"I love Drop The Charges."

2022-06-23 21:58:32

0 Skip to Content Learn More Line 3 101 The Charges Take Action Flood The Courts Sign The Petition Donate Call Tim Walz Social Toolkit Sign Now .top-bun, .patty, .bottom-bun { height: 1px; } Open Menu Close Menu Learn More Line 3 101 The Charges Take Action Flood The Courts Sign The Petition Donate Call Tim Walz Social Toolkit Sign Now .top-bun, .patty, .bottom-bun { height: 1px; } Open Menu Close Menu Folder: Learn More Back Line 3 101 The Charges Folder: Take Action Back Flood The Courts Sign The Petition Donate Call Tim Walz Social Toolkit Sign Now Drop The Charges!Hundreds of water protectors are currently facing criminal charges in Minnesota for standing in defense of the water, the climate, and the treaty rights of the Anishinaabeg people. These individuals put their bodies on the line to stop Enbridge's Line 3 pipeline, a massive tar sands project that threatens the state’s lakes, rivers, aquifers and wild rice beds. Police forces - directly funded by Enbridge - have responded to this massive movement with surveillance, harassment, physical torture ("pain compliance"), and trumped-up charges, including felonies. In this time of climate catastrophe, governments must listen to water protectors instead of criminalizing and prosecuting them. Water protectors have been doing the work that the State of Minnesota should be doing. Drop the charges! Sign the petition 22 June 2022Walz-Flanagan Administration, County Prosecutors, Minnesota Leadership:As you know, hundreds of water protectors are currently facing criminal charges in Minnesota for standing against Enbridge’s Line 3 expansion. They did so in defense of safe water, habitable climate, and Anishinaabe treaties, having exhausted every alternative.More than 1,000 arrests were made in Minnesota to discourage opposition to this Canadian tar sands oil project. Police repression wrought egregious civil and constitutional rights violations, including surveillance, harassment, “pain compliance” torture, use of “less lethal” weapons against unarmed people including rubber bullets and pepper balls, denial of medical care, strip searches, solitary confinement, and credentialed journalists arrested without warning.Hundreds of people are facing thousands of charges for protecting Minnesota's water, including dozens of dubious “felony theft” charges, “felony attempted assisted suicide,” and “conspiring, aiding and abetting” for publicly encouraging others to help protect the drinking water of millions from Line 3 tar sands. Some defendants may be crushed with fines over $3 million or jail time over a decade. Nearly 100,000 people have signed a petition requesting all charges be dropped. One district court judge requested a legal brief on dismissing charges “in the interest of justice.”Law enforcement executing these arrests have been reimbursed $8.6 million through a “Public Safety Escrow Trust” directly funded by the Enbridge Corporation. The largest recipient of these reimbursements has been the MN Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Despite Enbridge’s agreement with the MN Public Utility Commission not to engage in counterinsurgency tactics, Minnesotans were heavily surveilled, harassed, and targeted by the Northern Lights Task Force, an intelligence operation comprised of Enbridge private security and law enforcement.In response to this repression, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination took the extraordinary measure of requesting a response from the United States regarding allegations of human rights violations against the Anishinaabe associated with Line 3 construction. The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders also met with Indigenous leaders over human rights concerns, specifically, violations of rights in the UN Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, in addition to Free, Prior and Informed Consent as outlined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Rapporteur’s investigation