Calling on the Biden Administration to Stop Line 3 by Akichita Takenalive
Line 3 was a project that was proposed back in 2014 to replace an aging pipeline that was built back in the 1960’s.”The current Line 3 has had 900+ leaks and cracks Enbridge has reported. The new Line 3 that is being built would transport 800,000 barrels of tar sands per day. Nearly double that of the current line which has been running at limited 390,000 barrels per day, since it's starting to leak and have pressure issues.” (Honor the Earth) Enbridge wants to abandon the current Line 3, because they aren't obligated to take the aged pipeline out of the ground, and very few federal and state regulations .”It is not clear if there is any liability from the Engbridge corporation” (Winona LaDuke).
“Line 3 would cross over 800 wetlands, 200 bodies of water, and through treaty land . Treaty land that people's very lives depend upon, and they are fighting right now to protect their treaty land rights. Tar sands are very difficult to remove from the environment, and affect everything living negatively. The Kalamazoo incident, where 800,000+ barrels of toxic oil spilled out in the Michigan river over the course of 17 hours. Marked one of the worst inland oil spills in history, The spill spread over a 30 mile stretch of the river and floodplains, spread to Lake Michigan and Morrow Lake, and another 80 miles of river” (Hasemyer). It took years of clean up and cost 1.1 billion to clean up, and caused untold damages to the ecosystem.
Marshlands are especially vulnerable, because oil coats everything it touches, it's heavier than regular oil so it seeps into the watery marshlands and affects the entire ecosystem. “Tar sand sinks into water, making the cleanup extraordinarily expensive. When tar sand is exposed to air, the harmful chemicals that are added as diluents evaporate into the air forming heavy toxic clouds close to ground level”(Phillips). This directly threatens the watersheds and wet marshlands that the Ojibwe and Anishinaabe depend upon for rice, fish, and traditional medicine.
“The Treaty of Washington 1855 stated that the Ojibwe have hunting, fishing, and farm rights on reservation land”(Treaty of Washington 1855). This pipeline is a direct threat to the way of life for indigenous people that depend on this ecosystem for everything.There is no such thing as a perfect pipeline, and they will always encounter a problem. It doesn’t matter if it's a tiny leak or a small amount leaking, no one wants toxic chemicals in the water they depend upon.They are refusing to acknowledge the treaty rights of the Anishinaabe, Ojibwe. Law enforcement have arrested dozens of people and will continue to protect this pipeline until its built.
Indigenous people have always had to face overwhelming odds, and whether that was fighting the US Army or fighting for our treaty rights we have always stuck together through thick and thin. It has never just been one tribe to stand up for their rights, it's always been a collective and multiple people from different tribes banding together. It's important that we stick up for one another and help out any way we can, because we are all at risk losing our way of life, if companies like Enbridge continue with these dangerous pipelines. We need to make our voice loud enough for Joe Biden to hear us and stop this pipeline.
By Akichita Takenalive
Akichita Takenalive (Lakota) is a fellow with Mazaska Talks
Work Cited
Phillips, Brant, “Oil Pipelines and Spills.” Auburn University, 2017, Oil Pipelines and Spills.
Hasemyer, David, “Enbridge’s Kalamazoo Spill Saga Ends in $177 million Settlement”, Inside Climate News, 2020,Kalamazoo
Stop line 3, “Stop Line 3”,2014 ,StopLine
Stone, Andrew, “Treaty of Washington”,MNOPEDIA,2015,Treaty of 1855 Honor Earth, “Line 3”, HonorEarth, 2016,Honor Earth
“Why Enbridge’s Line 3 Pipeline Project is Bad for Everyone”, Youtube, uploaded by The YEARS Project, 2021,The YEARS project
Cover photo by (Shannon Geisen/Enterprise)