Stop Enbridge Pipeline 3!

LOVE WATER - NOT OIL!

STOP LINE 3 - MINNESOTA & ARMY CORPS APPROVED OIL PIPELINE

$2.6 Billion Line 3 Pipeline Greenlit through PUC "Retrofitting" Loophole - Enbridge is GASLIGHTING

What's most important to know about Enbridge Line 3 is the pipeline company has used a loophole in the law for their "replacement" project to manipulate the State of Minnesota and U.S. government into giving them a new right-of-way through the Mississippi Headwaters - A source of drinking water for over 13 million people! Between Line 3 and Line 5, Enbridge is putting the drinking water of 43 million people in danger, and their guarantees of "safety" and "proven science" belie their bad track record - Enbridge is GASLIGHTING!

More than a thousand water protectors were arrested protesting Line 3, but despite the resistance, Minnesota and the Army Corps of Engineers gave Enbridge the thumb's up. Line 3 currently runs through the Fond du Lac Reservation of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. For decades a network of pipelines has crossed the Fond du Lac Reservation, carrying millions of barrels of Canadian crude oil underneath its land every day. Line 3 has been around since the 1960s, and when Enbridge first proposed replacing it with a new line, the Fond du Lac band were among the most vocal opponents.

Enbridge wanted to replace the "deteriorating" Line 3 - Meaning there are already many leaks along the pipeline which have developed over the past 60 years - With a new pipeline that could carry nearly twice as much oil along with a new route across Minnesota. Seth Bichler, attorney for the Fond du Lac Band, called the "preferred" Enbridge route "by far the worst alternative". Enbridge first pursued the preferred route with their proposed Sandpiper pipeline project, shelved in 2014, which was meant to transfer Bakken oil from Williston, North Dakota to Superior, Wisconsin. However Line 3 is coming from Canada, carrying tarsands oil - The most corrosive of all!

Enbridge is hiding its ulterior motive of establishing better distribution for Bakken oil and natural gas as well, which is so backed up that a third of the Bakken gas is flared off, and when Bakken oil reserves were overflowing in 2016, Enbridge and cronies hired a bunch of thug cops to beat up unarmed water protectors at Standing Rock and push the Dakota Access pipeline down our throats! No thought was ever given to slowing down production. The paradigm out west in the oil fields is get as much as you can, as fast as you can - Damn the consequences. Enbridge wants to get the oil out white the gettin's good - Before it runs out! Then when the petrol-addicted world economy stalls to a standstill Enbridge will control the remaining fossil fuel - Total domination over the distribution of oil and gas out of North America will be theirs. Why do you think they want all of the water???

Enbridge figured they could kill two birds with one stone - Get twice the amount of tarsands out of Alberta by disguising Line 3 as an ambiguous "replacement" - And get the route they need to get the oil out of North Dakota. Yeehaw! Except horses don't run on petrol, and nowadays cowboys and Indians are on the same side - Sometimes. When an oil pipeline bursts on a farmer or rancher's land, or a fracking well is drilled, the community realizes too late their aquifer has been polluted. Rural white folks are finally coming together with Native people and their sympathizers, but some people blindly support Enbridge at Public Utilities Commission hearings - Probably because they're paid to be there!

"The natural resources in that corridor are unique. Many of them are irreplaceable," said Scott Strand, an attorney representing Friends of the Headwaters - A group of mostly white residents of northern Minnesota, who first allied with Native organization Honor the Earth to oppose the "preferred" route in 2013, when they defeated the proposed Enbridge Sandpiper project. Some of the areas along Enbridge's route are so remote it would be almost impossible to reach them to repair and clean up a leak.

