FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 12, 2021
Press Contact: Cassidy DiPaola, cassidy@stgresults.com, 401-441-7196
LETTER TO THE WHITE HOUSE:
Major Environmental Organizations, Indigenous Leaders, Environmental and Allied Activists Call on President Biden to Use His Authority To Halt Flow of Oil in Line 3 Pipeline
Major National and Minnesota Groups to Biden Administration: “Do not let this Trump Pipeline become a Biden Pipeline.”
(Washington, DC) -- Following the start of oil flow through the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline, a group of major environmental organizations, Indigenous leaders and allied activists delivered a letter to the Biden administration demanding a halt to the operation of the pipeline until a full environmental review is conducted.
The Line 3 pipeline will carry 760,000 barrels of tar sands oil -- one of the dirtiest fossil fuels on the planet -- per day through untouched wetlands and the treaty territory of Anishinaabe people, and is equivalent to 50 new coal-fired power plants. In the letter, signers expressed their outrage at President Biden’s failure to lead on climate, and emphasized the devastating impacts Line 3 will have on our air, land and water.
“Failure to act in this critical moment sends a clear signal— the Biden Administration is willing to stand by while a Canadian oil company pursues a reckless and dangerous agenda that tramples Tribal rights, risks American drinking water, and makes it virtually impossible to meet the emissions reduction demands of our current Paris Agreement greenhouse gas reduction targets,” the letter reads.
The release of this letter also comes during the first day of the week-long “People vs. Fossil Fuels: Biden’s Test” mobilization organized by Build Back Fossil Free, a coalition of hundreds of Indigenous, Black, environmental, climate justice, youth, and social justice organizations, where groups will call on President Biden to declare a climate emergency and stop all new fossil fuel projects. Participants in the action will include leading members of the fossil fuel resistance, representing different fights that are taking place across the country, from the struggle against the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota to the campaign against oil and gas export facilities in the Gulf Coast. This letter comes as more than 100 Indigenous leaders and supporters who have been resisting the construction of the expanded Line 3 tar sands pipeline will deliver one million petitions asking the Biden Administration to stop the project pending a full environmental review.
In the letter, singers pointed towards President Biden and his administration’s previous remarks on the need for bold climate action, and demanded they stay true to their commitments: “You have declared a code red climate emergency, stating that ‘the nation and the world are in peril.’ We agree. It is past time to act in accordance with your declaration- you must act now and stop the Line 3 pipeline, or risk irreversible damage to our land, water, and climate.”
It is not too late for President Biden to take action. He has the authority to direct the Army Corps of Engineers to immediately reevaluate and suspend or revoke the Line 3 project’s Clean Water Act Section 404 permit, or revoke or amend Line 3’s presidential permit, as he did for Keystone XL, another tar sands pipeline.
Read the full letter below:
President Biden and Army Corps Acting Assistant Secretary Jaime Pinkham,
We are writing to express our outrage that the Army Corps of Engineers failed to conduct a full environmental review of the Line 3 tar sands pipeline before oil flows through the pipeline. We are writing today to request that you urgently intervene to halt the imminent operation of the pipeline until a full environmental review is conducted, including full consultation with tribal nations and a federal Environmental Impact Statement.
You have declared a code red climate emergency, stating that “the nation and the world are in peril.” We agree. It is past time to act in accordance with your declaration- you must act now and stop the Line 3 pipeline, or risk irreversible damage to our land, water, and climate.
If the Line 3 pipeline is not stopped, it will carry highly carbon-intensive tar sands oil, which will result in the pipeline carrying the carbon equivalent of 50 new coal plants in the midst of an escalating climate emergency. Additionally, the line crosses more than 22 water bodies and primary rivers – including the Mississippi River twice – and more than 200 wetlands, and desecrates some of the most pristine ecosystems and watersheds on both Native and non-Native lands and waters in the state.
In its November 2020 decision to issue the Clean Water Act 404 permit for the pipeline, the Trump Administration’s Army Corps of Engineers failed to consider significant information on the Line 3 tar sands pipeline’s impacts, including the risk of oil spills, climate change impacts, and impacts on Indigenous peoples whose rights are enshrined by Treaty with the U.S. government. Despite evidence that the project would have significant impacts, the Corps did not prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for Line 3.
The need for a robust federal Environmental Impact Statement for Line 3 has become even more urgent in recent weeks. Just as construction neared completion, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources ordered Enbridge to pay $3.32 million for puncturing an aquifer and referred the matter for criminal prosecution. The ongoing damage from this spill comes on top of other unresolved concerns about the construction process including more than 28 “frac out” spills of drilling fluid, and Enbridge’s admission that it will not abide by agreed by conditions to obtain liability insurance or establish an escrow fund to mitigate damages from future spills. None of this gives the public any confidence that the hastily constructed pipeline can operate safely.
Tribal governments, state legislators and members of Congress, prominent activists and celebrities, and hundreds of community, environmental and racial justice organizations have all called for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete a full environmental impact statement before the pipeline is allowed to operate. Even if the oil begins to flow, your administration can limit the damage by halting the operation of the pipeline until a full environmental review is conducted, including full consultation with tribal nations and a federal environmental impact statement. Failure to act in this critical moment sends a clear signal— the Biden Administration is willing to stand by while a Canadian oil company pursues a reckless and dangerous agenda that tramples tribal rights, risks American drinking water, and makes it virtually impossible to meet the emissions reduction demands of our current Paris Agreement greenhouse gas reduction targets.
Stopping or halting Line 3 is well within the authority of the Biden Administration. Do not let this Trump Pipeline become a Biden Pipeline.
We urge you to take urgent action to halt the operation of Line 3.
Thank you,
350.org, Bold Alliance, CAIR-Minnesota, Center for Biological Diversity, Earth Guardians, Earthjustice EarthRights International, Environmental Action Coalition, First Universalist Church of Minneapolis Food & Water Watch, Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, Hip Hop Caucus, Honor The Earth, Indigenous Environmental Network, Indivisible, Land Stewardship Project, Minnesota Indivisible Alliance, Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light, MN350, MoveOn Civic Action, Natural Resources Defense Council, Presente.org, Rainforest Action Network, Seventh Generation, Sierra Club, Sunrise Movement, TakeAction Minnesota, Women's Earth and Climate Action Network
cc:
Gina McCarthy, Ron Klain, Ali Zaidi, Deb Haaland, Michael Regan, Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, Governor Walz
