Enbridge Ordered to Pay $3 Million for Groundwater Leak

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota regulators have ordered Enbridge to pay more than $3 million for allegedly violating state environmental law by piercing a groundwater aquifer during construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline.

The state Department of Natural Resources says Enbridge, while working near Clearbrook last January, dug too deeply into the ground and pierced an artesian aquifer which resulted in a 24 million gallon groundwater leak and endangered nearby wetlands.

Enbridge’s 340-mile Line 3 pipeline will carry Canadian crude across northern Minnesota to the company’s terminal in Superior, Wisconsin. The pipeline, opposed by environmental groups and some Ojibwe tribes, is 90 % complete.