FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 9, 2015

Honor the Earth, Callaway MN,

www.honorearth.org
Media Contact: Thane Maxwell, 612-900-5108
On July 1, 2015, the National Congress of American Indians adopted a
formal resolution calling for a full Environmental Impact Statement
(EIS) on Enbridge Energys proposed Sandpiper/Line 3 oil pipeline
corridor across treaty-ceded territory in Northern Minnesota. The NCAI
is the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native
tribal governments. The official resolution can be viewed on their website here.
The resolution calls for immediate and coordinated action by the US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Army Corps of
Engineers, to address the serious threats to tribal sovereignty, natural
resources, and environmental justice that the pipelines pose, especially
in light of the highly flawed regulatory process at the state level. It
emphasizes the EPAs obligation to designate appropriate Bands of
Ojibwe/Chippewa as cooperating agencies in the thorough
environmental review required by the National Environmental
Protection Act (NEPA), and work closely with tribal governments to
protect precious tribal resources.
On June 5, 2015, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission issued
Enbridge a Certificate of Need for the Sandpiper pipeline, without any
tribal consultation and without meaningful consideration of
environmental justice issues or potential impacts on the religious
freedoms and federally-protected resources of the regions indigenous
peoples. The decision was made despite formal objections from the
White Earth and Mille Lacs Bands of Ojibwe, as evidenced in their
letters to the PUC requesting postponement of the decision until the
testimony taken at their own public hearings could be considered.
Those tribal hearings were held on the White Earth and Mille Lacs
Reservations on June 4 and June 5, respectively, in response to the
PUCs denial of requests to hold one of its hearings on the reservations
so that those most impacted could have voice.
Manoomin, or Wild Rice, is a sacred food to the Anishinaabe, of
tremendous spiritual and cultural importance, a federally-protected
tribal resource, states the resolution, and tribal governments
throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin are concerned that an oil spill
would have devastating impacts on unique spiritual and cultural
resources.

The proposed Sandpiper/Line 3 corridor would pierce the heart of

Minnesotas lake country, across 137 public lands including Mississippi
Headwaters State Forest and 76 public waterways, through areas
inaccessible by road and full of precious fresh water, biodiversity, and
the largest wild rice beds in the region. These 2 lines alone could
pump up to 60 million gallons of oil each day, and the corridor would
open up the possibility of additional pipelines in the future.
Even on ceded territory (off-reservation), Ojibwe tribal members retain
certain property rights that allow them to make a modest living from
the land. These use-rights are called usufructuary rights, and are
guaranteed by the treaties between Ojibwe bands and the US
government, protected by the US Constitution, and affirmed by the US
Supreme Court. They include the rights to hunt, fish, gather medicinal
plants, harvest and cultivate wild rice, and preserve sacred or
culturally significant sites.
The proposed new oil pipelines in northern MN violate the treaty rights
of the Anishinaabeg by endangering critical natural resources in the
1854, 1855, and 1867 treaty areas. All pipelines leak, and catastrophes
like Enbridges 1 million gallon spill in 2010 on the Kalamazoo River,
the largest inland oil spill in US history and still not cleaned up, are not
unlikely.
These pipelines threaten the culture, way of life, and physical survival
of the Ojibwe people. We will continue to work to protect our water
and our rice, as our ancestors did before us, said Winona LaDuke,
Executive Director of Honor the Earth, the environmental organization
leading the intervention in the Sandpiper permitting process.
For more information on the Sandpiper/Line 3 pipeline corridor and the
rapidly growing movement to oppose it, please visit
www.honorearth.org. Thousands of tribal members, landowners,
businesses, organizations, farmers, elected officials, and citizens are
standing up to Enbridge and paving the path towards a just,
sustainable economy based on renewable energy, public infrastructure,
and green jobs.