Instead of listening to the community's rejections, the MN Public Utilities commissioners acted as if the Line 3 "replacement" had already been rubber-stamped, just as Enbridge is looking to do with their upcoming "Fond du Lac Line 4 Project". Enbridge public relations with the Minnesota Anishinaabe nations are in shambles, and their PR team sure has a twisted sense of "progress". The irony of their Line 4 proposal to restore the wetlands and traditional territories is painful to read: "Planned removal and relocation of an above-grade section of Line 4 using[...] construction techniques to make the area more accessible to tribal members for traditional uses, restore wetland hydrology, and better protect Line 4 from third-party damage". The sad part is Enbridge executives justify their environmental crimes, cover-up abuses against Mother Earth through "self regulation", and exacerbate settler-colonial aggression and land-theft. Enbridge have convinced themselves beyond the shadow of a doubt - No matter how many spills they're unquestionably responsible for - Enbridge is doing a good thing by "creating jobs", distributing "much-needed" fossil fuels, and now they're congratulating themselves for completing Line 3.

Enbridge has built up momentum for a new PR campaign to dedicate their newly proposed "relocation" project for the Line 4 "MinnCan" pipeline to "improve" the Fond du Lac nation's way of life. Fond du Lac will most assuredly object to the Line 4 relocation just like they did to Line 3's replacement! When asked by the PUC for a "least objectionable" route alternative for Line 3, tribes and environmental groups said they were all bad options - "All of them suck," said Paul Blackburn, attorney for the Native environmental group Honor the Earth.

The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, which had already hosted to Line 3 traveling through the Leech Lake Reservation, has insisted they will not permit a new pipeline. Leech Lake scoffed at an MN administrative judge's recommendation to replace the existing Line 3 along its current route - They need to "consent" to what happens on tribal land - They're a sovereign nation! Both Leech Lake and Fond du Lac had four Enbridge pipelines forced on them in the mid-twentieth century. Enbridge has capitulated to Leech Lake, arguing the preferred route will go south of the reservation, but they cannot avoid sacred sites. Enbridge's "preferred" route for Line 3 cut north of the off-reservation Big Sandy Lake, which is an area of great cultural importance to both the Fond du Lac band and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.

Since the Leech Lake and Fond du Lac bands said they would not allow Enbridge to build a new pipeline on their pre-existing route through their reservations, Enbridge's leverage over the PUC and MN Department of Pollution Control has been there must be a new route - And if the project was rejected, Enbridge would have had to continue operating the existing, falling apart P.O.S. Line 3 for "at least" the next 11 years. "Ignoring real known safety risks I think is at our own peril," PUC commissioner Katie Sieben said naively - Then turn off the damn pipe and keep the tarsands in the ground! Enbridge "public awareness" employees throw around the word "safety" like it's a "sweetie".

Enbridge attorney Christina Brusven said Enbridge could continue the current Line 3 "safely" - But she also said that "a replacement is a safer alternative". There is more than one degree of "safe" for Enbridge - For instance on March 3, 1991 Enbridge Line 3 ruptured in Grand Rapids, MN, spilling 1.7 MILLION gallons of crude oil into the frozen Prairie River - The LARGEST inland oil spill in U.S. history!

Fond du Lac attorney Seth Bichler called Enbridge out on it's Catch-22: "You can't base your decision on that - That's on the company. If they can't operate it safely, they need to shut it down." Of course nobody in a position of authority listened - The MN PUC and Army Corps of Engineers gave Enbridge their much-needed legal boost for construction - Delayed by thousands of water protectors working day and night to stop it!

* Photo features Sarah Little Red Feather courtesy of Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images

THE RESISTANCE CONTINUES: LINE 3 PROTESTERS RECLAIM THE LAND

Anishinaabekwe, Akiing, & Manoomin: The Ojibwe Water Carriers Protecting the Fourth Sister Wild Rice

On a hot June day in Minnesota amid a statewide drought, thousands of water protectors gathered separately - More than a thousand were marching on a highway near the Mississippi Headwaters. Meanwhile five hundred people led by Indigenous Anishinaabekwe women shut down an active Line 3 pump station! The direct action on June 7, 2021 halted construction of Enbridge Line 3 tarsands crude oil pipeline.

