Last week, we told you a bit about our visit to Minnesota and our presentation to the marvelous Friends of the Headwaters— a group of people we admire tremendously. You might not be surprised to learn that, as the Friends work hard to explain to their fellow Minnesotans the threats Enbridge’s proposed Sandpiper project poses to their beautiful headwaters, Enbridge has fired up its public relations machinery. Their efforts have been as slick and misleading as we’ve come to expect.

Coincidentally (or not?), the morning after our talk to the Friends, a letter to the editor from an Enbridge executive appeared in the local Park Rapids, Minnesota paper. The main point of the letter: the warm and fuzzy relationships Enbridge forges with landowners along its pipelines. No, seriously. That’s really what the letter is about. Of course, readers of this blog know better. So for that reason, we wrote our own letter in response and sent it off to the paper– mainly to provide a counterpoint to Enbridge’s rosy account and to correct one rather massive whopper.

Below, we’ve reprinted the exchange. Unfortunately, our letter is not on the web yet, which seems a little odd (but to the right is a copy of it as it appeared).

Enbridge Letter:

At Enbridge, we deliver energy – safely and reliably – to millions of homes and businesses every day. Our pipelines transport crude oil, natural gas, propane and other products, but that’s not all that our pipelines do.

Along the pipe, Enbridge employs over 10,000 workers, contributes millions of dollars annually to the communities where we operate and pays tens of millions in local, state and federal taxes. You probably expect these things from any responsible company.

What you might not expect is that Enbridge has built relationships with thousands of landowners during our 65-year history. From ranchers and farmers to suburban homeowners and urban dwellers; from tribal lands to those owned by towns and villages – our landowner relationships take all shapes and sizes.

Our pipeline projects begin with a landowner’s decision to do business with us – not the other way around. Oftentimes, it’s over a cup of coffee at a kitchen table where a new project or maintenance work is discussed, leading to more conversations.

Listening to and acting upon landowners concerns is important. Why? Because we value these long-term relationships. We learn from each other and, in the process, build trust that can last generations. Are we perfect? No, but we try hard to meet the expectations of our landowners.

Yes, the Sandpiper Pipeline Project will safely and reliably transport crude oil that will, in turn, produce fuel for our homes, our vehicles and our economy. Likewise, Sandpiper will also create hundreds of jobs, support more local charities and pay millions in new tax revenues to Minnesota and its communities.

Enbridge is committed to creating and furthering cooperative, productive and trustworthy relationships with our landowners – and has for more than 65 years.

John McKay
Senior Manager, Land Services
Enbridge

Our reply:

The timing of the letter in your paper by John McKay, Senior Manager of Land Services for Enbridge, couldn’t be better. Just the night before, I gave a presentation to the Friends of the Headwaters about my own experience over the past three years dealing with Enbridge land agents. Mr. McKay’s remarks perfectly illustrate one of the central points of my talk:  you probably shouldn’t believe anything Enbridge land agents say.

For example, Mr. McKay states that “Our pipeline projects begin with a landowner’s decision to do business with us—not the other way around.” That statement is clearly, demonstrably, false. For virtually all of Enbridge’s transmission pipeline projects, a state or federal agency grants the company the power of eminent domain. That power means that landowners do not get to decide whether a pipeline crosses their property; they have no choice in the matter. If the Sandpiper project is approved, landowners won’t make a “decision” to do business with Enbridge; they will be forced to do so.

Mr. McKay also tries to convince readers that land agents want to create “long-term relationships” with landowners. Our first land agent told us much the same thing. So did our second one. And our third. Each of them assured us they would be with us from the beginning of the project to the end, when our property was restored. The truth, however, is that land agents come and land agents go. Generally, they are contractors, not Enbridge employees. That means that even land agents’ relationships with Enbridge are not “long-term.” A common experience among landowners along Enbridge’s pipelines in Michigan is a  revolving door of land agents. Some landowners have had to deal with more than half a dozen in just two years.

As one who lives along the Enbridge Line 6B pipeline in Michigan, I have spoken with dozens of my fellow landowners. By far, the most common source of dissatisfaction among us is land agents who are unresponsive, unprofessional, untruthful, untrustworthy, prone to misinformation, and sometimes even bullying. If there is anything even worse than Enbridge’s safety protocols and record, it is its land agent system.

I don’t mean to say that Enbridge land agents themselves are bad people. I have generally liked my land agents personally. But I don’t trust them. They are part of a system, created and operated by Enbridge, that does not encourage them to deal openly and honestly with landowners. The irony of Mr. McKay’s letter is that the behavior of Enbridge’s land agents– behavior that angers, frustrates, and alienates landowners–is either permitted or encouraged by the actual Enbridge employees who train and supervise these agents: people like Mr. McKay himself.

If you’d like to read more about the real experiences of landowners along an Enbridge pipeline rather than the fictions presented by Mr. McKay, I invite you to visit the Line 6B Citizens’ Blog.

Jeffrey Insko
Groveland Township, Michigan