In Bizarro World, Water Protectors Are Scary, Climate Change Is Not

Photo: Ginew Collective Facebook Page

This morning, one person was arrested at Enbridge’s headquarters in Superior, Wisc., an action timed to protest Enbridge’s annual shareholder meeting in Calgary where the company no doubt was praising its proposed new Line 3 project. The water protector was suspended from a tripod and hung there until the local Fire Department came and brought him down.

It was part of an ongoing protest against the Line 3 tar sands crude oil pipeline. It would cross 340 miles of northern Minnesota, ultimately connecting to a terminal in Superior. Line 3 would cross more than 200 Minnesota water bodies (including the Mississippi headwaters), threaten treaty rights and create as much climate damage as approving 50 new coal-fired energy plants.

Today’s action offers a small metaphor for how distorted the public thinking has become on these issues. Somehow Anthony Graham (Chumash), the person suspended from the tripod, was seen as the threat requiring a heavy police response instead of the much more dangerous pipeline.

“I stand in solidarity with my relatives up north and across Turtle Island,” Graham said in a media release from the Ginew Collective. “This is for the future. We have to be brave and fight. The oil industry is trying to grow when we know climate change is killing us. No more tar sands.”

Here’s an update on today’s actions and reflections on what is and is not a threat.

Trump Expected to Sign Executive Order Expediting Pipelines, Report Says, and Other News

President Trump is expected to sign an executive order next week to speed up pipeline development, according to a report in Axios. This could impact plans for Keystone XL, and possibly Enbridge Line 3.

According to the story:

White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said the executive order could come as soon as next week, while speaking at a closed-door event Wednesday hosted by conservative think tank American Council for Capital Formation, according to two sources with direct knowledge.

[Update: This just in from Bloomberg News this afternoon: Trump Doubles Down on Keystone XL Pipeline, Issuing New Permit:

President Donald Trump issued a new permit for TransCanada Corp.’s controversial Keystone XL pipeline Friday, circumventing a court ruling that blocked a previous authorization by his State Department.

Click on the link for more details.]

MN Dept. of Commerce Joins Appeal Against Enbridge Line 3, Protest at Line 3 Storage Yard, and More

More than 50 pipeline resisters met at this pipeline storage yard in a Carlton County gravel pit Thursday to call on the state to halt all Line 3 construction and pre-construction activities until all Line 3 reviews are complete. Enbridge has several such storage yards around the state that don’t have appropriate permits.

Governor Mark Dayton came out today against the Enbridge Line 3 crude oil pipeline through northern Minnesota, backing a legal challenge by the Minnesota Department of Commerce to overturn the decision of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

Members of MN350, the Youth Climate Intervenors and the Sierra Club stopped by Gov. Dayton’s office today to thank his staff for his support of the Line 3 appeal.

In a decision that didn’t seem to line up with the facts, the PUC voted this summer to grant Line 3 a Certificate of Need and a Route permit. Line 3 will add significantly to climate damage and violate treaty rights. Oil spills from Line 3 could damage the Mississippi River and our clean lakes and streams. The evidence shows Minnesota doesn’t need this pipeline; it will only serve to help Canada’s foreign export efforts.

Indigenous and environmental groups have been pushing Dayton to take a stand against Line 3 for more than a year. Now in his final weeks in office, Dayton took a very positive step to stop this unnecessary project. According to his news release, he said:

“I strongly support my Commerce Department’s appeal of the Public Utilities Commission’s Order.

“Enbridge failed to provide a future demand forecast for its product, which is required by state law. Instead, the company presented its analysis of the future oil supply from Canadian tar sands extractions. It failed to demonstrate that Minnesota needs this pipeline to meet our future oil demand. In fact, most of the product would flow through our state to supply other states and countries.

Join Indigenous-Led Resistance to Line 3 on Thursday

The indigenous-led Ginew collective is leading an action this Thursday near Carlton, MN to draw attention to Enbridge’s illegal pipe storage yards that the company has been building to prepare for constructing the Line 3 pipeline. See Facebook Page here.

MN350 is is organizing a bus for those in the Twin Cities who cannot or don’t want to drive (see link here). Departure and return point is the parking lot of the Lake Street Target (2500 E Lake St, Minneapolis). Show up at 7:45 a.m. Thursday, bus leaves at 8 a.m. Bus will return to Minneapolis around 5 p.m. the same day.

Rides are on a pay-as-you-can basis. The actual cost to MN350 is $60 per person.

This action will remain on public roads and will not involve arrestable direct action.