Victory! Court Rules MN Sheriff’s Blockade of Line 3 Water Protector Camp Was Illegal and Bars Ongoing Efforts to Obstruct Access+

cross-posted from Center for Protest Law and Litigation

Today, a Minnesota court issued a ruling protecting an Indigenous-led camp of Line 3 opponents from Hubbard County’s unlawful blockades and targeted harassment. This victory on the part of steadfast frontline climate justice activists is part of the crucial legal fight-back against oppressive police tactics as they place their bodies on the line to defend the planet.

The ruling comes after months of litigation on behalf of Indigenous water protectors, including Tara Houska and Winona LaDuke, and a successful temporary restraining order against Hubbard County, Sheriff Cory Aukes, and the local land commissioner in northern Minnesota for unlawfully blocking access to Giniw Collective’s Line 3 Camp Namewag in 2021.

The Center for Protest Law and Litigation, EarthRights International, and local counsel Jason Steck represent the plaintiffs.

Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, constitutional rights lawyer and Director of the Center for Protest Law & Litigation at the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund stated:

“Today David beat Goliath in a legal victory for people protecting the climate from rapacious corporate destruction. The outrageous blockade and repression of an Indigenous-led water protector camp was fueled by massive sums of money flowing from the Enbridge corporation to the Sheriff’s department as it acted against water protectors challenging Enbridge’s destruction of Native lands.”

“Today’s decision finds that the paramilitarized blockade was illegal and orders the Sheriff and Hubbard County to desist from any ongoing effort to obstruct access. This has been a hard-fought case as Hubbard County and its Sheriff have perpetuated the history of efforts to deprive Native people of access to land. Today’s victory sends a message to the next police force that might consider similar tactics that activists will not back down and will fight to assert their rights.”

Plaintiff Tara Houska, Founder of the Giniw Collective, stated:

“15 months ago, I was woken up at 6am and walked down my driveway to a grinning sheriff holding a notice to vacate my years-long home. That day turned into 50 squad cars on a dirt road and a riot line blocking my driveway. 12 people, guests from all over who came to protect the rivers and wild rice from Line 3 tar sands, were arrested and thrown into the dirt.”

“Today’s ruling is a testament to the lengths Hubbard County was willing to go to criminalize and harass Native women, land defenders, and anyone associated with us — spending unknown amounts of taxpayer dollars and countless hours trying to convince the court that the driveway to Namewag camp wasn’t a driveway,” Houska continued. “It’s also a testament to steadfast commitment to resisting oppression. This is a piece in the long game and we aren’t afraid. We haven’t forgotten the harms to us and the harms to the earth. Onward.”

Plaintiff Winona LaDuke, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Honor the Earth, stated:

“We are grateful to Judge Austad for recognizing how Hubbard County exceeded its authority and violated our rights. Today’s ruling shows that Hubbard County cannot repress Native people for the benefit of Enbridge by circumventing the law. This is also an important victory for all people of the North reinforcing that a repressive police force should not be able to stop you from accessing your land upon which you hunt or live.”

Marco Simons, General Counsel of EarthRights, stated: 

“The court’s ruling is a major rebuke to police efforts to unlawfully target water protectors and to interfere with their activities protesting the Line 3 pipeline. Blocking access to the Namewag camp exemplifies a pattern of unlawful and discriminatory police conduct incentivized by an Enbridge-funded account from which the police can seek reimbursement for Line 3-related activities.

“Police forces should protect the public interest, not private companies. Cases like this highlight the dangers of allowing the police to act as a private security arm for pipeline companies.”

Read the opinion here. 

BACKGROUND

The Hubbard County Sheriff unlawfully blockaded access to a camp serving as a convergence space and home for Indigenous-led organizing, decolonization and treaty rights trainings, and religious activities by water protectors seeking to defend the untouched wetlands and the treaty territory of Anishinaabe peoples. Activists attempting to access the property were harassed by Hubbard County police, issued unlawful citations for driving upon the property’s driveway, and threatened with arrest for coming to and from the camp.

The Sheriffs’ departments in the region received funds from the Enbridge pipeline corporation for their time spent acting against the pipeline’s opponents through a “Public Safety Escrow Fund.” Enbridge paid more than $8 million to “reimburse” law enforcement, effectively privatizing Minnesota’s public police forces in service to efforts to repress opposition to the pipeline.

Enbridge’s Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline runs through hundreds of miles of Northern Minnesota land, including the lands of the Anishinaabe people and the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Enbridge is already responsible for the largest inland oil spill in the United States.

THE PLAINTIFFS

Tara Houska is an environmental and Indigenous rights attorney and advocate, land defender, founder of the Giniw Collective and a leader of the efforts to  stop Line 3. She is a citizen of Couchiching First Nation.

Winona LaDuke is a renowned activist working on issues of sustainable development, renewable energy, and food systems. She is the co-founder and executive  director of Honor the Earth. She lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, and is a member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg.

