Timeline For Controversial Minn. Oil Pipeline Pushed Back

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An administrative law judge delayed approval of a divisive oil pipeline in northern Minnesota so the environmental impact statement can be revised.

The decision from Judge Ann O'Reilly last week is a response to a Public Utilities Commission's finding that the project's impact statement was "inadequate." The PUC on Dec. 7 gave the Department of Commerce 60 days to make revisions.

Calgary-based Enbridge Energy wants to replace its 1960s-era Line 3 crude oil pipeline across northern Minnesota. One of the required revisions in the impact statement is how a route alternative would be changed to avoid sensitive topography is southeast Minnesota.

Minnesota Public Radio reports that regulators had planned to decide the fate of the pipeline by April 2018 but that has now been pushed back until at least June 2018.

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