Anishinaabe elders held a treaty ceremony on behalf of the 1855 Treaty Authority at the site where the Line 3 pipeline was proposed to cross the Mississippi Headwaters. In addition to passing through the Fond du Lac reservations, Line 3 passes through 1842, 1854, and 1855 Anishinaabe treaty territories. The White Earth Band of Ojibwe requested a "nation-to-nation" dialogue with the Army Corps of Engineers, whom White Earth is suing in federal court, arguing they cannot issue a permit without tribal approval. The White Earth nation also sued the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) over a water crossing permit that was in the Minnesota Court of Appeals - Sadly in early June 2021 the Minnesota Court of Appeals reaffirmed state regulators' key approvals of Line 3 permits. The 2-1 ruling stated the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission "correctly" granted a certificate of need to Enbridge.

The demonstrations were part of the Treaty People Gathering, a mobilization planned by Indigenous-led groups, communities of faith, and climate justice organizations - Kicking off the beginning of what became a summer of resistance in Minnesota. What's at stake besides the obvious? Manoomin is the Anishinaabe word for "wild rice" - NOT that non-Native "crappy-paddy" rice you can buy on sale from the grocery store either! Manoomin is the "fourth sister" - The first three sisters being corn, beans, and squash - And the most important spiritual, sacred, and central part of Anishinaabe culture.

"This is part of the American Indian Religious Freedoms Act and our rights," said Frank Bibeau, tribal attorney for the White Earth Band. "Manoomin grows everywhere right now in northern Minnesota, and it's being starved out from water - It's being starved out for its nutrients." White Earth Band tribal council members spoke about a series of 19th-century treaties, beginning with the treaty of 1837, which was the first major land cession to the U.S. on behalf of the logging industry. The treaty of 1837 is notable for specifying the rights of the tribes to gather wild rice, hunt, and fish. An estimated 12 million acres of land in parts of present-day Minnesota and Wisconsin were stolen from the Anishinaabe in 1837 - "Sold" for less than six cents an acre! Despite losing their "real estate", the Anishinaabe retained their "usury" rights to hunt, fish, and gather, but their treaty territory have been threatened by industry many times before.

After the incorporation of the State of Minnesota, another treaty was signed "ceding" the northern shore of Minnesota along the banks of Lake Superior known as the Arrowhead Region, and the Fond du Lac Band were relocated to a small reservation from their aboriginal villages located in present-day Duluth for hundreds if not thousands of years - "Relocated" to the "P.O.W." or "concentration camp" known as the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation, where the Indigenous nation remains to this day.

The Treaty of 1854 allowed the Anishinaabe of the Arrowhead Region to retain extensive rights to use the land, and today the resource management related to these treaty rights is supposed to be undertaken in cooperation between the tribes and the State of Minnesota. Sadly the Treaty of 1855 led to even more land theft in the Mississippi Headwaters region - All the Anishinaabe people are saying is: "Keep your promises!"

U.S. state authorities such as the MN PUC, MPCA, and Army Corps are continuing to shirk their constitutional obligations under Article VI of the Constitution as they have for centuries - Same old story! First came the fur trade, then timber logging, then copper, gold, and iron mines, and by the 1950s the Anishinaabe got stuck with oil pipelines too - White people didn't want them coming through their own communities - Oil is filthy - But the settlers didn't mind sending them through Indian Country.

*Photo credit: Nicholas Pfosi/Reuters

* Click here or on photo to read "'Reclaiming the land': Indigenous fight against Line 3 ramps up" on Al Jazeera!

More than 1000 Water Protectors Arrested in Line 3 Protests

Minnesota PUC & Army Corps Greenlit $2.6 Billion Line 3 Oil & Gas Pipeline - Enbridge is GASLIGHTING

"The natural resources in that corridor are unique. Many of them are irreplaceable," said Scott Strand, an attorney representing Friends of the Headwaters - A group of mostly white residents of northern Minnesota, who first allied with Native organization Honor the Earth to oppose the "preferred" route in 2013, when they defeated the proposed Enbridge Sandpiper project. Some of the areas along Enbridge's route are so remote it would be almost impossible to reach them to repair and clean up a leak.

