DULUTH — Protesters known as “water protectors” blockaded Enbridge Line 3 worksites Wednesday morning, Feb. 23, in the Savanna State Forest in northeastern Minnesota.
At one location, a protester ascended a 40-foot, two-legged stand, according to a news release from the Giniw Collective. At another location, two protesters stationed themselves on a flipped-over vehicle with a sign that read “doom to Line 3 or doom to us all” and blocked the entry road.
Protesters gather in front of a 40-foot, two-legged stand a protester ascended Wednesday in northern Minnesota’s Savanna State Forest. The protesters created two blockades to Enbridge Line 3 worksites. (Submitted photo)
Nonviolent resistance to Line 3 continues to grow across Anishinaabe treaty territory in northern Minnesota, the release said. Pipeline opponents say the pipeline construction violates treaty rights, risks chance of an oil spill and deepens reliance on fossil fuels.
Big Wind of the Northern Arapahoe Tribe in Wyoming said in the release: “As a tribal citizen from an ‘oil and gas tribe,’ I know we are not devoid from the societal norms that prioritizes profit over the planet. For generations, multinational corporations have (duped) us all with their hush money. No more. We are waking up. Our silence will not be bought.”
Construction on the Line 3 replacement project began Dec. 1. When it’s complete, it will transport oil from Alberta, Canada, to Superior, Wis., and follow a partially new route.
In early February, the Minnesota Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., each denied two different requests to halt construction on the pipeline in northern Minnesota.