1937 photo by Margaret Bourke-White – Breadline during Louisville Flood. The American Way… looks to be hitting its limits. World’s highest standard of living… only if you’re in power, white, male, obeying the system rules… which violate the laws of nature. What could go wrong?
[Stop reading here… looking at this photo… and have a good day. The above is plenty to ponder. For those who cannot help their curiosity, or are drawn to read on, let’s move into the topic of death. You are now forewarned… and thus forearmed.]
Is it possible, our anthropocenic immortality mythology is our own worst enemy… while it helps the powerful and already wealthy continue to thrive… in their maintenance of the status quo? No matter how many empty promises they have to make… or how many times they have to say “Green New Deal”? 🧐
If the first 30 seconds of this interview doesn’t grab you… skip it. Though I advise you to listen. This transparent and honest conversation resonated and understanding its ideas might help others find a new way forward. It’s impacted me significantly in the last week.🦋
If you want to listen, also check out this info about its content:
13:30 is especially interesting around what constitutes A Good Death. 16 minutes in, he speaks of coming to dying as a God. VERY interesting. Esp at 17 minutes… VERY good for those facing a fatal illness now. Dying as your final flower. [20 minutes] Oh… 24 minutes.🦋 This is good for any aspect of life… Then an interesting question…for the dying pastor. And then the story that follows… Really, I hope you decide to listen to this interview. So much insight… OK. Listen to the rest if you got past 32 minutes where he makes really interesting statements about death and religion and community… and examines their impacts. I’m happy to have been linked to this interview. If you make it past the story at 34 minutes, you’ll realize everyone needs to listen to this… eh? By 50 minutes… your mind will be blown? For me… I’m now WIDE OPEN. As we approach extinction, our aging in increasing and our sense of need for immortality grows more desperate? And then… dissection of Afterlife. Living with your Goneness… what a lovely concept. We must realize our co-dependent relationships.😲 I hope I will be an ancestor my descendants will claim. This is a really intense listen. beware. Find the miracles. We all deserve the truth. In case this leaves you sobbing as it did me… the short video at the link might be a comfort. [Or… for those who didn’t watch it yet… a warning.]
Your death, it doesn’t mean you any harm. It’s the most faithful companion you’ll ever have.
The inability to die is one of the things that calls our humanity into deep disrepair.
We’re death phobic in the extreme. Your dying is your life and your refusal to know that is not life affirming. It’s life betraying.
The great consequence of refusing to die well is the corruption of the capacity that others can grow by virtue of attending to your dying. What would their understanding be of dying then? … (Without this understanding) You’ll have another generation with a grudge, and a grievance, against the natural order of things.
In a culture that does not believe in endings, how do they solve heartbreak? The answer is: less heart. And that’s why the sedation and the anti-depressants.
Where is it written that the best dying is the one you don’t notice? Why… should dying not break your heart?
When you become a practitioner of grief, it stays. Now, you don’t get invited to many parties… if you become a practitioner of grief. But your understanding of love is renovated for all time.
My ability to be alive became habit form me. I looked around and I became, almost involuntarily, grateful.
Death it’s an ending, but you can know that you will die… so that you can chart your course accordingly.”
If you think this too crude… the lower portion of this blog, I’d ask you to consider this.
Which is worse?
Willfully starving people to death in a broken and biased economy based on limitless planetary resources? [A Gross Lie]
Or allowing someone to choose their own end – for their time in this mortal coil – in a way of beauty, knowingness, and with sacred witness? [A Beautiful Truth]
Allowing us to come to dying as Gods. Not alone. In an ICU. As we struggle for breath.
The earth is what we all have in common. ~ Wendell Berry
Update 5/5/2022:
I spent time re-watching the second part to the Campfire Stories with Stephen Jenkinson. It begins and ends with Mattias and I encourage you to listen to his good words. I have watched several times now and I like to begin about 7:30 into the video… where Stephen mentions River of Abundance in Time.
I believe I live within Forest of Abundance of Time.
I have a friend who’s looking at major life change. Actually all my friends are looking at major life changes right now. It feels like a time of massive global transition – in part forced on us by coronavirus – though perhaps she was just a symptom of a larger disease? That of humanity failing to recognize its limitations, its impacts, and what it needs do next to move forward in a good way?
My friend and I spoke of readiness. We spoke of grief and letting go. I remembered… Grieving is an expression of gratitude.
Gratitude for what is being let go.
Gratitude for what all we’re letting go of has done to make us who we are.
Realizing that even as we let go – of the many things we let go of throughout this life – we’re still us. It’s still me – the spiritual being inside of this body! This body which has produced another spiritual being… inside its own body! And for that, I am ever grateful.
I’m finding more and more today, as much as we ridicule or laugh in frustration at the mention of “thoughts and prayers”… that perhaps that might just be the best thing I can do.
Is there not energy for good in my thoughts and prayers?
Is it not true that the thoughts and prayers of others have been a part of what has pulled me along this path even when I felt I couldn’t go on?
Is it possible that in those moments of greatest despair – when peace suddenly finds a way to me – that it might be because of the thoughts and prayers of others?
Whether through a chickadee landing in my hand to eat a seed… or an eagle visible in a tree as I pass down the road… or a hawk flying low to snag a bit of dinner… and lucky me as I witness this everyday part of life: eating to sustain ourselves as living beings… are these not answered prayers?
Is it coincidence that these examples coming to mind quickly are all of flyers? Is that because they are closer to Creator than me? …because they are high in the sky where so many of us feel Afterlife is… Creator is… Spirit is? Or is it simply because they live their lives trusting in the universe of ecosystem around them… and in each other… and maybe they even trust in that seed lady who holds out her hand?
Or is this why we think Creator and Afterlife are in the sky? …because we see the freedom of the birds? We see how they rely on the day-to-day universe for their nourishment… for their homes… and for their livelihoods. Are they not the same as us?
I’m learning… more and more these days… to go with the flow… to do what is really necessary and trust that what I’m doing is the truly necessary… to free myself… more and more… of the distractions… meant to disrupt… designed to pull me away from those things that truly are most important.
Breathing clean air Drinking clean water Eating nutritious food [Unspoiled by chemicals… or as unspoiled as any of it can be… in a time when all of our water contains PFAS?]
And LOVE… is she not perhaps the most necessary for a happy and healthy life?
“I bless the day I discover… Another Heart… looking for love.” ~ Johnny Lee [Is this true for us all?]
We’re programmed to be consumers here in America. We seek love in fashion… and decadence… and what we like to call progress. Things that money can buy. But doesn’t money come from working ourselves to death… in a job that maybe we don’t even like… or don’t even believe in… but do because it pays the bills? And is money truly what we need to exist? In our natural world, greenbacks are irrelevant. So why are so many giving money and stuff such a focus? It seems we’re addicted to our own destruction.
We don’t really have control over them though. All we have is control over ourselves… and often times, we don’t even have that.
So this is a year of continuing the journey to simplify life and lighten my load on Mother Earth… as best I can.
We’ve built a home that is far more sustainable than any home we’ve ever lived in… though it too could be improved. It still relies on electricity, which for now… for us, still comes from the burning of fossil fuel. And much of our food still comes from a process heavily laden with fossil fuel use; much of what we eat arrives in containers made of fossil fuel by-products.
As such, my goal this year is to spend a day every week at the organic farm working for food as I did in pre-Covid days.
I miss the feel of the small seedling as I place her into the soil… tucking her into a bed of beautiful black Earth… Earth full of life itself. I miss adding that first drink of precious sacred water she will have as she begins life in her new homeplace. And as she works to grow – living her full life – I will continue to add water and protect her from invaders: The weeds… simply doing their job of living… breaking up the soil – as has been their duty over millennia. The same soil that I pack down to give my seedling friend a new place to start… the weeds quickly come in to loosen.
Can I thank each of these weeds as I pull them this summer? Can I thank them for their lives as I push them aside… killing them to maintain a place… where this life that will bring me life, can have her space?
I will allow them their short life and then their death will return them to the soil again… creating food as they incorporate into our ecosystem: the system of life-and-death is never-ending.
We live within these same natural laws as humans… though we like to pretend that we do not. As long as we continue to ignore the natural natural law we will continue to destroy the life on this planet that sustains us. It is only when we recognize ourselves as small cogs in the ecosystem of life that we will know our true place and begin to live in harmony with the rest of life… on which we all depend.
I told Doc I’d send him something so if you can get this to him, it’s much appreciated. This song – Inches & Miles – is one of my faves and it came to mind during my numbing shot.
We were also talking about the damages done by Enbridge during their construction up here and how extensive it is and how the public is largely ignorant of the impacts – as Enbridge, with the apparent help of MN agencies, has worked hard to assure. Thought I’d send more info in case other questions arise or you wanna share info with folks there. [And… it turned into a novel… Take what you like and leave the rest! I been doing this too long. And… trigger warning: There are references below to some of the human impacts to women that are not easy reading.]
