Enbridge Energy LP Southern Access Expansion Program Superior to Delavan Project Environmental Assessment Joint Lead Agencies: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Office of Energy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Branch, St. Paul District Cooperating Agency: National Park Service, St. Croix National Scenic Riverway Unit October 31, 2006 CONTENTS List of Preparers 3 Purpose of this Document 4 Summary 5 Project Description 7 Purpose and Need 7 Description of Proposed Project 8 Alternatives 18 Existing Environment and Environmental Impacts 21 Certification Statement and Appeal Rights Figures: Figure 1 – Proposed Stage 1 Route Figure 2 –Typical Construction Layout and Workspace Configuration (Aerial) Figure 3 – Early Construction Areas Figure 4 – Typical Construction Layout (Profile) 2 List of Preparers WDNR: Jeff Schimpff/Office of Energy (OE) – Project Manager Thomas Boos/OE – Waterway and Wetland Impacts Ben Callan/OE - Waterway and Wetland Impacts Shari Koslowsky/OE - Endangered Resources Linda Talbot/OE – Water Resources David Siebert/OE – OE Director Jeff Barkley/FR – County Forest Programs Brad Johnson/WT – Stormwater and Erosion Control Mark Dudzik//LF – Archeologist USACE: Bill Sande - Regulatory Project Manager, Hayward Field Office NPS: Jill Medland - Resource Management Specialist, St. Croix National Scenic Riverway 3 PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT This Environmental Assessment (EA) has been prepared to satisfy the Wisconsin Environmental Policy Act (WEPA; Section 1.11, Wisconsin Statutes and NR 150) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA; 40 CFR parts 1500 to 1508 and 33 CFR part 325). The EA will be used to determine the need for an Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) or to make a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI). The rationale for preparation of a joint state/federal EA is provided as follows. The proposed project will require a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. § 1344) and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act (33 U.S.C § 403) and permits from the WDNR under Chapter 30, Wisconsin Statutes (ss. 30.12, 30.123, 30.19, 30.20, 182.017, as well as NR 320.08(3) and NR 345.04(3), Wisconsin Administrative Code). The proposed project will also require wetland water quality certification from the WDNR under NR 299.04 and NR 103.08, Wisconsin Administrative Code, and a WDNR endangered resources review and potential incidental take authorization under s. 29.604, Wisconsin Statutes. In addition, the proposed project would cross the Namekagon River, a federal wild & scenic riverway, and will require an analysis by the NPS under Section 7(a) of the Wild & Scenic Rivers Act. The USACE, the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway unit of the National Park Service (NPS), and the WDNR have a common interest in preparing an environmental analysis document that satisfies both state and federal requirements, and have agreed to the preparation of a state/federal EA for the proposed project. The NPS has agreed to serve as a cooperating agency in the preparation of this EA. Each agency shall incorporate this EA into their respective decision documents for the proposed project. 4 SUMMARY Enbridge Energy, LP, proposes to construct approximately 322.5 miles of 42-inch- diameter underground crude oil pipeline and 20-inch-diameter underground liquid diluent return pipeline, from Enbridge’s Superior tank farm in Douglas County, Wisconsin to Enbridge’s Delavan pump station near Whitewater, in Rock County, Wisconsin. Two new pipeline pumping stations would be constructed for the 42-inch crude pipeline. The first would be at Enbridge’s existing Superior terminal facility in Douglas County and the second would be at Enbridge’s Delavan pump station in Rock County. To construct these pipelines, Enbridge must receive permits and approvals from various government agencies, including the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The proposed pipeline covered under these permit applications would be entirely within the State of Wisconsin, along a route previously developed and currently used for two crude oil pipelines. The permanently cleared Enbridge (formerly “Lakehead”) pipeline corridor easement will remain at 80 feet in width. Enbridge proposes construction activities within an additional cleared temporary workspace 100 feet in width, with an occasional need for an additional 40-foot width of extra temporary workspace, where existing constraints require the extra space. The cleared temporary workspace will be revegetated according to agreements reached between Enbridge and property owners. The proposed project would require 242 crossings of perennial and intermittent streams. The pipeline will