Enbridge, DNR reach $2.8M agreement to resolve Line 3 aquifer breach
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Canadian company Enbridge has agreed to a nearly $3 million settlement for piercing a groundwater aquifer while building the Line 3 oil pipeline in northern Minnesota.
The state Department of Natural Resources said it reached the agreement with Enbridge over the aquifer breach that was discovered in 2022 near Swatara in Aitkin County.
It was one of several places along the Line 3 route where pipeline workers pierced aquifers, causing groundwater to flow to the surface. The breaches violated state water rules and posed a risk to sensitive wetlands.
As part of the resolution, Enbridge agreed to pay $300,000 in civil penalties, $100,000 for ongoing monitoring and $1.2 million toward environmental projects to benefit natural resources.
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The company will also set aside $1.2 million in financial guarantees to address any future impacts of the breach. If there are no additional impacts, Enbridge would recoup those funds.
The DNR hasn’t yet found any damage to nearby Moose Lake, which is a wild rice lake, said Barb Naramore, deputy commissioner. But agency staff have seen evidence of increased water in the breach area, she said.
“That's what we've been working cooperatively with the company since discovering the breach to resolve, to the extent it can be resolved,” Naramore said.
Enbridge first reported groundwater welling up at the site in August 2022. The DNR investigated and determined that there was an aquifer breach.
Naramore said Enbridge has taken corrective action to stabilize the site, but it wasn't feasible to completely stop the breach. Water continues to flow out of the ground at 10 to 15 gallons a minute, she said. That’s much less than at some of the larger breaches along the Line 3 route.
Instead, the corrective action has been focused on managing that groundwater flow, so it disperses over that area in a way that doesn’t carry sediment or cause erosion, Naramore said.
Enbridge also paid more than $11 million to address three other breach sites, near Clearbrook in Clearwater County, LaSalle Creek in Hubbard County and the Fond du Lac Reservation in St. Louis County.
