Graphics and photos by Sarah LittleRedfeather
With Keystone Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Cancelled by President Biden, 250+ Sign Open Letter to Minnesota Leaders to Stop Line 3 – A Tar Sands Twin to Keystone
35 LAWMAKERS JOIN INTERNATIONAL RECORDING ARTISTS BON IVER, PEARL JAM, BONNIE RAITT, BRITTANY HOWARD, JACK JOHNSON, DOOMTREE, ZIGGY MARLEY, DAVE MATTHEWS, INDIGO GIRLS, NUR-D, FAITH LEADERS, RENOWNED AUTHORS, COMMUNITY LEADERS AND OTHERS TO STOP LINE 3 CONSTRUCTION THAT THREATENS CLIMATE, WATER AND INDIGENOUS LANDS AND TRIBES IN NORTHERN MINNESOTA
CALLAWAY, MINN., -- January 31, 2021— After President Biden cancelled the Keystone pipeline project, growing national and international pressure is mounting on his office and the offices of Minnesota leaders to stop other carbon-loading oil pipelines such as Line 3 and the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL). In a full-page open letter on January 31, 2021, in Minnesota’s paper of record, the Star Tribune, over 250 signors call on Governor Tim Walz and other leaders to end construction of Line 3. The new 337-mile pipeline will exacerbate the climate crisis, * threaten drinking water for millions and disrupt the rights and communities of the Indigenous tribes in some of the state’s most pristine and ecologically sensitive watersheds and landscapes in northern Minnesota.
In the letter, International recording artists such as Bon Iver, Pearl Jam, Bonnie Raitt, Doomtree, Ziggy Marley, Brittany Howard, Atmosphere’s Slug, Jack Johnson, Nur-D, Dave Matthews, the Indigo Girls and many others petition state leaders to halt Line 3 construction, along with 35 Minnesota lawmakers, diverse faith leaders and community leaders, and renowned authors such as Indigenous writer, Louise Erdrich, environmentalist Bill McKibben, Patricia Hampl, and actress Jane Fonda, award-winning actress and founder of Fire Drill Fridays.
“The Line 3 pipeline is one more attempt by the dying fossil fuel industry to make a buck while continuing to choke the planet. It’s a disastrous step backwards when we should be leaping ahead to brighter future powered by sustainable, renewable energy,” adds Jeremy Messersmith, the critically heralded songsmith whom NPR calls “a pop genius, with creative ambition to match his songs’ considerable charm.”
“It was important for me to sign this because profit should never be more important than people. There should never be a check large enough to allow someone to force themselves on another person against their will. That is what this pipeline is,” says popular Twin Cities rapper Nur-D. “It’s a company deciding that because they have money, means, and the desire to a place that they should have a right to devastate people and forever poison an ecosystem that cries out emphatically ‘we don’t want you’."
“The Pandemic Pipeline”
“Line 3 – what I now call ‘the Pandemic Pipeline’ because it’s hastily being built during the Covid-19 crisis – is not going to create long-term jobs for 5,200 people now working on it. With legal challenges in both state and Federal courts that could halt construction, Enbridge is dangerously rushing through our lands to get their pipe in the ground. This important letter hopefully reminds leaders like Gov. Walz that the fossil fuel age is ending, why not end it here now and halt this unnecessary project?!
LaDuke also thanked the letter’s many signers and the numerous organizations and companies that helped contact the diverse signatories:
“We are very grateful to the time and energy that went into creating a letter that reflects a broad cross section of Minnesotans, famous artists, and leaders from a variety of backgrounds who understand why Line 3 and DAPL have to go the way of Keystone.”
Added Michael Martin from Effect Partners, which helped secure many artists to sign the letter, “We know how effective highly visible and committed people like the artists who signed the letter can serve as real Change Agents for the collective good, and we are grateful to them for this effort. Line 3 is an economic albatross given the failing tar sands oil industry in Canada, and an unnecessary threat to the environment, which even Minnesota’s own Department of Commerce says is not needed. It’s time to end it.”
For more information – or to interview the spokesperson associated with the Line 3 Letter to Minnesota leaders – please contact Martin Keller or Kevin Whelan at the above numbers and emails.
*More About Line 3, Carbon and Climate
Think of Line 3 as climate bomb equivalent to 50 coal-fired power plants which will increase the climate crisis and infringe on the rights and territories of Minnesota’s Anishinaabe tribes, The science behind the UN’s 2019 climate study – and even a 2019 study from the Trump administration – both warn us to decrease carbon emissions dramatically in the next 10 years, or face dire consequences around the globe.
As of January 30, 2020 108,895 Signatures Collected but only 95,905 more until our goal of 204,800.