LINE 3 REPLACEMENT PROJECT

Port: Bill gives taxpayer dollars to group recently found liable in sexual harassment case

Rob Port — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 16:49:12 GMT

MINOT, N.D. — Last week a jury in Becker County, Minnesota, found that Honor the Earth, a left-wing activist group, must pay a former employee to settle a sexual harassment suit.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers in St. Paul are considering whether to appropriate hundreds of thousands of dollars to the organization.

Honor the Earth, founded by Winona LaDuke, has organized protests against pipeline projects, such as the Dakota Access and Line 3 pipelines, and also advocates for divestment from energy sources like oil, gas, and coal.

According to a report on the suit from my colleague, April Baumgarten, Honor the Earth employee Margaret "Molly" Campbell says she was harassed by a co-worker named Michael Dahl who made "inappropriately sexually charged comments." Campbell reported the incidents to LaDuke who responded by dismissing her concerns.

“That’s just how Michael is,” LaDuke told Campbell, per filings in the latter's suit.

Campbell resigned in early 2015 after being placed on unpaid administrative leave. At that point, LaDuke sent her an email telling her to “stay quiet” about her allegations of harassment lest she face a defamation lawsuit.

Honor the Earth's lawyer argued that Becker County lacked jurisdiction since the organization was formed in the White Earth Nation. The court rejected that argument, and the jury rendered a verdict awarding Campbell $750,000.

Rep. Alicia Kozlowski, a Democrat from Duluth, introduced House File 2091 to Minnesota's current legislative session. It would appropriate $920,000 over two fiscal years to the Minnesota Humanities Center "for grants for museum-related programming and educational efforts to teach the public about the history and cultural heritage of Indigenous people in Minnesota."

Of that total, $520,000 would go to "upgrade and convert the Carnegie Library building in Park Rapids" to "Giiwedinong — The Museum and Cultural Center of the North."

This is a project LaDuke has founded and touted in her columns, to be built in a building that once housed offices for Enbridge, the company behind the Line 3 pipeline.

Also among the earmarks in the legislation is a $200,000 appropriation to "coordinate, curate, and organize displays of collections from Honor the Earth, Akiing, and other organizations at the museum."

Even setting the financial liability created for Honor the Earth by the jury finding in Becker County aside, Minnesota taxpayers might wonder why their money should be flowing to such an overtly political organization.

HF 2091 was referred to the Legacy Finance Committee in February. There haven't been any significant actions on the bill since then.

]]>

5 of ‘Shell River Seven’ have charges dismissed from Line 3 protest

Michael Johnson — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 22:29:36 GMT

WADENA — Charges of trespassing and obstruction of legal process were dismissed against five of the women from the group known as the ‘Shell River Seven’ in Wadena County District Court on Monday, Oct. 31.

Those women include Kelly Maracle, Trish Weber, Mary Klein, Barbara With, and Cheryl Barnds. All pleaded not guilty.

The seven women were arrested back in July 2021 when they sat chained together on lawn chairs on a Line 3 oil pipeline easement in northern Wadena County, near the Shell River. This was a location where construction was not actively taking place, but horizontal drilling was planned nearby to install a pipeline under the Shell River.

The charges against the women stated that they were trespassing on the easement where construction of the oil pipeline was to take place. When asked to leave, they told law enforcement that they were unable to unchain themselves. They were eventually directed to move to an area where specialists could remove the log chain, bicycle locks and padlocks from binding each other together. They were then taken to the Wadena County Jail, according to court documents. Their goal was to sit in protest against the construction of the Line 3 pipeline that now makes its way south from Canada and through a portion of Wadena County on its way to Superior, Wisc. That pipeline has been operational for more than one year now.

Wadena County District Court Judge Doug Clark dismissed the charges on the grounds that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate probable cause to sustain the charges.

The defense argued in their order that the women were invited to the location to exercise their rights and that the location they were seated was not on a pipeline by definition, rather it was a wooden boardwalk. The defendants also claimed that their act of chaining themselves together and speaking to law enforcement about possible threats posed by the pipeline and Indian treaty rights did not rise to the level of physically obstructing, hindering, or preventing their being taken into custody.

Judge Clark’s conclusion was that the protest was taking place away from an active pipeline construction and the protesters presence there was not affecting the ongoing drilling. He added that there was insufficient evidence that the women being chained together was significant to constitute physical obstruction.

“The court makes this determination considering both the location of the defendants’ protest and arrest, and the fact that all of the defendants were compliant with law enforcement and did not attempt to escape or resist,” the court order read.

Several charges against the other two Shell River Seven, including independent photojournalist K. Flo Razowsky and Winona LaDuke, Executive Director and co-founder of Honor the Earth, remain in place pending ongoing litigation, according to a news release from the group Honor the Earth.