Both Leech Lake and Fond du Lac had four Enbridge pipelines forced on them in the mid-twentieth century. Enbridge has capitulated to Leech Lake, arguing the preferred route will go south of the reservation, but they cannot avoid sacred sites. Enbridge's "preferred" route for Line 3 cut north of the off-reservation Big Sandy Lake, which is an area of great cultural importance to both the Fond du Lac band and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.

* Photo via Giniw Collective

* Click here or on image for more info about Stop Line 3!

Indigenous Spirituality at the Forefront of Water Protection

The Spirits of Indigenous Ancestors & 7th Generation are Fighting to Defend the Mighty Mississippi!

Returning to June 7, 2021, about 200 people set up tents on platforms Enbridge had built to allow heavy machinery to roll over the marshy land in an effort to prevent construction. Another group blocked the road to an Enbridge pump station and locked themselves to equipment. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter hovered about 20 feet above the pump station, kicking up a cloud of dust in an attempt to clear out demonstrators, but water protectors stood strong. "They're exercising their treaty rights by being in that encampment," said Bineshi Albert, organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network.

In total during the 1800s, the Anishinaabe signed a total of 44 treaties with the U.S. government, which created the state of Minnesota and guaranteed tribal rights to hunt, fish, and gather wild rice - Now their constitutionally-guaranteed rights are threatened by further pipeline construction, oil spills, and the "man-made" climate crisis. The police arrested 179 people on June 7, 2021, charging them with three misdemeanors, and police sent out a press release including a photo of protesters burning a tire at the pump station in an attempt to discredit them.

"We respect everyone's right to peacefully and lawfully protest, but trespass, intimidation, and destruction are unacceptable," Enbridge said in a statement - They can't be serious! Enbridge summarized five centuries of aggressive settler-colonialism in one sentence - Bravo! Alas if only Enbridge executives would take a look in the mirror and realize they'd just described themselves. Despite closed-door meetings about the Line 3 pipeline, the Biden administration never publicly addressed the Line 3 demonstrations - Guess Joe Biden drew his "thin red line" at the KXL! On September 29, 2021 Enbridge announced the Line 3 "replacement" had been completed, with their new "state-of-the-art" 1,097 mile-long pipeline stretching from Edmonton, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin - The state of Minnesota had become the final battleground over Line 3.

"From day one, this project has been about modernizing our system and improving safety and reliability for the benefit of communities, the environment, and our customers," said Al Monaco, Enbridge President and CEO. Enbridge may have once again won the battle, but they have not won the war against Anishinaabe Akiing - Grandmother Earth. Millions of people across the U.S. and Canada are beginning see through the lies and propaganda of the fossil fuel industry. An isolated incident between Tania Aubid, a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, and a police officer was a microcosm of the authoritarian response to the pipeline resistance movement, encapsulating the pathological settler response of Indigenous peoples exercising their rights based on their special legal status as "American Indian".

Aubid had decided to abstain from protests and remain in an Anishinaabe 'Midewiwin' medicine lodge, which stood between the Line 3 pipeline route and the Mississippi Headwaters, where the coalition of Indigenous women on the frontline known as the Giniw (Golden Eagle) Collective had gathered. Protected by the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, Aubid had every right to be there, but an officer with the Aitkin County Sherriff's Department told Aubid she was trespassing: "You know what you're doing is wrong!" After a phone call to the "Northern Lights Task Force", a group of out-of-area law enforcement which oversaw the Line 3 protests, the officer told Aubid she could stay.

