Enbridge: A Permit Risk

Tags

Aquifer, Breach, Clean Water Act, criminal, DNR, Enbridge, Groundwater, Healing Minnesota Stories, Line 3, MPCA, Pipeline, Tar Sands

Enbridge has two major Line 5 pipeline project proposals in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Minnesota’s experience with Enbridge’s Line 3 project is a story that tells them BOTH to say… “No!”

You can learn more about these post-construction damages at a November 16th webinar that Sierra Club North Star Chapter is hosting as a partner with Waadookawaad Amikwag. Here is the Facebook event and the website RSVP pages for the noontime presentation and the evening discussion!

Read below for more details on Minnesota’s horrific aftermath with Enbridge pipeline construction.

It never was the leaking pipeline that was gonna get us… it was the damages their construction brings to the water.

Lies during Permitting

For the full story, we’d have to do far too much weedy Application and Environmental Impact Statement review:

• We might review the data gathered and presented by Enbridge ahead of construction, apparently NOT thorough enough to understand the unstable and water-filled geological landscape where they proposed their pipeline construction. The more we investigate here, the more clearly it shows how little the state agencies investigated as they evaluated permit applications? As we citizens review topo maps now, we see even more clearly what walking the land told us from the beginning: THIS IS A HORRIBLE place this for a tar sands pipeline.
• We might re-read the testimony of experts, like Paul Stolen, testifying for Friends of the Headwaters, who advised AGAINST permitting a tar sands pipeline through this inconsistent glacial till, advising frac-outs could be frequent regardless of Enbridge’s promises about their “safer” Horizontal Directional Drilling process.

Paul Stolen Testimony for Friends of the Headwaters, November 19, 2014, Page 40

• We might also consider Paul’s further testimony about LaSalle Valley, seeking a re-route around this sensitive area:

Not enough evidence for those in DNR and PCA reviewing and deciding upon the permits it seems… or perhaps they missed Paul’s prescient comments? We watched as the PUC seemingly ignored 68K comments in opposition of this project while only a few thousand (mostly via signed pre-printed postcards from Enbridge) voiced support.

Unfortunately, testimony from experts like Paul Stolen
and similar citizen comments were ignored as
Minnesota’s regulatory bodies permitted the project anyway.

Then Enbridge ran rampant over the land, RUSHING through their construction, which may well be the source for these MANY long-term water impacts and ongoing environmental remediation sites – STILL INCOMPLETE – a year after Enbridge began flowing tar sands through their pipeline.

Enbridge acted criminally, ignoring their construction permits and not reporting the damages from this willful violation.
A hard lesson learned by Minnesotans in Enbridge’s company town of Clearbrook.

Lies During Construction

The First Discovered Breach: COVERED UP BY ENBRIDGE FOR MONTHS!

Discovered is the proper word to use here as Enbridge knew of the unrelenting groundwater surging from the earth when they were working to install their new tar sands pipeline – Line 3, now 93 – at their terminal in Clearbrook.

On or about January 21st, they discovered that their steel pilings [at a depth of 28′, on a low-risk construction permit allowing only 8-10 feet of trenching] had ruptured an artesian aquifer. Enbridge, while reporting water flow in their weekly reports to DNR, made no attempt to be clear about the situation, which was only discovered inadvertently during a mid-June lunchtime conversation between DNR and an Independent Environmental Monitor, which was explained during a DNR Office Hours session last year.

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Note: This was mere days after the DNR issued a 10-fold increase in Enbridge’s Water Appropriation Permit – to Five Billion Gallons …which seems to have gotten NO REVIEW after discovery of this water surging from the land at Enbridge’s construction site? And when you know the inside baseball of communications between the state and tribal officials, you see the truly egregious nature of the timing of this approval. Perhaps a chat for another day as it’s not my story to tell.

Was a 10-fold increase… justified?

I continue to wonder how on earth the DNR could not see this OBVIOUS FAILURE by the Applicant to assess needs for construction. This request clearly deserved closer evaluation, especially for such a significant increase, DURING A DROUGHT YEAR, no less! How could Enbridge – pipeline construction experts one would assume – have such a POOR UNDERSTANDING of their needs for Water Appropriation? And, yes, Tribal consultation should have been a part of assessing this permitting change.