PLUS… Y’all may not realize it (as there is a lot of “behind the scenes secret stuff” in infrastructure work!!) yet the newest threat in southern Minnesota is CO2 pipelines. WAY MORE DANGEROUS than these tar sands pipelines – far more risks for citizen fatalities. I know CURE is working on this issue in case it affects any of your folks. [I heard Friday that State Farm is REFUSING to insure farmers who have CO2 pipelines in their land… so, THAT’S how dangerous they are.]
Anyhow… back to the ongoing horror of Enbridge up here in Lake Country.
Y’all saw the front page Strib piece last Tuesday on DNR finally reporting on the THREE aquifers Enbridge destroyed – bleeding our landscape dry in a year of already historic drought. Two breaches are within 8 and 25 miles of me; the third is near a friend’s house on Nagaajiwanaang / Fond du Lac Reservation (the breach is just off Reservation land). So many suffered here this summer. Wells drying up… So many who had to truck in water… Well, that’s just PART of the story.
And the worst on these aquifer breaches is that Paul Stolen, retired MNDNR, PREDICTED the troubles in LaSalle Valley – as he’d been on a PREVIOUS FRAC-OUT FAILURE… (see page 40 in the link; photos below). This testimony was from November 19, 2014. Six years before construction began.
Enbridge has worked very hard, spending millions, to assure most Minnesotans have no idea what they’re up to in Indian Country.
They talked of all the jobs they were going to bring, promising us locals HALF of them, then only delivering (MAYBE) 30% of the jobs to Minnesotans. Maybe… We don’t know. Seems Enbridge stopped reporting Minnesota jobs after their first dismal reporting on their numbers in Q4-2020.
“The PUC should have treated the Line 3 permits like a contract: “We will give you permission to build this pipeline under these conditions. If you fail to meet those conditions, then there are consequences.” It could be a $10 million fine, permit revocation, something to make sure that Minnesota got some meager benefit from this unnecessary pipeline.”
The main concern I’m facing at present are the impacts of Horizontal Directional Drilling frac-outs that happened during construction last summer. It seems these fluids may remain in our landscape and we see citizens monitoring water crossings – as MN agencies are largely unresponsive to the risks, parroting Enbridge talking points to assure all is well.
These are water samples taken March 1st in the Mississippi Headwaters a couple miles from my house (yeah, that’s my hand). The background of these photos is the Mississippi River Valley along Great River Road in Clearwater County, just a few miles north of the Headwaters crossing in Itasca State Park – as the crow flies. You can read more about this sampling in this FB Post from Indigenous Environmental Network or my blog: Minnesota Water Protectors: Now Working to save Wisconsin and Michigan Waters You can read more about the Aquifer issues in: My Birthday Blog Post… to the US Army Corps
Test Samples from Mississippi Headwaters in Clearwater County
Enbridge said in their Line 3 application to Minnesota there was a “Potential for inadvertent release of drilling fluids” and continued through the permitting process to submit evidence that the risk was “Low” at rivers like Mississippi.
Enbridge’s own documents (full of mis-statements and deception) point to the MPCA… “• According to the MPCA, release of drilling fluid is not unexpected.” {suddently they’re the experts on HDD???} instead of giving you the truth… which Enbridge knows… that frac-outs are common and expected.
Yet, even, prior to construction – during the boring process – samples taken to determine the geology of the route made clear that spills of drilling mud were common. That is not a LOW risk… but appears to be an assurance frac-outs would occur during HDD for the pipeline.
Slide from an HDD presentation by a MN Geologist to state agencies and lawmakers ~ December 10, 2021
Imagine the increase in losses for, not a small diameter boring hole but a 36″ diameter pipeline drilling 60′ below Mississippi… Now you have an idea of what is “potentially” in our landscape at the Headwaters in the aftermath of Enbridge.
And, moving to the clear human impacts here along the Corridor, from those faced by local citizens… to Indigenous women, who face a 10X higher risk of assault, including rape.
This story covers the frac-out experience from the perspective of a friend of mine who I refer to as “the lady at the second Mississippi crossing” while I’m the “lady” at the first. She lives on land at the crossing near Palisade, MN. Her family has been here for generations.
I personally know dozens of women who have been brutalized along this construction route. Maybe the most disturbing case to hit the public news was a woman who was raped in Bemidji outside a bar. The rapist was released on bail and… when they sent his trial notice, it came back from Idaho undeliverable. So he’s still out there somewhere. This is Enbridgeland.
The most disturbing story shared to me was of a friend brutally beaten and raped with chunks of her hair being torn from her scalp. She’s Native though. So we’ll likely never see justice for the men who raped and beat her. It’s a different system of justice for Native women than white women up here. This is why you may be familiar with the term MMIW, as, in recent years, Minnesota has finally created an office to deal with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
Sorry if this is too much. My own marriage is struggling and this feels largely due to the trauma imposed by the Enbridge pipeline in our backyard. The treads on the timber matting road sound like military tanks rolling through… and the devastation they leave is worse than that feeling. My life has been consumed by working to protect the land and water, and Dan has struggled to watch as he’s unable to stop the attacks on women and the devastation to the land. It’s hard for a man in this country to live with being unable to protect those he loves. It seems to be destroying him. It’s devastated us both.
Adding Covid to the mix didn’t help. Enbridge rejoiced as they were able to work largely unimpeded or unseen by locals, who were locked down in their homes while Enbridge workers ran amok. […all except that crazy lady in her back yard who filmed most of their work there!]
Our covid case counts and deaths along the corridor were higher than necessary because the state of Minnesota would not consider the pipeline work to be unnecessary – and delay it until after the pandemic surge. Thousands of pipeline workers from places like Texas, Oklahoma, Montana, Michigan, North Dakota, Idaho, Arkansas… converged on Minnesota likely hurting our overall Covid performance and bringing more death locally. How much lower could these middle and third waves have been – as they correlate to the times Enbridge came (October-2021 through March-2021 & June-2021 thru October-2021).
Many felt this was another piece of the genocide as Natives were at far higher risk for Coronavirus and this pipeline runs straight through the heart of Indian Country.
Though you all know the horrors of Covid far better than I do. Dealing with infrastructure changes like plastic panels was the least of it I’m guessing. Figuring out how to do your work – IN PPL’S MOUTHS, no less! WOW. More though, I’m guessing, was the living in fear each day as you wondered if you’d be exposed… get really sick… or, worse, carry the disease to someone you love. This has been a horror of wondering and waiting… and it feels we’re all still recovering – maybe we will be for years yet?
I know I missed most of that foregoing my cleanings for so long. And my teeth suffered, though perhaps more from the trauma of living in a pipeline construction zone, being rumbled from bed by heavy equipment day after day, watching them clear cut the forest you love. That trauma has been key in my own physical deterioration. I can only imagine how hard it’s been for those less fortunate than us.
Not sure if you realized but one of the original corridors of consideration for Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement pipeline was along I-94. Could have brought those promised “Minnesota jobs” to Alexandrians… so I guess you guys lucked out on that one? Cold comfort when you come here and see the impacts. Thousands of trees have been culled from the landscape. I’ve heard from ppl along the corridor that their vacationing/cabin neighbors and visitors to Lake Country have been pretty astounded to see some of the changes. And we still have equipment present near Fond du Lac.
Thanks again for all your good work. You guys Suck the Best!! ;D This eyetooth is still a bit sensitive this morning so I’ll keep an eye on it. Maybe that’s normal for a few days? Looking forward to seeing y’all again in May. And if anyone you know is interested, send my info to them as I’m always glad to help educate people about what Enbridge and other polluters are working to bring to Minnesota.
Huber Frontier Mill in Cohasset seems the next big unnecessary debacle… a new OSB plant built a few miles down the road from an existing OSB plant that’s closing… again, screwing over the Native Nations in our fair state (the tree take circle includes most of the Reservation lands here). And… wait for it… MN taxpayers forking over $80M to help it happen!
This time, the decision was made – not by a state agency but a CITY COUNCIL – with NO Environmental Impact Statement! AND without public input allowed at the vote… though MANY had shown up to have their voices heard that day! WTF? There goes our Democracy???
It’s really getting scary how government is working to sell off our state resources as fast as they can… this time, more of our Tree Nation.
I’ll end with another of my favorite Heywood Banks selections… this one is pretty appropriate for the above rantings?
It is TROUBLING that the Army Corps of Engineers are considering another Enbridge project in the precious watery lands of the Northern Midwest. It seems Enbridge is at war with the U.S. Midwest as they continue to TRENCH through our lands and make plans for further devastating invasions of our most precious and beautiful landscapes.
My only hope is for you to deny their application as their new route does not meet the requirement of the Bad River Band – to move the pipeline from the watershed – and it does not protect Lake Superior. Instead, it only threatens MORE of the natural beauty and resources (some of us call them relatives) of Northern Wisconsin as it REMAINS a threat to the watershed of one of the largest remaining freshwater sources in the world – Gichi-gami.
It is BAFFLING to this engineer (University of Cincinnati Metallurgical Engineering ’91) that you guys at the USACE seem unable to find a way to comprehend that the time for fossil fuel development is OVER.
