Saturday, September 26, 2015

Thanks to Long Lake Families

Thanks go to the 82 Long Lake families who donated close to $14,000 to the Friends of the Headwaters (FOH) and their legal representatives at the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) last winter, to reroute the proposed Sandpiper oil pipeline and protect our waters.

On September 14th, the MN Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the MCEA/FOH contention that the Minnesota Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) requires that an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) be completed for the Sandpiper pipeline before a final decision is made by the MN Public Utilities Commission to grant or deny a Certificate of Need.
http://www.minnpost.com/earth-journal/2015/09/why-sandpiper-pipeline-went-aground-appeals-court

In the meantime, Enbridge has filed for a Certificate of Need for a second, larger pipeline, called Line 3 Replacement, to carry Canadian tar sands oil alongside the proposed Sandpiper route.  The EIS has not been done for this pipeline either.  This process is just at the "Comment" stage which ends Sept 30th.  The last LLAA eblast described additional potential topics for comment and how to comment.
http://www.longlakeliving.org/2015/09/recent-oil-spill-topic-for-your-comments.html

On September 17th  the MN Environmental Quality Board (EQB) approved the 2015 Water Policy Report called "Beyond the Status Quo" which proposes solutions to Minnesota's pressing water challenges.   Read, reflect, and acthttps://www.eqb.state.mn.us/beyond-status-quo-2015-eqb-water-policy-report

Also consider that the Minnesota EQB may be best positioned to lead the EIS process above and submit your comments to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission about Line 3. The Comment Period for Line 3 Replacement ends Wed 9/30.  See page 3 in the following link for instructions to submit electronically or by U.S. Postal Service: http://www.friendsoftheheadwaters.org/uploads/3/4/4/2/3442631/initial_line3_meeting_notice_aug_19.pdf

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Do You Know these Facts about Long Lake?

These facts are based on 2013 Hubbard County GIS data.
  • Long Lake has 500 unique lake shore parcel owners.
  • There are 622 parcels on this 1926.07 acre lake.
  • Long Lake is the most valuable lake in the county based on the county assessor data from 2013.
  • The Taxable Market Value (TMV) for water related properties in Hubbard Township is about $166 million and Hubbard is the 4th most valuable township in Hubbard County.
  • The agricultural lands are part of the other 30% of the TMV in Hubbard Township.
  • There are 136 residential parcels (full homestead) and 364 non-homestead or “seasonal” residents.
  • There are 5 resorts and 1 campground plus 2 public accesses with parking.
✔️The MPCA 1989 Ground Water Contamination Susceptibility Map depicts this area with the highest susceptibility to groundwater contamination.

Photo by L.L.K.Johnson
 This is what we are working to protect.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Recent Oil Spill a Topic for Your Comments

BREAKING NEWS:  August 28th.  Nexen has been ordered to shut down 95 oil pipelines in Alberta after oil leaked for two weeks undetected in July.  The one-year-old double-walled pipe was supposed to be “fail-safe.”


Read more at: 

Before September 30th, please write your comment to reroute the proposed 36” diameter tar sands pipeline (“line 3 replacement”) planned to run close to Long Lake.  See page 3 in the following link for instructions to submit electronically or by U.S. Postal Service:

Clearly nobody was doing a daily inspection of  the Alberta pipeline.  Request in your comment that daily aerial and satellite surveillance be mandated, as offered by Tata Consultancy Services:

This post from Arthur Howe's September email to LLAA members.

Sunday, September 6, 2015

A Visitor Shares Pictures from Long Lake

Gary Stoltz took wonderful pictures of eagles and loons during his visit with relatives on Long Lake a few weeks ago and has shared them with us.

This is the link to the photos (that are in the in the slideshow seen here) for those whose devices do not support flash:  Long Lake Photos - Gary Stolz