'Stop Line 3 Enbridge's Dirty Crude Oil' Letter to President Biden During Week of Action in Washington

Casey Camp-Horinek, Ponca Nation Environmental Ambassador at White House. Photo credit Keri Pickett

At White House Joye Braun (center) Cheyenne River Lakota pipeline fighter. Photo credit Keri Pickett

LETTER TO THE WHITE HOUSE:

MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS, INDIGENOUS LEADERS, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ALLIED ACTIVISTS CALL ON PRESIDENT BIDEN TO USE HIS AUTHORITY TO HALT FLOW OF OIL IN LINE 3 PIPELINE

Oct. 12, 2021

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WASHINGTON -- Following the start of oil flow through the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline, a group of major environmental organizations, Indigenous leaders and allied activists delivered a letter to the Biden administration demanding a halt to the operation of the pipeline until a full environmental review is conducted.

The Line 3 pipeline will carry 760,000 barrels of tar sands oil -- one of the dirtiest fossil fuels on the planet -- per day through untouched wetlands and the treaty territory of Anishinaabe people, and is equivalent to 50 new coal-fired power plants. In the letter, signers expressed their outrage at President Biden’s failure to lead on climate, and emphasized the devastating impacts Line 3 will have on our air, land and water.

“Failure to act in this critical moment sends a clear signal— the Biden Administration is willing to stand by while a Canadian oil company pursues a reckless and dangerous agenda that tramples Tribal rights, risks American drinking water, and makes it virtually impossible to meet the emissions reduction demands of our current Paris Agreement greenhouse gas reduction targets,” the letter reads.

The release of this letter also comes during the first day of the week-long “People vs. Fossil Fuels: Biden’s Test” mobilization organized by Build Back Fossil Free, a coalition of hundreds of Indigenous, Black, environmental, climate justice, youth, and social justice organizations, where groups will call on President Biden to declare a climate emergency and stop all new fossil fuel projects.

Participants in the action will include leading members of the fossil fuel resistance, representing different fights that are taking place across the country, from the struggle against the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota to the campaign against oil and gas export facilities in the Gulf Coast. This letter comes as more than 100 Indigenous leaders and supporters who have been resisting the construction of the expanded Line 3 tar sands pipeline will deliver one million petitions asking the President Joe Biden Administration to stop the project pending a full environmental review.

In the letter, singers pointed towards President Biden and his administration’s previous remarks on the need for bold climate action, and demanded they stay true to their commitments: “You have declared a code red climate emergency, stating that ‘the nation and the world are in peril.’ We agree. It is past time to act in accordance with your declaration- you must act now and stop the Line 3 pipeline, or risk irreversible damage to our land, water, and climate.”
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https://www.stopline3.org/news/lettertobiden-dcaction101221