SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A protester stands outside the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission hearing on Enbridge's Line 3 in downtown St. Paul. (Photo: Lorie Shaull/flickr/cc)
Activists Stage Blockade to Block Work on Line 3 as Court Tosses Out Proposed Pipeline's Approval From Regulators
Small defeat for tar sands pipeline welcomed as "such great news"
Jun 03, 2019
Enbridge's Line 3 was dealt a setback by the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday while a trio of water protectors sustained strong resistance to the project by locking themselves to machinery to block work on the proposed oil pipeline.
The three-judge panel, with one of the judges objecting, reversed the approval that the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) gave last year to the Calgary-based company's environmental impact statement, calling it "inadequate because it didn't address the potential impact of an oil spill into the Lake Superior watershed."
Advocacy group Environment Minnesota celebrated the development on Twitter, writing, "This is such great news."
The decision means the statement goes back to PUC, as the Star Tribune reported.
As Common Dreams previously reported,
The Line 3 project, which Calgary-based Enbridge says is its largest ever, would replace a cracked and corroded crude oil pipeline installed in the 1960s with a 1,031-mile pipeline that would run from Canada's Alberta tar sands to a Wisconsin shipping hub. If constructed, it would cut through Native American reservations and treaty lands in Northern Minnesota, jeopardizing fresh water resources and wild rice beds that local Indigenous peoples consider their "primary economic, nutritional, and cultural resource."
Such impacts brought three pipeline foes to an active construction site for the proposed pipeline in Park Rapids, Minnesota, where they locked themselves to logging equipment.
According to the Minnesota-based and native-led organization Honor the Earth: "Great River Energy is bulldozing through the wetlands and forests to build powerlines for the Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Enbridge has no water crossing permits, but it works on."
"Great River Energy specifies in its Army Corps application that it is building the electric transmission line to power Enbridge's pipeline unbuilt pump station," organizers added in a press statement.
\u201cBREAKING: 3 water protectors lock to equipment at an Enbridge worksite in MN! Great River Energy is bulldozing through the wetlands and forests to build powerlines for the Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Enbridge has no water crossing permits, but it works on. #EnbridgeLies #StopLine3\u201d— tara houska \u1516\u1433\u140c\u1474 (@tara houska \u1516\u1433\u140c\u1474) 1559579869
Organizers posted video of the action, which was supported by the Ginew Collective, Northfield Against Line 3, and others, on Facebook:
As of this writing, the three activists were still at the site and locked to the machinery, and work was still shut down.
\u201cWater Protectors, Mollie, Francis and Jonas, are still locked to machinery to stop Line 3. After over 4 hrs they\u2019ve shut down work on the site for the day! Give generously to their bail fund: https://t.co/gK16PiDsq8\u201d— Resist Line 3 (@Resist Line 3) 1559592078
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
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 |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Enbridge's Line 3 was dealt a setback by the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday while a trio of water protectors sustained strong resistance to the project by locking themselves to machinery to block work on the proposed oil pipeline.
The three-judge panel, with one of the judges objecting, reversed the approval that the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) gave last year to the Calgary-based company's environmental impact statement, calling it "inadequate because it didn't address the potential impact of an oil spill into the Lake Superior watershed."
Advocacy group Environment Minnesota celebrated the development on Twitter, writing, "This is such great news."
The decision means the statement goes back to PUC, as the Star Tribune reported.
As Common Dreams previously reported,
The Line 3 project, which Calgary-based Enbridge says is its largest ever, would replace a cracked and corroded crude oil pipeline installed in the 1960s with a 1,031-mile pipeline that would run from Canada's Alberta tar sands to a Wisconsin shipping hub. If constructed, it would cut through Native American reservations and treaty lands in Northern Minnesota, jeopardizing fresh water resources and wild rice beds that local Indigenous peoples consider their "primary economic, nutritional, and cultural resource."
Such impacts brought three pipeline foes to an active construction site for the proposed pipeline in Park Rapids, Minnesota, where they locked themselves to logging equipment.
According to the Minnesota-based and native-led organization Honor the Earth: "Great River Energy is bulldozing through the wetlands and forests to build powerlines for the Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Enbridge has no water crossing permits, but it works on."
"Great River Energy specifies in its Army Corps application that it is building the electric transmission line to power Enbridge's pipeline unbuilt pump station," organizers added in a press statement.
\u201cBREAKING: 3 water protectors lock to equipment at an Enbridge worksite in MN! Great River Energy is bulldozing through the wetlands and forests to build powerlines for the Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Enbridge has no water crossing permits, but it works on. #EnbridgeLies #StopLine3\u201d— tara houska \u1516\u1433\u140c\u1474 (@tara houska \u1516\u1433\u140c\u1474) 1559579869
Organizers posted video of the action, which was supported by the Ginew Collective, Northfield Against Line 3, and others, on Facebook:
As of this writing, the three activists were still at the site and locked to the machinery, and work was still shut down.
\u201cWater Protectors, Mollie, Francis and Jonas, are still locked to machinery to stop Line 3. After over 4 hrs they\u2019ve shut down work on the site for the day! Give generously to their bail fund: https://t.co/gK16PiDsq8\u201d— Resist Line 3 (@Resist Line 3) 1559592078
Enbridge's Line 3 was dealt a setback by the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday while a trio of water protectors sustained strong resistance to the project by locking themselves to machinery to block work on the proposed oil pipeline.
The three-judge panel, with one of the judges objecting, reversed the approval that the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) gave last year to the Calgary-based company's environmental impact statement, calling it "inadequate because it didn't address the potential impact of an oil spill into the Lake Superior watershed."
Advocacy group Environment Minnesota celebrated the development on Twitter, writing, "This is such great news."
The decision means the statement goes back to PUC, as the Star Tribune reported.
As Common Dreams previously reported,
The Line 3 project, which Calgary-based Enbridge says is its largest ever, would replace a cracked and corroded crude oil pipeline installed in the 1960s with a 1,031-mile pipeline that would run from Canada's Alberta tar sands to a Wisconsin shipping hub. If constructed, it would cut through Native American reservations and treaty lands in Northern Minnesota, jeopardizing fresh water resources and wild rice beds that local Indigenous peoples consider their "primary economic, nutritional, and cultural resource."
Such impacts brought three pipeline foes to an active construction site for the proposed pipeline in Park Rapids, Minnesota, where they locked themselves to logging equipment.
According to the Minnesota-based and native-led organization Honor the Earth: "Great River Energy is bulldozing through the wetlands and forests to build powerlines for the Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Enbridge has no water crossing permits, but it works on."
"Great River Energy specifies in its Army Corps application that it is building the electric transmission line to power Enbridge's pipeline unbuilt pump station," organizers added in a press statement.
\u201cBREAKING: 3 water protectors lock to equipment at an Enbridge worksite in MN! Great River Energy is bulldozing through the wetlands and forests to build powerlines for the Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Enbridge has no water crossing permits, but it works on. #EnbridgeLies #StopLine3\u201d— tara houska \u1516\u1433\u140c\u1474 (@tara houska \u1516\u1433\u140c\u1474) 1559579869
Organizers posted video of the action, which was supported by the Ginew Collective, Northfield Against Line 3, and others, on Facebook:
As of this writing, the three activists were still at the site and locked to the machinery, and work was still shut down.
\u201cWater Protectors, Mollie, Francis and Jonas, are still locked to machinery to stop Line 3. After over 4 hrs they\u2019ve shut down work on the site for the day! Give generously to their bail fund: https://t.co/gK16PiDsq8\u201d— Resist Line 3 (@Resist Line 3) 1559592078
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.