John,
I’m writing to you today to share directly what’s happening on the ground in the fight against the Line 3 pipeline, and what you can do to help during this critical time.
But first, I need to catch you up on all that’s happened in the last two weeks:
Not surprisingly, on Monday, Nov. 23, the Trump Administration granted the last permit and final hurdle for Enbridge to begin construction of Line 3 — despite outstanding legal challenges and spiking COVID-19 rates.
One week later, Minnesota’s Democrat governor, Governor Tim Walz, granted the final state permit.
Resistance on the ground has been happening for years. Most recently water protectors peacefully blocked the entrance to the Enbridge Line 3 pipe yard – but we need more national pressure now:
Photo Credit: @GiniwCollective
The Biden Administration can review these rushed federal permits and stop the project. With enough national pressure, we can make this pipeline a top issue for Biden among the likes of Keystone XL and Dakota Access. But it will take all of us rising up.
This fight is especially personal to me. As a member of the Couchiching First Nation Anishinaabe, this massive tar sands pipeline would bulldoze through Anishinaabe territory, violating treaty rights and endangering fresh water. I’ve been part of a seven-year long Indigenous-led coalition to #StopLine3, and we won’t stop now.
Line 3 is on the same scale as Keystone XL and Dakota Access. Not only does Line 3 violate Indigenous rights, the pipeline would be a 10% expansion of tar sands. In total, the pollution this pipeline would carry is equal to about 50 coal power plants.1
Minnesotans submitted 68,000 public comments against Line 3, we’ve marched in the streets, attended the hearings and engaged in every step of the process. Despite Minnesota’s own Department of Commerce suing the Public Utility Commission for approving this project, the bulldozers are here to plow through our sacred wild rice watersheds, over 800 wetlands, and 200+ water bodies in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. The drones are overhead and the police are militarizing.
Climate science and treaty rights clearly show that this pipeline would harm sacred sites and push our climate further into crisis. We must prove to Biden that if his administration is serious about climate justice, stopping Line 3 must be a top priority on day one.
Together I know we can win.
Tara Houska (Couchiching First Nation)
Founder, Giniw Collective
P.S. To stay up to date about the fight on the ground, please follow Giniw Collective on Twitter here and visit StopLine3.org.
1 - The Guardian
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