]]>

Enbridge to pay $11 million for aquifer breaches during Line 3 construction

Jimmy Lovrien — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 20:43:48 GMT

DULUTH — Enbridge Energy will pay $11 million to the state and an Indigenous band after a series of aquifer breaches during the construction of its Line 3 oil pipeline across northern Minnesota last year.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Department of Natural Resources on Monday said the money would be spent on penalties, ongoing monitoring, environmental projects and financial assurances for three aquifer breaches near Enbridge's Clearbrook Terminal, LaSalle Creek in Hubbard County and just west of the Fond du Lac Reservation.

The MPCA also found Enbridge "violated a series of regulations and requirements including discharging construction stormwater into wetlands and inadvertently releasing drilling mud into surface waters at 12 locations between June 8, 2021, and August 5, 2021."

Additionally, the office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Monday, Oct. 17, announced Enbridge admitted to the January 2021 breach in Clearwater County and that the company "further admitted that it understood or should have understood that the aquifer breach resulted from its construction activity, and that it delayed notifying the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources about the breach as required."

Repairs have stopped uncontrolled groundwater flow at the Fond du Lac Reservation breach while work has slowed the uncontrolled flow at the Clearbook breach to 20 gallons per minute and the LaSalle Creek to less than 1 gallon per minute, the MPCA and DNR said.

Of the $11 million, $1.45 million will go to the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

"Today we assert our sovereignty through this enforcement action and demonstrate that the FDL Band will hold accountable any actors that violate our strong environmental standards," Fond du Lac Band Chairperson Kevin Dupuis said in a news release.

In a separate release, DNR commissioner Sarah Strommen said agency appreciated working with Fond du Lac in the aquifer breach investigation.

"In entering into these comprehensive enforcement actions, the DNR is holding Enbridge fully accountable and ensuring that the DNR has the resources needed to address the aquifer breaches," Strommen said.

MPCA's investigation requires Enbridge pay $2.4 million to the state and $2.6 million to fund environmental projects in affected watersheds along Line 3.

“At the start of this project, the MPCA issued our most stringent water quality certification to date and permits that were strong, enforceable, and protective — and this enforcement action holds Enbridge accountable for the violations that occurred during construction,” MPCA Commissioner Katrina Kessler said in the release.

In a statement, Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner said: "We appreciate that we were able to come to agreement with the agencies and are committed to making this right."

Ellison filed a misdemeanor count against Enbridge in State District Court in Bagley for appropriating state waters without a permit through construction.

Kellner said the charge would be dismissed if it complies with state water rules for a year.

Ellison's office and Enbridge have entered into a diversion agreement that would dismiss the charge because Enbridge admitted to facts of the aquifer breach and will pay the maximum $1,000 fine. Enbridge has also agreed to fund up to $60,000 in wetland restoration in Marshall and Polk counties.

"The facts that Enbridge admits today about its breach of the aquifer constitute in the State’s view a criminal violation of the law," Ellison said in the release. "Corporations rarely admit facts that constitute a violation of criminal law."

Line 3 supporters, who touted the project as a boon for jobs, called the Monday's announcements "heavy handed."

"It's clear these fines — which are coming less than a month before the election and 12 months after the project was completed — are politically motivated by the demands of far-left Democrat environmentalists,” state Rep. Josh Heintzeman, R-Nisswa, and state Rep. Spencer Igo, R-Grand Rapids, said in a joint statement.

The 340-mile-long Minnesota segment of Line 3 came online last year and was the last segment in the 1,000-mile pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Enbridge's Superior terminal. It faced stiff opposition from environmental groups and Indigenous bands who said the pipeline is unneeded, at risk of an oil spill, worsens climate change and violates Indigenous and treaty rights.

]]>

Enbridge's Line 3 victorious in challenge to Army Corps permits

Clark Mindock / Reuters — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 17:48:06 GMT

Approvals for Minnesota segments of Enbridge’s Line 3 oil pipeline replacement have been upheld after a federal judge said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers didn’t need to consider how the broader project would impact climate change.

The Friday decision by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly marks a victory for the Canadian company, which has fought off various legal challenges for years as it moved forward with construction and put the line into operation last year.

The Army Corps was right to limit its environmental review of the project only to the impacts of construction in Minnesota, Judge Kollar-Kotelly said, and not downstream concerns like the greenhouse gas emissions from burning the crude oil carried in the pipeline itself. The agency also adequately considered other impacts, including environmental justice concerns, the judge said.

“The Court is satisfied that the scope identified by the Corps was appropriate in light of the activities authorized by its permit,” Judge Kollar-Kotelly said, granting summary judgment to the government and Enbridge.

Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner said in a statement the company is "pleased with this decision that acknowledges the thorough, inclusive and science-based review of the Line 3 replacement project" and that it included robust public participation and consultation with tribes.

Competing summary judgment motions filed by plaintiffs the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, the Sierra Club and others were rejected.

