No New Pipelines! PGND and Madison DSA Stand in Solidarity with Water Defenders AGAINST Line 3

For Immediate Release—Tuesday, March 16, 2021
Madison Area Democratic Socialists of America
Contact: dsamadison@gmail.com

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No New Pipelines! PGND and Madison DSA Stand in Solidarity with Water Defenders AGAINST Line 3

MADISON, WI — People’s Green New Deal – Madison and the Madison Area Democratic Socialists of America, stand in solidarity with water protectors who are mobilizing for protest, calling on federal and state governments to immediately halt construction of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline. 

Line 3, a pipeline owned by the Canadian-based energy company, Enbridge Inc., has been seeking to “update” the pipeline to accommodate tar sands oil coming from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin. For the last 5 years, Anishinaabe water protectors and allies, led by the White Earth Nation, Red Lake Nation, and Giniw Collective in northern Minnesota, have withstood freezing temperatures and police repression to halt construction of Line 3, The pipeline will cross 200 bodies of water, 800 wetlands, and violates Anishinaabe treaty rights. Enbridge is already responsible for the biggest inland oil spill in US history and this “update” will carry double its original amount of tar sands oil. It’s not a matter of if it will spill, but when it will spill, resulting in ecological devastation. 

President Biden refers to himself as the “climate President” and was right to cancel permits for the Keystone XL Pipeline. We call on his administration to do the same regarding Line 3.

We call on Governor Evers and his Task Force on Climate Change to strengthen their stated commitment to a green transition by moving their recommendations regarding pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure from Tier 2 considerations to priorities and take immediate action to halt construction in Wisconsin. 

We also call on Governor Evers to overturn Act 33, which he signed into law in 2019. As The Progressive said, under the law “peaceful protestors can be charged with a felony punishable by up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine if they trespass on property owned, leased, or operated by companies engaged in the distribution of oil or petroleum.” We defend the right of water protectors to defend their land against unfair targeted lawsuits.

We call upon the courts to side with White Earth Nation, Red Lake Nation, and the Sierra Club in their lawsuit, to respect treaty lands and defend fragile ecosystems.

Completion of Line 3 will only increase the demand to refit pipelines going through Wisconsin and Michigan to accommodate tar sands oil. Line 3 is the lynchpin. 

As eco-socialists, we pledge to mobilize in the coming months to support protests against Line 3 and will work alongside everyone committed to this fight.

If you can, please donate to Giniw Collective and follow them on social media.