近几周，随着项目接近完成，明尼苏达州对3号线管道的反对达到了狂热的程度。环保主义者、好莱坞名人和民主党议员呼吁白宫在最后时刻进行干预，认为潜在泄漏的风险太大，部落主权受到侵犯。
如果建成并全面运营，3号线管道将能够每天从北达科他州向威斯康星州输送76万桶加拿大石油。大多数反对者集中在明尼苏达州337英里的管道周围，这条管道纵横交错，穿过几十个水体，包括密西西比河的起点附近。
数百人被逮捕围绕管道的抗议。
“主要的担忧是漏油。它跨越了如此多的河流，如果泄漏发生在一个河流地点，整个河流将被污染……我们的生态系统将永远无法恢复，”红湖国家的秘书萨姆·斯特朗告诉美国广播公司新闻。
根据美国环境保护署和国家公园管理局的数据，超过50个城市依赖密西西比河进行日常供水。
“这是整个美国最原始的土地，是我们的国宝之一，他们选择将这条管道直接穿过那些源头。谁在做这些决定?”他说。
建造3号线管道的公司卡尔加里的恩布里奇公司说，这条管道实际上比它正在更换的旧管道对周围地区更安全。环保局和司法部于2017年下令该公司更换老化的线路，恩布里奇首席通信官迈克·费尔南德斯表示，他们已经采取了多项措施来限制对新线路周围敏感生态系统的影响，包括使用更厚的材料和工程线路，深入密西西比河流域。
费尔南德斯在接受美国广播公司新闻采访时表示:“这是一个为期六年的监管法律、基于科学的过程，一切都经过了检验。
但建设也不是没有问题。周五，明尼苏达州自然资源部对恩布里奇处以330万美元的罚款，理由是“未经授权占用地下水”。根据国家机构的说法，在施工期间，恩布里奇在一些地区挖得比其许可的深度更深，结果，该公司扰乱了一个含水层，并在该州与干旱作斗争时释放了数百万加仑的地下水。
红湖国家加入了奥吉布韦部落的白色地球乐队，尊重地球，塞拉俱乐部和其他一些试图阻止该项目的诉讼，但明尼苏达州法院站在国家和恩布里奇能源一边管道所有者在漫长的许可过程中。[链接?]
华盛顿的一家联邦法院尚未对一项诉讼做出裁决，该诉讼称陆军工程兵部队为该项目颁发的许可证应该重新评估。
到目前为止，司法部一直在为海军陆战队辩护，白宫也以此为由回避了问题。活动人士认为，如果总统和他的团队愿意，他们可以扮演更积极的角色，并要求兵团进行进一步的影响研究。
“拜登总统上任第一天就采取了果断行动，取消了Keystone XL管道，保护沿线部落民族的文化资源、土地和水资源。现在，拜登总统、海梅·平克姆(陆军土木工程代理助理部长)和美国陆军工程兵部队完全有权暂停这些管道，直到对它们构成的危险完成适当评估，”一群部落领导人周五写道。
被问及新的石油管道是否会破坏Pres。拜登的气候目标，白宫新闻秒。珍·普萨基说@maryaliceparks拜登已经“采取了全面的措施，他能控制的每一步，来推进气候议程。”https://t.co/wwQcRDo6N5pic.twitter.com/8rfSVsfuTr
—美国广播公司新闻政治(@美国广播公司政治)2021年9月16日
这个项目是作为替代开始的。2017年，环境保护局和司法部指示恩布里奇更换旧的、失效的管道。该公司表示，新管道的设计是为了对周围地区更安全。
“这是一个为期六年的法律监管、基于科学的过程，一切都经过了考验，”恩布里奇的首席沟通官迈克·费尔南德斯告诉美国广播公司新闻。
然而，那些抗议这条管道的人对这只是为了升级管道的想法感到犹豫。根据恩布里奇和州政府的文件，经过所有的许可、测绘和辩论，新管道现在运行的路线是第三条新的，管道将能够输送将近两倍的石油。
部落主权问题
费尔南德斯说，新路线证明，在线路围绕一些地标和部落边界进行调整的过程中，征求了部落的意见。一些当地部落已经同意与恩布里奇能源公司合作，并允许管道穿过他们的土地。然而，其他人已经做好准备，让管道穿越他们声称未经允许的土地。
“我们可以说与我们的部落进行了磋商或会议，但归根结底，在做出决策时，那些话、那些感觉、那些想法没有被考虑在内。所以对我来说，这感觉非常不真诚，”明尼苏达州参议员玛丽·库内什在明尼苏达州贝米吉的劳动节周末抗议集会上告诉美国广播公司新闻。她说，她看到了《屹立的岩石》和关于达科他接入管道的辩论的回声。
明尼苏达州众议员伊尔汉·奥马尔(Ilhan Omar)在多次致函白宫，要求乔·拜登总统干预后，带着她的几名民主党同事来到她的家乡，会见了反对派中许多人自称的“水保护者”。
“这真的不仅仅是一个环境这里有个问题。这是一个与我们的土著邻居团结一致的问题。这是关于为印度国家挺身而出。这是为了履行作为我国法律一部分的条约权利，”奥马尔在小组访问期间告诉美国广播公司新闻。
本月早些时候，奥吉布韦部落的白色地球乐队向部落法庭提起了一个新奇的案件，将野生稻列为主要原告，并辩称自然本身就有存在的权利，并受到这个项目的威胁。
减排目标和能源未来
拜登周五举行了第二次全球气候变化峰会，并敦促他的同行为控制温室气体排放设定积极的基准。尽管如此，明尼苏达大学教授、气候科学家海蒂·鲁普(Heidi Roop)表示，很难想象总统会用这样一条新管道将更多石油推向市场，从而实现自己的排放目标。
“新管道的设计是每天输送约76万桶石油。如果我们看一下与这部分燃料燃烧相关的排放，大约相当于3800万辆汽车，相当于3800万辆在路上行驶的汽车。每年，大约有45座燃煤发电厂在燃烧，”鲁普告诉美国广播公司新闻。
“如果我们仅仅考虑对化石燃料基础设施的投资对气候变化的影响，这将提高我们消耗化石燃料的能力，而化石燃料是地球变暖的根本原因，这将我们引向错误的方向，”Roop继续说道。“如果我们想避免气候变化带来的最严重影响。我们必须开始考虑我们工具箱中的其他工具，这些工具将支持和维持社会。”
费尔南德斯说，恩布里奇希望成为向更加依赖清洁能源的能源未来过渡的一部分，但他认为对石油的目标需求仍然很大。
尤其是这条管道，让争论变得复杂的是3号线设计运输的加拿大石油的确切类型:沥青砂。焦油砂是一种较重的石油，开采和提炼都需要大量能源，被认为是最肮脏的选择之一。
德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校气候影响和能源基础设施专家、副教授阿尔温德·拉维库马尔(Arvind Ravikumar)在接受美国广播公司(ABC News)采访时表示:“所以问题是，如果我们在2021年有石油需求，我们在2015年是否会有同样的需求，我认为情况并非如此。“因此，当我们考虑建造这些新管道时，我们不仅要考虑明天流入的石油对气候的影响，还要考虑化石燃料的基础设施在未来30年是否有必要。”
Line 3 pipeline resistance continues as activists ask Biden admin to shutdown project