"We are deeply disappointed that the federal court did not recognize that the U.S. Army Corps is required to assess the climate-change impacts of the millions of barrels of oil flowing through Line 3 that will dramatically increase greenhouse gasses," said Earthjustice attorney Moneen Nasmith, who represented the plaintiffs.

A spokesperson for the Army Corps declined to comment.

The effort to replace the corroding pipeline, which first entered service in 1968, has been met with opposition by environmental and indigenous groups. They claim the project connecting Alberta tar sands to Midwest refineries is a new pipeline misleadingly labeled as a replacement, as roughly half of the 338-mile, 36-inch pipeline’s path in Minnesota would run along a new construction corridor. The project also presents serious health and environmental concerns, they said.

The $8.2 billion project doubles the capacity of the 1,097-mile-long pipeline, and Enbridge claims the modifications have improved safety and environmental protections.

The case is Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians et al. v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, case No. 1:20-cv-03817.

The plaintiffs are represented by Howard Learner and Scott Strand of the Environmental Law & Policy Center, and by Moneen Nasmith, Alexis Andiman, Kara Goad, Mekela Panditharatne and Seth Johnson of Earthjustice.

The Army Corps is represented by Heather Gange, Mark Walters and Amanda Stoner of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Enbridge is represented by Deidre Duncan, George Sibley and Karma Brown of Hunton Andrews Kurth.

]]>

Dozens of Line 3 protesters in Minnesota still face prosecution

Jennifer Bjorhus / Star Tribune — Fri, 26 Aug 2022 14:02:43 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS -- The two activists were making their stand for the environment, latching themselves together inside one of the large pipes during construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline in Minnesota.

Prosecutors say what they were doing that day in July 2021 was criminal, even beyond what's typically charged after civil disobedience. St. Olaf College student Madeline Bayzaee and Amory Lei Zhou-Kourvo of Michigan were both charged with one count of felony aiding attempted suicide — each other's. They also face charges of felony obstruction of legal process and gross misdemeanor trespass on critical public service facilities.

Canadian tar sands oil has been flowing for nearly a year now through Enbridge Energy's pipeline and the law enforcement teams in riot gear are long gone. The charges against Bayzaee and Zhou-Kourvo are among the approximately 200 criminal cases still open from the long series of Line 3 protests, one of the largest environmental actions in Minnesota history.

Nearly 800 of several thousand demonstrators were charged with crimes, most of them stemming from protests during last year's construction. The prosecutions jammed county courthouses in northern Minnesota.

About a fifth of the cases remain open, according to Marla Marcum, director of the nonprofit Climate Disobedience Center. Marcum has been tracking the pipeline litigation jointly with the Pipeline Legal Action Network in Minnesota.

Calgary-based Enbridge Energy argued that the old Line 3 needed to be replaced because it was crumbling. Opponents have fought it as a threat to land and waters subject to Ojibwe treaty rights, and a driver of climate change.

"We're still seeing counties that are struggling to even schedule hearings let alone resolve cases," said Claire Glenn, a lawyer with the Line 3 Legal Defense Project, backed by the Civil Liberties Defense Center and the Water Protector Legal Collective.

The arrests occurred as states across the country have further criminalized protests against fossil fuel and oil lines. Seventeen states have passed laws in recent years further restricting protests of oil and gas pipeline projects by ramping up penalties, said Elly Page, who manages the U.S. Protest Law Tracker at the Washington, D.C.-based International Center for Not-For-Profit Law.

Minnesota lawmakers tried too, with an eye to Line 3 protests, but were unsuccessful. The state's existing "critical public service facilities" statute deems pipeline trespass a gross misdemeanor. Even so, the charges leveled against Line 3 protesters last year were more severe than usual, legal advocates say.

Minneapolis civil rights lawyer Jordan Kushner said this is the first time he's seen civil disobedience protesters charged with felony theft or with aiding assisted suicide.

Kushner is representing Bayzaee and Zhou-Kourvo. They were arrested on a hot July day last year in Verdon Township after crawling some 250 feet into a pipe that was closed on one end, and secured themselves together inside.

A volunteer firefighter strapped on an oxygen tank and crawled in after them with a rope. He testified he thought they were close to heat stroke but they refused to come out, saying they were prepared to die to protect the water, court documents show. Then Aitkin County Sheriff Dan Guida went in and tied a rope to one protester. With just minutes left on Guida's oxygen tank, all three were pulled out together "like a big plug," Guida testified.

"They looked like they'd been in a 130-degree oven for an hour," Guida said.

Kushner said he has advised his clients not to talk since the case is active. He accused prosecutors of overreach.

Aitkin County Attorney Jim Ratz said that's "patently false." The two protesters could have died in the pipe, he said, and the charges are justified: "Their intent there was to die."

Many cases resolved

Other prosecutors have said they are just following the law.

"My take on it has always been the same," said Hubbard County Attorney Jonathan Frieden. "We don't prosecute people based on their beliefs. We prosecute people if they violate criminal statute."

