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

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