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One might note that these “independent” monitors appear a perfunctory indicator of Enbridge’s adherence to unbiased practices – yet were they merely more window dressing to the Canadian corporation’s piss-poor plan for caring for our land? Almost half of these monitors were shown to be previous Enbridge contract employees!! [Thanks, Healing Minnesota Stories!]

That’s what Enbridge and the State call Independent?

So first we learned during permitting that Enbridge would not come clean on the real dangers their construction entails, and then we found Enbridge wouldn’t ADHERE to their permits ANYWAY! One might question, in fact, why there are no details provided on how Enbridge violated their Low Risk Construction permit at Clearbrook in the settlement documentation. Hmmm?

What do Permits MEAN if they can simply be ignored by an Applicant… without penalty?

Many Minnesotans continue to be baffled as state agencies and regulators keep listening to Enbridge, even as we continue to discover more and more about their deception.

It’s clear to us that Enbridge cannot be trusted.
It seems more evident than ever that they are likely ill-equipped to actually remediate the damages they’ve caused.

Lies Post-Construction

The “FIXED” Breaches: Enbridge says, “OOPS! Not Quite Fixed After All!”

Back in August, Waadookawaad Amikwag – Those Who Help Beaver – visited LaSalle Valley where a SECOND Enbridge breach had been reported almost a year earlier. It was reported “fixed” in late 2021.
[I say “late 2021” because the date has been reported by Enbridge as November by Jennifer Bjorhus back in August: “Pipeline operator Enbridge Energy said on its website that the LaSalle breach was grouted and fixed last November.“, while the recent settlement with the State, reported (Item 24 under LaSalle Creek Site): “On December 20, 2021, Enbridge reported that implementation of the 2021 LaSalle Corrective Action Plan had stopped groundwater discharge at the site.“
Who knows when Enbridge is constantly changing the story to fit their needed narrative?]

Far from being fixed, the team discovered many ongoing upwellings. Enbridge calls them seeps, yet this is the equipment they are using to measure just ONE of these “seeps”. This site was initially reported as leaking just under 10M gallons. Yet with one seep location showing almost a million gallons each month, based on our observations of their Weir box in the field, that is surely adding up!! Is anyone actually counting all the gallons lost due to Enbridge’s negligence?

Weir box measuring Enbridge “seep” location at LaSalle Creek, 8-28-22

Note that Enbridge also reported their Clearbrook breach remedied just days before it’s one-year anniversary… yet in the recent settlement, that claim was also proven to be premature: “On September 1, 2022, Enbridge informed DNR that a small groundwater seep had emerged near the Clearbrook Site repair at an estimated rate of ½ gallons per minute.”
Sooo…. Not Fixed. While initial reports spoke of 50M gallons, that later nearly doubled, and, if flow continues… who knows?
Enbridge isn’t counting the gallons at this site it seems.

The settlement notes of the third reported Enbridge breach, this one at MP1102.5, just 400′ outside Fond du Lac Reservation, that it TOO is “fixed”!
For now maybe?
Waadookawaad Amikwag continues to ground-truth these Enbridge claims. 219 millions gallons of water were reported lost.

Continued Coverup by Enbridge… and the State

Waadookawaad Amikwag has document dozens of upwelling water sites along Enbridge’s corridor. We have tried talking with Minnesota Agency contacts to no avail. [Most won’t even respond to my emails anymore.] We offered to share data, if they were interested but they never asked (as was reported by Bjorhus above). Seems they are only interested in the Enbridge narrative.

The State STILL HAVEN’T ASKED for any of our data.

In fact, we’re still awaiting a response on a draft Memorandum of Agreement for this data use… sent over a month ago.
Meanwhile, we see continued infiltration of Enbridge in our bogs and wetlands.

The settlement Enbridge has negotiated with state regulators is far too premature based on grounded evidence along the Line 3/93 corridor. There are dozens of sites of concern that need review. We’ve documented plainly and clearly, with water testing, photographs, thermal imaging and drone footage, at least two sites of breached groundwater upwelling that remain UNREPORTED to the public by State Agencies.

