Last Friday, October 1st, 2021, oil began flowing through the Line 3 pipeline regardless of months-long protests from climate activists and advocates of the rights of indigenous people and communities.
Hundreds of environmental activists have been protesting against the construction of the Line 3 Pipeline by Canadian oil giant Enbridge. The pipeline is arranged to transport tar sands crude from Alberta, Canada to the state of Wisconsin in the United States. The route travels along with lands that Indigenous people commonly use for hunting and harvesting.
Enbridge has a history of “hazardous liquid incidents” including being responsible for the “largest inland oil spill in U.S. history.” This reputation has contributed to the high level of concern from activists that, regardless of environmental laws, Enbridge’s pipeline could exacerbate climate change issues.
Since early summer 2021, pipeline protesters, who call themselves water protectors, have focused on blocking the rebuilding of the pipeline, sometimes even by physically attaching themselves to construction machinery. Several celebrities have used their platforms to voice worries about the pipeline’s impacts.
Danny Glover, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cher, Jane Fonda, and others, have used their unique position as celebrities to call attention to the issues. Many of them addressed the white house, imploring the Biden administration to close down the oil pipeline because of the threat it poses to water and wildlife, indigenous people and cultural practices, as well as tribal lands as a whole.
According to Moneen Naismith, an attorney for Earthjustice who spoke to Nation of Change, “This is not smooth sailing for the pipeline by any stretch of the imagination. And this is not the first pipeline that has done this—this is what Dakota Access did. They do not let any legal challenges get in the way of letting them make money off this pipeline.”
Big businesses’ perpetuation of harmful environmental practices is not new, and neither is the resulting negative effects on communities of color and indigenous populations.
Attorneys representing the region’s Indigenous people claim the pipeline violated Anishinaabe treaty rights that protect hunting, fishing, and gathering wild rice. In the case of an oil spill, line 3 could contaminate hundreds of acres of land protected in the treaties and threaten the lands and well-being of indigenous populations.
Opponents of the Line 3 pipeline claim the project exemplifies the U.S.’s failure to honor treaties with indigenous people. The pipeline is not solely an environmental issue, but an issue of respecting and protecting indigenous communities by working with them and following the treaties already in place.
The fight to stop Line 3 has not stopped now that the oil has begun flowing. Celebrities, indigenous populations, and climate activists are all continuing the fight against the pipeline as well as the broader battle to have a future free from fossil fuels.
Margaret Levin, director of Sierra Club North Star Chapter, said to Nation of Change, “Our movement is powerful, and we are not going anywhere. We will keep pushing forward—demanding that our elected leaders live up to their promises and lifting our voices for healthy and safe communities and climate justice.”