Minnesota Pipe Line

{{Short description|Crude oil pipeline from Clearbrook, Minnesota southward to the Twin Cities}}

{{Infobox pipeline

| name = Minnesota Pipe Line

| type = Crude oil

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| country = United States

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| start = Clearbrook, Minnesota

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| finish = Twin Cities

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| owner = Minnesota Pipe Line Company, LLC

| partners =

| operator = Koch Pipeline Company

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| construction = 2007

| est = 2008

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| discharge_bbl_d = 0.165

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The Minnesota Pipe Line (or MPL) is a crude oil pipeline that runs from Clearbrook, Minnesota southward to the Twin Cities. Construction began in 2007 after the State of Minnesota approved the building permit,State of Minnesota, Department of Administration. [http://server.admin.state.mn.us/project.html?Id=18339 Project: Minncan Project--Minnesota Pipe Line Company] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225014031/http://server.admin.state.mn.us/project.html?Id=18339 |date=2014-02-25 }} and ended in 2008; it is owned by Minnesota Pipe Line Company, LLC (MPL) and is operated by Koch Pipeline Company, a wholly owned, indirect subsidiary of Koch Industries.{{cite web|last=Minnesota Pipe Line Company|title=About|url=http://minnesotapipeline.com/|accessdate=22 August 2013}}

The original proposed route ran through an organic farm; the owners of the farm negotiated with MPL, as a result of which MPL agreed to route the pipeline around the farm and more generally "to implement what they believe was the first organic agriculture mitigation plan in the country applicable to pipeline infrastructure. This agreement was made part of the record of the MinnCan pipeline routing proceeding."Macabee, Paula Goodman. [http://atinadiffley.com/wp-content/uploads/Maccabee-Macro-FINAL2-1.pdf Appendix to Agricultural Impact Mitigation Plan For Organic Agricultural Land.” Pipelines, Power Lines, and Organic Farms] Drake Journal of Agricultural Law 14: 19-42. 2009.{{rp|32-22}}

The pipeline is largely fed by the Enbridge Pipeline System that carries crude from Alberta, Canada.{{rp|3}} It splits into two parts at a junction in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. One branch serves the Pine Bend Refinery owned by Flint Hills Resources (another Koch subsidiary) in Rosemount. The other portion of the line runs to Northern Tier Energy's St. Paul Park Refinery in St. Paul Park, Minnesota. There is a connection at the Pine Bend Refinery to the Wood River Pipeline, which currently carries crude oil from the St. Louis, Missouri area to Minnesota.{{cite web|last=Eleff|first=Bob|title=Minnesota’s Petroleum Infrastructure: Pipelines, Refineries, Terminals|url=http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/petinfra.pdf|publisher=Research Department, Minnesota House of Representatives|accessdate=22 August 2013|date=June 2013}}

In 2008 Minnesota Pipe Line completed a parallel {{Convert|24|in|mm|sing=on}} line to expand the pipeline capacity from Clearbrook to the Twin Cities by {{convert|165000|oilbbl/d}} with ultimate potential expansion to {{convert|350000|oilbbl/d|m3/d}}.{{rp|3–4}}