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We saw the police violence that occurred at Standing Rock, where Indigenous water protectors and allies were trying to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. We saw the police violence that occurred across the country in response to protests following George Floyd’s murder.
People are concerned about police violence that could occur in northern Minnesota in response to construction of the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands crude oil pipeline. We know there is strong opposition. We know that the state started organizing the “Northern Lights Task Force” in 2018, a coalition of law enforcement agencies preparing for Line 3 protests, including training and stockpiling gear. The Canadian pipeline corporation Enbridge is helping to coordinate communications, resources, and even funding the purchase of policing equipment through the Public Utilities Commission.
Our friends at Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light are circulating a sign-on letter for religious and spiritual leaders to preempt a violent response. Please share this with any religious or spiritual leaders you know. Continue reading
You are invited to “Protecting our Sacred Water: A Gathering at the Headwaters” at Lake Itasca State Park, on the weekend of September 21-22.
As part of a global week of climate action, Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light and Honor the Earth will once again bring an interfaith voice to the environmental justice movement. Join us for our second year at the Headwaters of the Mississippi River for a community gathering and prayer circle to honor the sacredness of water. We’ll learn about Treaty Rights, pipeline routes, language and culture, and more. The weekend will culminate with a prayer circle at the Mississippi Headwaters in which leaders from every major faith tradition will affirm the sacred nature of water and our moral commitment to protecting life, and saying no Line 3.
Details on the Facebook Event Page. RSVP here. More events follow.
Rev. Jim Bear Jacobs, founder of Healing Minnesota Stories, joined roughly 75 other faith and indigenous leaders who gathered in the Governor’s Conference Room today to pray, sing, hold an Anihsinaabe water ceremony, and make a clear demand that Gov. Tim Walz stop the Enbridge Line 3 crude oil pipeline — an unnecessary and dangerous project that violates treaty rights.
“Today, my message to Gov. Walz is that you cannot claim to be an ally to indigenous people when you knowingly introduce toxins into the food and water systems. And that is exactly what Enbridge Line 3 will do,” said Jacobs, who is a member of the Mohican Nation. “… I stand with all of you in hope that Gov. Walz will take heroic action and sign an executive order halting Line 3 where it stands,”
At a minimum, Jacobs said Walz needs to support a Minnesota Department of Commerce lawsuit to stop Line 3, an action begun by former Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration. The suit argues Enbridge failed to prove the new and expanded Line 3 was needed. The Walz administration is now reevaluating the lawsuit and the Governor is expected to announce early next week which side he will take.
Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light organized the event. (Note: There’s still time to call the Governor this weekend — 651-201-3400 — to oppose Line 3.) Continue reading
Faith leaders and community members from all religious traditions are invited to join a spiritually grounded action against the Enbridge Line 3 crude oil pipeline through northern Minnesota on Friday, Feb. 8. The action will be held in solidarity with Indigenous Water Protectors. This is a moral action on the pressing issues of climate change and racial justice. Here are the details:
Date: Friday, Feb. 8
Time: 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
Location: Governor Walz’s Office, State Capitol, St. Paul. (Gather in the Rotunda at 11:15 a.m.) Continue reading
As expected, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) today rejected requests to reconsider its approval of the Enbridge Line 3 crude oil pipeline through northern Minnesota. As predictable as it was, the decision remains heart breaking.
Red Lake, White Earth, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, the Minnesota Department of Commerce, Honor the Earth, the Sierra Club, the Youth Climate Intervenors, and Friends of the Headwaters had asked the PUC to reconsider approving Line 3. Commissioners summarily and unanimously dismissed their request, 5-0. The PUC continued to ignore the Environmental Impact Statement’s conclusion that Line 3 would generate $287 billion in climate damage. It continued to ignore the Administrative Law Judge’s findings that approving Enbridge’s preferred route failed to meet the cost/benefit test. It continued to ignore Commerce’s conclusion that Enbridge failed to prove Line 3 was needed. It continued to ignore the impacts the pipeline would have on treaty rights.
The PUC took no comments from intervening parties asking for reconsideration. The whole process probably lasted five minutes, enough time for a few commissioners to say they had already considered these issues and there was nothing more to talk about.
The PUC gave Enbridge pretty much everything it wanted. It’s an example of corporate capture, where the government institutions created to protect the public get co-opted by corporate interests. Its the Minnesota version of what is happening with the Environmental Protection Agency.
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By Scott Russell
Approximately 50 Anishinaabe leaders, faith leaders, and environmental activists occupied an intersection in downtown Bemidji for about three hours Wednesday to continue to bring attention to the tremendous risks posed by the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline and to pressure Gov. Mark Dayton to take a stand opposing it.
Simultaneous to the Bemidji action, other water protectors occupied the anteroom at Dayton’s Capitol office with laptops to Live Stream the event. Twenty-six water protectors eventually received disorderly conduct citations from Bemidji police when they refused the order to disperse.
Dayton has declined to take a position on Line 3. For the past year, he has said he wanted to wait and let the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) make its decision. That decision came in June, and it was irresponsible. The PUC went against the advice of state regulators and the Administrative Law Judge reviewing the proposal and approved Line 3.
The project threatens Minnesota’s clean waters and the world’s climate. The main beneficiary is a large Canadian corporation.
Dayton’s silence is his tacit approval with the project moving forward. The action was meant to let Dayton know that opposition is not going away.
Call the Governor at 651-201-3400 or 800-657-3717 and let him know that you expect him to do everything in his power to ensure that the Line 3 tar sands pipeline is never built.
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