| Line 3 oil spill | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | Grand Rapids, Minnesota and Prairie River, Itasca County |
| Coordinates | 47°13′08″N 93°28′43″W / 47.21889°N 93.47861°W |
| Date | March 3, 1991 |
| Cause | |
| Cause | Ruptured pipeline |
| Operator | Lakehead Pipeline Company (now Enbridge) |
| Spill characteristics | |
| Volume | 1,700,000 US gal (6,400 m3) |
The Line 3 oil spill was a 1.7 million gallon crude oil spill in Minnesota on March 3, 1991. The Line 3 pipeline, then owned by the Lakehead Pipeline Company (now Enbridge), ruptured on a wetland near Grand Rapids, Minnesota, spilling oil into the Prairie River, a tributary of the Mississippi River. It was the largest inland oil spill in the history of the United States.
Pipeline company operators based in Edmonton waited over an hour to shut down the line after noticing a drop in pressure. Another two hours passed before the pipeline's valves were shut off. As the river was still iced over at the time of the incident, contamination of downstream municipal water facilities was avoided. The Line 3 pipeline was also the origin of a 1.3 million gallon oil spill in Argyle in 1973, the second worst in Minnesota history.