Letter: Line 3 is a safe fix

What is going on with this state?

At one time we were considered a leader in technology, medicine and education. Now it appears that our leaders cannot make the tough decisions needed to keep this state a great place to live and work.

It’s been more than a year since I made the journey to St. Paul to attend the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission hearing to support Enbridge’s Line 3 Replacement Project. The MPUC approved both the certificate of need and the route permit last summer, and yet it appears we are no closer to construction than we were a year ago. Everything I hear is delay, delay, delay.

This project should be a no-brainer. It is a project that is replacing old infrastructure with new state-of-the-art technology. This is not a new pipeline route. The oil that is transported in this pipeline is oil that we as Minnesotans use on a daily basis. It is not being shipped overseas. It is being shipped to refineries in St. Paul and others throughout the Midwest. We use this product and, believe it or not, need this product to fuel our vehicles, heat our homes and produce safety equipment that keeps us alive and well.

Hemp will not produce inherently flame-retardant materials. Solar and wind will not build roads that we need to drive electric cars or wheels for bikes.

It’s time for our leaders to get their heads out of their you-know-whats and stop all unnecessary delays. The regulatory process has gone on long enough. It’s time to make a decision that is right for our state, right for our communities and right for our environment. Every delay in replacing Line 3 increases the risk to our environment, communities and treaty territory.

Michael J. Singpiel, Cloquet