Protesters gathered in northern Minnesota where a Canadian company is poised to replace an aging pipeline that would carry oil through the state’s watersheds and tribal lands.
Over the weekend and into this week, demonstrators took part in drum circles and prayer gatherings to express their opposition to the $9 billion Enbridge pipeline expansion, dubbed Line 3. Others took more disruptive action geared toward blocking the construction efforts, leading to law enforcement action. Activists estimate that more than 160 people have been arrested.
Kerry Labrador, a 39-year-old Native American woman from Boston, was one person who chained herself to the tire of a crane machine inside the company’s facility. Labrador said she traveled two days to Minnesota to take part in the protest.
UPDATE: Lockdowns & arrests continued overnight, Hubbard County deployed an LRAD. 150+ Water Protectors are in custody.
The boat blockade is still holding, 30+ police on-site. We stand! ✊?❤️#StopLine3
Rapid response bail fund is here: https://t.co/DeLzilc0No pic.twitter.com/80NnkquzCl
— giniw collective (@GiniwCollective) June 8, 2021
“I’m sick and tired of these corporations busting through all these sacred lands, trying to take up everybody’s livelihoods and take away the sacredness this earth carries. And I’m done,” Labrador said.
A low-flying helicopter blew debris and dirt on protesters Tuesday, prompting an investigation by Customs and Border Protection.
“We respect everyone’s right to peacefully and lawfully protest, but trespass, intimidation, and destruction are unacceptable,” Michael Barnes, a spokesman for Enbridge, said in an email reported by the New York Times, which noted that the representative also said 44 workers had been evacuated from the site.
The Enbridge pipeline project is meant to replace the initial 1960s pipeline, which the company said can only run about half of its original capacity.
The new pipeline would be made from a tougher steel, which the company said will do more to protect the environment while also restoring the pipeline to its full capacity, according to a report. About 60% of the Minnesota portion of the pipeline has been built.
Once completed, the pipeline would be able to carry 760,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada and across northern Minnesota and Wisconsin through 340 miles of the network. It is scheduled to be finished by the end of 2021.
The pipeline received final approval under former President Donald Trump, but protesters are lobbying the Biden administration to weigh in on their grievances and offer an eleventh-hour suspension on the project.
Tara Houska, a tribal attorney and member of the Couchiching First Nation Anishinaabe, said she has been in talks with administration officials, including White House domestic climate adviser Gina McCarthy and David Hayes, who is a land and water use policy adviser to President Joe Biden.
“This is a huge project with huge climate implications,” Houska said. “You can’t cancel Keystone and then build an almost identical tar sands pipeline.”
The pipeline construction project has attracted attention from Hollywood, including actress Jane Fonda urging Biden to act.
Actress @Janefonda calls on Biden to stop the construction of the Line 3 pipeline, adding that the President has “done a lot of very good things. But not enough. Not bold enough. And not fast enough.” pic.twitter.com/v3ANSHL39z
— New Day (@NewDay) June 8, 2021
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On his first day in office, Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline project, an oil system running through the United States and Canada. Biden also faces pressure from climate activists and environmental groups to shut down the Dakota Access pipeline, which he said he would not order while an environmental review is being conducted.
Biden, who campaigned on tackling climate change, has not weighed in on Line 3.
