October, 11 2021, 12:51pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Cassidy DiPaola, cassidy@stgresults.com
Megan Rufty, seventhgen@allisonpr.com
Water Protectors to Deliver 1 Million Petitions to Stop Line 3 Oil Pipeline
Indigenous leaders from Northern Minnesota to deliver petitions to the Biden Administration at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers HQ.
WASHINGTON
On Tuesday, October 12th, more than 100 Indigenous leaders and supporters who have been resisting the construction of the expanded Line 3 tar sands pipeline will deliver one million petitions asking the Biden Administration to stop the project pending a full environmental review.
The group of 100+ water protectors will rally, hold ceremony with Anishinaabe drummers, and speak outside the headquarters of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, calling on Jamie Pinkham, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works to conduct a full federal environmental impact statement to assess the Line 3 pipeline's threats to human rights, water, and climate.
WHAT: Stop Line 3 Petition Delivery, Rally and Press Conference
WHEN: 1:30-2:30 PM ET, Tuesday, October 12, 2021.
1:30 Rally begins with music and ceremony, press availability
2:00 Speeches and delivery of petitions
WHERE: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters (front of building)
441 G St. NW Washington, DC 20314
WHO: The event will feature speakers from the Indigenous-led struggle to stop the Line 3 tar sands pipeline, known as water protectors.
Taysha Martineau (Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Anishinaabe) - Founder of Camp Migizi
Ron Turney (White Earth Nation), Traditional Artist, Photographer, IEN Media
Sasha Beaulieu (Red Lake), founder Red Lake Treaty Camp and the Red Lake Band of Chippewa to Line 3 Construction Monitor
Silas Neeland (White Earth Nation), youth leader
Guests who will attend the rally in support of the Water Protectors will include:
Alison Whritenour, CEO, Seventh Generation
Bill McKibben, author, co-founder of 350.org
John Miller, former Navy diver who returned medals in protest of Line 3
Media Information: Speakers and experts will be available for interviews during and after the rally. Photographs, videography and interviews welcomed. B-roll is available upon request. The event will be live streamed on the Honor the Earth Facebook Page.
Visuals: Drummers, 2 large water puppets, aerial photos of pipeline damage, 1 million petition signatures
Background:
Speakers will demand action from elected officials to consider the disastrous impacts of Line 3 and stop its oil from flowing. For seven years, Indigenous community members in Northern Minnesota, climate activists, landowners and allies have resisted the Enbridge Corporation's expanded Line 3 tar sands pipeline as a danger to the climate, water and land, and to the human beings in its path. The pipeline undermines the Indigenous treaty rights of the Anishinaabe people, crossing the 1854 and 1855 treaty territory where Anishinaabe people retain the right to hunt, fish, gather medicines, and harvest wild rice.
With the carbon emissions equivalent of 50 coal-powered plants and crossing more than 227 lakes and rivers, Line 3 threatens the drinking water of 18 million people and the health and wellness of many more.
Tribal governments, state legislators and members of Congress, and hundreds of community, environmental and racial justice organizations have all called for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete a full Environmental Impact Statement before the pipeline is allowed to operate.
About 900 people have been arrested in peaceful actions resisting pipeline construction.
With the announcement that pipeline construction is "substantially complete," the call for a full environmental review has become more urgent because of ongoing damage to waterways along the construction route. Earlier this year, Army Corps Secretary Jamie Pinkham visited Minnesota and saw the impacts of Line 3 first-hand. He met with tribal officials and some of the water protectors who will present the petitions but has failed to follow up on commitments to address their concerns.
The 1 million+ signatures being delivered are addressed to President Biden, White House Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy and Army Corps Secretary Jamie Pinkham, and were collected by a wide range of community, environmental, and racial justice groups including Braided Justice Collective, Daily Kos, Friends of the Earth, Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, Honor The Earth, Lakota Law Project, MoveOn, 198 methods, Rainforest Action Network, Seventh Generation, Sierra Club, Stand.Earth, and 350.org.
The event is hosted by Honor The Earth, an Indigenous-led environmental justice organization based in Northern Minnesota, with support from Seventh Generation, Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), and the People versus Fossil Fuels coalition. The delivery is part of the "People vs. Fossil Fuels" mobilization, a week of protests and civil disobedience a
The Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International is a solutions-based organization established to engage women worldwide in policy advocacy, on-the-ground projects, direct action, trainings, and movement building for global climate justice.
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