Tag: Northfield Against Line 3

Line 3 Protest at logging site in Cass County, MN

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pic via Northfield Against Line 3

cross-posted from Northfield Against Line 3

WATER PROTECTORS PROTEST TAR SANDS LINE 3 PIPELINE

A peaceful rally held in Northern Minnesota promoted Indigenous sovereignty and climate justice

CASS COUNTY, MN —  20 water protectors held a rally today at a logging site where workers had been patch clear cutting trees along the proposed route of Line 3, the proposed tar sands pipeline expansion owned by Canadian company Enbridge Energy. At 1PM, water protectors from across Minnesota, including organizers with Northfield Against Line 3, rallied for over an hour among large logging equipment and felled trees, chanting “Honor the Treaties!” and “Stop Line 3” before they left the site.

“We are here to send the message loud and clear: Line 3 will not be built! All pipelines spill, and Enbridge has deliberately misled the public. We need real climate solutions, and they must be rooted in honoring Indigenous sovereignty,” said Elizabeth (a pseudonym), one of the water protectors involved in the rally.

This afternoon’s acts of civilian oversight build off of a decade of growing opposition to the proposed Line 3 pipeline, which would transport 760,000 barrels of tar sands oil per day from Alberta, Canada to the western shore of Lake Superior. Despite facing significant delays in court, the company has allowed to begin what it calls “pre-construction,” making today’s intervention a necessary step in enforcing transparency along the proposed corridor. Line 3’s proposed route puts sensitive ecosystems at risk, including 15 watersheds and 215 lakes, and its associated carbon emissions would further destabilize the global climate. Enbridge is still waiting for the verdict on their 401 water quality permit, a crucial oversight from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

pic via Northfield Against Line 3

Today’s action highlights acts of patch clear cutting in a ecologically vulnerable area that directly abuts the proposed Line 3 expansion route. This logging of birch and pine trees is part of a legacy of abuse upon the land and the land’s original inhabitants by logging companies and the state government who bought the land cheaply, making way for decades of violent extraction. While the profits from rotating timber permits are supposed to support township services, the logging occurred in 1855 Treaty Territory, violating the rights of the Anishinaabe people to fish, hunt and gather, and make free, prior and informed decisions regarding any project.

“We must end the perpetuation of settler colonialism and cycle of mindless extraction. We’re here fighting for a livable future for all, because another world is not only necessary, but possible,” said Emerson (a pseudonym), another water protector involved in the action.

Buoyed by the actions of several groups opposing Line 3 in so-called Minnesota and beyond, today’s successful rally will no doubt continue to galvanize the wider movement to stop all fossil fuel projects, especially tar sands extraction, and demand climate justice. Activists came to observe and protest nearby logging to raise awareness of the devastating possibilities of business as usual.

Water Protectors Block Gate at Enbridge U.S. Tar Sands Terminal in Minnesota

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Pics from Northfield Against Line 3

cross-posted from Northfield Against Line 3

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 25th, 2019
Contact: giniw@protonmail.com
ayse@ran.org

Water Protectors Block Gate at Enbridge U.S. Tar Sands Terminal: We Will Stop Line 3

Early Monday morning, water protectors blockaded the primary gate of Enbridge’s U.S. terminal, the entry point of several pipelines carrying Alberta tar sands into the region.

One water protector was suspended from a tripod, in solidarity with indigenous-led opposition to Enbridge’s proposed Line 3 pipeline. Line 3 poses to be a 10% increase of tar sands extraction. The project seeks to pass through the Mississippi River headwater, hundreds of watersheds, and terminate at Lake Superior.

Pics from Northfield Against Line 3

The climber, Sara-Beth Anderson, 21, a resident of Minneapolis, said, “I am a diver and love the ocean with all of my heart. The destruction of the sacred is happening because of these terrible decisions to keep extracting, to keep harming the earth despite what climate science has told the world’s leaders. I take this risk for the unborn, for the indigenous peoples fighting to protect their territories all over the planet, for the oceans. Anyone can take a stand against the greatest threat facing our shared world — get involved, get involved now.”