By Marcum's count, the criminal cases against an estimated 800 protesters include about 95 felony charges — mostly felony theft related to demonstrators chaining themselves to equipment. Marcum called the numbers conservative.

Although there isn't a full account yet, most of the closed cases appear to have been resolved by a stay of adjudication or continuance for dismissal, Marcum said. That generally means that if a person stays out of trouble, the charges will be dismissed or there will be no conviction on their record.

Marcum called that a win: "It is an indication that the prosecutors themselves don't actually believe that these charges represent acts that they think represent any actual danger to communities."

Only a handful of the cases went to trial, she said, and no one remains in jail.

Juries acquitted demonstrators in two cases; a third case was dismissed mid-trial; and in a fourth the protester was convicted of unlawful assembly and public nuisance. However, the case ended with a stay of adjudication on the condition of jail time, and the protester was sentenced to 30 days.

More than 50 demonstrators charged with crimes were Indigenous, according to Marcum, although not all had treaty claims in Minnesota. About 15 cases involving Native Americans were transferred to White Earth Tribal Court, said White Earth tribal lawyer Frank Bibeau, who represented most of those defendants. Some were dismissed on Treaty Rights, and others took a plea deal and paid a fine. About 15 additional Native American people charged petitioned to have their cases transferred but were denied and are spread out among different county courts, Bibeau said.

"It's very sad," Bibeau said.

Among the pending cases are three involving veteran Native rights activist Winona LaDuke, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and the face of Line 3 opposition in Minnesota.

In one case from December 2020 in Aitkin County LaDuke was cited for trespassing while praying inside a prayer lodge on the Mississippi, a traditional tent-like structure she built by lashing together bent ironwood. Officers said it was on an "exclusion zone" owned by the state, court documents show.

LaDuke said she's still incredulous that she and other demonstrators are facing criminal charges for trying to protect the water, and Enbridge is not.

"It's fundamentally wrong," she said.

Bibeau and Glenn are challenging the trespass charges on multiple grounds including that they violated LaDuke's right to freedom of religion as well as her Treaty Rights to be on land ceded to the government by the Ojibwe.

Enbridge fund

They also assert that the charges violate her due process and equal protection guarantees because officers acted "at the direction and behest" of Enbridge due to "financial incentives" created by the public safety escrow account.

The state Public Utilities Commission created the Enbridge-funded account so that taxpayers did not have to foot the law enforcement bill for policing Line 3 during construction. In total, Enbridge paid $8.6 million through the public safety escrow account the state set up to cover Line 3 policing costs.

Most of the payments went to law enforcement agencies, state records show, although the single largest recipient was the state Department of Natural Resources which was reimbursed for $2.1 million.

The account has been attacked by Line 3 opponents for creating an incentive for law enforcement to crack down harder on demonstrators.

"It's pretty disturbing when you have law enforcement working for a private corporation and furthering their agenda," said Kushner, the civil rights lawyer.

Enbridge has contested the claims. On its website, the company says it did not direct law enforcement to arrest protesters and did not determine which expenses were eligible for reimbursement from the escrow account.

"This legislation does not in any way incentivize a particular policing strategy such as increased arrests or patrols," it said.

The fund was handled by Rick Hart, an independent account manager appointed by the Public Utilities Commission. Hart is a former investigator for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office and former Bloomington deputy chief of police. The fund was set up with clear guidelines to reimburse agencies for personnel expenses and protective gear, but not for other equipment such as tear gas or other crowd dispersal tools. Porta Potties and handcuffs were approved.

The Wright County Sheriff's Office was denied reimbursement for munitions, including pepper balls, chemical sprays, rubber bullets and a flash bang, according to copies of denied requests the newspaper obtained through a data practices act request. Some enforcement agencies were denied reimbursement for batons.

The public safety account also did not cover prosecution expenses, although Frieden, the Hubbard County attorney, tried. He submitted two invoices totaling $27,352.74 last year. Reimbursement was denied.

]]>

Line 3 aquifer breach is leaking more groundwater

Kirsti Marohn / MPR News — Sun, 07 Aug 2022 15:43:16 GMT

BRAINERD -- An aquifer breach in north-central Minnesota caused by construction on the Line 3 oil pipeline is leaking more groundwater, the state Department of Natural Resources said this week.

The site near LaSalle Creek in Hubbard County is one of three places where crews installing the Enbridge-owned pipeline last year caused uncontrolled flows of groundwater.

DNR staff visited the site this spring and found that Enbridge’s repairs were largely successful, though they identified the need for more monitoring and assessment, according to spokesperson Gail Nosek.

But on July 11, Enbridge informed the DNR that additional groundwater had emerged from the site. About 20 gallons per minute of groundwater is flowing out of the ground — about one-fifth of the flow from the original breach, the DNR stated.

Opponents of the Line 3 pipeline are calling for an independent panel of scientists to study the environmental impacts of the pipeline construction.

