From left: 1855 Treaty Authority executive director Frank Bebeau, Honor the Earth executive director Winona LaDuke, White Earth Vice Chair Ray Auginaush, and White Earth Secretary-Treasurer Alan Roy.
The White Earth Reservation Business Council and Honor the Earth held a press conference Friday in Mahnomen to call on the state and nation to end Line 3.
Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement project is nearing completion, and is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter of this year.
When complete, the pipeline will be able to transport 760,000 barrels of crude oil each day.
The press conference highlighted concerns over the wild rice harvest.
Frank Bebeau, executive director of the 1855 Treaty Authority, said wild rice is a central part of the Ojibwe culture.
All of Minnesota is in varying levels of drought, with Mahnomen, Becker, Beltrami, Clearwater and Hubbard counties in a severe drought.
Winona LaDuke, executive director of Honor the Earth, called on Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, an enrolled White Earth member, to stand up for the water and the Anishinaabeg.
“There has been a total dereliction of trust responsibility duties by the federal government and the state government,” said LaDuke.
“There has been mismanagement in the 1855 Treaty Territory.”
LaDuke claimed there are rivers at 25 percent capacity and the state is allowing Enbridge to take billions of gallons of water.
The dewatering process is a construction method used to lower the water table, in this case, for horizontal directional drilling under waterways.
Some water is consumed in this process to mix drilling fluids.
Best practices for dewatering include redirecting the water, usually by pumping, into a wooded or marshy area.
