direct your agencies to finalize the permitting process promptly, to achieve construction in 2019.

For four years, we watched this project – to replace aging infrastructure and further protect water quality in northern Minnesota — being evaluated. We heard Governor Dayton say “trust the process, trust the Public Utilities Commission.” So we did – and we participated.

We went to the 65 public meetings (15 held on tribal reservations), we submitted comments to the official project docket, we attended events, we put signs in our yards, and we wrote letters to the editor in our newspapers. Our local governments and organizations passed more than 90 resolutions of support for the project. Enbridge reached agreements with the two tribes directly impacted by the project.

Finally, after a robust evaluation and careful consideration of a voluminous record, the Governor Dayton-appointed PUC issued permits confirming a need to replace the pipeline by unanimous decision and issued a route informed in part by a thorough and robust environmental impact statement. The PUC reaffirmed their decisions on need and route, again by unanimous decision, in November and December 2018.

After the most comprehensive review in the history of pipelines in Minnesota the previous Administration’s Department of Commerce filed a court challenge to its sister-agency, the PUC’s decision.

Projects like replacing Line 3 do not come along very often. In anticipation of construction in summer 2019, our union halls are gearing up to put the local workforce to work near home. Our local businesses and companies are developing plans and considering the work force they will need to employ and accommodate to meet this economic boom. Our elected and public officials are creating budgets and determining where resources may be needed. This 350-mile project will provide so many benefits across northern Minnesota – all privately funded, infusing millions of dollars into our communities.

As you enter office, we, as a collective coalition of northern Minnesota elected and public officials, business owners, labor unions, and citizens, ask your administration to ensure we all put safety first by replacing aging infrastructure and protecting our natural resources, while investing in family- and community-supporting jobs.

With this in mind, we have three specific requests:

We ask you to rescind the previous administration’s lawsuit against the Line 3 Certificate of Need and to move this project forward.
We ask you to direct your agencies to finalize the permitting process promptly, to achieve construction in 2019.
We ask you to join us in supporting the Line 3 Replacement Project.

We are happy to discuss with you and your Administration how replacing Line 3 will benefit our communities.

We can’t afford to wait any longer for Line 3

“It’s long overdue for those making decisions in this state to pause and look at the facts. We cannot afford another appeal. Too much time and taxpayer dollars have been used to repeatedly determine that Line 3 is necessary.

If we do not approve Line 3 and get started soon, the people of Minnesota will deserve an explanation about why the most studied pipeline project in our state’s history – that literally checks every box – was stalled at a time when our economy needs it so much.”

Rich Siegert, Rochester Post Bulletin

Minnesota needs Line 3 project

“Let’s get one thing clear: Minnesota needs Line 3.

Replacing Line 3 will bring thousands of jobs to our state at a time when we desperately need it. While our legislature stalls on a bonding bill and other forms of relief, how about Governor Walz and his administration making an easy decision to stop delaying a project that will bring thousands of jobs to northern Minnesota?”

Craig Gaasvig, Grand Forks Herald

Nearly six years to replace Line 3 is too long

“My family has farmed in Clearwater County for 85 years. As farmers, we take pride in our land and work hard to take care of the soil and water around us. We also take very seriously planning our farming operations, including rotating our crops and maintaining our equipment.

For 48 years, we’ve hosted six pipelines on our property and have always had a good relationship with the company. In 2014, we received a letter from Enbridge about the company’s intention to replace its Line 3 pipeline. Since that initial letter, we’ve worked with Enbridge on the easement for the replacement pipe and have considered our farming plans to accommodate construction.”

Brian Emmel, Bemidji Pioneer

Support Minnesotans by supporting Line 3

“In trying times like these, you would think local governments would try to work together to get things done. The fact of the matter is, they can’t — or they won’t. The gridlock in our state house is at an all-time high, and neither side seems willing to concede anything to the other. You would think they would care more about the people than these political chess matches; but for the most part, that’s not the case. Minnesota needs jobs more than ever — as well as the hope that things can get better. As we struggle with COVID19, the changes it has forced upon us have left too many of our businesses to drop like flies, with more people applying for unemployment every day.”

Dave Langfeld, Duluth News Tribune

Join these Minnesotans and support replacing Line 3

Continue to show your support by signing this letter to Governor Walz

SIGN THE LETTER BELOW

Letters to the Editor Supporting Line 3:

We can’t afford to wait any longer for Line 3

Minnesota needs Line 3 project

Nearly six years to replace Line 3 is too long

Support Minnesotans by supporting Line 3

Stay Informed:
Be the first to know about Line 3 news as it happens by joining the Minnesotans for Line 3 email list.

Letter to Governor Walz

Join these Minnesotans and support replacing Line 3

Continue to show your support by signing this letter to Governor Walz

SIGN THE LETTER BELOW

Letters to the Editor Supporting Line 3:

We can’t afford to wait any longer for Line 3

Minnesota needs Line 3 project

Nearly six years to replace Line 3 is too long

Support Minnesotans by supporting Line 3

Stay Informed: Be the first to know about Line 3 news as it happens by joining the Minnesotans for Line 3 email list.

Stay Informed:
Be the first to know about Line 3 news as it happens by joining the Minnesotans for Line 3 email list.