Jami Gaither is a retired engineer working with Waadookawaad Amikwag, or Those Who Help Beaver, a citizen science group that has used drones and thermal imaging to monitor the breaches.

"Every single thing that we've seen happen along this corridor was predicted by citizens, by scientists by Indigenous leadership — people who understand this land, who live in this land, who depend on this land for their life,” she said.

Gaither said pressurized aquifers feed natural springs that in turn, supply wetlands and fens with groundwater.

"When we breach that, we no longer have the pressure, because it's being bled off in other places, to allow those natural springs that people rely on to continue to be present,” she said. “They basically disappear from the landscape."

The DNR said it's ordered Enbridge to develop a plan to address the flow.

The agency also said it's working on an enforcement resolution to address all of the aquifer breach sites and hold Enbridge accountable for their restoration.

In an email, Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner said the company is developing a supplemental corrective action plan in coordination with state agencies.

Kellner said the company takes protecting the environment seriously, and continues to work with regulatory agencies at the three sites on ongoing restoration and monitoring.

]]>

Guest column: LaDuke wrong to blame Enbridge for violence, arrests

Brian Holmer / Thief River Falls — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 15:00:00 GMT

Reality is a very stubborn yet important thing.

Despite attempts by people like Winona LaDuke to try to confuse, mislead or misrepresent, reality is something that thankfully cannot be ignored. ("Canadian justice comes to Minnesota," LaDuke column.)

Her efforts via her recent column take this to a new level and deserve a response.

For months now, hundreds of Line 3 protesters who broke the law are facing the legal accountability for their actions. Yet Winona LaDuke wants us to place the blame elsewhere.

Instead of accepting responsibility for her actions and the actions of other violent protesters, she wants us to think the only reason so many people were arrested was because law enforcement was “incentivized” to do this.

She ignores that the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission required Enbridge to put money into an escrow fund. This happened because of PUC concerns about threats from Winona to bring violence and protests to Minnesota that she and others repeatedly made during the entire Line 3 process.

The PUC wanted to make sure local taxpayers would not have to be responsible to cover the costs for extra law enforcement because of protesters. After seeing what happened, it’s beyond clear that the PUC did the right thing.

Yet LaDuke claiming Enbridge “incentivized” law enforcement to arrest the thousands of violent Line 3 protesters ignores a pretty important fact. None of the arrests would have happened if Winona and the others she invited to Minnesota had not committed crimes.

We saw this firsthand. Winona and her supporters not only destroyed construction equipment, but they also repeatedly threatened employees at places such as Two Inlets — many who are Native American. It made it harder for people to keep working. Having trucks and other equipment damaged or destroyed created other challenges for Native American-owned companies to resolve.

The only people being incentivized to do anything were the thousands of people Honor the Earth and others invited to come to Minnesota to protest. Not only were they encouraged to come here, people with “duffle bags of cash” were ready to make sure they got bailed out after they were arrested, Hubbard County Sheriff Cory Aukes told the Park Rapids Enterprise.

While Winona and others organized protests that stretched our public safety and first responder resources to the limits, the one thing Enbridge did “incentivize” was our local economy!

The recent University of Minnesota Duluth impact report shows how much good happened because of Line 3. Billions of dollars were invested, thousands of jobs were created, and businesses and communities were lifted up at the end of the COVID economic challenges.

Every union worker who wanted to work on the project had the chance to be part of Line 3. Native American-owned companies got to work on a project that was closer to their homes, many tribal employees learned new skills, and many now have new careers.

Winona and other Line 3 opponents continue to try to argue about the way law enforcement responded to months of violent protests. What they don’t want to discuss is that no one gets arrested if they did not break the law. If people had not damaged equipment, they would not be facing these consequences.

Minnesota is a better place because of the Line 3 Replacement project. We have replaced something important and old with something that is newer, stronger, and better. While other parts of our state struggled economically, Northern Minnesota had an amazing lifeline that supported communities and made it possible for many businesses to survive.

I wish this all could have happened without the violence and arrests, but to try to blame Enbridge or anyone else for this ignores reality.

Brian Holmer is mayor of Thief River Falls, Minnesota.]]>

In hearing, protesters maintain they had a right to be in the pathway of Line 3

Michael Johnson — Sat, 23 Jul 2022 18:25:37 GMT

WADENA, Minn. — A group of Line 3 protesters calling themselves the “Shell River 7” joined together once more Wednesday, July 20, almost one year to date from the day they were arrested and held at the Wadena County Jail, charged with trespassing and obstruction of the legal process.

On that day in 2021, a group of six women sat in lawn chairs, chained to one another on a heavy equipment boardwalk between the Shell River and the oncoming Enbridge oil pipeline. They were asked by law enforcement to unchain and leave, according to court records, but said they could not because they did not have a key for the locks. Law enforcement said in a search of the persons, no key was found.

The Enbridge Line 3 oil pipeline replacement was under construction starting in December 2020 and became operational in October 2021.

