State agency backs expansion of Enbridge pipeline across Minnesota

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Jun 18, 2007
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The Minnesota Commerce Department has endorsed Enbridge Energy’s plan to boost the capacity of its Alberta Clipper crude oil pipeline across Minnesota, warning that the state’s two oil refineries face shortages if the project doesn’t go ahead.

The agency backed the controversial project in written testimony for regulatory hearings that began Tuesday in St. Paul. Enbridge seeks approval of $160 million in new or expanded pumping stations to increase the line’s capacity by 40 percent to 800,000 barrels per day.

It is the second expansion of the pipeline, also known as Line 67, which runs 1,000 miles from Hardisty, Alberta, to Superior, Wis., including 285 miles through Minnesota. State regulators last year approved the line’s first capacity expansion. The Phase I construction work already is underway.


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State agency backs expansion of Enbridge pipeline across Minnesota | Star Tribune