Enbridge Line 1 Oil Pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor and the Center for Media and Democracy.

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Enbridge Line 1 Oil Pipeline is an oil and gas pipeline in the USA and Canada. It is part of the Enbridge Mainline system.

Location

The pipeline originates in Edmonton, Alberta, and terminates in Superior, Wisconsin.

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Project Details

• Operator: Enbridge
• Current capacity: 237,000 barrels per day
• Proposed capacity:
• Length: 1767 kilometers (1,098 miles)
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 1950

Background

The 1,098-mile long pipeline was constructed in 1950. It transports natural gas liquids, refined products, and light synthetics. The pipeline has a capacity of 237,000 barrels per day.

On February 4 of 2019, four climate activists in Blackberry Township, Minnesota closed safety valves on a crude oil pipeline belonging to the Canadian energy corporation Enbridge. This is an escalation of ongoing activism aimed at Enbridge, which is facing stiff resistance to their plan to build a new high capacity crude oil pipeline, Line 3, through Minnesota and across multiple Native American reservations. This marks the second time in just over two years that activists have shut down Enbridge pipelines, citing the urgency of climate change. The four activists broke into a fenced area containing emergency safety valves for Enbridge lines 1, 3 & 4. The activists, who are affiliated with the Catholic Worker movement, are Michele Naar Obed of Duluth, MN, Allyson Polman, Brenna Cussen Anglada, and Daniel Yildirim. The four were taken into custody by Itasca County Sheriffs at around 1:30pm. The three pipelines cross three Native American reservations and hundreds of miles of un-ceded treaty territory. In October of 2018 two activists were acquitted in Clearwater County court for a similar pipeline shut down. Those activists, Emily Johnston and Annette Klapstein, shut down Enbridge Lines 4 & 67 in a multi-state coordinated action in 2016 that closed down all the tar sands flowing from Canada into the United States. In their criminal trial, the activists set precedence in Minnesota court allowing climate activists to argue that their actions are justifiable due to the necessity of taking action on climate change.