GOP's Johnson accuses Dayton of slighting outstate Minnesota

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Johnson on Monday decried state regulators' recent decision to delay the $2.6 billion Sandpiper oil pipeline expansion, calling it the "latest slight of Greater Minnesota" by DFL Gov. Mark Dayton.

Johnson criticized the regulators' move and the Dayton administration as he visited a grain elevator in Eldred, about 55 miles north of Moorhead. Farmers served by the elevator are being affected by a rail car shortage due to increased train shipments of crude oil from North Dakota's Bakken region, Johnson said.

"This is just the latest in a long line of examples of how Greater Minnesota is viewed as an afterthought by Mark Dayton," Johnson said in a prepared statement.

Last month, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission dealt the Canadian firm Enbridge Energy a setback by ordering further study of its proposed pipeline through northern Minnesota. That line would carry North Dakota oil to a terminal in Superior, Wis.

The requirement will delay the project by at least a year, Enbridge Energy disclosed in a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As proposed, the pipeline would cut through the headwaters of the Mississippi River and a vast area of northern rivers, lakes and wetlands.

The Public Utilities Commission also ordered further study of the environmental benefits and negatives of six pipeline routes proposed by critics of Enbridge's project.

Johnson, a Detroit Lakes native and Hennepin County commissioner who lives in the west metro suburb of Plymouth, has accused Dayton of leading state government in what he calls a "metro-centric" direction.

The governor has previously said the Sandpiper pipeline is crucial to handle the growing production of North Dakota crude oil, but he also has said he believes environmental reviews ordered by the Public Utilities Commission should be completed first.

"I have said previously that I believe the Sandpiper pipeline is needed to transport the ever-increasing amounts of Bakken oil across Minnesota," Dayton said in a statement. "I also know that years ago, the Minnesota Legislature made the Public Utilities Commission responsible for approving and routing pipelines in order to remove politics and politicians from those complex decisions. The wisdom of that action is made clear to me once again today."

The DFL quickly hit back at the Johnson campaign, arguing that the GOP challenger's record demonstrates he is trying to redefine himself as an advocate for rural Minnesota before the November election.

Ken Martin, DFL Party chairman, pointed to Johnson's 2003 vote in the Legislature reducing local government aid funding by more than $300 million. That aid, which comes from state coffers, is distributed to counties and cities throughout Minnesota, which depend on the state funding to fund services.

Democrats say the reduction in local government aid caused an increase in property tax rates and that local Chambers of Commerce drafted resolutions opposing further cuts.

The Johnson campaign said "it's ironic and arrogant for Mark Dayton, [lieutenant governor candidate] Tina Smith and Ken Martin — all of whom live in the Twin Cities — to think that they know what's better for Greater Minnesota than people who are actually from and live in Greater Minnesota."