Water Protectors Lock Down to Stop Line 3 Construction

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via Ginew Collective 

Water Protectors Lock Down to Stop Line 3 Construction, Powerlines Built for Tar Sands Pipeline Through Army Corps Land as Enbridge Seeks Water Crossing Permits

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 3, 2019
Contact: ginew@protonmail.com

(Park Rapids, MN) This morning, water protectors supported by Ginew Collective, Northfield Against Line 3 and others halted work at an active construction site on the proposed Line 3 route. Three water protectors locked themselves to logging equipment while over a dozen concerned citizens rallied in support.

Great River Energy, Enbridge’s named utility provider for numerous pump stations it needs to power its tar sands pipeline, is logging through water crossings and wetlands next to the Line 3 route.

Enbridge has significant unmet energy needs to power the Line 3 route, and notes its partnership with Great River Energy in its application to the Army Corps of Engineers to bulldoze through wetlands and water crossings. Great River Energy specifies in its Army Corps application that it is building the electric transmission line to power Enbridge’s pipeline unbuilt pump station.

Minnesota has not issued the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) or DNR permits required for Line 3 construction across wetlands or water crossings. Minnesota announced the 401 water quality certification process will not be complete until fall 2019.

“Enbridge pretends to follow the process while it is busy bulldozing through our forests and wetlands,” said Frances Weatherall while locked to logging equipment.

“This is a years-long plan to send more dirty tar sands through Minnesota, don’t be fooled into thinking they won’t destroy as much as they can while they wait for their final state permits,” said Mollie Weatherall, locked with her sister on the same machine.

Jonas, who was also locked to a machine said, “This is a step towards decolonization, Enbridge is carving up the planet and our government doesn’t care. Today it’s my turn to put my body between the planet I want to protect and the attacks against our water, our climate, and Native sovereignty.”

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Water Protectors Disrupt Minnesota Governor’s Public Interview to Demand He #StopLine3 Pipeline

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Protestors disrupt public talk by MN Gov. Tim Walz. #stopLine3

Posted via Northfield Against Line 3

February 13, 2019

Water Protectors Disrupt Governor Walz Public Interview to Demand He Stop Line 3 Pipeline

A dozen leaders with Northfield Against Line 3 held banners and publicly questioned Gov Walz at a University of Minnesota event.

ST PAUL, MN – Today a dozen Water Protectors peacefully disrupted a public interview with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs to demand he halt pre-construction of the Line 3 tar sands pipeline during the appeals process. 

Yesterday Governor Walz announced he would re-file the Department of Commerce’s appeal to the Certificate of Need for the pipeline project. However, Enbridge is currently engaged in illegal pre-construction, clear cutting trees and building access roads, for the toxic project.

Stop Line 3. Photo via Northfield Against Line 3.

A dozen members of “Northfield Against Line 3” persistently interrupted the MPR interview with questions of their own. The Governor was publicly questioned about his 2017 comments denouncing Enbridge’s new pipeline and about the contradictions in his tacit support for a carbon-producing pipeline and his support for Green New Deal legislation. Water Protectors unfurled banners demanding he #StopLine3 and not exacerbate the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women as a result of the pipeline’s construction. Governor Walz responded that he’s met with groups opposing the pipeline but the fact is that he has yet to meet with Indigenous youth after promising to do so. 

All five of the directly affected Objibwe Tribal Nations in Minnesota oppose Line 3 because of the threat it poses to their fresh water, culturally significant wild rice lakes, and tribal sovereignty. Line 3 will accelerate climate change by bringing carbon-intensive tar sands bitumen from Alberta to refineries in the Midwest. Climate change disproportionately impacts Indigenous and frontline communities across the world. 

For photos and videos see Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nfld.against.line.three

Twitter: twitter.com/ResistLine3 

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