Enbridge pipeline project continues to include Native American workers, spending

Enbridge paid Native American contractors or Indigenous workers more than $29 million as its Line 3 pipeline project progressed during the second quarter.

While the number of Native American workers on its Line 3 pipeline project increased during the second quarter, the company's spending on tribal businesses decreased, according to a filing Monday with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.

During the regulatory process before Line 3's approval in 2020, Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge said it would commit to spending $100 million on tribal businesses and workers during the construction of the controversial pipeline across northern Minnesota.

Enbridge reported that from 2017 through 2021's second quarter it has spent $234.1 million on tribal businesses in Minnesota, not including wages, the PUC filing said. As of March 31, it has spent $22.3 million directly on wages to Indigenous workers.

During the three months ending June 30, the company and its contractors employed 466 workers who identified as Native American, including 308 who reside in Minnesota, the latest PUC filing said.

That translates to 7.6 % of the workforce building the pipeline, a replacement for an aging and corroding Line 3 and one of the largest construction projects in the state in recent years. The percentage is a bit higher than the first quarter, but lower than 2020's fourth quarter when construction started, PUC filings show.

Enbridge said Wednesday that during the second quarter, pipeline construction was not at its peak because of seasonal road and environmental restrictions.

In the second quarter, Enbridge and its contractors spent $29.4 million on tribal businesses, a 42% drop from $50.3 million in the first quarter. The decline in money spent on Minnesota-based tribal businesses was 14%.

While several Native American-owned contractors have worked on the $3 billion-plus pipeline, which is now over 70% completed, the project has been criticized by several Ojibwe tribes, as well as environmental groups, as a threat to Minnesota waters and as an enabler of climate change. Indigenous-led protests along the pipeline route have been constant in recent months.