A fight is brewing over an oil pipeline and it's pitting Native groups against Big Oil

PALISADE, Minn. — On the edge of the Mississippi River in Northern Minnesota, Tania Aubid stares at the slushy waters that thaw a little more with every passing spring day.

Once the river is no longer frozen, she’s dreading the day that the Canadian energy company Enbridge will be able to drill and lay down a new section of their Line 3 pipeline, a construction project about halfway finished that has sparked increasing environmental demonstrations and unrest from Native Americans and other climate activists in recent months.

“Sixty-eight million people rely upon this water that comes from up here in Northern Minnesota, and it goes all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico,” she said. “And along the way there are cities — people that drink straight from the river here.”

In addition to climate concerns, activists have pointed out that the pipeline travels directly through Native land given in the treaty of 1855 and through lands where Native tribes have been harvesting wild rice for decades.

"If it [the pipeline] breaks, it will destroy the wild rice,” said Elizabeth Skinaway, a Sandy Lake Band member. “If Indigenous peoples are telling you that, then you need to listen."

Tara Houska and several others were arrested Thursday during a protest at one of the Enbridge construction sites.

“We've had over 200 people arrested fighting Line 3 over the winter,” she said before she was taken into custody this week. “Through the cold 30-below zero, you got people crawling into pipes, risking their actual safety, fighting for the future.”

Tara tweeted her experience saying quote: tara houska ᔖᐳᐌᑴ

"Yesterday I prayed in lodge w/Indigenous relatives surrounded by allies blocking Line 3 destruction. After arresting us, cops took selfies w/our lodge & laughed as they cut it apart. In jail we were kenneled, strip searched & shackled for misdemeanors."