HOW ON EARTH, with the events happening all over the globe, including horrifically worse outcomes and damages than in previous decades, costing individuals/companies/towns/cities/states/nations and corporations billions more each year, as our planet seems on the brink of tipping past a point of no return on protecting our atmosphere for human habitation, can you all not seemingly find yourselves able to DENY FOSSIL FUEL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS? Is this the time you finally will? Can you awaken to the reality around you?
Are you not seeing the preciousness of water – now a commodity on Wall Street?
Is that the problem for you all in recognizing the inherent gift of Water’s existence – as the SOURCE OF ALL LIFE – that humans have now named Her a “commodity”? If so, you ignore this truth to your own peril. And to the peril of your children. And theirs.
Allowing Enbridge to pursue ANY PROJECTS WHATSOEVER after the STAGGERING DAMAGES that Minnesotans are only NOW learning about from our Department of Natural Resources seems a sure way to continue destroying, NOT PROTECTING, our natural resources.
Clean land, water, and air on which all humans depend. These are the things that ought be protected. And based on Enbridge’s rushed construction and poor performance to promises made in Minnesota, ANY PROJECT they submit requires refusal, at a BARE MINIMUM, until they can clean up the messes from their latest pipeline re-route.
Just in time to submit for your consideration… here’s what we’re seeing in Minnesota today:
As you can see in this screenshot above, I cannot yet bring myself to open the LaSalle Crossing document. THE EXACT LOCATION PAUL STOLEN Retiree of MNDNR TESTIFIED WAS THE WORST PLACE FOR A TAR SANDS PIPELINE (see page 40 in the link).
My own video documentation of the concerns throughout the project depict issue after issue, capturing the dangers. We documented the real time response by Enbridge to a potentially fatal incident in LaSalle Valley in this video: Enbridge Line 3: Equipment In Icy Water at LaSalle Creek Wetlands – filmed 2/6/2020, when an Enbridge worker – again, unfamiliar with our landscape – found himself submerged in his own equipment, his co-workers unable to free him, requiring the destruction of a beaver dam to relieve the water levels so he could be pulled to safety. At least he didn’t die, like this worker, killed days into the Enbridge Line 3 project. Enbridge talks a big game but in reality, their attention to safety lacks real substance when it’s applied on-site.
IT IS NOT AS IF WE HAVE NOT WARNED of these dangers.
This newly reported breach in the LaSalle Valley is just 7.5 miles down the corridor from my backyard where the Enbridge Line 93 (‘New’ Line 3) sits – a danger to me every day. The Clearbrook Aquifer breach is 23.8 miles back toward Canada as the crow flies. So here I sit, in between, horrified that the agencies and government representatives that are charged to protect our land and water have either 1) shirked their duties to responsible and thorough review… or 2) been duped or motivated by Enbridge ideology or money to move ahead in SPITE of the science and the missions demanding Enbridge permits be denied.
Any decision to permit this Line 5 re-route will find you culpable for destroying this landscape. Will YOU take that accountability? If you are a decision-maker, IT IS YOURS, whether you deny it or not.
As with the approval of Line 3 – ALL WE TRIBAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES WARNED… has come to pass. Time will tell what criminal and civil liabilities result. Though it does seem the decisions are coming in more and more for Tribes and for Mother Earth these days… so, approve at your own risk?
This is just ONE of THREE KNOWN Aquifer Ruptures resulting from Enbridge’s LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF OUR TERRAIN:
As is clear in the BOLD video, the DNR was ill-prepared for the mismatch in promises made and the reality Enbridge delivered in monitoring and reporting during construction… a dichotomy that truly revealed Enbridge’s practices in prevarication.
What do you think this bodes for Wisconsin?
Aquifer breaches were one kind of risk Water Protectors all along the Enbridge corridor were working to prevent. And, today, our suspicions of Enbridge damages were validated… AGAIN…11/10/21 Enbridge at Work: Mississippi Headwaters and LaSalle Valleys as we see the LaSalle Valley containing one of the THREE aquifer breaches by Enbridge. [3:24 into the video, I call the aquifer breach on 11/10/2021 – though we didn’t hear anything on it from our state agency reps until… TODAY! ]
The USACE should find any application/documentation/plan submitted by Enbridge to be suspect for falsehoods and rife with thoughtlessness for natural beings and the natural world. For this reason alone, at a minimum, documentation should require as much detail as possible to hold Enbridge accountable to standards, and should include as many borings as possible to assure Enbridge has sufficient data to understand the landscape in which they plan to work.
There must be allowances for rescinding any and all permits when violations are discovered. As was seen in the Aquifer Breach in Clearbrook, Enbridge CLEARLY LIED in reports to the state DNR. THIS DISCOVERY in mid-June, should have allowed ALL permits for the construction to STOP CONSTRUCTION for the project. Perhaps if it had, we’d not see the devastation we have now in Minnesota?
It’s not only State Agencies, but Federal folks like the USACE that are required to be accountable to their missions in reviewing risks and determining if projects are helpful or harmful to the people and the land. The dangers presented by Enbridge are too high to risk as we move into the future.
THIS PROJECT MUST BE DENIED.
THE RISKS ARE TOO HIGH.
Please assure my comments, with functional links appear in your public dockets, file management systems, and other places where the public at large can use them to understand the risks of this proposed re-route of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline in the Lake Superior watershed.
Thank you for your consideration.
Jami Gaither Enbridge Line 93 Abutter Clearwater County, Minnesota
As we watch information come leaking out from various places, it’s getting harder and harder to ignore that we may have been sold a bill of goods with these mRNA vaccines. It’s a deep and complex topic and today I’m simply going to pose questions for consideration.
As we find so little available data that shares the needed details to understand much of what we’d like to understand, it’s hard to know the truth. Though I keep working to discover it.
So today we look to excess deaths as an indicator of how well we’re faring. And things don’t look too good overall. Here’s what we see globally:
Based on this info, hard to say vaccines are doing much? In fact, could it be argued that, with deaths at least 10% above expectations since last summer, we’re continuing to see higher death rates in spite of vaccination… or might it perhaps be because of vaccination?
What this graphic depicts is that, early on in the pandemic, we were actually seeing LESS DEATHS than normal! You can see the excess deaths were less than zero (so, lower than expected rates) right up until about when the WHO declared the pandemic on 3/10/2020. We crossed the zero-line around March 1st and there followed a MASSIVE SPIKE in excess deaths to almost 40% by Spring 2020.
Starting in mid-April, we saw a drop over two months in excess deaths to about 10% excess deaths. Was this a result of restrictions that prevented travel and encouraged social distancing, mask-wearing, and hand washing? [It certainly was not about vaccines as those had not yet been developed.]
2020 continued with a summer uptick (as we re-opened and tried to go back to normal, largely failing to protect with our Covid countermeasures and plans). This uptick bumped excess death rates to over 20% by early August and then fell again to bounce around 10-15% as “flu season” began again, when we saw a corresponding bump in excess deaths – back up to over 40% this time.
This next big spike seemed a result of returns to school and family holiday gatherings as many tired of being cooped up. By Thanksgiving 2020 we were halfway to this next bump over 40% excess deaths which, by the end of the year was starting to drop again. Was it people returning to more mindful practices after some scary stories of the Covid experienced by others? School holidays? We’ll likely never know. Still, three and a half months later, by mid-March 2021, we were back down under 5% excess deaths.
One might argue that the drop in excess deaths we saw in early 2021 was a result of the vaccines. Since excess deaths fell starting in late 2020 (when some had been vaccinated – though mostly only the elderly at that point in the game) and fell steadily through the first quarter of 2021 from over 40% to under 5% by early April, it seems logical to say it was vaccines. Though was it? Or could it have been mask mandates, lockdowns, people taking precautions, or all of the above?
Through the spring and summer of 2021, excess deaths remained between 5-10% over expectations. But by August-2021 we see another surge to almost 40% excess deaths again. So, if it WAS Vaccines that brought the drop in early 2021, it seemed they were no longer effectively keeping death in check as excess deaths shot up from under 10% in mid-July 2021 to almost 40% again by the end of August-2021.
Again, due to causes we may likely never truly understand, excess deaths began to fall to about 20% by the end of October-2021. While in the beginning and end of summer-2020 we saw drops to only 10% excess dead, our drop in 2021 never took us below 15% (actually, about 16.8%) excess dead.
In November-2021, as the Omicron wave hit on the other side of the world, we watched our excess dead hover from 17-20% and then, as 2022 came to be, we watched the rate continue to rise – this time to over 25% excess dead.
Some called Omicron a “vaccine variant” – as it created natural immunity without severe disease, bringing herd immunity to Nations of Africa and others which had been denied access to man-manufactured vaccines by more affluent (hoarding/uncaring/profit-driven/pick-your-adjective) nations. [Lucky them? As we see vaccine adverse events data continue to pile up and data concerns on vaccine trials continue to look skeptical as whistle blowers speak to the details?]
