Overwhelmed with a recent trip to the North Dakota border to determine the Line 3 project status, I’m still processing through the hundreds of photos and videos we captured. What we observed was disturbing.
The good news is that they have not yet gone under the Red River. We can still prevent this project from ever transporting any tar sands from the horrific Athabasca (region where tar sands are mined). Note: When you click on the link from NASA, be sure to click on the eyeball logo that says “All” to view the slideshow of the region over time from 1984 to 2016.
The process of extracting oil from the sand is expensive. It takes two tons of sand to produce one barrel of crude oil. Great Canadian Oil Sands opened the first large-scale mine in 1967, but growth was slow until 2000 because the global cost of a barrel of oil was too low to make oil sands profitable.”
NASA Earth Observatory – Athabasca
Here’s a brief shot of some of what we found in Kittson, Marshall, Pennington, Red Lake, & Clearwater counties.
I’ll be updating this blog as I finalize the details. We have quite a lot of video to process into something cohesive.
Until then, if you’d like to read something more while you wait, on how we got to this place where we have not yet been able to stop this pipeline, no matter HOW many people speak up… read this blog, a summary of recent MN350 report on Koch Industries capture of the MN Chamber of Commerce.
The ECO Act sought to reward residential energy customers who switched to more efficient heating systems that relied on electricity rather than propane. The Act, which was introduced by Republican Senator Jason Rarick, from Pine City, would have created jobs for local contractors, released utility companies from minimum spending requirements, prioritized benefits for low income home owners, and expanded consumer choice by rewarding them for switching to more efficient heating systems, according to MN350’s report. The Propane Association’s opposition to the legislation is easy to understand. They want people to use more propane. The reasoning behind the opposition of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce is less transparent. However, MN350’s report makes a strong case for the claim that one Chamber member, the Pine Bend Refinery own by Koch Industries, has essentially captured the Chamber of Commerce when it comes to policy regarding bills such as the ECO Act, or other legislation regarding energy efficiency and the reduction of fossil fuel use. This is the case, the report argues, even though many of the other large members of the Chamber have expressly stated their support for increased energy efficiency, reduced petroleum use, and a greener economy. The report points out that Koch Industries lobbyist, Matthew Lemke, is on the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Chamber of (Commerce) and that time-and-again Chamber lobbyists statements have mirrored the Koch-Pine Bend position rather than that of companies such as 3M or Target.”
MN Chamber of Commerce captured by Koch Industries 12/27/20 CENTRAL MINNESOTA POLITICAL blog
Update 12/29/20:
After a bit of working through the many photos and videos, this is our summary thus far.
Pipe staged along route from Red River east for 5.2 miles, then pushed dirt is consistent along the route throughout Kittson County. Marshall County dirt push was mainly at crossings of roads and waterways. Pipe staging along the corridor returned east of Trail, Minnesota and through to the Clearwater County line [another 6 miles of staged pipe]. We noted a bore machine off Hwy 75 in Marshall County and found 2-3 road crossings where they had prepared to bore under but no boring seemed to have been completed where we observed. [Quick video of the area on arrival – it was my first trip to this part of the state so I took in the Beet Field Vista.]
We observed many campers at the campgrounds north of the Petro Pumpers at Thief River Falls. Multiple trailers and trucks from states known for pipeline workers. These guys have their systems in place – with big propane tanks, foam board for skirting, and huge trucks… for driving through the snow. We counted trailers, campers, and trucks from 19 states: ND, OK, TX, MN, MO, FL, IL, MS, MT, OR, AR, PA, KS, IN, OH, SD, MI, WA, NV. [Hard to watch… HOW is THIS COVID-19 SAFE, Governor Walz?]
Clearbrook terminal showed piping staged from the east side of Hwy 92 to the Enbridge terminal there south of town. [You can still smell the gas leak or chemical smell at the plant when you drive past – SO GROSS. Makes me wonder about all those ramps on the houses in Clearbrook.]
The equipment storage yard north of Bagley on 242 again showed no apparent security presence.
Quick Summary of the Enbridge Corridor of Death from ND to Clearbrook
Hoping to have more video for release by the end of the week… There are a LOT of video files to consolidate… Sixty of them to be exact. Whew!
Retired at 45 