SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our More Ways to Give page.
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
Protesters throughout the Midwest will converge on Saturday to protest Enbridge Energy's plans to expand tar sands pipeline through Minnesota and beyond. (Photo: tarsandsresistance.org)
A large protest in Minnesota this weekend is designed to show that the resistance to tar sands goes well beyond Keystone XL, as numerous environmental and social justice groups come together with Indigenous communities across the region to make their unified demands clear to all: "keep toxic tar sands out of America's Heartland, fight for clean water, clean energy, and a safe climate."
On Saturday, the Tar Sands Resistance March in downtown St. Paul will cap a week of convergences and local actions calling attention to and speaking out against various pipeline and infrastructure projects across the Midwest.
"This whole region should be concerned with the number of pipelines that are coming from the tar sands that seem to be where the action is right now and it's just a wrong headed approach," said Wade Schafer of the North Dakota Sierra Club.
We Interrupt This Article with an Urgent Message! Common Dreams is a not-for-profit organization. We fund our news team by pooling together many small contributions from our readers. No advertising. No selling our readers' information. No reliance on big donations from the 1%. This allows us to maintain the editorial independence that our readers rely on. But this media model only works if enough readers pitch in.
|
Thousands of people are expected to come out for the day of action, which organizers say might be the biggest anti-tar sands event in the Midwest, with activists joining from as far away as Nebraska and Ohio. In St. Paul, representatives for participating groups said they were particularly concerned with plans by Enbridge Energy to double the size of Line 67, which currently transports 450,000 barrels of tar sands per day through the state. Enbridge plans to expand that to 800,000 barrels, which will require constructing pump stations and other equipment in cities throughout Minnesota.
"This event is just one moment in a growing movement to stop tar sands and it is powerful."
--Catherine Collentine, Sierra Club
Andrew Slade from the Minnesota Environmental Partnership told the Northlands News Company this week that companies should pursue renewable energy and leave fossil fuels in the ground. "All these pipelines really do is kind of accelerate an environmental disaster," said Slade. "So let's keep that oil in the ground and find cleaner ways to run our economy."
And representatives from the Indigenous Environmental Network told the NNC that the pipeline expansion is more than just an environmental problem--it also threatens human rights, as it could affect the health of northern watersheds near tribal land.
The protest comes ahead of a possible milestone on another Enbridge project, the Sandpiper, as the state's Public Utilities Commission debates granting the energy giant a certificate to go ahead with the pipeline which would carry crude oil from the Bakken oilfields in North Dakota across northern Minnesota to Midwest refineries.
For other activists, the choice to take part in Saturday's protests was much simpler. Carol Jean Larsen, Sierra Club member, told KFYR-TV, "It was important for me to be part of public witness that developing the tar sands is just a dumb idea."
Speakers at the protest will include Reverend Lennox Yearwood of Hip Hop Caucus, Winona LaDuke of Honor the Earth, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), and Bill McKibben of 350, among others.
"We know what we want and we will let our leaders know too," Catherine Collentine, Sierra Club tar sands campaign representative, wrote in a blog post. "This event is just one moment in a growing movement to stop tar sands and it is powerful."
One of the organizers, Indigenous Environmental Network executive director Tom Goldtooth, explained to the Grand Rapids Herald Review that this weekend's action shows how "The frontline communities are strengthening the resistance. They're concerned, and we are linking up the pipeline resisters in Canada, northern Minnesota, out east and more."
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
A large protest in Minnesota this weekend is designed to show that the resistance to tar sands goes well beyond Keystone XL, as numerous environmental and social justice groups come together with Indigenous communities across the region to make their unified demands clear to all: "keep toxic tar sands out of America's Heartland, fight for clean water, clean energy, and a safe climate."
On Saturday, the Tar Sands Resistance March in downtown St. Paul will cap a week of convergences and local actions calling attention to and speaking out against various pipeline and infrastructure projects across the Midwest.
"This whole region should be concerned with the number of pipelines that are coming from the tar sands that seem to be where the action is right now and it's just a wrong headed approach," said Wade Schafer of the North Dakota Sierra Club.
We Interrupt This Article with an Urgent Message! Common Dreams is a not-for-profit organization. We fund our news team by pooling together many small contributions from our readers. No advertising. No selling our readers' information. No reliance on big donations from the 1%. This allows us to maintain the editorial independence that our readers rely on. But this media model only works if enough readers pitch in.
|
Thousands of people are expected to come out for the day of action, which organizers say might be the biggest anti-tar sands event in the Midwest, with activists joining from as far away as Nebraska and Ohio. In St. Paul, representatives for participating groups said they were particularly concerned with plans by Enbridge Energy to double the size of Line 67, which currently transports 450,000 barrels of tar sands per day through the state. Enbridge plans to expand that to 800,000 barrels, which will require constructing pump stations and other equipment in cities throughout Minnesota.