As of the latest available data, the US Excess Mortality remains at about 25% of expected death rates. Even with vaccines in place. Even with Coronavirus mandates dropping like rocks from the hands of politicians fearing re-election chances?
There are a couple dozen first-term Governors facing the voters this fall – and we’re suspecting many will find it rough going. [Walz in MN, Evers in WI, Whitmer in MI. Dunleavy in AK, Newsom in CA, Polis in CO, Lamont in CT, Desantis in FL, Kemp in GA, Little in ID, Pritzker in IL, Kelly in KS, Beshear in KY, Mills in ME, Sisolak in NV, Sununu in NH, Grisham in NM, Hochul in NY (already a victim there), DeWine in OH, Stitt in OK, McKee in RI, Noem in SD, Lee in TN, Gordon in WY.] I’m guessing Desantis might hang on, maybe Newsom? I figure Dems who locked down too long and hurt their economies (does that maybe include everyone?) and Republicans who didn’t use mandates and saw high deaths (also several?), may both face angry constituencies? Though… Who knows?!?!
Meanwhile… I’ve pulled data for the deaths and will be investigating it more closely.
A quick look at the figures for Minnesota are frightening. Alzheimer deaths were 240 in 2020… and 810 in 2021. And the cardiac categories continue this troubling trend. Hypertensive disease accounted for 60 dead in 2020… and 254 in 2021. Other diseases of the circulatory system almost quadrupled year-over-year (jumping from 124 to 482). That kind of growth seems to say there’s something abnormal causing this surge in deaths.
Here’s the data from the CDC itself on America’s excess deaths.
We can see that their figures show our children – and even our younger working age folks – have not been at much risk during the pandemic. Folks arguing for an end to vaccine mandates – especially for children – based on the adverse affects and apparent concerns about how mRNA works in the body long-term… might have a point it seems.
And what do the CDC say is on the rise? What is causing this uptick in deaths above normal expectations?
Diseases of the circulatory system. Heart concerns. Aneurysms, Blood clots, Cardiac Ischemia, Heart attacks, Strokes, that kind of thing. [Coincidentally, exactly where we’re hearing most of the impacts of mRNA happen in the body? Blood clots that appear to form after vaccination may be the source? Perhaps it’s not all conspiracy theory and conjecture… as the CDC tells us nothing on what they’re doing to study the apparent increases in blood disease deaths?]
Unfortunately, the US data is limited or difficult to access (as well as being suspect as the influence of financial incentives have impacted how data was recorded and reported… affecting many of the medical decisions made for our citizenry, sadly).
I’d ask: If vaccines have been so effective, why are we still seeing excess dead at the rate of 25%? Why did the fully vaccinated breakthrough cases in Minnesota account for 52% of our dead in the latest reported week – and today we will see new data on those figures. Thus far, about 30% of all Minnesota dead were fully vaccinated per Minnesota Department of Health.
Anyone?
Update, after looking at MDH Covid Breakthrough Case figures for fully vaccinated residents.
52% last week… 52% this week… 31% of all our Covid dead since 1/1/21. And what % of our total dead were fully vaccinated? What portion of the quadrupling excess dead figures might they represent? 😖
Watch out landowners along the Line 3 corridor… New or Old.
Enbridge may have given Old Line 3 landowners $10/foot to leave their abandoned pipeline in the ground… but might these folks later be stuck with a bill from the EPA because they took that deal? And might it be a bill that charges $500-1000/foot of pipeline then? [Enbridge estimated their own cost for removal at $800/foot – in the documentation for their New Line 3 permitting process. So are those landowners who took deals getting screwed to the tune of about $790/foot of pipeline? Hmmm….]
#EnbridgeScrewsEverybody… if they can!!!
Don’t let them screw you.
As part of the agreements for permitting the Line 3 Expansion and Relocation Project, one of the last minute sweeteners Enbridge offered was to create a Decommissioning Plan for their new project… in hopes it would push the PUC over the line to approve the deal. Enbridge knows how to do these kind of decommissioning agreements… as they already have them in place in Canada… which may be why Enbridge wanted to build here in the U.S.? Where we don’t have those pesky decommissioning requirements? Hmmm.
This would be the first decommissioning agreement of its kind in the US. And Minnesota’s Public Utility Commission failed to assure it was put in place PRIOR TO CONSTRUCTION. The goal is to assure future landowners don’t get screwed on pipeline removal…. you know, like Enbridge was allowed to screw Old Line 3 landowners, by giving them pennies on the dollar to “keep it in the ground” – the old pipeline that is, not the tar sands oil that SHOULD be kept in the ground.
Yet how many landowners are even aware of the required program?
The PUC opened Docket PL9/CN-21-823 to take comments about how much funding Enbridge should set aside for abandonment of the new Line 3 Pipeline. If we want the process to include the voices of Minnesota landowners, we might want to request that the PUC initiate a contested case hearing that requires Enbridge notify all New Line 3 easement holders about this docket. [Perhaps Enbridge was banking on Minnesotans to forget about their new project… after they quickly rushed it into the ground on a 10-month (not 2-year) build. What Could Go Wrong?]
So… what brings this topic to my attention? A recent piece on some landowners being fucked over in Buffalo by Big Oil and their close associate, the US Government. Here’s what the article on that situation said:
The federal agency asked the Newhouses in 2012 for access to their 61 acres of swampy woodlands along Route 219 in Cattaraugus County so crews could inspect abandoned, decades-old oil wells and plug any leaking ones. Sure, the Newhouses replied, because years earlier the state’s environmental agency told them a previous owner was liable for the dozen or so wells on their Carrollton property. The couple bought the property for $8,400 in 2000, mainly as a place where her father could hunt, and the deal did not include rights or royalties to the abandoned wells, they said. The next letter came three years later – with a bill attached for $768,529. …
The federal government billed the Newhouses for inspecting and plugging 13 wells. And the charges kept piling on for the Newhouses. Four years later, in 2019, another letter arrived from the National Pollution Funds Center, with the bill then put at $1 million. Five months after that, the U.S. Treasury sent a notice of debt, and it put the past due bill at $1.3 million. Wage garnishment letters soon followed. …
When they purchased the land, they did not even know how many wells were on the land, had no right to extract oil, had no interest in assuming control over the wells and had not talked to those who owned the mineral rights, the couple said in their affidavits. …
“If we had any inclination that we would be responsible for the cost to close and plug the wells, we never would have bought the property,” he said in his affidavit. They contested the debt and appealed the wage garnishment, sending materials through their lawyer to a federal government hearing officer. The Treasury Department held the hearing in November 2020, according to the Newhouses. The hearing officer denied their appeal after reviewing documents but without hearing from them personally. The Newhouses were not allowed to appear at the hearing in person or by video conference call. “In other words, no participation by me or by my attorney was allowed – either in person or remotely, and there was no oral argument,” James Newhouse said in his affidavit. …
The 2012 letter to the Newhouses from the EPA said the federal agency was initiating the project to permanently plug the abandoned crude oil production wells on their property under the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. “This project is being funded with federal money from the Oil Spill Liability Trust,” according to the letter. The last-known operator of the wells failed to plug them under a consent order he had entered into with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, according to the EPA’s letter. Wells were leaking oil into Tunungwant Creek, a tributary of the Allegheny River. In addition to plugging the wells, the four-month project included removing any oil pipelines and oil storage tanks and excavating and treating contaminated soil, according to the project description. The 2015 letter from the National Pollution Funds Center said multiple wells were found to be leaking oil, but listed the Newhouses as owners of the wells and indicated they were responsible for the costs and damages.
We know we can count on Enbridge to mold the Decommissioning Plan to assure they get the BEST DEAL possible. Unless a contested case is called, landowners have only until May 19 to submit comments on the size and terms of this trust fund. [AG Ellison’s office, on January 24th, requested an extension from the original comment due date (issued 12/20/21 – just before Christmas when no one was looking?) of 2/18/22.]
If even the AG needed an extension to find the needed expertise to investigate, where is the typical landowner to get understanding of what might be reasonable? Besides the $800/foot estimate given by Enbridge in testimony, how likely is it the everyday Minnesota landowner will understand the costs of removing a behemoth like a tar sands pipeline from the landscape? Will those per foot costs likely be higher for an individual landowner to remove pipe from his brief stretch of land… than for a pipeline company contracting a much larger project?
Like most government decisions, might this one, without our voices, go solely to Enbridge and the PUC… neither of whom have thus far looked out for our well-being?
Comments to the PUC must include docket number (21-823) and can be submitted online, via email to publicadvisor.puc@state.mn.us, or by mail to: Public Advisor Minnesota Public Utilities Commission 121 7th Place East, Suite 350 St. Paul, MN 55101
Don’t let Enbridge remain the ONLY ONES IN THE ROOM with our state officials – who seem so easily entranced by the Enbridge narrative that they’ve agreed to all their wants thus far.
Stand up for yourselves… as it doesn’t look like the Corporations or the Government will be there to help when the bill comes due.
#OnYourOwn #FuckedByBigOil as they roll in bigger profits all the time. FFS.
