http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/enbridge-says-asterisk-not-enough-to-note-taboo-on-oil/article_1879e34e-d9a2-5f2f-aebb-d15010c9e65f.html
[images and links in on-line article]
Enbridge cites state law in asking Dane County to remove insurance
reference in permit
STEVEN VERBURG Oct 20, 2015
The Canadian oil pipeline giant Enbridge Energy is insisting that Dane
County erase from a permit all traces of spill insurance requirements
that were invalidated in July by a state budget provision.
An Enbridge spokeswoman announced Tuesday that the company was appealing
to the county board to remove references to spill insurance even though
the county zoning board added a note to the permit acknowledging the
effect of the budget bill.
The county Zoning and Land Regulation Committee in April approved a
permit Enbridge needs to build new pumps in the town of Medina to
increase the flow of tar sands crude through a major pipeline.
Concerned by Enbridge’s disastrous 2010 spill of tar sands in Michigan’s
Kalamazoo River, the committee required spill cleanup insurance.
But an item slipped anonymously into the state budget and signed by Gov.
Scott Walker in July forbade such insurance requirements, and a county
administrator removed them from the permit.
But on Sept. 29, the committee voted unanimously to restore the
requirements with a note making clear the state action.
Enbridge spokeswoman Jennifer Smith said that’s unacceptable.
“From a legal perspective, we believe the ZLR Board exceeded both its
authority and jurisdiction through its unprecedented actions,” Smith
said in an email. “By leaving the insurance requirements in place, even
with the asterisk that they are unenforceable, the CUP (conditional use
permit) creates confusion, regulatory uncertainty and unpredictability.”
Mary Kolar, who made the motion to restore the conditions with a note,
said the spill insurance conditions came after many weeks of public
testimony and a report from an expert on pollution insurance.
“It was important to me to include in the Dane County record the
conditions that resulted from months of gathering information and expert
opinion,” Kolar said. “Our (ZLR) authority to include the additional
insurance conditions was abrogated by the Republican-led state
Legislature. Yet, the approved CUP still exists.”
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