Enbridge’s Alberta Clipper pipeline expansion approved
Mike Ouellette
A judge has recommended Minnesota regulators approve Enbridge's application for its Alberta Clipper expansion through the state
ST. PAUL, Minn.—A judge has recommended Minnesota regulators approve Enbridge’s expansion of its Alberta Clipper crude oil pipeline across northern Minnesota.
Enbridge wants to increase the line’s capacity from 570,000 barrels per day to 800,000 by adding new pumping stations.
Judge Eric Lipman concluded that Enbridge has demonstrated a need for the added capacity. His recommendations now go to the state Public Utilities Commission, which must approve major energy projects in Minnesota.
But Lipman said in his written order that “no party demonstrated that there was a safer, more affordable or more reliable alternative,” Minnesota Public Radio News reported.
The Alberta Clipper runs about 1,600 kilometres from Hardisty, Alta., across northeastern North Dakota and northern Minnesota to Superior, Wis.
It’s the second expansion of the pipeline. State regulators last year approved the line’s Phase I expansion, and that work is underway. Because the project carries Canadian oil into the U.S., it also requires a permit by the U.S. State Department.
Potomac-Hudson Engineering Inc. of Gaithersburg, Maryland, has been retained to conduct an environmental review of the project, a State Department official told the Star Tribune by email.
