PUC seeks to limit delay in oil pipeline decision
Published 10:21 pm Tuesday, January 9, 2018
ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission has decided to stick close to its original timeline for deciding whether to approve Enbridge Energy’s proposal to replace its aging Line 3 crude oil pipeline across northern Minnesota.
According to a press release, the April 30 target came into question after the PUC last month deemed the project’s final environmental review to be inadequate and asked for further information. An administrative law judge who will recommend to the PUC whether the project is needed then pushed back the briefing schedule. That could have delayed the PUC’s final decision into September.
But the commission decided Tuesday against such a long delay and asked the judge to submit her report by April 23. Executive Secretary Dan Wolf said the PUC now expects to take up the issue sometime in June.