is ongoing.Water protectors should not be criminalized for peacefully upholding treaty rights protected by UN conventions, the US Constitution, and affirmed by the US Supreme Court. With the climate in “code red” and the expanded Line 3 emissions equivalence of 50 new coal-fired power plants, it is critical we heed – not prosecute – those who put their bodies and their freedom on the line to defend a habitable planet.Clearly, the concerns of tribal nations and peoples of all walks of life were justified. Enbridge’s rushed construction caused dire, ongoing damage to pristine aquifers, waters and wetlands, raising the need for a robust Line 3 federal Environmental Impact Statement to an emergency level.According to the MN DNR, Enbridge violated permits and punctured three ancient artesian aquifers during Line 3 construction, causing extensive undisclosed damage to groundwater resources, losing nearly 300 million gallons to the surface. The most serious confirmed breach has yet to be fully stopped, and additional breaches are suspected.The DNR ordered Enbridge to pay $3.32 million for its Clearbrook aquifer breach, and referred the matter for criminal prosecution. This puts Minnesota in the duplicitous position of criminally prosecuting both the multinational corporation damaging precious domestic water and those who tried to protect that water.Other unresolved concerns include at least 28 “frac-out” spills of significant quantities of toxic drilling fluid, polluting ground and surface waters, vegetation and wildlife. The company polluted surface water at 63% of HDD sites, including at the Mississippiheadwaters, and released an undisclosed volume of toxic drilling fluid into aquifers.Another day, this could well be Canadian tar sands poisoning rivers, including the Mighty Mississippi, from Minnesota on down through 10 states to the Gulf of Mexico, endangering the water millions rely on daily. Who will be blamed then, and who will pay? Tar sands oil, among the world’s dirtiest extreme fossil fuels, is nearly impossible to clean up because it sinks to the bottom of waterways.Enbridge’s violations in Minnesota have compounded the oil giant’s admission it will not abide by agreed conditions to obtain liability insurance or establish an escrow fund to mitigate damages from future spills. Moreover, Minnesotans continue to wait for the stipulated decommissioning plan – a standard Enbridge follows in Canada, with over $1 billion paid. Together, these failures on Line 3, aka Line 93, leave landowners and taxpayers holding significant liability. Enbridge’s record includes the largest inland oil spill in US history and over 800 spills in the past 15 years.We urgently invite and implore you to stand responsibly on the public-trust side of history. Do everything in your power to support dropping the charges against water protectors.For any charges not dropped, we specifically call on the Walz-Flanagan Administration, under Minn. Stat. § 8.01, to appoint Attorney General Ellison as special prosecutor for the most egregious cases, including those in which the State is extending inconsistent plea offers to water protectors.The fossil fuel era is over, time is short for managing its decline and building just green economies. Use your power to demonstrate concern for integrity and justice, water and climate, people and future.~ Signatories ~Indigenous Leaders:Tania Aubid, Welcome Water Protector Center, Mille Lacs Band of OjibweNancy Beaulieu, MN 350 Northern Minnesota Organizer, Leech Lake Reservation EnrolleeSasha Beaulieu, Red Lake Treaty Camp Founder, Red Lake Band of Chippewa Line 3 Construction/Cultural Monitor, Red Lake Nation Cultural AdvisorJulia Bernal, Director, Pueblo Action Alliance, Sandia Pueblo and YuchiCarole Blodgett, Founder and Director of Nurture The Children and their annual Water is Life Walks, Water Walker, Penobscot and LakotaCrystal Cavalier, Founder and Executive Director, Missing Murdered Indigenous Women Coalition of NC, Citizen, Occaneechi