In the present case before the Wadena County District Court, six of those arrested were facing these charges in a joint omnibus evidentiary hearing. They sought a single contested omnibus hearing, as their cases present substantially similar facts and they are raising similar defenses.

The women include Cheryl Barnds (Maryland), Barbara With (Wisconsin), Kelly Maracle (New York), Trish Weber (Oregon), Mary Klein (California) and Winona Laduke, Ponsford, Minn. Photojournalist K. Flo Rozowsky was also arrested while documenting the event. Laduke, executive director of Honor the Earth, was not a part of this hearing as she is facing a separate trial, for the same incident, to be held in August. She has her own trial because she litgated her right to have her criminal case transferred to Tribal Court as a tribal member. LaDuke will continue to assert her tribal rights including her right to invite guests to join her in the ceremony despite a Wadena County judge’s denial of her motion to transfer the case to White Earth Tribal Court.

She was present Wednesday as witness No. 1 to be questioned by the defense.

LaDuke said she plays a central role as a tribal member of the group that has rights to be on the property as it lies within the ceded territory. Laduke claims that as a member of the Anishinaabe tribe she has a right and responsibility to invite guests to the territory for ceremonial purposes such as that day, where the group claims they were praying for the river.

Representing the state, Assistant Wadena County Attorney Adam Licari argued that the women did not have a right to be trespassing on posted private property.

The group call themselves water protectors, as they say their goal is to protect the river from the then planned, and now completed, horizontal directional drilling that took place deep under the Shell River for the now active Line 3 oil pipeline. About 10 days prior to their arrest, Laduke said she was named Guardian ad litem of the Shell River by the 1855 Treaty Commission and by the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. She said it is her responsibility to take action steps to protect the river.

In the hearing, Laduke and the defense attorneys maintained those arrested were lawfully there, standing or seated in the public Huntersville State Forest, all of which is also within the Anishinaabe-ceded territory. This is also what Laduke asserted in her hearing in April.

The reasons members of the Northern Lights Task Force arrested the group that day was for trespassing on an Enbridge Line 3 easement, a right of way where the Line 3 pipeline now actively transports oil. The probable cause statement says that signage along the easement indicated there was to be no trespassing on the site. This task force was composed of 16 northern Minnesota counties and state agencies such as the State Patrol, the DNR and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Among those involved were Wadena County Sheriff’s deputies.

Who has rights to be on the property is one side of the issue brought up by the defense. Another was that law enforcement were told to disperse or remove those trespassing that day, apparently listening to requests from Enbridge. But when the protesters told law enforcement that they had a right to be on that property, law enforcement instead listened to the assertion that Enbridge had rights to operate on the easement, the defense reasoned. The defense argued that law enforcement that day showed bias against the water protectors because Enbridge was providing payments to law enforcement, through an escrow account, for dealing with protests along the easement. They argued that law enforcement listened to Enbridge but not the protesters, without having sufficient evidence of whether the protesters were, in fact, trespassing.

Wadena County Sheriff’s officers brought to the witness stand confirmed that they were “indirectly” paid through the escrow account for their work at the Line 3 site, though it was not known how much money they received.

The defense continued to argue that law enforcement did not know if the protesters were trespassing or not.

“It does not appear any officers reviewed legal paperwork to determine if it was lawful trespass or not,” defense attorney Claire Glenn stated.

Wadena County District Court Judge Doug Clark argued against the defense’s questioning, which he said was attempting to show bias. He said that either the women had a right to be there or they did not. Either it was an Enbridge easement or it was not. That was the determining factor of trespass.

“Somebody saying they did have a right to be there or not doesn’t change that. It’s not relevant,” Clark said.

Clark will now take the matter under advisement and gave attorneys three weeks to file any briefs with the court, as well as a month for the state to respond to the briefs.

LaDuke's next trial date is Aug. 12 at the Wadena County Courthouse.

]]>

Study: Enbridge Line 3 generated billions in economic impact

Brielle Bredsten — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:50:13 GMT

DULUTH — Since replacement of Enbridge's Line 3 pipeline began in 2017, a significant increase in economic activity has been experienced across the region, a recent economic impact study found.

The study was commissioned by Area Partnership for Economic Expansion, a private-sector-led business development engine for northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. The study did not consider the social or environmental impacts of the project; its purpose was to solely estimate the economic impacts of replacing three segments of Line 3.

This included the mainline which runs through Kittson, Marshall, Pennington, Red Lake, Polk, Clearwater, Beltrami, Hubbard, Wadena, Cass, Crow Wing, Itasca, Aitkin, Carlton and Saint Louis counties; Segment 18 in Douglas County in Wisconsin; and the Superior terminal building in Superior, Wisconsin.

“Large-scale industrial projects are critical to continued growth and success throughout not just the APEX region, but also the entire state of Minnesota,” APEX board chair Lisa Bodine said during a Zoom press conference. “The project surpassed all economic impact projections and created family-sustaining jobs for many Minnesotans. APEX is proud to advocate for these types of projects in our region because we understand the economic, environmental and social benefits will be felt for decades to come.”