Opposition to the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota has reached a fever pitch in recent weeks with the project nearly complete. Environmentalists, Hollywood celebrities and Democratic lawmakers have called on the White House to intervene at the eleventh hour, arguing that the risk of a potential spill is too great and tribal sovereignty has been violated.
If completed and fully operational, the Line 3 pipeline will be able to carry 760,000 barrels a day of Canadian oil from North Dakota to Wisconsin. Most of the opposition has centered around 337 miles of the pipeline in Minnesota that crisscrosses dozens of bodies of water, including near the start of the Mississippi River.
Hundreds of peoplehave been arrestedin protests around the pipeline.
“The main concern is a spill. It crosses so many rivers, if a spill happens at a river site, the entire stream would be contaminated … our ecosystems would never recover,” Sam Strong, secretary of the Red Lake Nation, told ABC News.
More than 50 cities rely on the Mississippi for daily water supply, according to the Environmental Protection Agency and National Park Service.
“It’s some of the most pristine land in the entire United States, one of our national treasures, and they chose to put this pipeline directly through those headwaters. Who is making those decisions?” he said.
The company building the Line 3 pipeline, Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. said the pipeline is actually safer for the surrounding area than the older pipes it's replacing. The EPA and Department of Justice ordered the company to replace the aging lines in 2017 and Enbridge Chief Communications Officer Mike Fernandez said they've taken multiple steps to limit the impact on the sensitive ecosystems around the new lines, including using thicker materials and engineering lines to go deeper below areas that feed into the Mississippi.
“This has been a six-year regulatory legal, science-based process where everything's been tested,” Fernandez told ABC News in an interview.
But the construction hasn't been without problems. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources fined Enbridge $3.3 million for “unauthorized groundwater appropriation," on Friday. According to the state agency, Enbridge has dug deeper in some areas during construction than its permits allow, and, as a result, the company disturbed an aquifer and released millions of gallons of groundwater while the state struggles with a drought.
The Red Lake Nation joined the White Earth Band of the Ojibwe tribe, Honor the Earth, the Sierra Club and others in a number of lawsuits trying to stop the project, but the Minnesota Courtssided with the State and Enbridge Energy, the pipeline owner, in the lengthy permitting process. [LINK?]
