Jul 27, 2016 - Winona LaDuke leads environmental horse ride against Enbridge’s new pipeline route in Minnesota

Rice Lake, MN – Winona LaDuke, executive director of Honor the Earth lead another horse ride along Enbridge’s proposed route for Sandpiper and Line 3 in Minnesota, which includes crossing irreplaceable wild rice lakes and rivers and freshwater aquifers at the very source headwaters for 3 of the 4 North American continental watersheds; north by Red River to Hudson Bay, east to Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean and south by the Mississippi river to the Gulf of Mexico.

The horse ride follows the Enbridge proposed route between 2 of the historically most-important wild rice producing lakes for the Chippewa, both called Rice Lake and established as federal wild rice refuges by Congress for the exclusive use of the Chippewa at the beginning of the 20th century.

“I cannot emphasize enough the importance of protecting our sacred manoomin (wild rice) which is at the root of our cultural and spiritual ways of life with mother earth we call bimaadiziwin, living our life in a good way” said Winona LaDuke, adding “Days of us riding horses shows and reminds us of the many gifts from the Creator which we must protect for the generations to come. It’s an important job.”

In a recent letter to EPA Region 5, LaDuke expressed concerns about a recent Michigan federal court’s Consent Decree against Enbridge for the Kalamazoo oil spill including the replacement of all of Line 3 in Minnesota reminded the administrator that “This may be one of the most important and critical times for EPA vigilance and protection in light of the Department of Defense 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap especially recognizing the greatest, negative climate change contributors and impacts are tar sands extreme extraction and fracking and our nation needs to protect the environment now.”

In a directly related background story LaDuke describes efforts to use Chippewa treaty rights to protect our territories environment from pipeline abandonment and allowing new routes through wild rice lakes and rivers at Indian Country Today http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2016/07/22/treaty-rights-battle-links-hunting-and-oil-pipelines-minnesota-165233

Attached here is the link for the consent decree and 30 day comment period at https://www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decree/us-v-enbridge-energy-partners-lp-et-al-0

Honor the Earth is working with a variety of citizen groups who have come to understand their property rights are vulnerable big oil and state law and that Chippewa Treaty rights may be the one protection for our environment, for all Minnesotans today and tomorrow. For updates and information on treaty rights, pipeline abandonment, Line 3 and Sandpiper please visit www.honorearth.org or see us on FaceBook.