Two protesters locked themselves to the axle of a semi truck in Minnesota on Thursday.
The incident happened on December 10th north of Palisade on the Mississippi River.
The Aitkin County Sheriff’s Department said the activists are aiming to impede work on Enbridge Line 3 project in order to protect the river, the trees, and even historical indigenous sites, as they wait for the results of a lawsuit against Enbridge for the potential environmental damage from the project.
“This pipeline project is really just a continuation of colonial violence and genocide against Indigenous peoples,” said activist and protester Liam Delmain to MPR News, who has set up camp in a tree near the construction site in an attempt to impede construction workers.
These protests come in spite of the apparent steps Enbridge has taken to ensure no damage is done to important cultural sites in the area.
“[The Line 3 Project] has passed every test,” Enbrudge said in a statement to the Star Tribune.
“The tribal cultural resources survey led by the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa identified important cultural and historic sites to be avoided and protected during construction,” they continued, pointing out that the construction is intended to reduce future disruption to the environment.
Enbridge says this about the project:
Built in the 1960s, Line 3 is a 1,097-mile crude oil pipeline extending from Edmonton, Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin, and is an integral part of Enbridge’s Mainline System. Enbridge is proposing to replace Line 3 to maintain our high safety standards, reduce future maintenance activities and create fewer disruptions to landowners and the environment, and restore the historical operating capabilities of Line 3. A new 36-inch diameter pipeline will replace the existing 34-inch diameter pipeline along most of the Line 3 route. In the U.S., the replacement pipeline will follow Enbridge’s existing Line 3 route from Joliette, North Dakota to Clearbrook, Minnesota, and then will primarily follow existing pipeline and transmission routes from Clearbrook to Superior, Wisconsin.
Activists who locked themselves to Line 3 equipment have been arrested in the recent past, but it is not clear if the most recent activists were cited or taken into custody.