A D.C. federal court has yet to rule on a lawsuit arguing that permits for the project issued by the Army Corps of Engineers should be re-evaluated.
The Department of Justice, so far, has defended the Corps, and the White House has deflected questions, citing that case. Activists argue the president and his team could, if they chose, take a more active role and ask the Corps to conduct further impact studies.
“President Biden took decisive action on day one in office to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline protecting cultural resources, land and water of tribal nations along the route. Now, President Biden, Jaime Pinkham [Acting, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works] and the US Army Corps of Engineers have the full authority to hit pause on these pipelines until a proper assessment of the dangers they pose is completed,” a group of tribal leaders wrote Friday.
Asked if new oil pipelines undermine Pres. Biden’s climate goals, White House press sec. Jen Psaki tells@maryaliceparksthat Biden has “taken across the board steps, every step he can take within his control, to move the climate agenda forward.”https://t.co/wwQcRDo6N5pic.twitter.com/8rfSVsfuTr
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics)September 16, 2021
The project began as a replacement. Enbridge was instructed in 2017 by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice to replace the old, failing pipeline. The company said the new pipes are engineered to be safer for the surrounding area.
“This has been a six-year regulatory legal, science-based process where everything's been tested,” Enbridge’s Chief Communications Officer Mike Fernandez told ABC News.
Those protesting the pipeline, though, balk at the notion that this was about just upgrading pipelines. After all the permitting, mapping, and debate, the new pipeline now runs on a route that is a third new, and the pipeline will be able to carry nearly double the amount of oil, according to Enbridge and state documents.
Questions of tribal sovereignty
Fernandez said the new route was evidence that tribes were consulted in the process as the line was adjusted around some landmarks and tribal borders. A few local tribes have agreed to work with Enbridge Energy and allow the pipeline to run through their land. Others, however, have braced for the pipeline to cross land they lay claim to without their permission.
“We can say that there was consultation or conference with our tribes, but at the end of the day, those words, those feelings, those thoughts were not taken into consideration when decision making was done. And so for me, that feels very insincere,” Minnesota State Senator Mary Kunesh told ABC News at a protest rally Labor Day weekend in Bemidji, Minnesota. She said she's seen echoes of Standing Rock and the debate over the Dakota Access Pipeline.
After repeatedly writing to the White House asking President Joe Biden to intervene, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., brought several of her fellow Democratic colleagues to her home-state to meet with the “water protectors,” as many in the opposition call themselves.
“It is really not just anenvironmental issue here. It is an issue of, you know, solidarity with our indigenous neighbors. It is about standing up for Indian nations. It's about fulfilling the treaty rights that we have as part of our laws in this country,” Omar told ABC News during the group’s trip.
Earlier this month, the White Earth Band of the Ojibwe tribe brought a novel case to tribal court, listing wild rice as the key plaintiff, and arguing nature itself has the right to exist and is threatened by this project.
Emission reduction goals and the energy future
Biden held a second global summit on climate change Friday and urged his counterparts to set aggressive benchmarks for curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Still, climate scientist Heidi Roop, a professor at the University of Minnesota, said it is hard to imagine the president meeting his own emission goals with a new pipeline like this bringing more oil to market.
“The new pipeline is designed to carry around 760,000 barrels of oil a day. If we look at the emissions associated with the combustion of that amount of fuel, it translates roughly into around 38 million, the equivalent of 38 million cars on the road. Every year, or around 45 coal-fired power plants burning,” Roop told ABC News.
“If we just consider the consequences to climate change investments in fossil fuel infrastructure that will increase our ability to consume fossil fuels, which are the root cause of our warming planet, sets us in the wrong direction,” Roop continued. “If we want to avoid the worst impacts of a changing climate. We have to start considering other tools in our toolbox that are going to support and sustain society.”
Fernandez said Enbridge wanted to be a part of transitioning to an energy future that relied more on cleaner energy but argued there was still a strong goal demand for oil.
Complicating the debate around for this pipeline in particular, is the exact type of Canadian oil that Line 3 is designed to transport: tar sands. A heavier oil that requires significant energy to both mine and refine, tar sands is considered one of the dirtiest options.
“So the question is, are we going to have the same demand for oil in 2015, if we have it 2021, and I don't think that's the case," Arvind Ravikumar, an expert in the climate impacts and energy infrastructure and associate professor at the University of Texas - Austin, told ABC News. "Therefore, when we are thinking about building these new pipelines, we have to think not just about the climate impacts of the oil that's going to flow in tomorrow, but about whether that infrastructure for fossil fuels is necessary for the next 30 years.”
