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Response to University of Minnesota lawsuit

Statement from Council Chair Peter Bell:

The University lawsuit is premature and without merit. We believe their concerns about the project’s impacts on U research facilities and our plans to mitigate those impacts were adequately addressed in the Final Environmental Impact Statement, as required by federal and state law.

Moreover, the University is expecting a level of detail today that normally would not be achieved in a project such as this until much later – when the project moves into the final design phase. We hope to receive federal approval to enter final design yet this fall and complete this work by the middle of next year, allowing us to secure federal funding and begin construction.

Over the past many months, the Council and our project partners have held numerous meetings with the University – before and since the FEIS was completed – to further develop mitigation plans that satisfy the University’s concerns while moving the project forward on time and within budget.  As recently as last week, all of our project partners – including the University – agreed that we have made substantial progress toward resolving many of the U’s issues.

Unfortunately, the University once again felt compelled to get the lawyers involved, which we don’t believe is particularly helpful. If the U’s lawsuit delays the project schedule one year, inflationary adjustments alone would add at least $30 million to the project’s cost.

The Council believes that the Central Corridor project, the University, and the public would be much better served by working collaboratively to resolve our differences, and keeping this important project moving forward on time and on budget.