Enbridge Line 3, is an oil pipeline which cuts through the heart of lake and wild rice country. The Canadian company is building, not replacing (as promoted), a massive new pipeline in northern Minnesota to transport oil from Canada’s tar sands region to Superior, Wisconsin, from where it will be transported through other states for export from the United States. In Minnesota, the 337-mile pipeline route is currently proposed to run by and even under the Mississippi River at two points, cross through the Leech Lake and Fond du Lac reservations and violate the 1855, 1854, and 1842 treaty areas.

In a show of solidarity, on January 10, a contingent from Women Against Military Madness visited the Line 3 resistance encampment erected by water protectors on the edge of the Mississippi River in Palisade, MN. The encampment, one of several water protector encampments, sits on an 80-acre land trust from Akiing Purchases (Akiing translates to “the land to which we belong”) that runs parallel to an Enbridge Line 3 drill-pad construction site.

On January 9, the day before we arrived, a massive gathering of 300+ water protectors led mainly by Indigenous women had occupied one of the construction sites north of Aitkin, MN, until sheriff’s deputies ordered them to leave. Nine were arrested and face possible charges of gross misdemeanor trespass on critical infrastructure.

Just two months prior, on November 12, the last key permits for Enbridge’s Line 3 were approved by state environmental regulators. While waiting for the approvals to come through, Enbridge brought all its equipment and pipes in anticipation of beginning immediate construction. As a result, the pipes sat out exposed to the elements, and had already begun to degrade. Additionally, one of the activists residing at the resistance encampment stated that even before the pipe is laid, drills go into the ground and chemicals poisonous to the earth are applied to assist in drilling; the poisoning of the land begins at the very start of the project.

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Commissioner Laura Bishop is reported saying on November 17, 2020, that 12 out of 17 members of the Environmental Justice Advisory Group resigned because they “cannot continue to legitimize and provide cover for the MPCA’s war on Black and Brown people.” It is also worth noting that Governor Walz approved the go-ahead on construction at the same time that he issued COVID-19 restrictions. This means Enbridge can bring in thousands of workers who will not only potentially endanger their lives, but the lives of many Minnesotans through spread of the virus during this global pandemic.

The resistance movement is building, and the encampments have seen water protectors and solidarity activists come from New York to states across the Midwest, and even from as far away as New Mexico, to resist the pipeline construction. The main message that the water protectors left us with: spread the word, as more solidarity bodies are needed to slow down and halt pipeline construction. One water protector told us: “This is such a beautiful country, and our water is so important to us. We must do everything possible to stop this pipeline.”

Kim DeFranco is an active member of Women Against Military Madness. She visited the Line 3 construction site and the water protector resistance encampment at Palisades in northern Minnesota on January 10, 2021.