Duluth, MN -- Nearly 1,000 people gathered today on the shores of Gichi-gami—Lake Superior— for a rally and march to express their ongoing opposition to Enbridge’s Line 3 tar sands pipeline. The crowd expressed appreciation to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for yesterday's denial of a key water crossing permit for the pipeline, and urged the Walz administration to continue to do everything in their power to ensure that this pipeline is never built.
If built, Line 3 would threaten Minnesota’s land, clean water, Tribal sovereignty, and our climate. It would carry dirty tar sands oil through critical ecological and cultural resources including Ojibwe treaty land, wild rice lakes, and the headwaters of the Mississippi River, as well as enabling expanded development of tar sands, one of the most climate-polluting fuels on the planet.
The event was organized by MN350, Sierra Club, Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light, Power Shift Network, Seek Joy, Northfield Against Line 3, and other community groups, and was attended by hundreds of people from across Minnesota and the Great Lakes region. This rally capped off a global week of action on climate that began last Friday, when thousands of youth activists in the Twin Cities went on strike from school to call for climate action.
Photos from today’s march and rally available for use by the press are here.
“I oppose Line 3 because it endangers everything that the people in Minnesota hold dear and why we live in Minnesota. Our clean environment, our beautiful fish-filled lakes, our sacred and very fragile wild rice bed, and bountiful land,” said Louisa Posada Eckstine, Vice Chair of the MN DFL Native People Caucus and a member of the Pasqua Yaqui Yeome, Mescalero Apache, and Talequah Cherokee Nation. “We are just stewards of Turtle Island, and pass this stewardship to this next generation. Do we pass it forward in a good way, saying we did all we could to keep it clean? Yes, we do. We do all we can to fight this black snake of greed and corruption. The few jobs it brings do not wash the responsibility away, when we no longer have clean water, or rice or fish. We are looking to our future -- where do you stand? The Native People's Caucus stands up for Minnesota's land, water, animals, and our children. Stand with us.”
“My excitement for this gathering stems from the opportunity to educate and inform people on how sex trafficking, missing and murdered Indigenous women and relatives, and the racist colonial resource extraction practiced by companies like Enbridge all intertwine,” said Taysha Martineau, Fond Du Lac Band Member and Gitchigumi Scout. “The face of opposition to Line 3 is not an angry protester, we are parents, fighting for the right to just be who we are as Anishinaabe."
“We all have value and we all need to stand together side by side in a voice of commonality. To speak loud and clear and continue our fight to save our earth, our air, our water, our climate, said Skip Sandman, Fond du Lac member, Spiritual advisor and Tribal Elder. “We need to stand together in unity to save our earth, our air, our water, and our climate for future generations.”
"Line 3 poses an unacceptable threat to Minnesota's waterways and our climate," said Linda Herron, Duluth-based volunteer leader with the Sierra Club North Star Chapter. "While we are glad that the MPCA has taken action to demand more information from Enbridge, we continue to call on Gov. Walz and the MPCA to protect our clean water from this dirty tar sands pipeline and we hope they will continue to do all they can to make sure it is never built."
"Minnesotans have been heard today," said Andy Pearson, Midwest Tar Sands Coordinator with MN350. "We're saying loud and clear: protect our water, protect Lake Superior, don't build this pipeline. The science overwhelmingly shows we need to keep tar sands oil in the ground to avoid climate chaos. Line 3 must not and will not be built."
“We need to be off oil in the next two decades. Building Line 3 keeps us tied to oil for decades to come,” said Priya Dalal-Whelan, outreach director for Minnesota Youth Climate Strike. “It’s simply impossible.”
“The tar sands oil that Line 3 carries is the dirtiest fossil fuel on earth,” said Duluth resident Carl Sack. “If we’re serious about confronting climate change, we have to start stemming greenhouse gas emissions at the source.”
“What I want people to understand is this is not, by almost every definition of the word, a replacement pipe. This is a brand new pipe going in and disturbing more wetlands and removing more forest during a critical time in our history when we should be doing the exact opposite,” said Ben Groeschl, a landowner along the mainline corridor.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.