cross the Namekagon River, a national wild and scenic river, which is also an Outstanding Resource Water (ORW), and Section 10 Waterway as defined by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; six other ORWs (St. Croix River, Tototagic River, Maple Creek, Badger Creek, Tributary #3 to Swan Creek, and Swan Creek); nine Exceptional Resource Waters (ERWs) (Alder Creek, Big Weirgor Creek, Jump River, Lynn Creek, Sevenmile Creek, Main Creek, Carter Creek, Little Roche a Cri Creek, Fordham Creek, and Allen Creek - three of which will be crossed more than once); and seven other section 10 navigable waterways (Nemadji , Chippewa , Thornapple , Black , Wisconsin , Fox (crossed twice), and the Rock rivers). Installing the pipeline will require approximately 242 temporary bridges over waterways. Enbridge may request a permit to ford a small number of waterbodies due to difficulty in accessing and bridging certain streams. 5 The proposed pipeline will also feature 757 wetland crossings. However, the pipeline would cross many individual wetland complexes multiple times, so the number of wetland complexes affected would be fewer than the number of crossings. The pipeline would cross wetlands over a total distance of about 68.6 miles. Over this distance, up to 1,265 acres of wetland (including 262 acres of forested wetlands) would be affected to some degree by construction activities across both the permanent easement and the temporary workspace. Impacts to wetlands and streams would be minimized and mitigated through various measures proposed by the company and additional measures specified in WDNR and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits. The pipeline crosses approximately 115 miles of forest land and would result in the clearing of 1930.5 acres of non-wetland forestlands. Forestland impacts would last much longer, varying from a few decades for younger forest patches, to more than 100 years for areas with mature trees. The participation of some landowners in forest tax law programs could potentially be affected. Some incidental take of rare species may occur, but this is not expected to have any appreciable negative impact on the long-term survival of existing populations of these species. 6 1.0 PROJECT DESCRIPTION 1.1 PURPOSE AND NEED Use of petroleum products in the United States continues to increase while U.S. domestic crude oil production continues to decrease. To cover the supply gap posed by this situation, Enbridge Energy, LP, has agreed to supply additional crude petroleum to its market customers in the United States. To furnish this additional supply, Enbridge has devised an expansion program, termed the “Southern Access Expansion Program.” This program will create a petroleum transportation pipeline to bring substantial additional crude petroleum from the “tar sands” region of northeastern Alberta (approximately 400,000 barrels per day). This crude oil will be refined in the United States into gasoline, jet fuel, diesel oil, and other distillation products. The “Southern Access Expansion Program” is envisioned as two stages. Stage 1 will be two new pipelines from Superior, Wisconsin, to the company’s “Delavan Pump Station”, located in Rock County near Whitewater, following its existing right-of-way (ROW) that currently has 2 pipelines in the ground. A potential future Stage 2 project would entail the construction, along a new ROW, of a separate crude oil pipeline from the Delavan (Rock County) pump station to an Enbridge terminal facility in northeastern Illinois. The second stage would be built at a later time, pending confirmation of anticipated market conditions. This Environmental Assessment (EA) is limited to description and environmental analysis of only Stage 1 of this expansion program. This pipeline route ends at the Enbridge Delavan pump station and does not extend into Walworth County. Enbridge Energy owns and operates a liquid petroleum pipeline system comprised of about 2,700 miles of various diameter pipelines in the United States. The system transports crude petroleum from Western Canada to refineries in the Midwest, eastern Canada and New York. Enbridge currently delivers to refineries in the Midwest a volume of petroleum that is about 1/10 th of all U.S. petroleum imports. Enbridge constructed one pipeline in the ROW from Superior to the state line near Walworth, Wisconsin in 1964 and a second pipe in 1998. The 1998 project was known as the Lakehead Pipeline SEP2 project (see http://library.enbridge.com/users/folder.asp?FolderID=1667 for a map of all existing Enbridge pipeline routes). Enbridge proposes to increase the capacity of its existing pipeline system to meet the projected demand for crude oil in the Midwest, by constructing additional pipeline and associated facilities. The crude oil from Alberta