Job creation

The Line 3 project had a larger impact than originally expected, compared to the 2017 pre-construction study, Bodine said. Originally, the project was anticipated to take two years, cost about $1.9 billion and create 8,600 jobs total. However, the Line 3 project supported an average of 4,157 jobs per year from 2017-2023 in the region, according to the recent study performed by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Labovitz �� of Business and Economics.

During peak Line 3 construction in 2021, employment reached over 14,400 jobs. For every job directly supported by Line 3, another 0.86 jobs were added in related industries, the study stated. Enbridge reportedly contributed more than $1.7 billion in employee wages and benefits, over $2.2 billion in value-added spending, and generated more than $5 billion in new spending over the project's life.

Thief River Falls Mayor Brian Holmer said he has supported the Line 3 project from the beginning. While businesses across the state shut down as a result of the pandemic, his community located along the replacement route saw jobs during construction. Restaurants reforming practices to provide bagged lunches and suppers for Line 3 employees was just one example, he said.

Clearbrook Mayor Dylan Goudge added that prior to Line 3, the local economy was bleak with many companies having to make tough decisions.

"Now, we're still seeing the positive impacts of Line 3. Many people were able to get back to work. Others came from around the country and discovered our community and lifted it up," Goudge said.

Nearly half of the project’s construction laborers were residents of the 16-county project area. In addition to the construction laborers themselves, Enbridge employed engineers, right-of-way agents, environmental monitors, project managers and construction supervisors.

Due to a lack of local skilled workforce in rural areas, 54% of those employed for the construction project were sourced from outside of the study area. While much of their income will leave the study area, it is estimated that non-local workers employed on the Line 3 replacement project spent $132.1 million of their per diem allowances on lodging, meals and incidentals to benefit the retail and hospitality industries of those areas.

According to the study, roughly one-third of the per diem was spent on lodging ($46.4 million); another third on meals ($44.3 million). Automotive expenses, such as gas and repairs, represented about 21% of the per diem budget ($28.2 million). Other significant expenses included incidentals such as retail purchases (7% of spending or $9.6 million) and health care (3% or $3.6 million).

Throughout the project, increased demand for equipment, labor and transportation led to increased economic activity in the affected counties, the study stated. However, after the project’s completion this additional activity will cease and the economic impacts of construction will no longer be felt in the region.

Jason George, business manager and financial secretary at IUOE Local 49, said he spent years advocating for the Line 3 replacement. "It is gratifying to see the facts come out about the project," George said. "More than 50% of the operating engineers were local to my community and will continue working their trades in the community. This project was a big part of their career."

Line 3 Replacement

Enbridge's Line 3 crude oil pipeline was originally installed in the 1960s to transport crude oil from Edmonton, Alberta in Canada to Superior, Wisconsin. It was put into service in 1968. In 2015, it was estimated Line 3 was in need of 7,000 excavations over 15 years to operate safely at a reduced capacity.

Enbridge decided replacement of the over 50-year-old infrastructure was the best route. The first three years of the project focused primarily on pre-construction activities, including material procurement, land acquisition, engineering and environmental monitoring. In the United States, the replacement project involved installing a 36-inch diameter pipe in place of the 34-inch pipe segments through 14 miles of Wisconsin in August 2017; 13 miles in North Dakota from August to September 2020; and finally 337 miles in Minnesota in December 2020.

The pipeline was put in service on Oct. 1, 2021. Restoration and monitoring activities will continue through 2023. Once monitoring and restoration work concludes, Enbridge will have invested more than $4 billion over the seven-year project, including more than $2.9 billion spent in the 16-county project area. Enbridge will pay $35 million more annually in Minnesota property taxes, in addition to the $43 million annual property taxes the company currently pays.

Opponents of the pipeline have long said it violates Indigenous treaty rights, threatens to contaminate water with risk of oil spills, contributes to climate change as it strengthens reliance on fossil fuels and exposes communities next to the construction projects to human trafficking.

The full study and an overview can be found at APEXgetsbusiness.com.

]]>

Defendants seek dismissal of Line 3 protest charges

Kirsti Marohn / MPR News — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 20:42:56 GMT

AITKIN, Minn. -- As Shanai Matteson walked out of the Aitkin County Courthouse into the bright sunshine Thursday morning, her supporters waiting outside were jubilant.

A judge had just acquitted Matteson of a gross misdemeanor charge of aiding and abetting trespassing stemming from last year’s protests over the Line 3 oil pipeline.

"The judge made the right decision today in acquitting me on these ridiculous charges,” Matteson told those gathered on the courthouse lawn.

Matteson’s case was one of hundreds still pending more than a year after protest actions over the Line 3 project. The replacement pipeline, built along a new route across northern Minnesota, was completed last year and began transporting oil in October.

