Enbridge promised Minnesota a lot of jobs with their new tar sands pipeline project… but they sure didn’t deliver as promised on Line 3. We’re still waiting to see the totals on how things panned out for Minnesota jobs on their now-built Line 93. I’m guessing it may be even worse than the first figures that came out… with Minnesotans getting less than a third of the hours for the build to date in Q4-2020.
Enbridge promised the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) that at least 50 percent of the Line 3 construction jobs would go to Minnesotans. (The PUC didn’t require Enbridge to report on the number of Minnesotans employed, or include a sanction if Enbridge failed to meet its promises.)
Enbridge initially fell short of its jobs promise. Then it stopped reporting data.
Enbridge’s first jobs report (fourth quarter of 2020) voluntarily provided information on Minnesota-specific employment. It showed Minnesotans had only 33 percent of the jobs and 28 percent of the total hours, well below the 50 percent threshold.
AP buys Enbridge’s Line 3 jobs claim without needed skepticism Healing Minnesota Stories 5/29/21
What we were told by Enbridge is that there would be TWO SEASONS of work. The Trades backed Enbridge on that idea. What we saw in actuality was Enbridge rushing frantically to build their entire 337-mile tar sands pipeline project across Minnesota ~ in about 10 months.
I remember seeing guys hustle to get things done. I was wondering if they knew how hard Enbridge was screwing them all – getting them to run so the company could keep promises that incent CEO bonuses and don’t help those local Minnesota businesses hoping for two years of good income from local workers.
Well, now there is another Enbridge project in Clearwater County, did you hear?!? It’s a Cleanup Project. One of many, in fact, and it’s quite the pickle… especially with seven inches of snow predicted at the end of this week.
Since January 2021 – also 10 months ago – Enbridge has had little luck in making much progress at all on the Aquifer Breach they created at their Clearbrook Terminal when they WILLFULLY VIOLATED their Construction Permit.
No worries, the MN DNR didn’t pull their permit or stop work in any meaningful way… Nope. Not even when they realized this summer what had happened! I’m left wondering what the purpose of a Construction Permit is, if not to Stop Folks who VIOLATE them…
A fine of $20K surely means nothing to Enbridge.
Though they’re learning how expensive NOT PAYING ATTENTION to the Environment can be. And how tricky Mother Nature is when you’re trying to repair her complex systems.
What’s happening at present?
This video explains it from my perspective.
I know this looks like more jobs… But I’m guessing these highly specialized jobs also may not be paychecks for Minnesotans. Time will tell.
What we do know is that Mother Earth is fragile and this was why Enbridge was only supposed to dig to a depth of 8-10 feet. They instead buried their pipeline 18 feet deep and drove pilings into the ground to a depth of 28 feet. And now, they can’t stop the water from flowing.
I don’t know how long Minnesota Agencies are giving them to fix this thing.
I know Mother Earth looks to be sending snow… any day now.
Retired at 45 