Cuba isn’t the only country that fears its own people, just check out northern Minnesota

Last, week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized the Cuban government for suppressing peaceful protests by its citizens seeking a better life. Cuba’s actions lay bare “the regime’s fear of its own people and unwillingness to meet their basic needs and aspirations,” Blinken said.

Note to Blinken: Come visit northern Minnesota where 600 people have been arrested for resisting the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Indigenous communities are trying to protect their way of life, their wild rice, and their treaties. Others have joined to support them to protect the planet and a livable climate.

The Line 3-related arrests and police actions show that our “regime” fears its own people, too.

Like the old Line 3 pipeline, Minnesota’s regulatory system is corroded and compromised

Enbridge’s 2010 Kalamazoo spill cost more than $1 billion to clean up. Minnesota regulators feared this could happen here. (Photo: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

The current Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline is more that 50 year’s old. It’s badly corroded and only runs at only 50 percent capacity to reduce spill risks.

Monitoring tools inside the pipeline identify potential problems. When found, workers dig down to the pipeline, inspect it, and make repairs. This is called an “integrity dig.” Enbridge estimated the current Line 3 would need 4,000 integrity digs over 15 years for its safe operation. That’s a lot of digging.

There’s a lot more integrity problems than just one old pipeline. Our entire regulatory system has integrity problems, including its failure to stop the dangerous and unnecessary Line 3 pipeline.

Collectively, we need to dig into this corroded system, understand how it got so compromised, and fix it.

Water protectors seek restraining order against county sheriff for harassment, blocking property access

Indigenous water protectors are seeking an emergency Temporary Restraining Order against the Hubbard County Sheriff. It’s in response to a months-long campaign by the Sheriff’s Office of unlawful harassment, arrests, and efforts to block property access, they say.

EarthRights International and Center for Protest Law and Litigation are representing the water protectors.

This law enforcement response didn’t come out of nowhere, it’s been in the works for years. Enbridge and law enforcement have worked hand-in-hand to plan their response to Line 3 resistance. Enbridge is indirectly funding law enforcement’s Line 3 responses, buying law enforcement good will.

Walz has given more time to sheriffs concerned about Line 3 than water protectors, and other pipeline updates

In this blog:

• Walz listens more to law enforcement’s Line 3 concerns than the Stop Line 3 Coalition
• Enbridge’s Public Safety Escrow Account seems to have co-opted law enforcement to serve as Enbridge’s private security
• MN county sheriffs lobbied for friendly Line 3 Public Safety Escrow Account manager
• U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm says there are better uses for pipelines than carrying tar sands oil
• Pipeline private security firm gets lax oversight compared to water protector scrutiny
• Internationally, mining projects use private security for blackmail, spying, threats against the opposition
• New Byhalia pipeline route would cut through predominantly African American neighborhoods in Memphis

Weekend Reads: EPA presses for wild rice water protection, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard walks on, and more

• EPA presses MPCA to protect wild rice
• LaDonna Brave Bull Allard walks on
• PUC to hear Honor the Earth’s petition to investigate Enbridge’s pipeline data
• Dakota ‘Village of Well Being’ still hoping to get building code waiver
• Law enforcement bill to Enbridge for Line 3 protection reaches $500,000
• Gov. Walz gets low to failing grades on protecting our climate

Document provides new evidence of Line 3 workers assaulting women and girls

MMIW rally today (Saturday) to put heat on Gov. Walz

A Thief River Falls non-profit providing emergency services to victims of domestic and sexual violence says its seen an increase in demand for help since construction began on the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline.

A document submitted to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) from the Violence Intervention Project (VIP) says local women and girls are getting verbally harassed by Line 3 workers, too.

This news comes on top of the recent report of a human trafficking sting in Northern Minnesota which resulted in the arrest of two Line 3 workers. One of those men was charged with soliciting sex with a minor.

Indigenous people warned state regulators that Line 3 would bring increased sex and drug trafficking to the area — and add to the existing epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives. State regulators and labor unions didn’t seem to take their concern very seriously at the time the permits were issued.

Indigenous people and allies are gathering Saturday, noon – 2 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.

Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office seeks nearly $200,000 reimbursement for its Line 3-related work

Expenses include everything from ballistic helmets, gas masks and batons to staff mobile field force training

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC’s) Line 3 Route Permit required the company to establish a “Public Safety Escrow Account” to reimburse state and local law enforcement for additional public safety costs they incurred around Line 3’s construction.

The proposed Line 3 route crosses more than a dozen counties. The Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office is the first law enforcement agency to submit reimbursement requests. More are sure to follow.

Healing Minnesota Stories obtained copies of multiple invoices submitted by the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office to the PUC; they total $189,000. Reimbursement requests fall in three main buckets: equipment purchases, staff training, and responses to Line 3 water protectors.