Indigenous Women Leaders Resisting Line 3 Invite Secretary Deb Haaland to Minnesota "Honor the Treaties!"

Today, Indigenous women leaders resisting Enbridge's Line 3 sent a letter to Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, inviting the Secretary to visit northern Minnesota and learn more about the impacts of the Line 3 pipeline project within Indigenous communities and for natural resources.

The Line 3 tar sands pipeline is currently under construction, and is set to cross more than 200 waterways and cut through the 1854 and 1855 treaty territory where Anishinaabe people retain the right to hunt, fish, gather medicines, and harvest wild rice. As stated in Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, "all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land."

The invitation highlights concerns Indigenous leaders have with the pipeline project including violation of Treaty Rights, the violation of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and negative impacts for wild rice, local waterways, and Indigenous communities:

"The Line 3 pipeline project poses a significant threat to water, Indigenous Treaty rights, and worsens the global climate crisis. Line 3 is being constructed in Minnesota on Indigenous lands without consent from local tribes and public officials, and without a federal environmental review...So far, President Biden and the Army Corps of Engineers haven't listened to our voices -- we are hoping they will listen to yours."

The invitation was sent by Tara Houska (Couchiching First Nation), Giniw Collective; Winona LaDuke (White Earth Nation), Honor the Earth; Taysha Martineau (The Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa), Camp Migizi; Sasha Beaulieu (Red Lake Nation), Red Lake Treaty Camp; Simone Senogles (Red Lake Nation), Indigenous Environmental Network and RISE Coalition; and Joye Braun (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe), Indigenous Environmental Network.

If built, the Line 3 pipeline would unlock CO2 emissions equivalent to 50 coal plants, and cost society more than $287 billion in climate impacts in just its first 30 years of operation. In additional to the climate impacts, the signatories also highlight the use of water by Enbridge to build the pipeline while Minnesota is experiencing unprecedented heat:

"In the most severe drought we have seen in this time, Enbridge plans to take 630 million gallons of water from the fish and the wild rice. All of this puts our pristine ecosystems on the verge of collapse, with significant impacts on federally protected areas including major waterfowl production areas, and forested areas."

On June 7, over 2,000 people participated in the Indigenous-led Treaty People Gathering, a mobilization to stop Line 3. Prior to the gathering, more than 300 organizations nationwide sent a letter to President Biden urging him to take Presidential Action to halt the pipeline project.