And would they do anything different for the next pipeline proposal?
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) seemed to have had an unfounded confidence that Enbridge would follow the rules while building its new Line 3/93 tar sands pipeline across 337 miles of northern Minnesota.
As we now know, Line 3/93 construction resulted in three significant aquifer breaches and extensive water problems in Walker Brook Valley.
All were preventable. There is likely more damage than currently made public.
Vision for the East Phillips Roof Depot redevelopment.
In the waning hours of the state legislature, an agreement was cut between the state, the City of Minneapolis, and the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) that enables EPNI to buy the old Roof Depot warehouse and redevelop it into a community amenity.
The redevelopment will include affordable housing, an indoor urban farm, space for local businesses, job training facilities, services for unhoused people, a large solar array, and more. It will be a community-owned asset.
The neighborhood wanted to acquire the Roof Depot site years ago, but the City of Minneapolis bought it with plans to relocate its Water Works facility there.
The legislative deal provides the city with money to recoup its expenses and move the Water Works yard elsewhere.
The deal hinges on EPNI raising $3.7 million in private funds by Sept. 7.
Rep. Hodan Hassan (DFL-Minneapolis), who represents the East Phillips neighborhood, said in a media release she was pleased the state and city partnered to find a solution.
“With a third of East Phillips residents living below the poverty line, the community is in great need of affordable housing, investment in jobs and infrastructure, and sustainable development. While this project will be a long road, I’m thankful we were able to make progress on this investment in our community. I am confident the vision for the Roof Depot will one day become a reality.”
Pipeline employee says he was fired for raising safety questions
Yellow post (right) marks Line 5’s centerline. Image: Peter Bigboy’s Facebook page, captured by WCMC before Bigboy’s account was hacked.
(Recommended actions listed in an earlier version of this blog have been updated.Information on Judge Conley’s ruling has been corrected/)
Riverbank erosion near the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline corridor is raising immediate safety concerns about the pipeline’s stability and the possibility of a rupture, reports the Wisconsin Citizens Media Coop (WCMC).
The erosion is occurring along the Bad River, where it runs through the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’ reservation in northern Wisconsin. The erosion is now within seven feet of the Line 5 pipeline, WCMC reported.
Organizers are asking for people to pressure on President Biden to revoke Line 5’s Presidential Permit. The permit is needed for liquid pipelines that cross the U.S. border, which Line 5 does, at Sarnia, Ontario. The Secretary of State has the authority to issue Presidential Permits.
To create pressure at the federal level, contact Biden, the U.S. State Department, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Ongoing repair work: Standing near Line 3’s Walker Brook crossing looking east. Photo: March, 2023
The environmental damage from building the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline appears to be much greater than what is publicly known.
In response to a Data Practice Act, Healing Minnesota Stories obtained a copy of a “Dewatering Permit” the Minnesota Department of Resources (DNR) issued Enbridge last Fall, more than ten months after construction was deemed complete and the pipeline operational.
The permit runs from Aug 12, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2023, or more than 16 months. That’s more time than it took Enbridge (10 months) to build Line 3 in the first place.
The permit allows Enbridge to dewater up to one billion gallons per year. That’s double Enbridge’s initial 511 million gallon dewatering request to build the entire pipeline.
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) Executive Director Jaylaini Hussein spoke at the Masjid Al Rahma mosque Saturday night about back-to-back arson fires set in Minneapolis mosques.
Local faith leaders, state legislators, and a host of community members packed a room at the Masjid Al Rahma mosque in south Minneapolis to show solidarity following an arson fire Monday, April 24. It followed an arson fire Sunday, April 23, set in the bathroom of the mosque in the 24 Somali Mall, also in Minneapolis
Minneapolis police yesterday announced the arrest of Jackie Rahm Little, 36, on Sunday. He is charged with setting both fires.
Community meeting at the Midtown Global Market on new MPD Third Precinct site.
The City of Minneapolis is holding a series of community meetings to discuss the site for the Minneapolis Police Department’s (MPD’s) new Third Precinct building, but the site at East 26th Street just east of Hiawatha Avenue is the odds on favorite.
For the past three years, MPD’s Third Precinct officers have worked out of downtown. The Third Precinct building at East Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue was badly damaged by fire during the 2020 George Floyd uprising.
Minneapolis City Hall is offering the illusion of community engagement in its efforts to choose a site to rebuild the Minneapolis Police Department’s (MPD’s) 3rd Precinct building (the one damaged by fire during the 2020 George Floyd uprising.)
It’s a significant decision, yet the city’s “community engagement” is minimal. It’s giving residents two sites to choose from, and one month to comment.
Option 1 is to rebuild at Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue at the site of the former 3rd Precinct building. In an email to constituents, Council Member Robin Wonsley (Ward 2) said this option would be a daily reminder to residents “of MPD’s decades of brutality and racism, and of the global uprising that took place after Officer Chauvin murdered George Floyd.”
Option 2 is to build the precinct station at East 26th Street, just east of Hiawatha Avenue,
Wonsley is critical of the plan, saying the city misused money meant for community engagement around redeveloping the old 3rd Precinct site for the community’s benefit.
Pastor Martha Bardwell speaks at a Palm Sunday prayer vigil and protest at the Roof Depot site in East Phillips.
Part 1 discussed how Our Saviour’s Lutheran got started on its reparations journey by adding a line item to its annual budget for reparations.
In 2019, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Minneapolis made a commitment to dismantle White Supremacy. Church members couldn’t have imagined where those discussions would lead.
One of their first acts was to add a line item in their annual budget for “reparations.”
Their understanding of reparations has broadened significantly since 2019, thanks to a seminary student who offered to research the church archives, the Minnesota Council of Churches’ Truth and Reparations learning opportunities, and participating in a training that helps predominantly white congregations like Our Saviour’s understand how to take concrete actions to dismantle White Supremacy and engage in reparatory action.
Our Saviour’s is now questioning what to do with its foundation and the property it owns, and how to make repairs for past church actions that added to racial harm.
And it’s not just about the money.
Aneesa Parks, a member of Our Saviour’s Reparations Team, said: “I don’t just want to fix problems. I want to find a way to heal.”
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