Reconciliation Pipeline? Efforts to stop Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline just got really messy

A few years ago I saw the powerful indigenous-made documentary Red Power Energy. It highlighted Indian Country’s divergent views on mining and resource management. It featured Native Nations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. Some Nations were mining coal and drilling oil as part of their economic development plans. Others rejected resource extraction in favor of sustainable wind farms and solar arrays.

I recalled that film when I read the latest news out of Canada on the controversial Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion. An indigenous-led group called “Project Reconciliation” is proposing to buy a majority stake in the pipeline. They are calling it the “Reconciliation Pipeline,” and using the tagline: “There’s a pipeline to reconciliation. We should take it.” According to its website:

Through majority Indigenous ownership, it [the pipeline] can improve Indigenous lives throughout the West. How? By returning profits made from shipping resources to market to the traditional owners of the land from which those resources came.

Duluth renames park in Ojibwe; Enbridge’s role in Line 3 front group exposed, and other updates

In this post:

• Duluth renames a city park in the Ojibwe language while opposition to restoring the name Bde Maka Ska continues in Minneapolis
• Enbridge’s role in Line 3 front group exposed
• Trump administration trying to crack down on pipeline protesters; protests continue in northern Minnesota
• Winona LaDuke’s excellent Op/Ed on Enbridge Line 3

Gov. Walz Executive Order Affirms Government-to-Government Relationship with Native Nations

Gov Tim Walz

Enbridge Line 3 could provide order’s first significant test

Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan met with leaders of Minnesota’s Native nations Monday in Morton, Minn. and held a ceremonial signing of an Executive Order that recognizes and supports “the unique status of the Minnesota Tribal Nations and their right to existence, self-govern, and possess self-determination.”

The order officially went into effect on April 5. According to a media release from the Governor’s office issued at that time, “the order applies to all state agencies and was made in consultation with both agencies and tribal governments as it was written.”

“This order ensures the State of Minnesota and the eleven tribes engage in true government-to-government relationships built on respect, understanding, and sovereignty,” said Governor Walz. “We are committed to meaningful consultation with the tribal communities in our state.” (Emphasis in original.)

Mark Charles Announces Presidential Run; Pope Backs Indigenous Land Rights, and More

In this blog:

• HMS friend Mark Charles (Dutch/Navajo) announces presidential run.
• Pope Sides with Indigenous Rights
• Rosebud Sioux Tribe to hold Keystone XL hearings
• School changes dress code, allowing Native student to wear eagle feathers at graduation

News and Events: MMIW Bill Expected to Pass; Four Sacred Directions Water Walk; New Native Theater Jam Sessions and More

Events in this blog:

• MMIW Bill Expected to Become Law
• Four Sacred Directions Water Walk Friday, May 24
• New Native Theatre Jam Sessions, Workshops, Centered on the Native Rights Movement

Updates: Keystone XL Delayed to 2020; Tar Sands Mining Co. Abandons 4,700 Wells, and More

Some quick tar sands crude oil updates. Remember, tar sands mining harms Canada’s First Nations People, it causes climate damage, and in the case of Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, it threatens our state’s cleanest waters and harms treaty rights.

• TransCanada announced to shareholders that Keystone XL will miss the 2019 construction season because of court challenges, according to an AP story run by KOTA-TV. (Keystone XL would transport Canadian tar sands crude oil through the U.S. to the Gulf ports.)
• The Alberta Energy Regulator announced the Trident Exploration Corporation abruptly shut down April 30, “without responding to an order to properly manage its 4,700 wells — adding to the more than 3,000 orphan wells already awaiting remediation in the province,” according to a story by the CBC. Trident estimated abandonment and reclamation costs at $329 million.
• Check out National Geographic’s photo essay on Canadian tar sands mining headlined: This is the world’s most destructive oil operation—and it’s growing.

 

Environmental Ancestry Storytelling; Indian Month Events, and NFL Mascot Dust-Up Over the Duluth Eskimos

You are invited to a special evening of storytelling featuring cultural artists Ifrah Mansour and Louis Alemayehu, together with live music and stories from community members. All are welcome to this free gathering, modeled after live storytelling initiatives such as The Moth.

Sponsored by Minneapolis Interfaith Power and Light, the event is Thursday, May 16, 2019 at 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Hook at Ladder Theater and Lounge, 3010 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis.