Water Protectors Lock to Enbridge Drilling Equipment Boring Line 3 Under River

Report from the Giniw Collective on a recent direct action against the Line 3 in so-called Hubbard County, Minnesota.

Several Water Protectors locked to a Horizontal Directional Drill (HDD) being used by Enbridge to bore its Line 3 tar sands pipeline under the Straight River in Hubbard County, Minnesota.

Enbridge has over 5,000 workers in northern Minnesota, most of whom are from out-of-state, drilling its tar sands expansion project through our rivers, wetlands, and wild rice waters. The Canadian multi-national applied for a variance in its water usage, upping its need from roughly 500M gallons to 4.98B gallons. It is currently draining rivers and lakes across the northland, during a drought and record-setting heat that put the region in extreme or high fire danger for most of June.

Today’s action follows a mass mobilization of water protectors from all over Turtle Island which resulted in the largest non-violent direct action to date, with nearly 200 arrests and countless more inspired to join the fight.

Water protector, author, and mother @madelineffitch1 said, “I'm here to answer the call to action from Anishinaabe water protectors who are protecting their territory against Enbridge's Line 3 pipeline.” https://t.co/85yvJNrhBo

— giniw collective (@GiniwCollective) June 23, 2021

Police have grown far more aggressive since the mobilization — Hubbard County sheriffs illegally arrested nearly 30 demonstrators exercising their right to assemble last week. A K-9 unit was documented at the Red River crossing near the Red Lake Treaty Camp, in echoes of the attack dogs used on unarmed women and children at Standing Rock.

Despite repeated calls from frontlines communities, a pending federal lawsuit, and over 500 arrests since construction started last December, President Biden has yet to order the Army Corps to perform an environmental review of Trump’s water crossing permits.

Water protector, author, and mother Madeline Ffitch said, “I’m here to answer the call to action from Anishinaabe water protectors who are protecting their territory against Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline. I’m a settler on stolen land, and I think at this juncture if that’s true for you, you need to pick a side. I want to be on the side of people who belong to the land, indigenous people who have had their land stolen, and who are in the midst of 500 years of resistance. That’s the side I want to be on and I don’t want there to be any question about that. I want to be able to tell my children and the generations to come that I did everything in my power, everything I can, to make sure that there is a future for the next generations.”

Another Water Protector said, “I come from stolen Monacan and Tutelo land where the Mountain Valley Pipeline is being constructed. I believe that from the hills to the headwaters we need to act in solidarity with all people resisting extraction in their communities. Betray your whiteness, betray your class, be a traitor to a system that benefits you at the expense of indigenous people, a system that steals our futures away from us.”