Be sure your voice is heard.
Update 3/24/22:
Looks like the Minnesota Legislature is pushing for… Pipeline Abandonment? Not 100% Removal? They require removal of fuel tanks at gas stations, right? What is it I’m missing? Is this just how they name it to get Republicans to vote on it… but it really asks owners to assure landowners can require pipeline companies to remove their “abandoned” pipelines? Will it be retroactive for already abandoned pipelines? So Many Questions.
All ya gotta do is: submit a notarized written removal request to the pipeline owner that stipulates the specific infrastructure and equipment to be removed and copy said request to the Public Utilities Commission, the Pollution Control Agency, the Department of Natural Resources, the Board of Soil and Water Resources, and the appropriate county recorder and soil and water conservation district. Easy Peasy! [And apparently the process you must also complete if you want to relieve the pipeline owner of their responsibility to remove said pipeline. So it’s fair and balanced?]
Update: 5/19/22 Comments Submitted:
PUC Commissioners:
I am writing today to ask that all Landowners and Abutters to Enbridge’s Line 93 (formerly known as the Line 3 Replacement pipeline) be formally and factually notified of the decommissioning process discussion at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) so that they can participate and be kept abreast of the proceedings’ outcomes. I am also asking for a Contested Case Hearing to be held to gather the evidence needed to make a proper assessment of this fund and Enbridge’s plans for decommissioning.
As this case is setting a historic precedent in the US, the PUC must consider the ramifications of this process and use full due diligence to assure that Enbridge is forthright, transparent in disclosure, and complete in their assessments of costs as well as the engineering ramifications of “decommissioning”. As was noted with the Old Line 3 decommissioning, that might or might not include removal of the pipeline. It is clear the public needs to be informed of Enbridge’s intentions and the PUC must hold this foreign entity in our midst to account. We the citizens of Minnesota and the PUC as representatives on our behalf must be the ones determining what is acceptable. Yet Enbridge is responsible to truthfully advise on the issue for a full understanding that allows best decisions for Minnesotans and our future generations.
May, 2022 reporting in the Bemidji Pioneer, noted this from Enbridge: However, according to Juli Kellner, Enbridge communications specialist, the company is in regular contact with landowners and has no intentions of leaving any decommissioning costs to landowners now or in the future.
I have to call BS… because they already have!! We watched with the Old Line 3 decommissioning how Enbridge enticed landowners to simply leave the old pipeline in the ground, rather than remove it. For that allowance, Enbridge offered as paltry a sum as $10/foot of pipeline. Meanwhile, their own assessments of removal costs were upwards of $800 or more per foot. So… already Enbridge has shown they will undercut their costs, pushing them onto Minnesotans, to the tune of a 99% savings to the Canadian Corporation.
As was noted in a Minnesota Reformer piece in 2021: Removing pipe is much more expensive than leaving it buried. Enbridge estimates the cost of removing the pipeline in Minnesota would be approximately $1.28 billion — or $855 per foot, according to the Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the state for the Line 3 replacement project. To pay property owners to keep it in the ground would cost about $10 per foot, or $85 million, plus an additional $100,000 a year in Minnesota for monitoring.
There was a case filed in May 2021 at the PUC complaining that Enbridge hadn’t fully informed landowners along the Old Line 3 pipeline properly. I’d speculate that, had landowners taken the time to determine their costs and liabilities, they might have pressed Enbridge for more than that measly 1% of the cost of removal, which would leave the landowner with the burden of later removal or mitigation, should pipeline removal become a requirement. As the fossil fuel industry faces its end, more requirements for infrastructure cleanup are a possibility, yet Enbridge seems to be buying its way out of responsibility for cleanup.
Again, from the Minnesota Reformer piece: Carlson claimed that Enbridge didn’t properly inform his clients (who were not identified) that they were entitled to hire a third-party engineer at Enbridge’s expense to assess their land, to negotiate a price to leave the pipeline in the ground, and to engage in mediation at Enbridge’s expense if there is a dispute. “Enbridge has effectively and intentionally hidden the existence of the third-party engineer for the purpose of keeping landowners uninformed,” Carlson wrote in the motion.
If Enbridge and the PUC are the only ones in the room deciding the decommissioning plans, I’m concerned Landowners will be left hanging – as was noted in a piece by The Pilot-Independent: If the fund is too small, private landowners including homeowners, farmers, and railroads, as well as state and local government landowners and highway departments could all be forced to pay if the abandoned pipeline causes harm to their properties.
If already we observe Enbridge offering a pittance of actual costs to Minnesotans, what makes anyone think they will be making reasonable offerings to the State of Minnesota via the PUC’s Decommissioning Fund?
Enbridge showed their lack of care for Minnesota during their RUSHED construction.
And we continue to discover the ways Enbridge left our land in a mess of trouble, impacting water quality via frac-outs (promised to be ‘minimal’ during permitting but noted as ‘a normal part of the process’ during construction – the lies Enbridge tells are endless…) and breached aquifers (some still leaking…) across northern Minnesota. Each day we see the ongoing impacts of clearcutting and impacted water movement through our land.
Let’s assure that Enbridge not only cleans up the messes that REMAIN in our landscape, but also that we hold them FULLY ACCOUNTABLE for the costs of cleaning up their old infrastructure once they’re through using Minnesota as a highway for dirty oil. Assuring a Decommissioning Fund, as large as possible, and with as many assurances and guarantees as possible, will mean less heartache and loss for Minnesotans.
I think less troubles for Minnesota is something we can all agree is a good thing.
To be clear to the Minnesota PUC, I write today to request:
1) Require Enbridge to notify all landowners and abutters to the Line 93 project of the Decommissioning Trust Fund initiative and request their participation in the process.
2) Hold a Contested Case Hearing to determine relevant factors for consideration in the determination of the Decommissioning Fund parameters.
3) Assure follow-up communications are delivered to all Landowners and Abutters along the Line 93 corridor of the requirements agreed to once all investigation and decision-making is complete to assure these most affected citizens are informed of their protections.
Miigwech bizindawiyeg. Thank you for listening. Jami Gaither Climate justice advocate and Line 93 Abutter
Submitted to Docket CN-21-823 5/19/22
Dan’s Comments:
PUC Commissioners,
I ask simply that we all acknowledge the lies Enbridge has presented during the permitting process as we consider the details of their Decommissioning Trust Fund.
I request a Contested Case Hearing be held to assure that all necessary details of decommissioning are considered fully.
I request this include full disclosure to the public – including an invitation to landowners and abutters to the route – to assure a robust plan is put into place AFTER we have an understanding relevant to the situation.
As an abutter to the Line 93 project, and witness to the destruction that occurred and remains unaddressed along the corridor, we must assure we do all we can to hold Enbridge accountable for the impacts of their profit-making pipeline. Else we will be left with all the costs… as they walk away with all the proceeds.
Thank you for your consideration. Dan Gaither Clearwater County
Below is my commentary to the WI DNR regarding their proposed Line 5 Relocation project. You can review the project DEIS information and make your own comments through March 18th. (Note: This public input opportunity has been extended through April 15, 2022.)
You are invited to provide written comments on the Draft EIS. Send comments by email to DNROEEACOMMENTS@WI.GOV or by U.S. mail to “Line 5 EIS Comments, DNR (EA/7),” 101 South Webster Street Madison, WI 53707. All written comments must be emailed or postmarked no later than Friday, March 18, 2022.
This project is promoted by Enbridge as honoring the Bad River Band’s request… to remove the Line 5 pipeline from their watershed. However, as is obvious to all but the dullest among us, this removal WAS NOT ACCOMPLISHED with this NEW ROUTE. This pipeline relocation project LEAVES Line 5 within the watershed, thus CONTINUING to risk the waters of Lake Superior, one of the largest remaining freshwater sources for human survival.
What could go wrong? Well, a quick look at the aftermath of the rushed Line 3 project in Minnesota has a few answers… and most of them involve risks of fresh water. Though, yes, the trees that were culled remain the most visible damage, as the scar of this new corridor of destruction is most clear as it passes through forests where thousands of our relatives were culled for a tar sands pipeline to make its way.
And many are, in hindsight, realizing the aftermath of Enbridge’s destruction of our landscape. For example, this recent LTE from Matt Horning, a physician along the new route, which notes this key directive with regard to the Line 5 Re-Route project:
All concerned should request the DNR and ACE safeguard aquifers, monitor private wells at baseline and during pipeline construction and operation, and record and publish the chemical structures and amounts of all drilling materials used and recovered at each HDD site.”
Matt Horning, an Ashland physician who owns property along the L5 re-route3/4/22 LTE
Matt is right. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, in NOT requiring Enbridge to account for all the horizontal directional drilling mud INTO and OUT OF their drill sites, seem to have assured that Minnesotans would not have the access to information on how much of this drill mud was left in our land. It is clear now, as we continue to see brown and orange continuing to upwell in our landscape and show visible evidence of change in our rivers, that Enbridge DID NOT clean up their frac-out messes.
