Enbridge ordered to pay $3 million for groundwater leak
This June 29, 2018 file photo shows tanks at the Enbridge Energy terminal in Superior, Wis. [Jim Mone/Associated Press]
Minnesota regulators have ordered Enbridge to pay more than $3 million for allegedly violating state environmental law by piercing a groundwater aquifer during construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline.
The state Department of Natural Resources says Enbridge, while working near Clearbrook last January, dug too deeply into the ground and pierced an artesian aquifer which resulted in a 24 million gallon groundwater leak and endangered nearby wetlands.
Enbridge’s 340-mile Line 3 pipeline will carry Canadian crude across northern Minnesota to the company’s terminal in Superior, Wisconsin.
The pipeline, opposed by environmental groups and some Ojibwe tribes, is 90% complete.