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Cass County Board: State tax dispute leaves local governments paying the price. The issue stems from an ongoing dispute between the Minnesota Department of Revenue and Enbridge over pollution control tax credits tied to the company's pipeline system. By Kyndra Johnson | Cass County Correspondent Today at 3:00 PM News Reporting WALKER - Cass County wants to raise awareness about a state property tax issue that could leave local governments responsible for repaying previously collected tax revenue. At the Tuesday, Aug. 4, Cass County Board meeting, County Administrator Josh Stevenson said the issue stems from an ongoing dispute between the Minnesota Department of Revenue and Enbridge over pollution control tax credits tied to the company's pipeline system. While the case remains in litigation, Cass County has already been notified it will be required to repay approximately $298,862, representing a 10.4% tax settlement. An additional repayment of about $172,421 could follow if Enbridge prevails on another portion of the appeal. Keep Watching Stevenson said other taxing jurisdictions in Cass County, including townships, school districts and municipalities, could collectively be required to repay nearly $1.1 million in previously collected property taxes. He emphasized that counties have no authority over how utility property is valued or how tax appeals are resolved. "The Department of Revenue sets the values, we collect the taxes, and when those values change after the fact, local governments are left paying the money back," Stevenson said. Commissioner Neal Gaalswyk explained the current dispute differs from earlier pipeline valuation appeals. Rather than challenging the property's valuation, the case centers on whether Enbridge is entitled to additional pollution control tax credits for mitigation work completed during construction, he said. Enbridge claims it spent approximately $745 million on qualifying pollution control improvements, while the Department of Revenue recognizes about $16.5 million. The difference is now before the courts. Chief Finance Director Becky Toso said Cass County's undesignated fund balance totaled about $20 million at the end of 2025 and that the anticipated repayment has already been incorporated into the county's preliminary 2027 budget planning. While the county can absorb the current repayment, she said larger settlements would pose greater challenges. Gaalswyk said the situation exposes a flaw in the state's tax system because local governments are required to refund taxes after state decisions over which they have no control. "It's almost like the system is wrong," Gaalswyk said. "The Department of Revenue sets the values, has the ability to change those values later, and we're the ones left holding the bag." Stevenson added the problem is not unique to Enbridge and could affect any utility company whose property is centrally assessed by the state, including electric utilities and other infrastructure providers. He said officials from numerous counties discussed the issue during a recent Association of Minnesota Counties webinar, where concerns were raised that some communities with large pipeline tax bases could face repayment obligations exceeding several years' worth of local property tax levies. Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved publishing an opinion piece in local newspapers explaining the issue. The proposed opinion piece is to inform residents and state lawmakers about the unintended consequences of the current system and encourage discussion about possible legislative changes. Laura Christensen, city administrator for the city of East Gull Lake, requested $200,000 in Fund 73 money to help develop the first phase of a regional trailhead and park project along the Gull Lake Trail. The funding will be used for site access, trail construction, grading, tree planting and restoration work at the site of the city's former north wastewater treatment facility. Christensen noted the overall concept also includes additional recreational amenities, such as a sports court, but those features would be funded separately through a partnership with a local nonprofit and are not part of this request. Gaalswyk said he has followed the project through the planning process and believes it complements previous investments in the Gull Lake Trail. "I think this is an exciting plan going forward," Gaalswyk said. "It will be a good way to jump-start development and build on the infrastructure we've already invested in." Toso said Fund 73 has sufficient interest earnings available to support the request, with approximately $467,000 available after previously committed projects. Commissioners unanimously approved the $200,000 allocation for the project's first phase. In other business, the county board: Recognized Emily Regnier, senior office support specialist, for one year of service. Approved the Sourcewell contract in the amount of $208,758.47 for the retrofit of climate control equipment and associated software and switch to another vendor, Peterson Sheet Metal. Awarded the contract for grading, culverts and aggregate surfacing on County Road 161 between 68th Avenue NE and South Little Thunder Drive and on South Little Thunder Drive from County Road 161 to the Little Thunder Lake public water access to Midwest Contracting, LLC for $746,765.29. Approved the final payment for roadway chloride to Edwards Oil Inc. in the amount of $565,874.13. The next meetings are as follows: 2026 Cass SWCD project tour 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12, at the board room in the courthouse annex in Walker; and commissioner's board meeting at 6 p.m. Aug. 18 at Pike Bay Township, 15514 Highway 371 NW, Cass Lake.