"This event is just one moment in a growing movement to stop tar sands and it is powerful."
--Catherine Collentine, Sierra Club
Andrew Slade from the Minnesota Environmental Partnership told the Northlands News Company this week that companies should pursue renewable energy and leave fossil fuels in the ground. "All these pipelines really do is kind of accelerate an environmental disaster," said Slade. "So let's keep that oil in the ground and find cleaner ways to run our economy."
And representatives from the Indigenous Environmental Network told the NNC that the pipeline expansion is more than just an environmental problem--it also threatens human rights, as it could affect the health of northern watersheds near tribal land.
The protest comes ahead of a possible milestone on another Enbridge project, the Sandpiper, as the state's Public Utilities Commission debates granting the energy giant a certificate to go ahead with the pipeline which would carry crude oil from the Bakken oilfields in North Dakota across northern Minnesota to Midwest refineries.
For other activists, the choice to take part in Saturday's protests was much simpler. Carol Jean Larsen, Sierra Club member, told KFYR-TV, "It was important for me to be part of public witness that developing the tar sands is just a dumb idea."
Speakers at the protest will include Reverend Lennox Yearwood of Hip Hop Caucus, Winona LaDuke of Honor the Earth, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), and Bill McKibben of 350, among others.
"We know what we want and we will let our leaders know too," Catherine Collentine, Sierra Club tar sands campaign representative, wrote in a blog post. "This event is just one moment in a growing movement to stop tar sands and it is powerful."
One of the organizers, Indigenous Environmental Network executive director Tom Goldtooth, explained to the Grand Rapids Herald Review that this weekend's action shows how "The frontline communities are strengthening the resistance. They're concerned, and we are linking up the pipeline resisters in Canada, northern Minnesota, out east and more."
A large protest in Minnesota this weekend is designed to show that the resistance to tar sands goes well beyond Keystone XL, as numerous environmental and social justice groups come together with Indigenous communities across the region to make their unified demands clear to all: "keep toxic tar sands out of America's Heartland, fight for clean water, clean energy, and a safe climate."
On Saturday, the Tar Sands Resistance March in downtown St. Paul will cap a week of convergences and local actions calling attention to and speaking out against various pipeline and infrastructure projects across the Midwest.
"This whole region should be concerned with the number of pipelines that are coming from the tar sands that seem to be where the action is right now and it's just a wrong headed approach," said Wade Schafer of the North Dakota Sierra Club.
We Interrupt This Article with an Urgent Message! Common Dreams is a not-for-profit organization. We fund our news team by pooling together many small contributions from our readers. No advertising. No selling our readers' information. No reliance on big donations from the 1%. This allows us to maintain the editorial independence that our readers rely on. But this media model only works if enough readers pitch in.
|
Thousands of people are expected to come out for the day of action, which organizers say might be the biggest anti-tar sands event in the Midwest, with activists joining from as far away as Nebraska and Ohio. In St. Paul, representatives for participating groups said they were particularly concerned with plans by Enbridge Energy to double the size of Line 67, which currently transports 450,000 barrels of tar sands per day through the state. Enbridge plans to expand that to 800,000 barrels, which will require constructing pump stations and other equipment in cities throughout Minnesota.
"This event is just one moment in a growing movement to stop tar sands and it is powerful."
--Catherine Collentine, Sierra Club
Andrew Slade from the Minnesota Environmental Partnership told the Northlands News Company this week that companies should pursue renewable energy and leave fossil fuels in the ground. "All these pipelines really do is kind of accelerate an environmental disaster," said Slade. "So let's keep that oil in the ground and find cleaner ways to run our economy."
And representatives from the Indigenous Environmental Network told the NNC that the pipeline expansion is more than just an environmental problem--it also threatens human rights, as it could affect the health of northern watersheds near tribal land.
The protest comes ahead of a possible milestone on another Enbridge project, the Sandpiper, as the state's Public Utilities Commission debates granting the energy giant a certificate to go ahead with the pipeline which would carry crude oil from the Bakken oilfields in North Dakota across northern Minnesota to Midwest refineries.
For other activists, the choice to take part in Saturday's protests was much simpler. Carol Jean Larsen, Sierra Club member, told KFYR-TV, "It was important for me to be part of public witness that developing the tar sands is just a dumb idea."
Speakers at the protest will include Reverend Lennox Yearwood of Hip Hop Caucus, Winona LaDuke of Honor the Earth, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), and Bill McKibben of 350, among others.
"We know what we want and we will let our leaders know too," Catherine Collentine, Sierra Club tar sands campaign representative, wrote in a blog post. "This event is just one moment in a growing movement to stop tar sands and it is powerful."
One of the organizers, Indigenous Environmental Network executive director Tom Goldtooth, explained to the Grand Rapids Herald Review that this weekend's action shows how "The frontline communities are strengthening the resistance. They're concerned, and we are linking up the pipeline resisters in Canada, northern Minnesota, out east and more."