I’ve blogged repeatedly and posted videos on Walker Brook, which the state has acknowledged to some is under investigation. Yet Minnesota environmental regulators refuse to make public any details of the problems at Line 3’s Walker Brook South’s crossing.

In response to Healing Minnesota Stories’ questions, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) said: “While the investigation is ongoing, we cannot provide details about the situation.”

The DNR continued: “However, we want to correct your suggestion that there is an aquifer breach at this site. Based on our work thus far, the Minnesota DNR has found no evidence of an aquifer breach. Instead, the Walker Brook location appears to have an upwelling of shallow groundwater resources that has complicated site restoration.”

The MPCA continued: “The MPCA is in regular communication with on-site independent environmental monitors to ensure the company adheres to permits that remain in place while the company works to restore the site.”

Just because the matter is under investigation shouldn’t preclude agencies from releasing basic information.”

Healing Minnesota Stories Blog: Volunteers spotlight more groundwater problems apparently created during Line 3 pipeline construction

Is MN DNR using Enbridge tactics to downplay the situation…
“No evidence of an Aquifer breach!!”
Does that mean they think this situation is not a problem?

You decide.
Does this photo of the Valley at Walker Brook look like a problem to You?

Enbridge’s Line 3/93 second crossing of Walker Brook: An unreported site of groundwater upwelling, currently getting more complex and looking more dangerous each month, rather then being remediated.

We might also consider, as part of our review of this project and its outcomes, re-listening to the voices of our children, who protested… asking us adults for NO MORE FOSSIL FUEL INFRASTRUCTURE development, asking us to recognize how much we have already polluted their world and to heed their call to awaken to the increasingly scary dangers of climate change…
Their everyday nightmare.

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Enbridge’s UNREPORTED Deep Water Breach on Line 3

Tags

Deep Water Breach, DNR, Enbridge, Line 3, Minnesota, MPCA, Pipeline, Unreported

Ground-truthed evidence at Enbridge’s crossing of Walker Brook in Clearwater County: A sinkhole above the pipeline corridor.

NOTE: VIDEO BEING RELEASED AS TODAY WE FIND ADDITIONAL ENCROACHMENT OF ENBRIDGE MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT TO WALKER BROOK as of THIS WEEK.

WATCH THIS CHANNEL FOR UPDATES.

THE AG’s REPORTED SETTLEMENT WITH ENBRIDGE APPEARS perhaps PREMATURE?

Video shows the 10/5/22 examination of the landscape within Walker Brook Valley at Enbridge’s second crossing of the small stream, including evidence showing deep water upwelling from the ground. This is along the RA-05 portion of the corridor route in Clearwater County.
It is now evident that deep underground water (at a constant 45°F) is being released to the surface and bled from the hillside down and into the forest to the south of the clear-cut corridor. A test well has been installed and extensive timber matting has been placed through the wetlands and into the valley. The large hole in the land, downhill (and thus downstream) from the well installation, now shows gray contamination buildup on the branches reaching in from the sides of the sinkhole. In addition, there is an oily sheen on the surface of the sinkhole now. While testing has not been completed to confirm this is a petroleum-based sheen, its surface behavior is indicative of this possibility.
The water temperature coming into the sinkhole is colder than when it leaves, likely due to surface solar and air exposure of the cold, deep, underground water bleeding in from uphill and from below. The water within the hole is not cold like deeper groundwater so may be a superficial water body. Yet, the bottom undulates and a ski pole goes deep into the hole past the apparent bottom.
Black piping diverts water, from both the timber matting area and the large sinkhole, to the southwest, ending at the forest’s edge and flowing on into Walker Brook below. This water all tests at about 45-50 degrees, indicating a deep water breach.

Video was made between 1500 and 1800 hours on 10/5/22.

Narrative – Jami Gaither for Waadookawaad Amikwag:
Enbridge’s deep water upwelling at their Line 3 crossing of Walker Brook includes a massive timber matting addition. Today’s review discusses a near-platform identification of biological sheen, moves to the sinkhole, and then reviews downhill piping outlets where Enbridge is diverting water from its corridor breach to the nearby forest edge.

Before we go too far, as there is so much to catch in this video, here’s a bit more to help understanding.