Enbridge signs option to acquire 'last-mile' Gulf Coast LNG supply project. Energy. TTC Connector Pipeline will link its Tres Palacios gas storage with Freeport LNG August 06, 2026 The importance of the TTC Connector Pipeline? As they say in the real estate industry - location, location, location. Enbridge announced on July 31, during its 2026 Q2 earnings release, that Enbridge Inc. has signed an exclusive option to acquire the TTC Connector, strategically located within the U.S. Gulf Coast LNG supply chain. This option to acquire the TTC Connector potentially expands its existing Gulf Coast natural gas footprint. It's also a key LNG lynchpin, connecting Enbridge's Tres Palacios Gas Storage facility to the Coastal Bend Header pipeline for delivery to the Freeport LNG export facility. The 25-mile, 300-million-cubic-feet-per-day (MMcf/d) TTC Connector is now under construction, and is expected to enter service by the end of 2026. Integration of gas storage, transmission and LNG exports. The Freeport LNG terminal, on Quintana Island in Brazoria County, TX, is one of the largest operational LNG export facilities in America, and indeed the world, processing and moving 2.23 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), or 17 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). The TTC Connector represents a "last-mile" LNG supply project linking a major Gulf Coast storage asset to an LNG export terminal, says Elizabeth Perez, Director of Intrastate Business Development with Enbridge's Gas Transmission business. "It's a prime example of the growing integration between storage, transmission and LNG export facilities as the world's demand for American LNG exports continues to grow," says Ms. Perez. Enbridge building out more Gulf Coast gas storage. A year ago, Enbridge was already an important gas storage player with 10% of available storage capacity on the Gulf Coast. Together, those expansions will bring capacity at its four Gulf Coast facilities up to about 150 Bcf by 2033. "We've now got almost 50 Bcf of expansion (projects) across our own wholly owned Gulf Coast storage facilities," said Enbridge's Matthew Akman, Executive Vice President and President of its Gas Transmission business, said during its Q2 earnings call on July 31. "So lots of opportunity there."

Enbridge touts booming demand for gas transmission, reports $1.4-billion Q2 profit. Aug 1, 2026 Enbridge Alberta Clipper project, 2008, in southeast Saskatchewan. Photo by Brian zinchuk By Sammy Hudes Enbridge Inc. expects its gas transmission business to play a growing role amid booming demand across North America, even as some of its customers express unease over ongoing geopolitical uncertainty. Speaking to analysts Friday as the company reported its second-quarter earnings, executives touted a number of projects underway to expand its capacity to deliver natural gas to customers in the months ahead. "We're hearing from customers in all regions of our footprint, including the U.S. Northeast, Midwest and Southeast. All are looking for additional capacity to support unprecedented power and LNG demand," said president and CEO Greg Ebel. Enbridge received "significantly more interest" than initially expected for its proposed expansion of the Algonquin Gas Transmission system, dubbed Project Beacon, he said. The company recently completed an open season - a process used to formally gauge commercial interest - in the U.S. Northeast for the proposed expansion. "This is really a great example of how we're seeing... gas demand across all of our footprint in gas transmission right now for all kinds of requirements," said Matthew Akman, who leads Enbridge's gas transmission business. "Some of that is obviously power and data centres and some of it is just catch up in terms of being behind in building infrastructure. Beacon in New England is probably the best example of that, where everyone knows we've needed more gas pipeline capacity into there for quite a while." Akman called it a "promising" project that could save more than $1 billion per year for utility customers in New England. "There's a real recognition we found in the response to the open season of the need for that capacity, for affordability and reliability to reduce emissions from oil burning power as well, and energy costs generally," he said. Enbridge also signed an exclusive option to acquire the TTC Connector Pipeline, which will connect Enbridge's Tres Palacios Gas Storage facility to Freeport LNG and is expected to enter service by the end of the year. Meanwhile, its Blackcomb pipeline has begun commissioning and the company sanctioned the Bay Runner Twin pipeline to provide Permian natural gas supply to the Rio Grande LNG facility. Earlier this month, Enbridge announced it had broken ground on a $4-billion natural gas pipeline expansion in British Columbia. The federal government approved the Sunrise Expansion Program in April. The project aims to add another 300 million cubic feet per day of transportation capacity to the province's natural gas transmission system. "We do expect to punch above our weight in gas transmission," said Akman. "Some of that could be chunky, of course, because some of the projects... it'll depend on the customer timing, but very active conversations going on and we're optimistic that we're going to be contributing more than our fair share over the next six to 12 months in gas transmission." Enbridge reported a second-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of $1.4 billion, down from $2.18 billion a year earlier. The company said the profit amounted to 64 cents per share for the quarter ended June 30, down from $1 per share in the same quarter last year. On an adjusted basis, Enbridge earned 63 cents per share in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of 65 cents per share in the second quarter of 2025. The company said its secured capital backlog stood at $41 billion. It has sanctioned $9 billion of new projects year-to-date and is on track to meet its targeted $10 billion to $20 billion of new project announcements over the 2026 to 2027 time frame. Ebel said the company is advancing projects amid a backdrop of volatility in energy markets, supply chain disruptions and uncertainty from ongoing geopolitical developments around the world. "There's a fair bit of a challenging backdrop for producers, refiners, exporters, and pipelines to fully commit to large-scale projects, but let's make no mistake, that is coming because the needs are there," he said. "Until we get through that volatility piece, people are going to be focused on, 'Give me customized solutions that I can utilize and I'll deal with the bigger solutions as we go forward.'" This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2026. Companies in this story: (TSX:ENB)