Water Protectors Lock to Enbridge Drilling Equipment Boring Line 3 Under River

photo: Giniw Collective

cross-posted from Giniw Collective

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 23, 2021
Contact: giniw@protonmail.com
Water Protectors Lock to Enbridge Drilling Equipment Boring Line 3 Under River
(Straight River, MN) Several Water Protectors locked to a Horizontal Directional Drill (HDD) being used by Enbridge to bore its Line 3 tar sands pipeline under the Straight River in Hubbard County, Minnesota.
Enbridge has over 5,000 workers in northern Minnesota, most of whom are from out-of-state, drilling its tar sands expansion project through our rivers, wetlands, and wild rice waters. The Canadian multi-national applied for a variance in its water usage, upping its need from roughly 500M gallons to 4.98B gallons. It is currently draining rivers and lakes across the northland, during a drought and record-setting heat that put the region in extreme or high fire danger for most of June.
Today’s action follows a mass mobilization of water protectors from all over Turtle Island which resulted in the largest non-violent direct action to date, with nearly 200 arrests and countless more inspired to join the fight.
Police have grown far more aggressive since the mobilization — Hubbard County sheriffs illegally arrested nearly 30 demonstrators exercising their right to assemble last week. A K-9 unit was documented at the Red River crossing near the Red Lake Treaty Camp, in echoes of the attack dogs used on unarmed women and children at Standing Rock.
Despite repeated calls from frontlines communities, a pending federal lawsuit, and over 500 arrests since construction started last December, President Biden has yet to order the Army Corps to perform an environmental review of Trump’s water crossing permits.

photo: Giniw Collective

Water protector, author, and mother Madeline Ffitch said, “I’m here to answer the call to action from Anishinaabe water protectors who are protecting their territory against Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline. I’m a settler on stolen land, and I think at this juncture if that’s true for you, you need to pick a side. I want to be on the side of people who belong to the land, indigenous people who have had their land stolen, and who are in the midst of 500 years of resistance. That’s the side I want to be on and I don’t want there to be any question about that. I want to be able to tell my children and the generations to come that I did everything in my power, everything I can, to make sure that there is a future for the next generations.”

Another Water Protector said, “I come from stolen Monacan and Tutelo land where the Mountain Valley Pipeline is being constructed. I believe that from the hills to the headwaters we need to act in solidarity with all people resisting extraction in their communities. Betray your whiteness, betray your class, be a traitor to a system that benefits you at the expense of indigenous people, a system that steals our futures away from us.”
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Giniw Collective is an Indigenous-women, 2-Spirit led frontline resistance to protect our Mother, defend the sacred and live in balance. We stand unafraid. Prayers into action.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram @GiniwCollective
Reach out to us at giniw@protonmail.com

MN: Water Protectors blockade truck drilling equipment, police arrest 30 on public road

cross-posted from the Giniw Collective

(Hubbard County, MN north of Shell River) Water Protectors blockade sem

photo credit: Giniw Collective

i loaded with drilling equipment for Minnesota rivers, 2 lockdowns in progress Enbridge’s drills are here for our dangerously low rivers to bore toxic tar sands through delicate ecosystems and Anishinaabe treaty territory.

The state of Minnesota turned its back on Indigenous sovereignty and climate science, the state judiciary followed suit. The people stand strong! Ericka, a Water Protector, said, “We have to protect the water for our children. For our children’s children.”
Sabine, a Water Protector, said, “President Biden, you can stop this.”
Hubbard County sheriffs also illegally arrested nearly 30 demonstrators on the side of a public road. They’re being held at Hubbard and Becker County jails.

photo credit: Giniw Collective

In response to the arrests:

“Calling all Water Protectors: we need your help! This morning, Hubbard County sheriffs illegally arrested nearly 30 demonstrators on the side of a public road. They’re being held at Hubbard and Becker County jails.

We call on the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, and the Attorney General to intervene.
Sample script: Hello, my name is _________ and I’m calling on Gov Walz/Lt Gov Flanagan/AG Ellison to rein in Hubbard County’s escalated and unlawful attacks on constitutional demonstration and private citizens. A foreign company is incentivizing and militarizing Minnesota law enforcement; end it now!”
If you want to get involved, please fill out this form and join a regular orientation call.

Keystone XL is dead. Now it’s time to stop Line 3.

UPDATE: Camp Firelight was peacefully evicted by the Clearwater County Sheriff Dept. on the demands of Enbridge on June 14th.

Now is the time to join the fight to stop Line 3.

Yesterday, TC Energy announced that they were terminating the Keystone XL Pipeline project after over a decade of organizing and resistance from the Alberta tar sands to the Gulf Coast.

We know that organizing, direct action and resistance to pipelines works. We just proved it again.

Courageous water protectors took action by the thousands on Monday supporting Treaty Rights and opposing the construction of Line 3 in Minnesota. Over 150 water protectors were arrested while shutting down Enbridge’s Two Inlets pumping station. They locked to equipment, blocked roads and stopped work for 30 hours!

At the same time, more than a thousand people marched, occupied and held a prayer ceremony on Enbridge’s drilling site on the Mississippi River. This has led to an indefinite encampment on the site. This has foiled Enbridge’s plans to drill under the river.

But, to continue to protect this precious place, the RISE Coalition has issued a call for all allies and accomplices to join them as soon as possible at Camp Firelight, a new Anishinaabe-led encampment at the Mississippi headwaters in the direct path of Line 3.  

We’re asking you for two things:

  1. GO! We need as many people to travel to support the fight against Line 3 as soon as possible. If you are able to join the camp at the headwaters of the Mississippi please contact the RISE Coalition at RiseCoalition@protonmail.com.
  2. DONATE! Over 150 people have been arrested in Giniw Collective-led direct actions against Line 3 this week. We need support for our water protectors. Please donate here.

If you are unable to attend or just getting back from Line 3, you can help put pressure on Joe Biden by organizing a solidarity action at a federal building. Contact us at info@risingtidenorthamerica.org for more information if you can organize an event.

The Treaty People Gathering has increased the pressure, and with Keystone XL dead now we need to stop all tar sands pipelines.

Can you help us get the word out? If so, AMPLIFY the call to action to join Camp Firelight on Twitter and Facebook.