• Enbridge has an UNREPORTED-to-the-public breach of deep groundwater, on Minnesota public land.
• This post-construction damage now requires a return to the wetlands of heavy equipment.
• The new work-site appears to be polluting the water with oily sheen producing chemicals.
• An unknown quantity of deep groundwater is bleeding from the land with Enbridge showing no apparent capability to stop the flow, even as we are now a full year post-construction.
• The results and impacts of the Enbridge construction for their new Line 3 pipeline have created unsafe conditions and possibly resulted in a situation that cannot be repaired.
• The impacts of these environmental failures on the underground infrastructure are unknown and could be creating forces on the pipeline that bring even more dangerous concerns.

Run-off from underground fills the valley consuming the brook into a pond at the valley floor at this location, not yet disclosed to the public by Minnesota agencies. Investigation of pooling near the platform brought concern of an oily sheen. A touch into the surface revealed a hole that remains open, indicating a biological sheen, not one with petroleum contamination. Water temps measured in the 40’s were indicative of a deep water upwelling.

Tubing sections from under the platform lead to this 4’ x 6’ sinkhole that continuously burps up air and water. Following installation of a test well, we see evidence of residue coating surfaces of roots and the sides of the hole. The 10/5/22 photo compares poorly with the clarity of this area captured on 8/25/22. The surface now has a sheen as well, which, upon disturbance, shows the film closing back in on itself, indicating a petroleum-based contamination. It seems Enbridge’s attempts at remediation are creating more pollution impacts than resolution of their deep water upwelling. As this land is public-access, it creates public safety concerns. We can also see in this area how the temperature changes from the inlet – which appears to be capturing uphill run-off – to the sinkhole itself; a gain of 7-8°F in a short distance.

As we move to the outlet piping running into the edge of the forest at the edge of Enbridge’s Line 3 project clearcut, we find more cold water in the 40’s rushing quickly into the land. It is clear that there is a large amount of water being bled from underground in this location, having an unknown impact on the stability of the land around this pipeline installation, as evidenced most strongly by the sinkhole in the corridor very near the pipeline itself. 

A Small Group of Thoughtful, Committed Citizens

Tags

AG Ellison, Army Corps, Betty McCollum, Damages, DNR, Enbridge, EPA, Keith Ellison, Kessler, Line 3, Minnesota, MNDNR, MPCA, Pipeline, Pipeline Construction, Post-Pipeline-Construction Damage, Sieben, Strommen, USACE, USEPA, Water, Water Quality

The only times the powerful bring change are when it suits their aims…
or when enough of us speak up to force them to bring needed change.

Mary Engelbreit calendar page on Margaret Mead’s encouragement

These last few weeks, Waadookawaad Amikwag has been working hard to speak up and be heard. Here’s a summary of the last couple months of our work:

• Two months ago, we reported on the second Enbridge Breachiversary – the one year point of unrelenting flow from Enbridge’s deep water breach in LaSalle Valley. In case you missed it, here was reporting on the first Enbridge breach of an artesian aquifer at Clearbrook, endangering local nearby calcareous fens. And, still leaking, never reported remedied, is the MP1102.5 aquifer breach 400′ west of the Nagaajiwanaang (Fond du Lac Reservation) boundary. The latest Fond du Lac Band report on the concern noted flow reduced to six gallons a minute. Enbridge calls that flow a “seep” though it equates to over a quarter million gallons of water each month.
• On September 28th, we issued a call for help to the Minnesota Congressional Representatives and Senators, asking they request the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) initiate a federal investigation of these concerns. Waadookawaad Amikwag finds evidence that the Clean Water Act, turning 50 years old this month, is being wantonly violated here in Minnesota as officials and agencies downplay and hide the impacts we’re witnessing.
• September 28th to October 2nd, R.I.S.E. Coalition held a 2nd Annual Firelight Treaty Encampment to help educate the community on Treaty Rights and Responsibilities, support the field workers monitoring the nearby post-construction Enbridge Line 3/93 damages, and holding space in ceremony for nibi miinawaa manoomin (water and wild rice).
• On October 1st, the anniversary of oil flow through Line 3/93, Honor the Earth issued a call to action as well, asking for a federal-level independent investigation of the post-construction situation here in Northern Minnesota’s Indian Country. Healing Minnesota Stories Scott Russell also shared this call and more details about Waadookawaad Amikwag’s field work.
• October 6th, Waadookawaad Amikwag issued a draft Memorandum of Agreement on behalf of our flyover data partners (R.I.S.E. Coalition, Sierra Club, Honor the Earth, MN350, and White Earth Reservation) to AG Ellison along with DNR Commissioner Strommen, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner Kessler, and Public Utilities Chair Sieben. We asked for a response by October 21st on what agreements we might make around working together, using all the data that Water Protectors have gathered, to determine 1) how we can stop additional harms by Enbridge to the land and water and 2) find the least damaging methods, if they exist, to remediate the harms Enbridge has caused.