In the end, tribal members and citizen scientists are seemingly the only ones working now to document the tragedy that remains… in hopes we can bring accountability for real clean-up. And, indeed, prevent Enbridge from poisoning the lands and waters of what we now call Wisconsin and Michigan.
Based on what we’re finding thus far, Wisconsin has a lot to concern them if Minnesota is any indication.
On March 1st, a month after this DEIS hearing where I gave the below comments, a group of us went out to sample the water in the Mississippi Headwaters adjacent to the Enbridge New Line 3 (now Line 93) corridor. What we found was troubling. [Analysis is pending.]
Now… to my comments at the WI DNR Draft Environmental Impact Statement hearing on February 2, 2022. [Ironically… also Groundhog Day? Let’s just hope it doesn’t take us as many tries as it took Bill Murray to figure out how to do things right. If it does… Enbridge might win… but humanity loses. Well, let’s be clear… as we’ve watched for decades now: The elder (mostly white) elites will have the best chance at enjoying full lives of comfort and ease… while they eat up the world real quick… leaving Nothing Much for our children and grandchildren with which to build their own lives.]
Bad River: Remove this pipeline from our watershed. Enbridge: This looks about right. Everyone (Everywhere): Uh, nope… still in the Lake Superior watershed, Enbridge.
My name is Jami Gaither.
I live in 1855 Treaty Territory near Upper Rice Lake ten miles north of the Mississippi Headwaters.
Credit to the Wisconsin DNR for creating a DEIS that appears more considerate to the Tribes and the environment than what we saw in Minnesota for Enbridge’s Line 3. Yet, the notice for public input, had a striking miss, not highlighting that all these lands drain into Lake Superior.
I noticed also that 4 of 5 occurrences of the word “risk” in this DEIS happen in the title and paragraph at the top of page 255. That seems a few too few mentions of “risk”.
As an abutter to the project, I witnessed Enbridge’s destruction first hand.
This rushed project included a DNR allowance on June 4th, 2021 for a 10-fold increase in Enbridge’s dewatering permit to 5 billion gallons – during a year of historic drought, no less – and ignoring the voices of the Tribes asking us to honor the rights of Manoomin.
Perhaps one single incident tells you all you need to know about how Enbridge does business, regardless of what they’ve agreed to on paper.
On January 21, 2021, Enbridge contractors punched through a natural artesian aquifer in Clearbrook – their company town – in a willful violation of their Low Risk Construction Permit which allowed digging to only 8′ to 10′. The operators dug an 18′ deep trench and pounded steel pilings into the earth to a depth of 28′, rupturing the rural aquifer.
While unrelenting water flow was reported in the (quote) “independent” (unquote) monitoring reports, the DNR failed to recognize the damage until it was discovered during a lunchtime conversation between monitors and DNR staff. While DNR began communications with Enbridge mid-June, it would be three more months before the public was informed of this disaster. And, in fact, the DNR reports at least two additional aquifer breach investigations, whose locations have yet to be made public.
While Enbridge completed building their pipeline, our aquifer bled out tens of millions of gallons of water as nearby fens suffered.
We asked, over and over, for the agencies to come up and stand in this land, to meet her and know her as we do. It’s clear with all the collateral damage, that Enbridge had no understanding of this land. The Minnesota DNR and MPCA failed to listen to the public testimony on the risks from people who had the needed expertise and who had done their homework. And now everyone is suffering.
I urge you to learn from our mistakes. Protect your land by heeding the voices of those speaking on her behalf.
Stop Enbridge destruction.
Deny this project a life… as you save those on whom your grandchildren will depend.
Miigwech bizindaawiiyeg. Thank you for listening to me.
As the second decade of the new millennium began, there were many who succumbed.
They died of broken hearts.
They were let down over and over again. They were lied to repeatedly.
They were beaten into broken-heartedness… and many took their own lives.
The systems didn’t track loneliness… or happiness, for that matter. Only dollars. Earned and spent.
While the dollars rolled up, faster and faster to those at the top… those overlooked by the system suffered… more and more.
The irony is that this system depended on these whom it had let down so many times over the years. So the system itself began to fail.
Eventually, after the protests in the streets, the bridge blockades, and fights for rights, enough of us backed down, again and again… that the government – aligning the millionaires inside and outside Congress… and joining with the financial backing of their good friends at the Corps(e) [Corporations Kill, eh?] – realized they could get away with just about anything!
That swearing in of Kavanaugh to the SCOTUS… on a Saturday afternoon?!? That was just another day in Absurdia as the leaders of Whitelandia doubled down. Other things to come included:
Union workers who sacrificed by taking pay cuts to save the company… forced, years later, when profitability had returned, to STRIKE to restore their pay. And still there was no national requirement to pay workers a living wage… as inflation soared. Only a minimum wage… which had been stagnant for decades.
Healthcare workers, revered as heroes during the worst of the pandemic, were worked to death, literally. As wealthy CEOs raked in the millions of taxpayer dollars coming their way for “care” and EUA vaccines, neither of which found the wealthy held accountable for any shortcomings.
Young people watched as older generations continued their luxurious lives of travel and flying to this place and that, vacationing!! …as they themselves pondered that having children of their own would be out of the question for their generation. There simply didn’t appear to be enough resources remaining… not enough to hold any hope for a positive future.
Meanwhile, in political circles, 80+ year-old Nancy Pelosi (then Speaker of the House) and nearly 80-year-old President Joe Biden both announced they would run again, stealing any chance of power from transferring to the next generation. Not in time to save the planet anyway.
The media had been brought into the fold in years prior, so the citizenry barely recognized the programming they were being fed. It all seemed so reasonable and hopeful, always HOPE FILLED NEWS! [Always END with a story about puppies… or a 15-year-old kid who made a new ‘green’ tech that astounds!] The media fed the pipe dreams the rich and powerful sold to the masses… to keep them hoping that they would soon join the rich and famous… and have all they have!
But this pipe dream became more and more clearly a dream… and not a reality. A dream sold to placate the masses to continue their days as cogs in the machine… to keep production high (and wages low!) and eat up resources to make all those things that promised to make life grand! [But only for those who could afford them.]
As more and more lost the needed resources to stay fed, housed, clothed, and cared for… they moved back to the land… as they had no other option. Whether going far into the woods or setting up camp in the park as a last resort, these refugees found varying degrees of success [usually related to their starting points – along with the color of their skin (sadly, also related to where each might have started) – and the amount of available resourcesat that point when they left the “system”.]
Those who lost relationship with their human relatives often found solace in nature, a welcoming challenge that was fair, not put out of balance by rules that upended logic, laws that no longer protected ‘The People’. The forest gave freely to all who searched for mushrooms, roots, plants, and meat.
Only those who began to live in reciprocity with the Earth – which had always provided everything on which they relied – were able to survive. Only by living within the caring carrying capacity of Her bounds, were they able to begin again, remembering the broken-hearted, who’d been unable to find their way to sanity… and safety.
Today’s blog focuses on the feedback I gave recently to the MN Climate Subcabinet’s Climate Action Framework document on which they are seeking input through tomorrow. [No pressure! Though if you want to send an email, you can address it to: climate.mn@state.mn.us – though if you look at their page asking for feedback, there’s no deadline listed… and… no date of issue! That’s how MN rolls! The 2/1/22 notice I saw on this work noted: The Climate Change Subcabinet will release a final Climate Action Framework in mid-2022. ] [NOTE: Email Address corrected 2/15/22.]
Before I could comment on the Framework documents, I needed to educate myself on their congratulatory notice of MN successes, so there is some coverage of the “ECO” Act of 2021 as well.
Good day, Climate Subcabinet. Thanks for requesting input from Minnesotans. [Here’s to hoping they actually READ IT!!]
Just to begin, I’d ask the obvious question that is on the minds of thousands of Minnesotans:
HOW can MN say we’re making progress on Climate after allowing Enbridge to RUSH AND INSTALL its Line 3 Tar Sands Pipeline Relocation and Expansion project as the Fossil Fuel Industry faces tremendous controversy as it approaches its demise?
This recent experience, including the YEARS LONG Public Opposition, which was largely ignored by the Walz Administration, seems to show the blindness Minnesota has with regard to the urgency and direction we need to move in order to protect biodiversity and place for continued human existence here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
The only accomplishment Walz can seemingly claim for his work on improving climate change is still years down the road from realizing true benefits… and will also bring FURTHER DEVASTATION to MINNESOTA as the Clean Cars work seems reliant on MINING northern Minnesota to oblivion to become the reality some envision.
As I read this “Climate Action Framework”, SO MANY QUESTIONS come to mind.
Like… Why did the News Release on the ECO Act NOT include a LINK to the Act, for ready access to the details? Are you embarrassed at how MUCH this act provides to corporations that continue to eat away Minnesota’s rich – but quickly being decimated – Natural Resources? Instead, we’re given the narrative the administration wants us to hear… with no easy way to check this reporting for ourselves?
