200 Continue to Occupy Enbridge Matting Near the Mississippi Headwaters Over Night Exercising Treaty Rights

Yesterday, over a thousand people marched to the planned Enbridge Line 3 pipeline crossing of the Mississippi River in solidarity with Anishinaabe exercising their treaty rights. This location is under 10 miles from the Mississippi headwaters in rural Minnesota. This morning over 200 people who attended the Treaty People's Gathering still occupy the easement where Enbridge will soon drill under to lay the pipe for Line 3. Led by the RISE Coalition this occupation will continue as frontline water protectors continue to call on President Biden to stop Line 3.

WHO:RISE Coalition, Indigenous Environmental Network

WHERE:https://maps.app.goo.gl/ceuCPbqHBSZjWhW39

WHEN: End date unknown

QUOTES:

"We need to protect all that we have left of the sacred gifts and land. I said that I would do all that I could. And I have done all that I could in the legal system, thus far following that process. Now, they have failed us through regulatory capture and corporate financing. So now we need you," said Dawn Goodwin of the RISE Coalition

"We have very few options left. We are here to protect the water, the wild rice and the next seven generations of life. Keystone XL was stopped on the merits of environmental justice and treaty rights, this is no different. We demand President Biden take action now," said Simone Senogles of the Indigenous Environmental Network and RISE Coalition.

BACKGROUND:

Thousands of people traveled to the frontlines of Line 3 pipeline construction to protect the land and raise awareness of the ways the tar sands expansion project threatens Indigenous lifeways and the future of the climate. Enbridge is building Line 3 through Anishinaabe treaty land and the Mississippi headwaters despite multiple tribal-led lawsuits and powerful frontlines resistance.

At the start of June, as Enbridge resumes full scale construction and prepares to drill under dozens of Minnesota's rivers and lakes, hundreds of water protectors will travel to the frontlines to support the Indigenous-led resistance to construction. Those who are planning to attend vow to peacefully disrupt construction of Line 3.

If completed, Line 3 will transport more than 760,000 barrels of toxic tar sands oil per day, at a cost of over $4 billion dollars. The pipeline would also cross more than 200 water bodies including under the Mississippi River twice, as well as sensitive watersheds, ecosystems and pristine landscapes in northern Minnesota.

Anishinaabe tribes and allied groups have been resisting the construction of Line 3 across Minnesota since it was proposed in 2014. Since construction began in December of last year, water protectors have delayed construction through non-violent direct action and peaceful protest. More than 250 people have already been arrested protesting construction.