In this blog:
- Rally against Line 3, MMIW, at the Governor’s residence Saturday at 1 p.m.
- Book launch of Seed Keepers, a new novel by Diane Wilson, March 9
- ‘Memory March’ in Grand Rapids tomorrow (Wednesday) recalling largest inland oil spill in U.S. history
- Gizmodo: Facebook favors pipeline companies over water protectors
- LaSalle Valley flyover (two-minute video)
- Quebec’s Magpie River to be granted legal personhood, a first in Canada
Debwe! Truth! Keep our communities safe from Enbridge and sex trafficking, a rally at the Governor’s residence Saturday
A recent human trafficking sting in Northern Minnesota resulted in seven arrests, at least two of those worked on Enbridge Line 3. One of those men was charged for soliciting sex with a minor.
Indigenous people warned state regulators the Line 3 project would bring sex and drug trafficking to the area.
Join Indigenous relatives as they gather Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Governor’s residence, 1006 Summit Ave, St. Paul, to demand that Gov. Tim Walz revoke the Line 3 permits to protect Indigenous communities. Facebook Event Page here.
Walz needs to get the real picture of the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) in this state.
Participants will hear more about the arrests, how Line 3 intervenors fought to bring this issue before the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, learn more about the sex trafficking industry, and the have the real conversations needed to face this threat head on. There will be a moment of silence for missing and murdered relatives.
Wear a mask and be respectful of personal space.
If you have any questions please send an email to mysti@mn350.org
Book launch of Seed Keepers, a new novel by Diane Wilson, March 9
Join award-winning Dakota author, Diane Wilson, for the launch of her novel, The Seed Keeper, celebrating our relationship with Indigenous seeds. The event features a video poem created by Indigenous filmmaker Missy Whiteman, and brief readings from Dakota writers, Teresa Peterson and Gabrielle Tateyuskanskan.
The event is at 7 p.m. next Tuesday. Online registration here.
‘Memory March’ in Grand Rapids tomorrow (Wednesday) recalling largest inland oil spill in U.S. history
Tomorrow (Wednesday) marks the 30th anniversary of a failure in the Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline that spilled 1.7 million gallons of oil near Grand Rapids, Minn.
People will gather at the River Road Wayside Rest Area along Prairie River at 1 p.m. for the Memory March. Facebook Event Page here.
Short video of the 1991 spill here.
“No pipe is better than new pipe,” says Honor the Earth Executive Director, Winona LaDuke, whose organization is co-sponsoring the march with the Giniw Collective. “We want to acknowledge the dangers of Enbridge’s new line 3.
The Grand Rapids spill is not as well known as the Michigan’s Kalamazoo River spill. That took five years and more than $1.2 billion to clean up.
The 1991 Grand Rapids spill happened during the winter, and the snow and ice cover prevented it from getting into the Mississippi River.
Other Enbridge pipeline spills and incidents include:
- Aitkin County, Dec. 18, 2020: Line 3 worker killed when struck by fork lift.
- Cohasset, July 4, 2002, Enbridge Line 4 ruptures, sending 252,000 gallons of crude oil into a marsh.
- Clearbrook Junction, Nov. 28, 2007: A large fire erupts during a pipeline repair. Two workers
Facebook favors pipeline companies over water protectors
This falls in the infuriating-but-predictable news. Gizmodo recently ran a story headlined: Facebook Is Letting a Pipeline Company Run Ads While Muzzling Its Opponents.
Here’s the top:
Since the election, Facebook has cracked down on political ads across its platform in an attempt to squelch misinformation. But those ad policies may be letting polluters—including powerful pipeline companies—promote their messages while simultaneously restricting ads from green and Indigenous groups.
“If you have a David and Goliath fight, with all of us tiny nonprofits being the David, [Facebook] is giving Goliath all of the space in the fight,” Ashley Fairbanks, a Minneapolis-based communicator, told Earther.
Click on the link above for the rest.
LaSalle Valley flyover
We ran a post yesterday, Near fatal Line 3 accident seems to have been avoidable, that talks about unique challenges in the LaSalle Valley area, and provided more context for why a heavy piece of Line 3 equipment fell through the ice and became nearly submerged.
Friends at Watch the Line reminded me that we have a short video of a flyover of LaSalle Creek. It runs less than two minutes. Click here. At 11 seconds, the drone is facing southeast, looking down the existing pipeline corridor. At 35 seconds, the drone turns and looks north toward Big La Salle Lake.
Quebec’s Magpie River to be granted legal personhood, a first in Canada
The local municipality of Minganie in Quebec and the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit have granted personhood to the Magpie River, reports Canada’s National Observer. It continues:
It is unclear how this will affect attempts to build developments on the river, including dams, moving forward, as legal personhood for nature doesn’t exist in Canadian law and could be challenged in court. Minganie, Innu council and several environmental groups — collectively called the Alliance — hope international precedents set in New Zealand, Ecuador and several other countries will help pressure the Quebec government to formally protect the river.
healingmnstories.wordpress.com 
Thank you for pointing out the article about the Magpie River and its new legal status. One can only hope we would move toward similar formal recognition of the natural rights of rivers here in this country.
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