Governor Walz calls it “nation-leading energy conservation legislation” and even Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, a member of White Earth Reservation, says the act “expands our commitment to low-income consumers”… yet this “ECO” Act is only ECO in it’s acronym: Energy Conservation and Optimization Act of 2021. Its entire focus being, not on our NATURAL ENVIRONMENT, but on the financials and efficiencies of anthropocenic energy use.
It begins:
The legislature finds that energy savings are an energy resource, and that cost-effective energy savings are preferred over all other energy resources. In addition, the legislature finds that optimizing the timing and method used by energy consumers to manage energy use provides significant benefits to the consumers and to the utility system as a whole. The legislature further finds that cost-effective energy savings and load management programs should be procured systematically and aggressively in order to reduce utility costs for businesses and residents, improve the competitiveness and profitability of businesses, create more energy-related jobs, reduce the economic burden of fuel imports, and reduce pollution and emissions that cause climate change.”
WHERE does this address the effects on the natural world? It only seems to serve rule-making and ideologies around how humans manage their own extractive and anthropocene energy needs, not truly dealing with the climate impacts directly but, giving us a distraction to pretend we’re making progress… as we continue to assist large energy facility work. In other words, it seems only a bunch of busywork to be done as the spaceship on which we all depend for every aspect of our lives, continues its downward spiral of bad health… which leads eventually to the extinction of humanity.
Not serving the people, but facilities… the first point under the Large Customer Facility section is about creating opportunities for exemptions. [Who doesn’t love a loophole?!? FFS.]
The owner of a large customer facility may petition the commissioner to exempt both electric and gas utilities serving the large customer facility from the investment and expenditure requirements of paragraph (a) contributing to investments and expenditures made under an energy and conservation optimization plan filed under subdivision 2 or section 216B.2403, subdivision 3, with respect to retail revenues attributable to the large customer facility. … Once an exemption is approved, the commissioner may request the owner of a large customer facility to submit, not more often than once every five years, a report demonstrating the large customer facility’s ongoing commitment to energy conservation and efficiency improvement after the exemption filing. The commissioner may request such reports for up to ten years after the effective date of the exemption, unless the majority ownership of the large customer facility changes, in which case the commissioner may request additional reports for up to ten years after the change in ownership occurs. The commissioner may, within 180 days of receiving a report submitted under this paragraph, rescind any exemption granted under this paragraph upon a determination that the large customer facility is not continuing to make reasonable efforts to identify, evaluate, and implement energy conservation improvements.”
It seems this basically implements authorization to charge rate-payers with the work the state is asking to be done, simply another way for the People to fund this mandated “ECO” work and thus improve the bottom lines for Utility providers.
Further, item (b) seems to provide even MORE LEEWAY to charge the public for these concerns:
(b) A public utility may file annually, or the Public Utilities Commission may require the public utility to file, and the commission may approve, rate schedules containing provisions for the automatic adjustment of charges for utility service in direct relation to changes in the expenses of the public utility for real and personal property taxes, fees, and permits, the amounts of which the public utility cannot control. A public utility is eligible to file for adjustment for real and personal property taxes, fees, and permits under this subdivision only if, in the year previous to the year in which it files for adjustment, it has spent or invested at least 1.75 percent of its gross revenues from provision of electric service, excluding gross operating revenues from electric service provided in the state to large electric customer facilities for which the commissioner has issued an exemption…”
The Climate Action Framework’s “Working Together” section on page 17 pushes me to continue to wonder, HOW exactly Tribal Nations were involved with the writing of this framework. Here’s the statement on Tribal Nations role and leadership from the document:
However, based on the Walz Administration’s implementation of EO 19-24, it seems the State CLEARLY LACKS an ability to comprehend their TRUE obligation to Federal Trust Responsibilities. This sentence on page 19 perhaps gives insight to what we can expect… more of the same?
“The State of Minnesota must uphold treaty responsibilities in all State decisions, public processes, and policies by protecting the land, native foods, and the cultural heritage of Indigenous Minnesotans.”
Note this does not say “will” but “must”. Which has always been the case… throughout time immemorial, yet the respect for Tribal sovereignty has been an ongoing divisive issue here in Minnesotan when it comes to implementation of “law”.
The second paragraph notes the State “will work with Tribal Nations” but what we’ve seen to date has given NO INDICATION that the state will do what is required, which is to CONSULT with Tribes, not notify them, as we’ve witnessed over and over, including the most recent implementation of a permit issued locally for a new OSB plant for Huber Manufacturing adjacent to the Leech Lake Reservation… a project the Tribe learned about in a press release.
On page 20 of the Framework the topic of Water arises… which again returns my thoughts to the Line 3 project as it was installed with one segment just a stone’s throw from the St. Louis River itself, and with the project placed within St. Louis River’s recently (and expensively) restored Estuary. Unless this document is truly going to bring a CHANGE in the way MN interacts with the Tribes, I fail to see that it will be effective or even lawful.
Again, the only climate-related “success” of the Walz administration comes first – with Goal 1: Clean transportation focused on Clean Cars proposals and goals. But Minnesota must remember, while some of this work, especially that focused on more human-powered transport options, is good, the move to EVs will also be pushing for more intensive pressure for mining in Minnesota as humans have failed to implement Cradle-to-Grave systems where components and materials of products are re-used, recycled, or managed in a way to prevent continued heavy extraction of natural resources. I’d ask, what inputs from the Tribe were MOST HELPFUL in the implementation of the Clean Cars legislation? What suggestions of theirs can we call out in the Climate Action Framework verbiage?
The section on Goal 2: Climate-smart natural and working lands, on page 28, makes me consider the FAST PACE at which Minnesotans are slashing our population of trees across the state, recently notable with the work done to create a new corridor of destruction for the Enbridge Line 3 debacle. Large trees are better sequesters of carbon than small trees, yet MDNR appears geared to continue culling trees to support economic gains, without truly considering the importance of these Relatives. Even MNDOT is seemingly dismissive of trees suggesting now that along Highway 34 in Becker County, instead of say, reducing the speed limit for cars in the Smokey Hills Forest area, they want to cull trees on the south side of the road to enhance solar warming of the roadway to reduce traffic accidents. HOW ANTHROPOGENIC CAN WE BE? As we CULL the very beings that produce the oxygen we breathe?
I note on page 29 the sub-goal to “Prioritize groundwater and drinking water protection in vulnerable areas.” Yet we saw the Line 3 project given NO ONGOING POST-CONSTRUCTION MONITORING requirements in the MPCA permits. WHY NOT? Why is there no monitoring to assure the chemicals and muds pumped into our environment during horizontal directional drilling (HDD) – under many of our vital and important water bodies – is OK? No monitoring to ASSURE our groundwater and the water in our rivers that many depend on for drinking, like the Mississippi, which was affected in two places along the corridor, remain SAFE?
The various Initiatives noted on pages 31 to 34, while mentioning “emerging crops” give us NO MENTION OF “HEMP” – a vital and resilient friend that we long ago abandoned, for a variety of reasons, and demonized with a campaign on “Reefer Madness” among other tactics to instead promote extractive options. That this crop, specifically being promoted by a major Indigenous leader in our state, Winona LaDuke, is ignored, seems just another indicator of how LITTLE CREEDENCE was given to heeding Native Voices in this Climate Action Framework. While the section ends discussing “Equity”, it seems clear this is not something the Climate Cabinet understands.
While each section gives a focus on Equity, Goal 3: Resilient communities reminds me that, if we see continued actions as we have in Minnesota, without real change in adding voices of those most affected in vulnerable communities – perhaps even CONSULTING with them on projects that impact them, as is required by work in Tribal territories – might bring real change. But as long as the “systemic” changes continue, focused on a cultural understanding of white supremacy, I imagine most of the improvements we see will continue to disproportionately assist whiter and/or wealthier communities.
The section on Goal 4: Clean energy and efficient buildings could use a little proof-reading as the first sentence on page 47 reads: ” Minnesota’s electricity generation is getting cleaner: 55% came from carbon-free resources in 2020.” Yet the graph adjacent to this paragraph shows that the 55% was our CARBON-BASED Energy, not the carbon-free: 48% in Coal & 7% in Natural Gas = 55% of carbon-based energies. So, you can change the percentage to 45%… or you can modify to show that the majority of our energy is actually NOT from “carbon-free resources”. [This may explain why the Climate Cabinet continues to struggle? You have a mis-guided idea of where we are… let alone where we need to go?]
That said, this section captures where Minnesota is failing… noting: “The industrial and the building sector are both experiencing a rise in GHG emissions. Since 2005, GHG in the industrial sector have increased by 18%. In that same time period, GHG emissions in the commercial building sector have increased by 15% and emissions in the residential building sector have increased by 32%. This is partly driven by greater heating and cooling demands caused by our changing climate. ” [Can you see the vicious circle now, Climate Subcabinet members?]
