#StopLine3 Weekly Press Update | Indigenous Environmental Network

Relatives,

After 7 years of resistance from Indigenous communities and climate activists, Enbridge Energy announced last week that the new Line 3 pipeline would be “Substantially Completed and Set to be Fully Operational.” Enbridge’s press announcement by the company gave the date of Oct 1 and a regulatory filing listed Oct 4th. At this writing the company has not provided an update, and observers on the ground report ongoing construction activity as well as serious environmental incidents.

Leaders from across the movement to stop Line 3 responded to the announcement, mourning the harm Line 3 has already caused and the risks it poses to the land, the water, and the people. Water protectors have vowed to continue resisting Line 3 and other fossil fuel infrastructure projects in Minnesota and across Turtle Island to continue to keep climate-devastating tar sands oil in the ground. Last week…

In response to the announcement completion of Line 3

Water protectors with the RISE coalition established a new resistance camp at the Line 3 pipeline’s crossing of the 1855 Anishinaabe Treaty Territory near the Clearwater River. Watch this statement from Dawn Goodwin of the White Earth Nation calling for supporters to come join them.
Indigenous, environmental, and community leaders issued these statements.
Winona LaDuke, founder of Honor the Earth, held a press conference and released a video statement demanding a long overdue federal environmental review.

Further ecological devastation and threats from Line 3 construction were identified

At the Clearwater River Crossing, emergency waste containment holding tanks have been erected as untreated wastewater and chemicals continue to seep out from the land where Line 3 construction bored under the river. Find additional photos of the damage here.
White Earth Tribal Chairman was joined by the Indigenous Environmental Network’s independent monitor and additional water protectors to record live statements in response to this ongoing environmental hazard, as well as the recently publicly reported aquifer breach Enbridge caused through negligence during last winter’s construction.
Researchers in the movement raised concerns about the lack of the “Decommissioning Trust Fund,” Enbridge was supposed to have in place by the start of Line 3’s operation. The Public Utilities Commission has yet to open proceedings about this fund, which should have been established “to cover the costs of decommissioning and removing the new Line 3 at the end of the pipeline’s operation.”

Key articles

“A Letter From a Jailed Line 3 Water Protector,” by Tara Houska, founder of the Giniw Collective, for Vogue.
From Mongabay, “Oil pipeline on Native lands ramps up as Canada honors its Indigenous people.”
Grom Gizmodo, “Oil Starts Flowing Through Line 3 on Friday, But Water Protectors Will Keep Fighting It.”
Video from NowThis, “Indigenous Activists Fight to Stop Line 3 Pipeline.”
From Grist, “Oil is now flowing on Line 3. The fight to stop it isn’t over.”

Upcoming event

From October 11 to 15, thousands of people will participate in civil disobedience at the White House and demand that President Biden choose a side: People vs. Fossil Fuels. Water protectors from Minnesota and allies will deliver approximately 1 million petitions to the US Army Corps of Engineers offices in Washington DC at 1:30 pm on Tuesday Oct 12th, demanding Line 3 receive a full Environmental Impact Statement.

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