The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is (finally!) investigating Canadian corporation Enbridge for its 28 drilling fluid spills at 12 river crossings, totaling to more than 10,000 gallons of toxic drilling fluids along with mud. Thirty-two Minnesota legislators at long last found their voices and said this in a letter to the MPCA: “The severe drought and excessive heat experienced throughout Minnesota impact the ability of waterways, wetlands, and marshes to effectively dilute harmful chemicals and excessive sediment. The drought is also causing rapid evaporation of waterways and could result in a lack of clean water available to assist with any cleanup of spills and releases.”
For more information. please see Unicorn Riot’s excellent reporting.
More than 700 Water Protectors have been arrested in this year’s direct action to blockade and otherwise impede the destructive pipeline project which, if completed, will menace the entire Mississippi River and Lake Superior with tar sands oil spills and will be the carbon equivalent of 50 new coal-fired plants, locking in greenhouse gas emissions for decades.
As Giniw Collective reported on August 11th, “Water Protectors shut down multiple Enbridge Line 3 worksites in solidarity with Indigenous peoples. Despite continued calls from Native nations & water protectors hit with ‘less lethal’ ammo in recent weeks, President Biden, Gina McCarthy, the White House National Climate Advisor, and the Army Corps of Engineers) remain silent.”