Roughly a thousand people were arrested during those actions. Some were charged with relatively serious crimes, including gross misdemeanors and felonies.

Line 3 opponents have called for the remaining charges dismissed. They’ve also asked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to appoint Attorney General Keith Ellison as a special prosecutor to review the cases.

The charges against Matteson stemmed from an incident dating back to January 2021. Opponents of Enbridge's plans to build a new Line 3 crude oil pipeline gathered for a rally at a welcome center for water protectors in Aitkin County.

On that cold winter day, Matteson, 40, an artist and community activist who grew up in Palisade, told the crowd they were looking for people who might be in a position to potentially be arrested, "if that's what it comes to today." She urged them to fill out forms in case they needed legal support.

"So if you want to do that, and I hope some of you will consider that. Over 40 people have been arrested so far,” Matteson can be heard saying in a video of the event.

Later that day, many of the protesters, who call themselves water protectors, drove to a Line 3 construction site. Some were arrested and charged with trespassing.

Matteson never went to the site. But prosecutors later watched a video of her remarks. Five months later, she received a summons in the mail charging her with aiding and abetting trespassing on a pipeline, which is considered critical public infrastructure.

But on Thursday, before the defense presented its case, District Court Judge Leslie May Metzen acquitted Matteson based on insufficient evidence.

Matteson's attorney, Jordan Kushner, said the judge made the right decision.

"The idea that someone could be prosecuted for a crime – a gross misdemeanor offense, a relatively serious crime – just for making a speech and being involved politically, is very dangerous,” he said.

Matteson said she believes she was singled out for charges because she's a local resident and active in the Line 3 opposition. She said it's been a stressful experience.

"I have two young children. They knew that I was facing the possibility of up to a year in jail,” she said. “My mother and father who live here in Aitkin, they have people ask them, ‘What's going on with your daughter? We heard some things that she's a criminal.’"

Those impacts won't go away even with an acquittal, Matteson said.

Aitkin County Attorney Jim Ratz didn't respond to a request for an interview.

Aitkin County Sheriff Dan Guida disputes that Line 3 protesters have been singled out or treated unfairly. Guida said his office simply enforces existing laws, and forwards information to the county attorney's office, who decided how to charge Matteson's case.

"She was asking people to hold space and encourage them to get arrested,” he said. “And, in that scenario, we kind of believe that you're instigating those people getting arrested."

But Guida also said aiding and abetting is a difficult charge to prove, and he supports the court system ultimately making the final decision.

Some of the other water protectors cheering that decision outside the courthouse last week are facing their own criminal charges in Aitkin and other Minnesota counties.

Winona LaDuke, executive director of the environmental nonprofit Honor the Earth, said she's looking forward to more Line 3 defendants being vindicated.

"We're not criminals, we're water protectors,” LaDuke said. “I feel that our charges should be dropped, and we should all get medals from the state of Minnesota for protecting the waters of Minnesota.”

Different outcomes

Protests over the pipeline project took place at several locations along the pipeline's 330-mile route. Line 3 opponents say the criminal cases are being handled differently by different counties.

Kushner said a Hubbard County judge dismissed several cases of felony theft against people who locked themselves to construction equipment, depriving Enbridge of its use.

Nathan Phillips, a Boston University professor, said he was arrested in Hubbard County in June 2021 while walking alongside a county road with several dozen others, chanting and carrying signs.

"I was using my constitutionally granted freedom of political speech, and I was arrested anyway,” he said.

Other protesters, not Phillips, blocked a semi-truck from entering a work site, and two people locked themselves to the semi’s trailer. Phillips was charged with misdemeanor public nuisance and unlawful assembly. The charges were dismissed last month.

However, in Aitkin County, felony charges of aiding attempted suicide are still pending against two people who crawled inside a pipe and refused to come out. Authorities said they were in danger from extreme heat and a lack of oxygen.

Law enforcement officials and prosecutors say they tried to apply charges that reflected the behavior, disruption and cost of resources associated with the unprecedented scale of the Line 3 protests.

“I think we, from the get-go, were seeking both fairness and consistency,” said Nate Stumme, head of the criminal division in St. Louis County attorney’s office, where about 32 Line 3 protest cases are still pending.

Tribal sovereignty

Some of the cases involving defendants who are Native American have been moved to tribal court.

A White Earth tribal court recently dismissed charges against three water protectors charged with criminal trespassing during an eight-day camp held at the Mississippi River in June 2021.

The three argued that because the camp was located on territory ceded by Ojibwe tribes to the federal government in an 1855 treaty, their nonviolent actions were lawful exercises of sovereign Indigenous rights.

“It is not a crime to assert our treaty rights,” said one of the three, Nancy Beaulieu, a member of the Leech Lake reservation who lives near Bemidji. “And to be tried as a crime and have to continue to reaffirm our treaty rights is something we can't afford as Native peoples.”

]]>