While we see new horrors each week in the post-Enbridge-construction landscape, the state continues to withhold this information from the public. It seems, only when we reveal the damages publicly ourselves, that the state will confirm to Minnesotans our findings about Enbridge’s post-construction water impacts.

Sinkhole on Enbridge’s Line 3/93 Tar Sands Pipeline Corridor at Walker Brook; Clearwater County. Hat gives a size reference. Several October water temperature measures have shown deep underground water emerging in an unrelenting flow from the land throughout this valley. (credit: Dan Gaither)

As was witnessed in early August for the LaSalle breach, our evidence forced the hand of the DNR to come clean and admit publicly that, on July 11th, Enbridge had reported ongoing “seeps” in the LaSalle Valley. The November 2021 thermal flyover revealed the unrelenting flow from the land just after Enbridge reported the LaSalle breach “fixed”. One measurement on one of the seeps at LaSalle shows flow of over 800,000 gallons per month. We’ve counted at least 6 “seeps”; Enbridge has marked at least 4.

We’ve issued press releases, yet the mainstream press rarely publishes on our work. We continue to be “our own news” as we like to say… the News for the People.

It seems, only when we reveal the damages publicly ourselves,
that the state will confirm to Minnesotans our findings about Enbridge’s post-construction water impacts.

What will become of Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes, if these deep water bodies are bled dry?

Please do what you can? Share our work, make calls to agencies and officials, watch the videos to comprehend the impacts on our ecosystems and our people.

Miigwech bizindaawiiyeg. Thank you for listening.

A Letter to My Dentist

Tags

Aquifer, Aquifer Breach, Breach, DNR, Drilling mud, Enbridge, Frac-out, Frontier Project, HDD, Heywood Banks, Huber, Inches and Miles, Line 3, MPCA, OSB, The Revenge Song

Good evening!

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.  

Friends of the Headwaters FB Post 3/23/22

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. 

Enbridge hides data from public on promised Line 3 job creation for Minnesotans

“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.”

Enbridge hides data from public on promised Line 3 job creation for Minnesotans

And then other media… keep the Enbridge lies growing:

AP buys Enbridge’s Line 3 jobs claim without needed skepticism 

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. 

[Bottom of page 612/1059.]

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.

Agencies have been unresponsive to citizen outcry. Though we’ve been asking for 9 months.  Even in 2022, as evidence accumulates, Minnesota Senators continue to be stonewalled.

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).

Source: https://ourworldindata.org/excess-mortality-covid

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? 

Minnesota Water Protectors: Now Working to save Wisconsin and Michigan Waters

Tags

Bad River Band, DNR, Drilling mud, Enbridge, Frac-out, HDD, Line 3, Line 5, Minnesota, MPCA, Pipeline, Wisconsin

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-route 3/4/22 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.]

Indigenous Environmental Network FB Post on 3/2/22 testing at Mississippi Headwaters Enbridge Crossing

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.

And what we’ve seen now is everything the voices of opposition warned has come to pass. We’ve had frac-out after frac-out and thousands of gallons of drilling mud released into our environment. We’ve seen swaths of trees culled in a matter of minutes and wetlands dredged. We’ve seen abuse, violence, and rapes, as well as, sex traffic busts of pipeline workers. Yet Water Protectors are the ones now awaiting trial in Minnesota.

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.

Clearbrook Breach-iversary Update

Tags

DNR, Enbridge, Line 3

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

DNR M.O.: Ignore, Oppress, Gaslight

Tags

DNR, Enbridge, Line 3, MDNR, Minnesota, Minnesota DNR, Pipeline

This past week sure has been a long, fun, crazy week of planning and preparing, learning and loving, understanding and sharing… as we approached the one-year anniversary of the day Enbridge ruptured the Clearbrook Aquifer adjacent to their Terminal Tank Yard.

