The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is currently accepting public comments on the Magellan / ONEOK Pipestone pipeline project (PUC Docket No. IP-7109/PPL-23-109), a proposed reroute of an 8-inch diameter gasoline and refined petroleum products pipeline that has been shut off since 2022. The reroute skirts the Pipestone National Monument, a site of importance to many Indigenous nations.
The PUC originally issued the routing permit for this project in late 2024 but withdrew its decision for further information gathering following a significant outcry from a record number of impacted Tribal governments. Magellan, the company seeking to reopen the pipeline, was ordered to coordinate with many Tribal nations and the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council on a cultural survey that would minimize harm to Tribal resources. Magellan instead moved ahead with a cultural survey that didn’t include the Tribal engagement they had been ordered to do. Because the company did not collect the necessary information as ordered, the PUC does not have a sufficient record on which to grant a permit.
Minnesota’s five-member Public Utilities Commission will decide whether the pipeline gets a permit, and whether the Tribal cultural survey that Magellan performed is adequate. Public comments are accepted until September 11, 2026 at 4:30pm CT. Use our public comment tool below to let the commissioners know this pipeline should not be reapproved.
🚨 Tell the MN PUC: No gasoline pipelines by the Pipestone National Monument
More information on the Magellan pipeline at Pipestone
In 2022, the U.S. Department of Interior directed pipeline company Magellan (recently acquired by ONEOK) to decommission a segment of 8” pipeline transporting refined petroleum products (gasoline) directly underneath Pipestone National Monument in southwestern Minnesota to protect the Pipestone quarries. Magellan complied, taking the segment out of service in October 2022.
In April 2023, Magellan proposed a reroute of the pipeline that would skirt the Pipestone National Monument, in hopes that the company could return the pipeline to service. For the last three years, the permitting process for the reroute has been playing out at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
The PUC initially approved the reroute in late 2024, selecting a 13-mile corridor to the west of Pipestone, but after more than a dozen Tribal governments and Indigenous groups wrote comments opposing the permit approval, the PUC reversed its decision in January 2025 and directed Magellan to collaborate with over 15 Tribal entities to complete a more comprehensive survey of potential cultural sites in the area.
The PUC explicitly ordered Magellan to coordinate with the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council (MIAC), which convenes all 11 federally recognized Tribal governments in Minnesota, to select a contractor with appropriate cultural knowledge. However, just weeks later, Magellan stated that MIAC’s proposed timeline for collaboration “did not align” with the timeline Magellan had already decided upon. Magellan went ahead with a contractor it selected and conducted the archeological survey without collaboration from MIAC, in direct violation of the PUC’s order.
In addition to the tribal cultural concerns of building such infrastructure near/on land with such significant importance, petroleum pipelines pose many risks to Minnesota’s land and water. Previous pipelines in our state, such as Enbridge’s Line 3, have caused lasting damage to aquifers due to construction errors. Pipelines are long-term infrastructure projects that facilitate dependence on oil for decades to come at a time when both climate and national security interests make it clear we must transition to carbon-free energy.
CURE is one of many groups opposing this project, in coalition with our allies at Indigenous Environmental Network, Brave Heart Society, Mukwa Miikana, Indigenous Protector Movement, Three Waters Pipeline Resistance Team, and more.
Please note that any information you submit will become part of the public record for this project.
