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St. Paul, Minn.

5 public hearings set on Sandpiper pipeline plan

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Piles of pipes along Hwy. 200
Enbridge planned to start work on their Sandpiper pipeline project through northern Minnesota this fall, but the permitting process is taking longer than expected. All 610 miles of pipe which will eventually bring North Dakota oil to Wisconsin has been milled and must be stored somewhere. Fifty miles of that pipe is stacked in a hay field on Highway 200 east of Lake George, Minn., on Nov. 6, 2014.
John Enger / MPR News file

Minnesota's Public Utilities Commission has scheduled five hearings over five straight days next month to hear from people with strong opinions about a proposed oil pipeline.

• Related Environmental groups ask for full review of pipeline impact

The hearings on the Enbridge Energy Partner's planned Sandpiper pipeline have been set for the first full week of January. They start on Jan. 5 at St. Paul's RiverCentre before successive hearings in Duluth, Bemidji, Crookston and St. Cloud.

About half of a proposed 612-mile pipeline would run through northern Minnesota, carrying oil from North Dakota to Superior, Wisconsin. Hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil per day would flow through the new line.

Permitting complications in Minnesota have slowed the project. If approved, it likely wouldn't be in service until 2017.

Environmentalists are pushing for a different route to avoid sensitive wetlands.