Hands and hearts working together in the public, as the State continues to ignore, oppress, and gaslight those of us working to protect Sacred Water, Nibi, the Source of all Life.

Ignoring the Public

We know the Agencies are ignoring us as we’ve been working to wake them up to Enbridge’s lies, dangers, and destruction for almost a decade now. And yet, Line 93, Enbridge’s Relocation and Expansion Pipeline, has been built and flowing Tar Sands through my back yard since October. Meanwhile, Enbridge’s reporting to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shows their imports to the Mainline System ARE ON THE DECLINE!

Mainline System Imports vs. Capacity Q1-2004 through Q3-2021
Why is capacity going up… while imports are on the decline!

So WHY did we need to cull our water-holding, oxygen-giving forests? WHY risk our water-filtering wetlands and rivers, if the declining fossil fuel extraction could have been served with EXISTING infrastructure… WITHOUT DISTURBING and DESECRATING the NATURAL INFRASTRUCTURE – on which all life depends?

It seems humans are so intent on their own wishes, they forget that ALL of those wishes are only fulfilled by a robust and healthy biodiverse environment.

Oppressing the Public

While we found solidarity in our work this week, none seemed possible with the Agencies who continue to conceal the damages done by Enbridge across our state, all while not monitoring the ongoing concerns.

The Twin Cities Breach-iversary event Friday ~ planned for the front walk of the DNR Office Building in St. Paul where previous Press Conferences have been carried out in the past ~ found Water Protectors instead pushed to the street!

DNR Security harassed people about parking… in a parking lot that was perhaps 15% full! They would not allow us to be on the sidewalk in front of the DNR building!! Instead, they PUSHED the group to the public sidewalk by busy Lafayette Road!

Why this continued HARASSMENT of Water Protectors by DNR Officials???

I suspect it is because the DNR is telling us that We Are NOT WELCOME and WILL NOT BE HEARD.

My good friend Jaci posted about this situation on Friday:

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources why do you discriminate? What did you base your decision on today—which press conference can stand at our DNR doorway and which one gets pushed to the sidewalk? We are literally trying to work with you to protect our water (train us to be monitors!) but you “greeted” us with security hassles while parking and then told us we could not stand at our state agency. Next you’ll be arresting us for standing peacefully, exercising our first amendment rights. Oh wait! You’ve already done that to me and many others!
I used to be so proud of you, DNR, and had dreams of working for you but honestly, I don’t know who you are and what your purpose is anymore. Well, other than to protect the interests of foreign corporations. I know there are good folks that do good work for the DNR but it appears you are being suppressed. Please, I beg of you (I’ve been known to get down on my hands and knees!) it’s time to blow the whistle! There are millions of Minnesotans who will support you!
First photo is Stop PolyMet press conference I was honored to attend in 2018. Second photo is from today.”

I commented:

Thank you for speaking to the oppression citizens are seeing by the Minnesota DNR. Most wouldn’t believe our stories of the DNR but we all know we’ve seen a lot of gaslighting of citizens and refusals to meet with us, or even to respond to our inquiries.
I imagine there are many employees whose hearts are with us… even if their job restrictions don’t allow them to stand with us in public in front of their employer.
We all know the Mark Toso v. MPCA cases could be far more common. We’ve seen the process. We’ve watched the hearings, read the documents, heard the stories, had the quiet conversations.
The people will stand for protection of all life. We pray for everyone to join us in this work, whether agency employed or not.
Because it’s clear the process is broken. When a foreign multinational can destroy our lands without any way for us to stop them… or even slow them down… let alone hold them accountable… for the unfixable, it’s clear the people take second place to corporations ruining our landscape and poisoning our water, one project at a time.”

My response to 1/21/22 FB Post

At least there was a quick chance for a Photo Op at the DNR Entrance… Photo courtesy of Honor the Earth

Gaslighting the Public

And, yes, they are gaslighting us as well.