"That's what my family and others who are the original people from these lands have been doing for millennia," said Aubid who uses the lodge for ceremonies, adding she wants future generations to have a healthy environment and "a clean playground".Despite Enbridge's completion of the Line 3 "replacement" Simone Senogles, Anishinaabekwe Board Treasurer of the Indigenous Environmental Network from the Red Lake Ojibwe Nation, emphasized the positive impact of Line 3 protests: "It's healing for us, and in my opinion, this kind of strategy is very long-term thinking, where we occupy the land and reclaim our food systems, our ceremony, our language, our relationship to the land, because that is environmental protection. When you have empowered, culturally competent Indigenous people, then the land is healthy."

* Photo courtesy Rilyn Eischens/Minnesota Reformer

FOND DU LAC FACED IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE ABOUT LINE 3 PIPELINE

Fond du Lac Tribal Council Decided to Allow Line 3 through Reservation - Community Now Divided

Unfortunately after the PUC approved the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, the Fond du Lac business council decided to allow Line 3 to run through its original easement through the reservation. Fond du Lac was faced with an impossible choice: Either risk an oil spill in their culturally imperative Big Sandy Lake, or further endanger their reservation where Line 3 already ran through. However there were many tribal members who said: "No Pipelines" and were not willing to compromise with Enbridge. With all due respect to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the tribal council is a result of the colonial Indian Reorganization Act, and the IRA government does not necessarily represent the views of the Anishinaabe 1855 Treaty Council.

"Normal" no longer exists for communities along the Line 3 pipeline route, especially for water protectors who chose to put themselves on the front lines opposing the pipeline, knowing full well there would be consequences for their actions. Many received misdemeanors, which will most likely be expunged from their records after a year, if they stay out of "trouble" - Meaning stay away from pipelines! Some have received trumped-up charges of gross misdemeanors and even felonies. If the water protectors are convicted of these serious charges, there could be personal and professional consequences for the rest of their lives - DROP THE CHARGES!

Similarly on October 27, 2016 over a hundred #NoDAPL water protectors were arrested, and all were charged with felonies by the State of North Dakota. Fortunately the DAPL charges in ND were dropped, but the accused Line 3 protesters in Minnesota are still awaiting trial, and their legal future remains uncertain. Unless the individuals are pardoned by the Governor of Minnesota, a felony charge will follow them their entire lives - Felons cannot vote, leave the country, or even board a plane! Even a "gross" misdemeanor can make the process of getting a decent job, housing, or receiving social services very difficult.

Water protectors protesting Line 3 have had their relationships with life, work, family, and the land changed forever, especially those from the Fond du Lac Reservation, who face resistance from their own community for defying the tribal council's decision. Despite their suffering, Fond du Lac water protectors are grateful for the knowledge and experience they gleaned from joining water protectors, many of whom completely changed their lives and views. "I'm learning about words and concepts I never heard of before," said water protector Jason Goward, a citizen of the Fond du Lac nation, who left his job with Enbridge when he realized the project was impacting his ancestral territories. "I'm connecting with a whole group of people who read through issues and understand the before acting. I've realized that it's the overall servitude to capitalism that makes everyone depend on corporations and extractive industries," said Goward.

Water protectors Jason Goward and Taysha Martineau, also an enrolled member of Fond du Lac, have found themselves not only at odds with tribal leadership but also with friends and family. Martineau says the opposition of Fond du Lac tribal members against Line 3 has created divisions and tensions for them. Native water protectors have been accused by their community for bringing negative attention to the reservation, and attracting non-Native protesters who engaged in violent tactics, such as claims in February 2021 that a bomb was thrown into an Enbridge construction site - No bomb was ever found.

