Reader’s opinion: Blame the state for Enbridge’s tax mess

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It continues to shock me to see the efforts made by opponents of the pipeline in their attempts to stop construction on the Line 3 replacement project. They are blocking roads and locking themselves in equipment to delay work for hours or even hours. days. They have attempted mass arrest rallies, occupied camps and instituted legal proceedings. And, of course, half-truths and disinformation campaigns are still part of their ploy to shut down Line 3.

Lately, there has been a lot of misleading information affecting the counties along the pipeline route and the issue of Enbridge ownership. The Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of Enbridge, agreeing that the Minnesota Department of Revenue had overstated its property tax. Because the state got it wrong, Enbridge overpaid. The counties did as the state told them, but now they are trying to figure out what will happen next.

After reading about the frustration and confusion surrounding the tax issue (Enbridge’s settlement could be crippling for Carlton County taxpayers on May 12), it’s important to remember who created the mess in the first place. . Short answer: not our county governments and not Enbridge. It’s the smart people of St. Paul who are supposed to work for us. These are the same people who made it nearly impossible to obtain license plate tabs for our cars. For years, they messed up something as simple as valuing things like pipelines and utility poles.

This is not the first time, and it will not be the last, where we see massive failures on the part of the state government, with counties and cities being asked to foot the bill for mistakes.

I agree with the outrage of those who criticize the pipeline. But their anger is misdirected. We should be angry, but we should be angry with the state of Minnesota. They’re the ones who got our counties and Enbridge into this mess to begin with.

David McCollum

Bemidji, Minnesota

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