Election Issue
I believe that the permit issuance and approval is being delayed by the Minnesota DNR and the courts so that it can be used as a 2018 mid-term (primary) election issue. They have really done no review work, or court review procedures/ hearings that could not have been done by a team of competent professionals in a few weeks or in some cases, days.. I'm a CPA/auditor working in Germany, France, Spain and the UK. I work with immeasurably more complicated EU and foreign county rules and foreign languages. I am sure these delays are intentional. Nothing could ever convince me otherwise.