Like many Fond du Lac tribal members Jason Goward has been struggling to get out of poverty his entire life, but in February 2021 he had a change of heart: "I though if I worked for a couple of years at [Enbridge], I could finally get ahead a little bit. I didn't think about the impact of the pipeline on our lands and way of life." One day Goward saw a flock of sandhill cranes - Ajaak in Anishinaabe - Fly over the Enbridge job site he was working at - The Crane Clan Ajaak Dodem - Are the ones who speak for the people. The cranes were fleeing the wetlands at the sound and disturbance of the heavy machinery he operated. Water protectors opposing Line 3 shouted at Goward, demanding to know why he was destroying his own homelands - He recognized friends among those chewing him out. One of the water protectors was crying. Goward thought about his young sons, who one day will hunt, fish, trap, gather medicines, and harvest manoomin "wild rice" as part of their Anishinaabe birthrights. "I had kind of an epiphany," said Goward. "Maybe I'm not on the right side of this. I began to think of the pipeline's impact on our water and wild rice; that rice is part of the reason Ojibwe came to this area so long ago." Goward abruptly walked off the job. "I had so much guilt, embarrassment, and shame hurting my ancestral lands."

By joining water protectors opposing Line 3, Gower and Martineau have broadened their understanding of connections between the reliance on corporate driven fossil fuel extraction and dangers to the environment, along with problems like sex trafficking and violence against Indigenous women. However their dedication to Mother Earth has led to problems with their own community and even their families. "Several people were calling for Taysha [Martineau] and me to be banished from the reservation," Goward said. He's worried he may never be able to find a good-paying job on the reservation now. "I'm kind of exiled personally and professionally," he said. "There will probably be harsh words exchanged over this for the next 20 years - Some people will hold grudges."

Martineau has also experienced a push back, after she was arrested in August 2021 for locking herself to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's fence at his house in St. Paul, demanding he take action against Line 3 - The police took away her child! "It was absolutely terrifying; [my son] was away from me for four days, but it felt like an eternity," she said. Martineau's attorney negotiated the child's return, and the case is now in custody court - Native people are four times more likely to have their children placed in foster care than non-Native parents. "The fact is that Indigenous people often go through this all the time - It's heartbreaking," said Martineau.

More than a thousand water protectors were arrested during actions opposing Line 3. Hubbard County MN Attorney Jonathan Frieden, who is prosecuting nearly 500 Line 3 arrest cases, said the felony theft charges involve people who locked themselves to equipment, having deprived Enbridge from using the machines for just a few hours. "Them not being able to be used for even a short time costs thousands and thousands of dollars in lost revenue or productivity," said Attorney Frieden. In Aitkin County Sheriff Dan Guida charged two protesters with a felony charge of "aiding an attempted suicide", when they refused to leave the pipe into which they had climbed into, despite being in danger from extreme heat and lack of oxygen according to police. Nobody died, but Sheriff Guida said he believes the charges are justified: "They were willing to die in that pipe," he said. "They crawled into the back of a pipe and they put themselves in a situation that was absolutely 100% very dangerous."

Defense attorney Jordan Kushner disputes the charges: "They jazzed up the complaint in a way that looked like their life was in danger, and therefore they took that to mean that they were trying to help kill themselves. Don't ask me to try to make sense of it. It's pretty straight-forward - [The MN police] want to scare people away from continuing political resistance against Line 3," Kushner added. "These actions, such as locking oneself to equipment, are traditional acts of civil disobedience."

The hundreds of legal cases against water protectors have strained the county court systems of Minnesota. Defendants are likely to wait months for their cases to be heard, experience case postponements, and many have not yet been assigned public defenders. "Having a gross misdemeanor or felony charge handing over your head makes many things such as finding a job or housing very difficult," said defense attorney Pat Handlin, who represents several water protectors. Jason Goward was himself charged with felony theft for locking down to Enbridge equipment near the Red Lake treaty camp in August - The same machinery he used to operate. He worries his already poor job prospects may be even more bleak.

