Line 3 is completed. Now help us make it the last new oil pipeline in the Midwest.
Enbridge’s new Line 3 is the last gasp of a dying industry, an expansion meant to replace an aging pipeline that was operating at reduced capacity. The construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure runs directly counter to the urgent need to shift to renewable energy. Worse, Line 3 carries tar sands oil, which contributes more to climate change than conventional oil. Halting pipelines like Line 3 is necessary to quickly curb carbon emissions by eliminating the ability to extract fossil fuels. Enbridge has shown itself to be indifferent to the environment countless times, including the July 2010 rupture of their Line 6b, which dumped around a million gallons of toxic oil into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. Recently it came out that Enbridge has been unable or unwilling to secure adequate “environmental impairment liability” insurance, making the aftermath of a potential major spill even more worrying.
Despite this, the Canadian company Enbridge Energy won the bitterly contested battle over whether Line 3 construction would take place at all, and the pipeline is now finished and transporting tar sands oil. This is a big blow to the Tribes, landowners, environmentalists, and climate activists that so tenaciously fought the pipeline. For over 8 years, water protectors fought in the courts, in the streets, and then in the pipeline’s construction zone.
Enbridge Energy’s route runs from Canada through Minnesota to Superior, Wisconsin, crossing land where indigenous peoples have hunting,fishing, and gathering rights granted by the 1854 Treaty between the U.S. and Chippewa Tribes.. Foreseeing the environmental destruction the pipeline would cause, Indigenous water protectors resisted and protested at every turn. In response, Enbridge deputized Minnesota police forces, leading to arrests and criminal charges against more than 1000 Water Protectors.
Throughout construction, Enbridge demonstrated how irresponsible they can be, as they neglect their obligation to protect our water, wetlands, and other natural resources. Winona La Duke (Executive Director of Honor the Earth) wrote this excellent summary of the construction, including the multiple frac-outs. (This is a term for when toxic drilling fluids and suffocating clay break out of the tunnel being bored under a waterway, and get into surface waters and groundwater.)
LaDuke wrote, “During the hottest summer since the Dust Bowl, Enbridge burned our rivers and wetlands with 28 separate known frac outs of toxic chemicals, and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency stood by and pretty much watched it all. Then it took water from municipal water supplies. No one has any idea when those deep aquifers will be replenished, or when Park Rapids might just run out of water.”
One of the most egregious examples of Enbridge’s carelessness was the aquifer breach in which Enbridge willfully violated their permit to dig 8-10 feet deep. Instead they dug a trench 18 feet deep and then drove pilings 28 feet down, punching into an artesian aquifer in a wetland that relies on that groundwater. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources fined Enbridge $32 million for the violation, but most of that was to pay for the aquifer repair, which has so far not been successful. Only $40,000 was a punitive fine. Unfortunately, this indifference by Enbridge isn’t new, it’s similar to the landowner stories we have heard about their work here in Wisconsin.
There is no way to sugarcoat how harmful this will be for our climate, wild rice, and waters. It requires us to double our efforts to stop Enbridge’s other proposals to build more pipeline infrastructure.
Enbridge’s success in getting construction on Line 3 off the ground was a discouraging development, but the campaign against it has had some notable victories:
· Fossil fuels are on the way out, and the tar sands industry is dying. Finance for tar sands extraction and transportation has begun to dry up, thanks in part to the costly opposition that pipelines like Line 3 have faced. The tar sands industry looks more and more financially unrewarding to investors, as well as the source of plenty of bad press. Water Protectors have helped to make tar sands a risky bet as renewables have become increasingly attractive.
· Line 3 was originally meant to be operational by 2017. The work of activists and Water Protectors forced major delays that cost Enbridge money and bought time for the planet. Forcing Enbridge to rely on the older pipeline forced them to operate at reduced capacity, costing them millions.
· The bitter fight over Line 3 has been a boon for ongoing divestment campaigns, which has resulted in over $14 billion withdrawn from fossil fuel projects! In some cases, major investors like Harvard University have promised to divest from fossil fuels entirely. This is partly attributable to the high profile of environmental campaigns like the one against Line 3, which have shown fossil fuel companies to be greedy corporate bullies.
All in all, the resistance campaign has led to millions of barrels of oil staying in the ground. Line 3 may be the last of its kind, and we have Water Protectors to thank for that. We now need to work to make sure Enbridge is not allowed to build any new pipelines in Wisconsin. We know that Enbridge intends to build a twin to Line 61, which cuts diagonally through Wisconsin, from Superior to Delevan. We depend on supporters to inform us if they learn of any preliminary activities such as seeking new easements or moving pipes into the area.
We also need to help the people of northern Wisconsin solidify resistance, as Enbridge seeks permits for their proposed expansion of their Line 5 pipeline. This area, rich with water, wetlands, and wild rice, is very much akin to northern Minnesota. The ecological devastation that Enbridge has caused there is a warning and a challenge to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and to our movement.
If your county isn’t one of those seven, but you’d like to see it added to the list, 
On July 10, Jefferson County passed a resolution calling on the legislature to review our eminent domain laws and disallow any use of eminent domain that wouldn’t have been allowed prior to 2015 (when the laws were changed). The resolution passed 23-4 after six people eloquently spoke including someone who is under the threat of eminent domain by Enbridge delivered 125 signatures in support of eminent domain reform. There was standing room only with dozens of landowners and concerned citizens present, leading the board to take stronger action than it previously had. 
Protecting our homes and water 