Band of the Saponi NationSherry Couture, Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, AnishinaabePaul DeMain, Chairman of the Board, Honor the Earth, Oneida Nation of WisconsinLouise Erdrich, writer, Turtle Mountain Chippewa, Owner Birchbark BooksAshley Fairbanks, White Earth Anishinaabe, Artist & ActivistJennifer K. Falcon, Lakota, Nakoda, Dakota, and Ashley McCray, Oglala Lakota, Absentee Shawneee, Ikiya CollectiveCherri Foytlin, Executive Director, Movement Training NetworkDallas Goldtooth, Organizer, Indigenous Environmental Network, Mdewakatonwan DakotaDawn Goodwin, 1855 Treaty Authority Board Member, Anishinaabe/White EarthAmy Gray, Senior Climate Finance Strategist, Stand.earthRoy Walks Through Hail (Broncheau), Red Lake Treaty Camp, Red Lake Nation Cultural Advisor, NimipuuSiihasin Hope, Giniw Collective Member, Diné/Navajo NationTara Houska, Giniw Collective Founder, tribal attorney, Couchiching First Nation CitizenWinona LaDuke, Honor the Earth Executive Director, Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg of the White Earth Reservation EnrolleeSarah LittleRedfeather, Honor the Earth Media and Marketing, Anishinaabe resident of 1855 Treaty TerritoryThomas Lopez, Youth Direct Action Fund Manager, Future Coalition, Sicangu Lakota, Otomi (Xicano)Mary Lyons, Humanitarian, Author, Wisdom Keeper, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe EnrolleeKelly R Maracle, Haudenosaunee water protector, land defenderTaysha Martineau, Camp Migizi Founder, Water Protector and MMIW Activist, Gitchigumi Scouts Co-Founder, Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, AnishinaabeGina Peltier, Honor the Earth Organizer, Anishinaabe of the Turtle Mountain Pembina BandMatt Remle, editor and writer for Last Real Indians and LRInspire, Co-Founder, Mazaska Talks, Hunkpapa LakotaLove Sanchez, Co-Founder of Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend, Member of Karankawa Kadla, Gulf Coast Tribe of TexasSimone Senogles, Indigenous Environmental Network Leadership Team, Anishinaabekwe from the Red Lake Nation of OjibweRon Turney, Traditional Artist, Photographer, Indigenous Environmental Network Media, White Earth NationSigning in Support of Indigenous Leaders:Gillian May Boeve, Executive Director, 350.orgKathleen K. Harr, Steering Committee Member, 350 BucksCounty PAMary Kay Benson, Steering Council Manager, 350 Butte CountySherry Pollack, Co-Founder, 350 HawaiiJohn Greenler, Executive Director, 350 MadisonCarolyn Britt, 350 MassRebecca Beaulieu, Communications Director, 350 New HampshireDorian Fulvio, Steering Committee Member, 350 NYCNicole Grant, Executive Director, 350 SeattleDaniel Villa, Volunteer, 350 TacomaKaren Bearden, Coordinator, 350 TriangleJohn Greenler, Executive Director, 350 WisconsinShanai Matteson, Writer/Organizer, 5th-generation Aitkin County residentKaren Bueno, Leaders Team Member, Accelerate Neighborhood Climate ActionErika Thi Patterson, Campaign Director, Climate and Environmental Justice, Action Center onRace and the EconomyMark Ruffalo, Actor and ActivistNancy Treviño, Associate Director for Network Power, Alianza AmericasLeila Salazar-López, Executive Director, Amazon WatchSarah Stewart, President, Animals Are Sentient Beings, Inc.Kate Sugarman, MD, Arm in ArmHeather Cantino, Steering Committee Chair, Athens County's Future Action NetworkTed Glick, Author and Activist, Beyond Extreme EnergyJane Kleeb, President, Bold AllianceMarie Venner, Co-Chair, Businesses for a Livable Climate, Chair, Small Business AllianceJaylani Hussein, Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations - MinnesotaKyle Rosenthal, Coordinator, Catholic Divestment NetworkStefanie Klass, Co-Chair, CatholicNetwork US and Call to Action ColoradoKierán Suckling, Executive Director, Center for Biological DiversityMara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director, Center for Protest Law & Litigation, Partnership for Civil Justice FundAllison Connelly-Vetter, Sabbatical Director, Center for Sustainable