Stop Line 3
Content warning: mention of s*xual *ss*ult.
You
may have heard of the Stop Line 3 movement, an indigenous-led movement in
protest of the construction of Canadian oil company Enbridge’s new tar sands pipeline.
However, with lack of news coverage, information about the detrimental effects
of Line 3 and about the Stop Line 3 movement in general requires some digging
to find. Thus, I wanted this first blog post to be a summary of these issues
and introduce the ways in which the construction of this pipeline is not only harmful
to the environment, but a human rights issue and another dangerous affront to the
welfare and sovereignty of indigenous people.
First of all, what is Line 3? In brief, Line 3 is the
reconstruction of a pre-existing oil pipeline on a new route (as the old Line 3
was beginning to decay and become a hazard, and, of course, the efficiency of a
new pipeline on this other route would generate more profit). The original pipeline
had been in place since the 1960s, the new route was proposed in 2014, and construction
of the pipeline began on December 1, 2020. Line 3 transports 760,000 barrels of
oil a day (double the capacity of the original pipeline), and according to one
report, emits as much greenhouse gases as 50 coal power plants.
One of the main points that arises in discussions of Line
3 is the fact that it violates the treaty rights of Anishinaabe people. Though
the pipeline goes through land in Minnesota which was ceded to the United
States government in the Treaty of 1855, the Anishinaabeg are guaranteed the “privilege of hunting, fishing, and gathering the wild
rice, upon the lands, the rivers and the lakes included in the territory ceded”
in the Treaty of 1837 (Sierra Club). Line 3 has the potential to disrupt all of
these practices, but the key issue here is in regard to the wild rice in the
area around the pipeline. Wild rice (called manoomin in
Anishinaabemowin) is incredibly important in Anishinaabe culture, as not only a
source of nutrition, but a fundamental part of their origin story and cultural
traditions. The operation of Line 3 is very likely to have detrimental effects
on the growth of manoomin by contaminating the waters through which it passes. Enbridge
was responsible for the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history and the Environmental
Impact Statement for Line 3 acknowledged that “some
accidental release of oil is inevitable” and that “serious oil spills are
possible.” Unfortunately, this prediction has come true, as since the
beginning of the pipeline’s operation on October 1, 2021, several leakages and
spills have occurred. The Environmental Impact Statement also said that “construction of Line 3 would disrupt Native
historic and cultural sites such as burial grounds,” further outlining the
violation that the presence of this pipeline is to the indigenous community
residing around it (Wikipedia).
In addition
to causing environmental destruction and suppressing Anishinaabe culture, the construction
of Line 3 has been harmful to the physical wellbeing of indigenous people and Line
3 protestors (who call themselves “water protectors”). Over a thousand water
protectors have been arrested, often with excessive force, and on many occasions
police have responded to peaceful Stop Line 3 protests in riot gear. Police
have also used Mace and rubber bullets (often from point-blank range) on water
protectors. What’s more, Enbridge itself has incentivized the arrest of water
protectors, giving U.S. police upwards of 2.9 million dollars going toward “officer training, police surveillance of demonstrators,
officer wages, overtime, benefits, meals, hotels and equipment,” undoubtedly leading to greater use of force against water protectors.
Pipeline construction also introduces additional
threats to the welfare of indigenous women in particular. The construction of pipelines
through indigenous lands has shown to correlate with increased cases of Missing
and Murdered Indigenous Women and sex trafficking. Two Line 3 workers were
arrested during construction for their involvement in a sex trafficking sting
and there have been several reports of sexual harassment and assault carried
out by Line 3 workers. Cases of MMIW and sexual assault of indigenous women is
already a crisis which has yet to be treated with the urgency and widespread recognition
it deserves, and the presence of pipeline workers only creates even more unsafe
environments for indigenous women.
There
are surely other points I am missing, and the issues I have touched on each
deserve both greater depth than what I can provide in a blog post and to be heard
from the perspectives of those most affected by them. However, I hope this post
has provided some information you may not have been aware of otherwise, and I
definitely encourage anyone reading this to look more into Stop Line 3 and
indigenous issues and activism in general.
Further notes:
- The Anishinaabeg are a group of culturally-related indigenous groups (including the Ojibwe people), but the word Anishinaabe(g) is often used interchangeably with the word Ojibwe. In coverage that I have read/seen about Line 3 from indigenous people, it is almost always referred to as violating Anishinaabe treaty rights/crossing through Anishinaabe lands, and thus I have maintained the use of this word in this blog post. However, many other sources I have looked through use Ojibwe.
- Small grammatical clarification: Anishinaabeg is the plural form of the word Anishinaabe (“The Anishinaabeg, “They are Anishinaabeg” vs. “Anishinaabe people,” “She is Anishinaabe”)
- For more information about the Anishinaabe origin story and cultural importance of wild rice: http://www.nativewildricecoalition.com/cultural-importance.html
- To learn more about Stop Line 3, hear from indigenous activists, and find out how you can help, please go to https://www.stopline3.org
Sources:
http://www.nativewildricecoalition.com/cultural-importance.html
https://www.mnopedia.org/thing/wild-rice-and-ojibwe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_3_pipeline
https://minnesotareformer.com/2021/03/09/president-biden-stop-enbridge-line-3-opinion/
https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/enbridge-line-3-divides-indigenous-lands-people
This is a great post! You did an amazing job of explaining the issue and you provided a lot of important information about Line 3 and it’s impact on the Anishinaabe people. I think it’s really upsetting that such an important issue that connects to both environmental justice and the treatment of the indigenous peoples of America is being over looked by the mainstream media, so thank you for taking the time to explain the basics of the issue and providing us with more resources to learn more from.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely fantastic. I haven't seen anything as comprehensive and complete as this going through the various reasons that protestors object to Line 3, probably because as you say it's something that's being underreported. Like much of what we have been learning, this issue connects to so many more aspects of life and human rights than what often appears on the surface and you do a really good job of discussing that.
ReplyDelete