Water Protectors to deliver 1 million petitions to Stop Line 3 oil pipeline
Indigenous leaders from Northern Minnesota to deliver petitions to the Biden Administration at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers HQ
Washington, DC – On Tuesday, October 12th, 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.
The group of 100+ water protectors will rally, hold ceremony with Anishinaabe drummers, and speak outside the headquarters of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, calling on Jamie Pinkham, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to conduct a full federal environmental impact statement to assess the Line 3 pipeline’s threats to human rights, water, and climate.
WHAT: Stop Line 3 Petition Delivery, Rally and Press Conference
WHEN: 1:30-2:30 PM ET, Tuesday, October 12, 2021.
1:30 Rally begins with music and ceremony, press availability
2:00 Speeches and delivery of petitions
WHERE: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters (front of building)
441 G St. NW Washington, DC 20314
WHO: The event will feature speakers from the Indigenous-led struggle to stop the Line 3 tar sands pipeline, known as water protectors.
Taysha Martineau (Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Anishinaabe) - Founder of Camp Migizi
Ron Turney (White Earth Nation) Traditional Artist, Photographer, IEN Media
Sasha Beaulieu (Red Lake), founder Red Lake Treaty Camp and the Red Lake Band of Chippewa to Line 3 Construction Monitor
Silas Neeland (White Earth Nation), youth leader
Guests who will attend the rally in support of the Water Protectors will include:
Alison Whritenour, CEO, Seventh Generation
Bill McKibben, author, co-founder of 350.org
John Miller, former Navy diver who returned medals in protest of Line 3
Media Information: Speakers and experts will be available for interviews during and after the rally. Photographs, videography and interviews welcomed. B-roll is available upon request.
Visuals: Drummers, 2 large water puppets, aerial photos of pipeline damage, 1 million petition signatures
Background:
Speakers will demand action from elected officials to consider the disastrous impacts of Line 3 and stop its oil from flowing. For seven years, Indigenous community members in Northern Minnesota, climate activists, landowners and allies have resisted the Enbridge Corporation’s expanded Line 3 tar sands pipeline as a danger to the climate, water and land, and to the human beings in its path. The pipeline undermines the Indigenous treaty rights of the Anishinaabe people, crossing the 1854 and 1855 treaty territory where Anishinaabe people retain the right to hunt, fish, gather medicines, and harvest wild rice.
With the carbon emissions equivalent of 50 coal-powered plants and crossing more than 227 lakes and rivers, Line 3 threatens the drinking water of 18 million people and the health and wellness of many more.
Tribal governments, state legislators and members of Congress, 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.
About 900 people have been arrested in peaceful actions resisting pipeline construction.
With the announcement that pipeline construction is “substantially complete,” the call for a full environmental review has become more urgent because of ongoing damage to waterways along the construction route. Earlier this year, Army Corps Secretary Jamie Pinkham visited Minnesota and saw the impacts of Line 3 first-hand. He met with tribal officials and some of the water protectors who will present the petitions but has failed to follow up on commitments to address their concerns.
The 1 million+ signatures being delivered are addressed to President Biden, White House Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy and Army Corps Secretary Jamie Pinkham, and were collected by a wide range of community, environmental, and racial justice groups including Braided Justice Collective, Daily Kos, Friends of the Earth, Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, Honor The Earth, Lakota Law Project, MoveOn, 198 methods, Rainforest Action Network, Seventh Generation, Sierra Club, Stand.Earth, and 350.org.
The event is hosted by Honor The Earth, an Indigenous-led environmental justice organization based in Northern Minnesota, with support from Seventh Generation, Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), and the People versus Fossil Fuels coalition. The delivery is part of the "People vs. Fossil Fuels" mobilization, a week of protests and civil disobedience at the White House this October 11-15 to pressure President Biden to declare a climate emergency and end all new fossil fuel projects.
Biography:
Taysha Martineau, Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Anishinaabe
Taysha Martineau is a Water Protector and a Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women Activist from the Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Anishinaabe. A two-spirit Indigenous anarchist, Taysha is the founder of Camp Migizi and co-founder of the Gitchigumi Scouts in so-called Northern Minnesota. A mother of four, she made a promise to her young daughter that she would do everything in her power to stop the Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Faced with a police line, Taysha is known to drop rose petals at their feet, offering the names of missing and murdered Indigenous women, two spirits, and girls, asking the officers to help to find and protect them, rather than protecting the Enbridge pipeline. (Photo by Keri Pickett)
Ron Turney (White Earth Nation) Traditional Artist, Photographer, IEN Media.
Ron Turney, aka Makade-Anakwad “Black Cloud” is from the White Earth & Red Lake Nations. Ron works with the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) Media team and has been on the frontlines to help monitor and document the Enbridge Line 3 frac-outs and unreported permit violations. His aerial imagery has helped reveal the destructive impact and long-term effects on the Mississippi River and surrounding environment. Prior to his work with IEN, Ron worked in the IT & Digital Marketing industry for 20 years. More recently, Ron has been learning traditional art forms such as quillwork, cedar weaving, and birch bark basketry, and has taught workshops around the country. www.ienearth.org (Photo by Nedahness Greene)
Sasha Beaulieu - founder, Red Lake Treaty Camp
Sasha Beaulieu is Anishinaabe from Red Lake, Minnesota. Her fight against Line 3 has taken her from community organizing to founding the Red Lake Treaty Camp and working with the Red Lake Band of Chippewa to monitor Enbridge’s construction. Sasha is passionate about protecting our water and keeping our Earth clean, as well as maintaining her culture and traditions - “It keeps me connected to the Earth and to the Creator and inspires me to do my job as a Water Protector." (Photo by nedahness green)
Silas Neeland - White Earth Nation, Stop Line 3
Silas is a Anishinaabe from The White Earth Reservation fighting line 3 for his future Generations.
Alison Whritenour, CEO, Seventh Generation
Alison Whritenour has spent nearly a decade at Seventh Generation, contributing to transforming the world into a healthy, sustainable and equitable world for future generations. Using business as a force for good drives Alison in all she has done with Seventh Generation across various roles in everything from brand activation to product innovation. Most recently, Alison was the head of channel and customer development at Seventh Generation. Prior to her work with Seventh Generation, Alison worked in brand management at Colgate-Palmolive. Alison holds an MBA from Fordham University and a BA from Loyola University. She lives in Vermont with her husband and three children.www.seventhgeneration.com/mission
John Miller, President & Co-Founder, Mana Pacific
John Miller is a climate activist, renewable energy developer, former 2016 & 2020 National DNC Delegate for Senator Sanders. He was a stakeholder in Hawaii becoming the 1st state to mandate a 100% renewable energy future by 2045, American Samoa by 2040, and in April Hawaii becoming the first state to declare a Climate Emergency. A former Navy diver, John recently returned his commendations to Gov Walz and the state of Minnesota in protest of Line 3. He is now working with stopECOCIDE toward making ecocide an international crimewww.stopecocide.earth
Bill McKibben
Bill McKibben is an author, environmentalist, and activist. In 1988 he wrote The End of Nature, the first book for a common audience about global warming. He is a co-founder and Senior Advisor emeritus at 350.org, an international climate campaign that works in 188 countries around the world, and a founder of Third Act, organizing people over the age of 60 for progressive change.
COVER PHOTO: cophotora “The water is sacred.” - Duluth, MN