JusticeAbigail Waldron, Change the Chamber*Lobby for ClimateMary McAvity Cerulli, Founder, Climate Finance ActionRL Miller, President, Climate Hawks VoteLaura Gardner, Chair, Climate Reality Massachusetts SouthcoastJim Smith, Co-Chair, Colorado Businesses for a Livable ClimateCollege Climate CoalitionFred Kirsch, Director, Community for Sustainable EnergyFrancisco Segovia, Executive Director, Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Acción LatinaTom Swan, Executive Director, Connecticut Citizen Action GroupTimothy DenHerder-Thomas, General Manager, Cooperative Energy FuturesGracie Brett, Co-Director, Divest EdMary Gutierrez, Director, Earth Action, Inc., and Earth EthicsEileen Flanagan, Campaign Director, Earth Quaker Action TeamKa Hsaw Wa, Executive Director, EarthRights InternationalRev. Keith Olstad, ELCA pastor, retiredCedar Schimke, Executive Director, Slow Food MinnesotaKatie Bowers, Managing Director, Fandom ForwardJane Fonda, Founder, Fire Drill FridaysRev. Arif Mamdani, First Universalist Church of Minneapolisall core organizers, Fossil Fuel Divest HarvardShannon Smith, Executive Director, FracTracker AllianceMary-Ellen Maynard, Co-Leader, Fremont County CO IndivisibleKatharina Maier, National Coordinator, Fridays for Future U.S.Stephen Dock, Presiding Clerk, Friends Meeting of Austin, Religious Society of QuakersChris Paine, Film Director, Friends of the EarthNicole Ghio, Senior Fossil Fuels Program Manager, Friends of the Earth USErich Pica, President, Friends of the Earth-USSusu Jeffrey, Founder, FriendsofColdwater.orgCodi Norred, Executive Director, Georgia Interfaith Power and LightNichelle Taylor, Program Director for Policy Development and Implementation, Greater NewOrleans Housing AllianceFran Teplitz, Executive Co-Director, Green AmericaAndrew Butts, Founder, Green Neighbor ChallengeAmy Bruckner, Board Secretary, Guardians of the BrandywineMadeleine Jacobs, MD, Health Care for All Fremont CountyBrenna Doheny, PhD, MPH, Executive Director, Health Professionals for a Healthy ClimateKeri Pickett, Filmmaker/Photographer, Honor the EarthDavid Huckfelt, Musician, Water Is Life Festival Organizer, Honor the EarthSue Mossman, Chair, Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship's Climate Action CampaignRachael Lehman, Chair, Healthy Communities, I-70 Citizens Advisory GroupSharon M Day, Executive Director, Indigenous Peoples Task ForceIndigo Girls, Amy Ray and Emily SaliersPhilip Beck, Co-Founder, Indivisible AmbassadorsJennifer Arnold, Co-Director, Inquilinxs Unidxs por JusticiaSue Blythe, Coordinator, Interfaith Climate GroupDavid Cooley, Friend and Volunteer, InterNātional Indigenous Initiative for TransformativeCollaborationHarrison Ashangwa, Executive Director, International Student Environmental CoalitionJim Schulman, Principal, Jim Schulman ArchitectureMarian Moore, Co-Founder, Jubilee GiftRev. Matthew James Obadiah Allen, Justice Frontline Aid, Nur-DFaith Smith, Curator, Lac Courte OreillesJill Linzee, Co-Chair Climate Change Issue Group, Maine Unitarian Universalist State Advocacy NetworkJohn C Miller, President, Mana Pacific; Veteran, US Navy; Plaintiff Representative, Wai OlaAllianceAmy Petré Hill, Founder/Community Chaplain, Mental Health & Inclusion MinistriesCheryl Nenn, Riverkeeper, Milwaukee RiverkeeperBen Connelly, Reverend, Minnesota Zen Meditation CenterTheresa "Tee" McClenty, Executive Director, MN350Anne Hedges, Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs, Montana Environmental Information CenterEmmett Hobley, Co-Chair, Montbello Neighborhood Improvement AssociationBonnie Raitt, Musician/ActivistDr. Karen E. Wills, Executive Director, MN Unitarian Universalist Social Justice AllianceDr. Steven Norris, NC Alliance to Protect People and Places We LiveRev. Susannah Tuttle, NC Council of Churches / NC Interfaith Power & LightMariel Nanasi, Executive Director, New Energy EconomyAnni Hanna, Director, New Mexico Climate JusticeDr. Virginia Necochea, Executive Director, New Mexico Environmental