While your Initiatives focus on a transition to 100% carbon-free energy by 2040, Minnesota just approved Enbridge to build a tar sands pipeline, committing us to decades more of fossil-fuel based pollution. How does this make sense? Especially as the project risks the clean waters on which we depend for life… and culled thousands of trees that provide not only oxygen but also store carbon? And, again, when it comes to Equity… these works seem to affect communities of color disproportionately historically. I’m finding it incredible that we might see Minnesota able to both amend past injustices and begin to work in ways that don’t create MORE injustice… as we just witnessed in 2021, concurrent to your work in developing this Climate Framework?
Perhaps the most hard to believe section is that on Goal 5: Healthy lives and communities. While there was a full court press for the pandemic, far more people die each year from pollution than died from Covid. Yet we see no real programs on pollution mitigation and improvement on the level we watched the Covid response unfold. Instead, we hear many reports in recent years on how ALL OUR WATER, in fact, all our BODIES, contain PFAS. The word-salad in this section seems especially condescending as it provides no real clarity on exactly how we will make the change, just lofty goals and vague ideas that give no secure feeling we will actually DO THIS WORK.
Nope, I was mistaken!! Section 6: Clean economy is the hardest to believe. After spending the last 7 years working to educate Minnesota’s Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Public Utility Commission, and various and sundry Agencies, most prolifically those of DNR, PCA and Health, I’ve seen little to encourage me that any of these parties are listening to the voices of MINNESOTANS. The goals of our economy seem largely based on “workers” and business (though, really, it’s just business, isn’t it?) as called out in the SHORT FORM challenges noted. Seems the biggest concern I’ve noted for Minnesota is not hearing Tribal voices, working to protect vulnerable communities, or even protecting land, air and water for Minnesotans… but instead it is to assure we “don’t leave workers or businesses behind.”
Let’s be honest. We’ve “been in transition” since 2007 when Governor Pawlenty gave us the Next Generation Energy Act. And, while we’ve seen some progress along the way, in recent years what we see is the desperation of a system that is on the verge of collapse as we find more and more severe weather events, less and less social justice, and growing global impacts as well, that show we’re far from assured to make the progress hoped for in this Climate Action Framework.
Though I know six of the contributors to this document, mainly from MPCA and DNR, I see no names of scientists I know, representatives from climate advocacy organizations, or even any Minnesota Native names… in fact, the only Native contributor I recognize (MPCA’s Tribal Liaison) is not from Minnesota’s Tribal Community.
Again, this document gives lofty goals, as do most of the frameworks and plans I’ve seen presented by Minnesota State Government. Yet I fail to see much hope that 1) these will be implemented in a good way (based on what I’ve watched to date in Minnesota government) or 2) they will be successful (as we seemingly fail to recognize the urgency with which action is needed or stress the focus on Indigenous knowledge and RECIPROCITY that will be required to move forward WITH Mother Earth).
Appendix 1 on State Action Steps is full of words like evaluate, prioritize, develop, deploy, collaborate, encourage… but the check boxes for Lead, Enact, and Encourage show far more hopes for Leading and Encouraging than actually Enacting.
Here’s one where Enact is checked but not the other two… which may be telling if it’s for what it brings to my mind, which is the Huber Manufacturing OSB plant just approved near Leech Lake Reservation.
2.5.2 Promote the use of forest products that store carbon and reduce GHG emissions: Enhance markets for long-lived wood products that increase carbon storage and substitute for more fossil-fuel intensive materials
Huber’s OSB plant may be justified by some climate-minimizing statistical calculations (you can prove ANYTHING with statistics if you try hard enough), though it certainly does NOT show Leadership for Climate Mitigation or Encouragement of Protection for Vulnerable Communities… as they plan to take many of the trees surrounding their plant and turn them into housing materials? [Again, with the Leech Lake Tribal government learning about this plant permit in a Press Release… HOW exactly are we ENACTING CONSULTATION?]
Telling of our desperation is this item:
3.3.1 Advance climate adaptation in residential & commercial development: Research ways to increase resiliency of buildings to extreme precipitation, flooding, extended heat waves, urban heat island effects, grid failure from extreme weather, and other climate change impacts [Uh, this recognition of the troubles coming our way (and for some already here) is not balanced by any urgency noted in this planning framework.] Or item 2 on this Sub-Initiative: Adopt resiliency provisions in codes, permits, and policies for new construction, rehabilitation and adaptive reuse, and create resilient design standards [Which gives no confidence that we actually have real plans for HOW TO DO THIS… let alone any certainly that we can do it quickly enough.] Or this third idea on the same bullet point: Encourage new construction and rehabilitation of housing to plan for resiliency/adaptation (e.g., waterproofing basements, raising mechanicals and coordinating with energy improvements, installing mold resistant and passive cooling building features), ensuring new developments build outside of higher risk flood areas that retain the natural benefits those areas often provide. [This is just an encouragement… when it could be more robust with rule-making or legislation.]
In the end, this seems a dreamy document, not based in the reality of our circumstance or the urgency of our situation at present. This is an ongoing concern I’ve been voicing to Minnesota officials and agencies for years now, that we are not taking the situation seriously enough and, perhaps especially as Minnesotans, not aggressively pursuing NEW WAYS to do the things more critical to our survival, but instead continuing to work within the white supremacy based systems we already have in place; systems which have offered little hope for the Native, Scientific and/or Youth advocates to be heard. These advocates, who worked diligently to prevent NEW fossil fuel infrastructure in 2021… as global calls for ending fossil-fuel infrastructure development continue to grow louder and more demanding, are instead facing prosecution as Minnesota continues to reveal its ever-present racist past rearing its ugly head.
If we look to the future and a green economy, Sub-Initiative 6.1.1 Grow green economy jobs through innovation gives little hope as again, we see ENCOURAGEMENT, not legislation or regulation to prevent damage or propose better solutions for this line item: Work with industry to advance process improvements that are better for our climate and for worker health
When it comes to policy, the actual work seems focused on things that FURTHER DETERIORATE Minnesota’s natural resources, as we watch friends continue opposition to Polymet and other mining initiatives still being considered by the State of Minnesota.
The things in these documents that make sense are largely well-known from the data and information we’ve had for decades, yet we have watched in this same time as Minnesota waters have become MORE impaired, State Agency work has culled MORE of our trees, and pollution has continued to worsen.
You all did a good job of assessing current short-comings but little to instill hope for a changed future. I hope you will take a look at my input and add detail and clarity on HOW this work will progress, not just the dreamy ideals on which it holds hope.
To close, I feel the most HONEST page in the Framework is the Vision page:
This at least seems to give insight to the lack of consideration you will give to Trees, as you fade them into the background, hiding their glorious color… and Children and perhaps even Minnesota herself, both shown as about as tiny as they could be on this graphic. Sad really. But, based on my experience, true.
Thank you for your consideration.
I’ll note, while I was disappointed to not be selected for this Climate Subcabinet, I can see now that it likely would have felt largely like a waste of time generating dreamy ideals not based in reality and largely leaving Minnesota beholden to corporate interests. So, for that, at least, I thank you.
1/21/22 One-Year Anniversary Update of Enbridge’s Rupture of the Clearbrook Aquifer
As Water Protectors gather for the 1-year Anniversary of Enbridge’s Rupture of the Clearbrook Aquifer ~ 1/21/22 1300 hrs 19°F 24 mph winds ~ we see a rapid clearing of the worksite.
Much of the infrastructure has been pulled, from hoses to the grout building, along with the grout silo trailer, though this 1/21/22 video could not confirm if the drill rig had been removed (both silo and rig were visible on-site 1/20/22).
Much of the work appears to be pulling up timber matting (frozen to the ground, so no easy task), coiling up hoses, and loading contaminated soil for off-site disposal. There was a set of three dump trucks pulling loads of contaminated soil from the work site in two instances during a visit of about an hour on a very blustery Friday afternoon.
The most concerning aspect of this video was the grey discoloration in the area of the dewatering stations on the northwest corner of the worksite that seemed to indicate the settling and other processing, including the dewatering stations, were not filtering this fine contaminant from the water that has infiltrated back into the landscape. There has been no reporting from the state agencies on any monitoring done or results determined at this clean-up site.
1/20/22 Possible grout contamination from the work site leaching into the landscape? Image Courtesy of Honor The Earth
As we were wrapping up the gathering, we got a little entertainment from the Precision Pipeline Dump Truck who came in a bit too hot to the Aquifer Breach worksite.
Check out the previous video focused on the Dump Truck that blockaded the Access Road ~ and the Rapid Response Art Team that had a ready banner!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77z7Jm3uBek
Two breaches are within 8 and 25 miles of me; the third is near a friend’s house on Nagaajiwanaang / Fond du Lac Reservation (the breach is just off Reservation land). So many suffered here this summer. Wells drying up… So many who had to truck in water… Well, that’s just PART of the story. 
It’s devastated us both.
That trauma has been key in my own physical deterioration. I can only imagine how hard it’s been for those less fortunate than us.
again, screwing over the Native Nations in our fair state (the tree take circle includes most of the Reservation lands here). And… wait for it… 
MN taxpayers forking over $80M to help it happen! 
WTF? There goes our Democracy??? 
THE EXACT LOCATION 
Retired at 45 