Legislators tell MPCA to reject Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, MN Dept. of Commerce needs to refile Line 3 appeal

File: MPCA Commissioner Laura Bishop.

Thirty-four state lawmakers submitted a letter to Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Commissioner Laura Bishop Wednesday, urging action to deny the Enbridge the environmental certificate it needs to build the Line 3 pipeline expansion.

Line 3 threatens our state’s clean waters, our climate, and treaty rights, they said.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Department of Commerce faces an Aug. 19 deadline to refile its legal objections to Line 3. Commerce’s independent analysis shows that Enbridge failed to prove this pipeline is needed. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved the project over Commerce’s objections. Commerce now needs to take the issue to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

Recent news from the Canadian tar sands region strengthens Commerce’s hand. It shows the industry is tanking, meaning there’s even less demand for Enbridge’s new pipeline.

Action by the MPCA and the Department of Commerce could help stop this dangerous project.

Bill to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Moves Through MN House

Mysti Babineau testifies. HF70 author Rep. Mary Kunesh-Podein sits to her right.

Mysti Babineau, an enrolled member of the Red Lake Nation, endured horrific trauma growing up, one of many unknown stories of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Babineau is a survivor who lived to tell her story.

“I was raped for the first time when I was 9 by a boyfriend of my foster mom at the time,” Babineau told members of the House Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Finance and Policy Division Tuesday. “When I was 12, I witnessed my grandmother murdered in front of me. I watched her attacker go after my mother and after me. I fought for my life … I have the scars on my hands today.”

“When I was 20, I was kidnapped. I was taken over 60 miles from my home. I was held and I was raped. I got away.”

Babineau and other indigenous women shared their painful stories to gain support for HF70, a bill carried by Rep. Mary Kunesh-Podein (D-New Brighton) to create a Task Force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), a beginning step in addressing this ongoing crisis.