MINNEAPOLIS — An administrative judge is siding with Enbridge Energy on its route for a new pipeline to carry North Dakota crude oil across northern Minnesota.

Environmentalists opposed the route running from the North Dakota border to Clearbrook, Minnesota for the $2.6 billion Sandpiper pipeline. The Z-shaped route runs through a region of lakes and wetlands.

The ruling by Judge Eric Lipman Monday is not the final say on the route. It’s a recommendation to the state Public Utilities Commission which has authority over crude oil pipeline development in Minnesota.

North Dakota has approved its portion of the 610-mile pipeline from the Bakken oil region.