Although oil has begun to flow through the Line 3 tar sands pipeline, water protectors in Minnesota and activists around the country are not backing down from the fight against the fossil fuel economy.
In the last couple weeks:
The historic People vs Fossil Fuels mobilization captivated the nation’s capital.
Thousands of Indigenous leaders, Water Protectors and community activists gathered in Washington DC to call on President Biden and his administration to stop Enbridge’s Line 3 tar sands pipeline and submit it to a full environmental review.
In addition to protesting at the White House, 50 Indigenous activists launched an occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at the Department of Interior for the first time since a similar action took place in 1972.
“We will no longer allow the U.S. government to separate us from our relationship to the sacred knowledge of Mother Earth and all who depend on her,” reads a statement released by the Indigenous leaders at the occupation. “Her songs have no end, so we must continue the unfinished work of our ancestors who have walked on before us.”
The week of action also included the delivery of a petition with over one million signatures to the Army Corps of Engineers. The group of 100+ Water Protectors rallied, held ceremony with Anishinaabe drummers, and called 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.
In addition, a coalition of major Indigenous and environmental leaders, including the Indigenous Environmental Network, the Sierra Club, and 350.org, sent a letter to the White House, both demanding the administration immediately put an end to the pipeline.
“This pipeline is virtually identical to KXL in both substantive climate impact and symbolic importance. Construction of the project is an unfolding human rights crisis,” the letter reads. They went on to say that “operating it over its lifetime would significantly exacerbate the climate crisis. It fails any reasonable test of climate justice.”
Back in Minnesota, Enbridge once again skirted state environmental regulations, as the company failed to meet the Oct. 15 deadline for cleaning up the site of an aquifer that ruptured during construction of the pipeline.
You can read the full letter urging the Biden administration to put a stop to Line 3 here.
In total, 655 people were arrested during this momentous week of action for standing up to climate-killing projects like Line 3 and other pipelines, as well as oil and gas export facilities, refineries, plastic plants, and more.
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.
RECAP
Thousands of Indigenous leaders and climate activists from around the country took non-violent direct action in Washington DC, calling on the Biden administration to take urgent action to stop fossil fuel infrastructure projects.
In total, 655 people were arrested during this momentous week of action for standing up to climate-killing projects like Line 3 and other pipelines, as well as oil and gas export facilities, refineries, plastic plants, and more.
During Tuesday’s events, water protectors delivered 1 million stop Line 3 petitions to the US Army Corps of Engineers, calling on the Biden administration to stop the flow of oil through Line 3 until a federal Environmental Impact Statement of the project has been conducted.
Pressure grew on President Biden to take action from outside of DC as well
Oil Change International authored a new report identifying the potential climate impacts of several fossil fuel infrastructure projects the President has the power to stop. The report concludes that if the Biden administration does not stop projects like Line 3, DAPL, MVP, and others, “it will be much more difficult [for the US] to meet its domestic and global climate goals.”
Dozens of MN and national climate and justice organizations, including theIndigenous Environmental Network, the Sierra Club, and 350.org authored a letter to the President criticizing the lack of federal environmental review of Line 3, and calling on his administration to halt the pipeline’s operation pending that review.
Resistance and ecological fall-out continued on the ground in Minnesota
Water protectors with the RISE coalition have continued to hold space at their FireLight Treaty Encampment near Clearwater River. The Indigenous leadership reestablished their resistance camp when Enbridge announced that Line 3 construction was nearly complete.
Enbridge Energy failed to meet the October 15th deadline the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources gave them to stop the unauthorized flow of groundwater they caused by piercing an aquifer during Line 3 construction last winter. The company’s failure to follow environmental laws has resulted in millions of gallons of groundwater leaked already, and water is still flowing out of the aquifer.
A press conference was called on September 29, 2021 after press release announced on September 27, 2021 calling on CODE RED "President Biden DNR and Gov. Walz Unwilling to Stop Line 3 On-going Waters and Wetlands Contaminations."
Present is Firelight Encampment at Clearwater River with Rise member Dawn Goodwin, drone camera master Ron Turney, Chairman of the White Earth tribe Mike Fairbanks, Attorney Frank Bibeau and Annette Johnson Treasurer from Red Lake Band of Ojibwe.
"Enbridge Line 3 construction continues to violate federal 404 and state 401 clean water act permits in Minnesota because the DNR, MPCA and the U.S. Corps of Engineers are unwilling to stop the violators, Enbridge Line 3."
This is the Red Lake Band, White Earth Nation leadership and tribal members of the 1855 Treaty Authority response to the violations Enbridge conducted with their Line 3 construction resulting frac-outs and an aquifer breech of over 24-million gallons of water.
Selected stories from recent weeks:
Indigenous activists come to D.C. with a message for Biden: Declare a national climate emergency - The Washington Post
Line 3 opponents deliver letter to White House - Minnesota Reformer
A water protector comes home to reflect - Winona LaDuke Op-ed
Report: Biden has the power to prevent 1.6 billion metric tons of emissions annually - Grist
Biden’s Silent Climate Betrayal - Heated
Indigenous youths, climate activists to march to U.S. Capitol on final day of People vs. Fossil Fuels protests - Washington Post:
Thousands of People Are Descending on DC for a Weeklong Climate Protest - Mic
Fossil fuels are forecast to dry up, but not soon enough - The Verge
Fire at the White House: Indigenous-Led Protests in DC Call on Biden to Declare a National Climate Emergency - Sierra Club