Enbridge is paying the Police
“Canadian pipeline giant accused of paying U.S. police to harass activists”
Canada National Observer Press
By Timothy E. Wilson | News | April 19th 2021
QUOTED FROM ARTICLE
Anti-pipeline activists are accusing Canadian energy transportation giant Enbridge of setting a disturbing precedent by providing funds for policing its Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota. As police book more overtime, there is concern among opponents they are deliberately targeting the Indigenous women resisting the project.
Police have reportedly followed activists, pulled over their vehicles and disrupted prayer assemblies. Activists told National Observer that drones have been deployed for aerial surveillance, and that people have been detained in cages.
“In Hubbard County, they have set up what are basically dog kennel cages in a police garage,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a lawyer with the Center for Protest Law and Litigation. “That’s where they put water protectors initially when arrested. When inside the cage, they’re handcuffed to the fencing.”
On March 25, 26 protesters were arrested in Hubbard County. In such circumstances, when a large number of people are brought in at one time, the county sheriff's office says individuals simply cannot be brought into the booking area at once.
“There is chain-link material in our garages, yes,” says Hubbard County Sheriff Cory Aukes. “So prisoners do wait in our garage bays where they are then brought in one at a time for booking purposes…
“They’re pouring large sums of money into local sheriff's departments, who can then tap the funds for any use that’s related to the pipelines,” said Verheyden-Hilliard.
“It incentivizes them to take action against peaceful opponents of the pipeline.”
… In one jurisdiction, Cass County, the sheriff’s office has drawn US $327,224.65 from the account. The county’s sheriff, Tom Burch, says the extra funds are necessary, given the size of the county and the demands being placed on his officers.”
“My guys are strained and busy enough — they don’t need any extra overtime,” Burch told National Observer. “And we certainly aren’t harassing anyone. The biggest issue is that local taxpayers shouldn’t have to assume the financial burden. I don’t care what company it is — if they’re creating extra work for us, I expect them to pay.”
“It’s a constant, daily battering from law enforcement,” said Dawn Goodwin, an Ojibwe water protector who lives on the White Earth Reservation. “
It brings back memories of what happened with the Dakota Access pipeline. It makes us wonder, what’s next?”
Some Indigenous women say, as a visible minority, they are being racially profiled.
“We are a highly visible target,” said Tania Aubid, an Ojibwe activist and member of Mille Lacs Band. “Sometimes we get pulled over, and the police tell us that the registration sticker on our license plate doesn’t completely cover the previous sticker. They’re just looking for excuses.”
"Enbridge initially deposited $250,000 into the escrow account. The PUC has since informed National Observer that, to date, the company has upped that amount to $1,250,000. A total of $877,710 has been disbursed, with no end in sight.
“It’s a giant slush fund for overtime,” says Verheyden-Hilliard. “Individual officers are making a lot of money off the privatization of American law enforcement.”
When asked about the security measures Enbridge has taken along Line 3, the company told National Observer:
“We do not provide details or discuss our security measures publicly.”
Nonetheless, the police forces in northern Minnesota have engaged in heavy surveillance along the Line 3 replacement route. In March, actor Jane Fonda was late to a press conference opposing Line 3 after police pulled over the vehicle leading her caravan.
“While we were in Minnesota, we were tailed twice for long distances by the police, who knew we were there to support the water protectors,” Fonda told National Observer in an email exchange. “
We were caravanning with Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, and the rental car had a California license plate. I bet the officer thought it was me, and that they could make me miss the press conference.”
Verheyden-Hilliard and Indigenous activists Tara Houska and Winona LaDuke, among others, are now working on a lawsuit that challenges Enbridge's alleged privatization of public police forces.
“It's provided a big financial incentive to police officers to spend time harassing, arresting, strip searching and caging people who are only trying to save their lands and waters,” said Fonda.
“Indigenous women are on the front lines, for sure, but 70,000 people came out to oppose Line 3 in the various hearings,” said Winona LaDuke, executive director and co-founder of Honor the Earth. “There’s strong opposition across the board.”
Despite the broad support, the deployment of state forces against activists, with the police funded by the deep pockets of a multinational energy corporation, including for the purchase of riot gear, can take a psychological toll.
Activists contacted by National Observer were heartened by the attention being brought to bear by national figures like Louise Erdrich, who wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times, and Jane Fonda. For her part, Fonda remains optimistic the Biden administration may yet step in and cancel Line 3, as it did with Keystone XL.
“Line 3 is just another attempt at riding roughshod over Indigenous rights and precious, fragile lands and bodies of water,” said Fonda. “But there is an important difference… We now have a progressive administration with cabinet members who understand that time is running out.”
MORE COVERAGE
LOCAL COPS SAID PIPELINE COMPANY HAD INFLUENCE OVER GOVERNMENT APPOINTMENT
Sheriffs in Minnesota worried about who would oversee an escrow account, funded by pipeline giant Enbridge, to reimburse the costs of policing protests.
Alleen Brown
April 17 2021, 6:00 a.m.
AS THE CANADIAN oil pipeline company Enbridge awaited its final permits last summer to begin construction on the Line 3 tar sands oil transport project, Minnesota sheriff’s offices along the route fretted. With an Anishinaabe-led movement pledging to carry out nonviolent blockades and demonstrations to prevent the pipeline’s construction, local police worried they’d be stuck with the costs of policing and wanted Enbridge to pay instead.