November 23, 2022
Ahead of construction of the Line 3 pipeline across northern Minnesota, scientists and water protectors predicted potential long-term and permanent hydrological disturbances and ecological destruction that could result from construction. Now that the project is complete, the Department of Natural Resources has publicly acknowledged three places where Enbridge pierced aquifers causing serious damage to surrounding wetlands and water bodies.
In October, Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office filed criminal charges against Enbridge over its aquifer breach in Clearbook, Minnesota. Enbridge has admitted to the breach and mishandling the follow up, including failures in notifying the DNR. We applaud Attorney General Ellison for doing what he could within existing law to finally hold Enbridge accountable for their egregious safety record, but these charges and the DNR’s action don’t come close to addressing the full extent of the harm, and further investigation is urgently needed.
Waadookawaad Amikwag, or Those Who Help Beaver, is an independent citizen science group, powered entirely by volunteers, and led by Indigenous values. Over the past year they have been diligently monitoring the ecological devastation caused by construction of the Line 3 pipeline. Contrary to the state’s limited assessment of harm, volunteers and experts with Waadookawaad Amikwag can demonstrate that there is a permanent disturbance of surface and groundwaters with ecological damage at at least 45 sites across the headwaters of the Red River of the North, the Mississippi River, and the St. Louis River and Lake Superior Watersheds.
State agencies have not stepped up to monitor this ecological fallout. We are calling on federal regulators to intervene, to hold responsible parties accountable and prevent further future harm.
Send your message to EPA Administrator Michael Regan and U.S. Army Corps Lieutenant General Scott A. Spellmon today!
Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative 
I am not a lawyer but I do have a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering and it appears that there was collusion or it best gross negligence between Enbridge and Local, County, and State officials and departments to ram this project through at the risk of degredation of them Land of Lakes .