In no other state would a Governor repeatedly challenge a privately-funded, $2.6B project that will infuse 4200 family sustaining jobs during a recession and in a region that is experiencing unemployment rates in excess of 20 percent. This is especially disappointing to Better In Our Back Yard supporters after the Walz Administration and Dayton Administration approved the project multiple times after the longest, most thorough environmental review in the State’s history. Our organization believes projects like replacing Line 3 can be done safely in Minnesota because of these very processes and regulations that Enbridge has navigated.
Tax-payer dollars will now be used on a court appeal process, with one agency suing another agency over a project to replace aging infrastructure. Governor Walz has turned his back again on northern Minnesota and the thousands of residents and local units of government who stand behind this project.