If Governor Walz Had “Followed The Science,” We Would Have Started Building Line 3 Already

Last week’s decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court to deny a round of appeals attempting to further delay the construction of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline was a rare win for energy sanity in the state of Minnesota, and a major loss for the anti-pipeline activists.

According to the Duluth News Tribune:

“The Supreme Court’s decision not to review the opinion sends the crude oil pipeline’s environmental impact statement back to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission and shrinks what could’ve been an extended delay if members had agreed to hear the appeals.

Public Utilities Commission Chair Katie Sieben in a news release said the commission planned to review the project’s environmental impact “in the near future” and decide how to move forward accordingly.”

Sending the decision back to the Public Utilities Commission means the project will likely be approved, because the PUC unanimously approved the replacement last year because they were “following the science.”

If that phrase sounds familiar, it’s because this is the language Candidate Walz used when voicing his support for Line 3 prior to the election, however Governor Walz abruptly changed his tune after the votes were cast by subjecting the project to additional red tape. In the end, the Governor sided with the Department of Commerce in their absurd claim that we may not need the oil in the future.

According to data from the Energy Information Administration, oil is the single-largest source of energy used by Minnesotans, accounting for 35 percent of our total energy consumption, and our reliance upon gasoline and diesel fuel will not be declining anytime soon because electric cars are not ready for prime time, especially in cold-weather regions like Minnesota.

Because oil is such an indispensable resource, we should make sure we produce and move it in the most environmentally friendly and economic way possible. That means building more pipelines.

Given the fact that Saudi Arabian oil fields were recently bombed, taking about half of the Kingdom’s oil production capacity offline, the United States should look to strengthen our energy relationship with Canada by increasing our capacity to import the oil we rely upon every day, and that means our elected officials will have to stop obstructing pipelines.