Defense attorney Handlin thinks prosecuting attorneys are pursuing charges on behalf of Enbridge and not the interests of residents of Minnesota. "Sometimes county attorneys get tunnel vision and forget they are supposed to act in the taxpayers' interest rather than spending all this money on cases that ultimately should be dismissed." Longtime Aitkin County resident and reporter Lynn Mizner says while small businesses in the county saw a surge in business during Line 3 construction - Not only because of Enbridge's presence but that of water protectors as well - Now business has mostly returned to pre-construction levels. "Some people who sold easements to Enbridge made money and were able to pay off their farms," said Mizner - But their farms won't be worth anything if and when Line 3 bursts on their property! However landowners along the route also faced eminent domain from the State of Minnesota - Seizing private property for "public works" projects (even though Enbridge is a privately-owned company) - So the farmers' decision was a lose-lose similar to that of Fond du Lac.

Of course pro-pipeline propaganda abounded during construction, with Minnesota Public Radio quoting Backus, MN Corner Store owner Dave Sheley, who described Line 3 workers as a "godsend". The "man-camps" are precisely what their name implies: camps housing mainly male employees working on resource development projects. For weeks or months at a time, these camps are their home - Realistically the "man-camps" are often cesspools of transactional sex, rape, and sexual slavery.

Enbridge brags about benefiting communities along the pipeline route with millions of dollars in increased property tax revenue, in addition to creating 8,600 jobs, many of which they fail to mention are temporary. "Once [the pipeline] is built, it's basically just carrying crude oil through an area," said economics professor Louis Johnston. "Unless there's some maintenance that needs to be done, the local area isn't going to notice its effects." Ultimately Enbridge only created 20 permanent jobs as a result of Line 3!

Aitkin Independent Age reporter Lynn Mizner said now that the work is finished and Enbridge is gone, she worries the real danger is just beginning: "The water protectors and citizen environmentalists are mostly the ones who watched and monitored the pipeline for frack-outs and accidents. We all know that eventually something is going to happen, and it may not get reported."

Shanai Matteson, a non-Native water protector who planned on staying at Honor the Earth's anti-pipeline camp near the town of Palisade, MN, said she returned to the area to support Indigenous people opposing Line 3. "It's not the end of the Line 3 struggle, but it is a turning point," said Matteson. "The work of resisting these extractive industries coming into communities in this way is ongoing." This calls on the "Just Transition", ironically developed by members of the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic workers union during the 1990s, following the public release of scientific evidence that fossil fuels played a role in the man-made climate crisis. Exxon/Mobil scientists first reported in 1979 of a global climate catastrophe by 2050 if nothing was done to curb fossil fuel emissions. Coincidentally crude oil prices nearly doubled in the U.S. in twelve months during 1979, as if the oil and gas industry were exacerbating America's addiction to petroleum. The "Just Transition" envisions phasing out unsustainable, pollution industries, and creating economies based on regenerative jobs.

Martineau and Goward are pursuing the same goals on the Fond du Lac Reservation at Camp Migizi, a parcel of land Martineau bought through crowd-funding as a base for water protectors opposing Line 3. "We want to show people that there is a better way to live, where we're free from our fossil fuel addictions, where people can live alongside one another in these communities. The community we've build here in these woods is proof that we've won." The water protector movement is more than just protesting a pipeline, Martineau said: "We sacrificed relationships with our own families and our tribe, but we believe that stopping Line 3 and the destruction of the fossil fuel industry on Indigenous peoples and lands is in the best interest of everyone globally."

However the dominant mentality in northern Minnesota has become "seeing is believing" - "They see grass growing over the construction sites, and it's all going back to normal," said Lynn Mizner. "Something has to happen to people personally before they give it their attention." Mizner, Martineau, Goward, and Matteson all agree that although Enbridge succeeded in completing Line 3, the struggle against the pipeline was totally worth it. "A lot of people may be discouraged right now, but we saw people pulling together like I've never seen before to oppose Line 3 - In many ways I think the battles are just starting," Mizner said. Martineau agreed: "Here in northern Minnesota we are showing the world and the next generation it's important to stand up for what you believe in."

* Photo of Big Sandy Lake courtesy Alison Johnson Schroeder via Pintrest