Law CenterCarol E Gay, President, NJ State Industrial Union CouncilJerry Rivers, Environmental Scientist, North American Climate, Conservation and EnvironmentKristi Douglas, Commerce City Councilor and Co-Chair, North Range Concerned CitizensJames William Reents, Water Protector, Northern Water AllianceMike Tauber, Director, Northern Water Alliance of MNCourtney Vail, Campaign Director, Oceanic Preservation SocietyRonnie Cummins, International Director, Organic Consumers AssociationEmily Martin, National Policy and Programs Manager, Our ClimateCatherine Hunt, PDA NJ ChapterLaurel Tumarkin, Organizer, People's Climate Movement - NYNomi Green, Ordained Buddhist, Plum Village community of engaged BuddhismNathalie Peña, Communications Coordinator, Power Shift NetworkMatt Nelson, Executive Director, Presente.orgElizabeth M.T. O'Nan, Director, Protect All Children's EnvironmentShelley Tanenbaum, General Secretary (Director), Quaker Earthcare WitnessMichael Martin, Founder/CEO, r.Cup / Effect PartnersPallavi Phartiyal, Deputy Executive Director, Rainforest Action NetworkCheryl Barnds, Co-Chair, RapidShift NetworkJeff Hart, Co-Founder, Save EPAErik Wallenberg, Acquisitions Editor, Science for the PeopleCamille Rullán, National Secretary, Science for the PeopleJanet MacGIllivray, Co-Executive Director, Seeding SovereigntyDan Chu, Acting Executive Director, Sierra ClubChristy McGillivray, Political and Legislative Director, Sierra Club Michigan ChapterKamau Wilkins, Chair, Sierra Club North Star ChapterLaura Lane and James Davies, Co-Chairs, Sierra Club Wisconsin ChapterJackson Browne, SongwriterShannon Francis, Executive Director, Spirit of the Sun, Inc.Brannen Basham, Co-Owner, Spriggly's BeescapingLori Cocking, DIW Board Member, St Luke Presbyterian ChurchMatt Krogh, US Oil & Gas Campaign Director, Stand.earthJohn B. Schmid Jr., Standard Clay Products Co.Maura Stephens, Coordinating Committee Member, System Change Not Climate ChangeTimothy Edward Duda, Director, Terra AdvocatiRobin Schneider, Executive Director, Texas Campaign for the EnvironmentChris Murawski, Executive Director, The Clean Air Coalition of WNYHarmony Cummings, Co-Founder, The Green House Connection CenterBill McKibben, Founder, Third Act and 350.orgRev. Ashley Horan, Organizing Strategy Director, Unitarian Universalist AssociationRev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson, Executive Director, Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry of NorthCarolinaFran Aguirre, President, Unite North Metro DenverMarilyn Frankenstein, retired Professor, University of Massachusetts/BostonRuth G. Shaw, Professor, University of MinnesotaChandler Davis, Professor, University of TorontoTom Larsen and Thomas Bauch, Veterans For PeaceJohn Alder, Veterans for Peace Chapter 35Dave Logsdon, President, Veterans For Peace Chapter 27John C. Pegg, Reverend, Veterans For Peace Chapter 27John Alder, Veterans For Peace, Spokane ChapterJean Ross, Board President, Vote ClimatePaddy McClelland, CoFounder, Wall of WomenPaula Maccabee, Advocacy Director & Counsel, WaterLegacyLori Stephens, Western North Carolina Climate ActionChris Calwell, Co-Chair, Western Slope Businesses for a Livable ClimateHelgaleena H, AD, White Rabbit Grove RDNADennis Wilwerding, President, Wilwerding Consulting, Co-Chair, Littleton Business AllianceAl Gedicks, Executive Secretary, Wisconsin Resources Protection CouncilKristin Dooley, Director, Women Against Military MadnessCarol Walker, Board Member, Women Against Military MadnessOsprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director, Women’s Earth and Climate Action NetworkRenée M. Chacon, Executive Director/Co Founder, Womxn from the Mountain Drop the Charges Sign The Petition Drop The ChargesLine 3 101The ChargesBig Letter Share KitBig Letter Press ReleaseSign the PetitionFlood the CourtsDonate 2021 Launch Kit2021 Press ReleaseFollowGiniw CollectiveRISE CoalitionCamp MigiziRed Lake Treaty CampIndigenous Environmental NetworkHonor The EarthResist Line 3 © 2021