On Thursday afternoon, the DNR held their first 2022 Commissioner’s Office Hours event – focused on 2022 Legislative priorities. I asked my questions and, when I finished, Gail Nosek, Communications Director of the DNR said this:

Thank you for the questions and comments, Jami. I do want to make sure to remind people that we understand there is a lot of passion around these issues, but these are meant to be respectful conversations as well.”

Gail Nosek – implying I’d been disrespectful!?!?! …without any evidence provided to back that up?

I’d ask you, WHERE EXACTLY was I disrespectful??? Here’s what I said (including the MANY corrections to their meeting transcript capture below. My actual words are in non-italics amidst their often incomplete and stricken inaccuracies. Interesting to note that, for as many interactions as they have with them, the transcriber simply CANNOT SEEM to capture the word “Enbridge”… not ONE single time! 🧐 I highlighted the most interesting of their misquotes…):

I took a look at the DNR proposals for funding and noted that it appears the lion’s share of the focus is on anthropogenic purposes like trails through the wilderness and economic management of selling off our natural resources as opposed to instead of protecting them and the rich biodiversity on which we all depend.
We watched as the DNR has done a miserable job of monitoring the line three project that tore through our state at a breakneck pace resulting resulted in a flurry of environmental damages throughout the new corridor that still await re-meditation. They’ve While Enbridge has been pumping oil since October, we see just this morning to a report that they finally managed to stop the flow at the Clearbrook Aquifer Breach which they created by willfully violating the DNR’s lo-res Low Risk Construction Permit. It is obvious from the re-meditation order details that they the DNR failed to manage the monitoring the process to detect this egregious violation, in part because Enbridge failed to report it for, really clearly, for almost six months. And it appears we need to address the permanent Permitting activity for which we give the DNR authority. I would ask, where were the on-site DNR officials during the obvious permit violations and environmental concerns, why did the egregious violation of the construction permit not result in a stoppage of work until the aquifer was repaired, instead they were Enbridge was focused on completing their pipeline, allowing the uncontrolled flow of the aquifer throughout the last year, and the DNR allowed them to do so.
I would ask, what it is exactly that would’ve called for a stoppage of the project if not violations of the permit. It is Is the agency to fill us toothless with regard to protecting our natural resources from bad acting applicants willfully desecrating our land? Will the DNR be seeking legislation that allows more authority as we look to reduce the environmental impacts of humans or will you continue to look at what appears to be a tech Check-box approach, allowing our state to be destroyed one project at a time?
It seems the agency lacks technical capacity to determine that the engineering data and bridge Enbridge provided did not accurately account for the geology and the topography of our landscape, which was truly the worst place for our a Tar Sands pipeline. If So can you could speak to the funding around the permitting work and I just close with this. I It would’ve really to me seemed— it would’ve been a better use for DNR commission Conservation officers and in deploying them along the project route with unannounced monitoring visits to determine what exactly was happening and in our environment instead of what they mostly spent their time doing, which was banging heads of citizens to quell the public outcry to this destructive project. Which we know is not needed as we’ve seen in this a decrease in imports for the Enbridge’s mainline system. So please let me know, what are you doing to assure that you have the technical expertise to complete the projects that we need done in a way that doesn’t damage our landscape, but instead protects the things that are important to life.

My comments to the DNR during the January 20th Commissioner’s Office Hours event

While I asked Gail, both publicly and privately for an explanation in the chat, she gave me NO RESPONSE WHATSOEVER. THIS is how the DNR treats ENGAGING CITIZENS. They IGNORE us, OPPRESS us, and/or GASLIGHT us.

Later in the meeting, another citizen asked (again, with corrections to the DNR’s transcript, and a key concern noted early on…):

I actually wrote my comments in the chat. It seems to me that the DNR [Perhaps THIS RIGHT HERE – inaccurate listening and transcribing – is one of the problems???] isn’t IS engaged in promoting recreation by building more and more trails in on public lands. Motorized recreation exasperates climate change in a number of ways by burning fossil fuels, but also by requiring bigger vehicles, trucks, SUVs to pull trailers, that consume fossil fuels at a higher level, to pull these trailers of ATVs and snowmobiles to their recreation destinations. I’m wondering how does the DNR — square their development and it’s engagement in the development of more and more OHV trails with its responsibility trying to mitigate climate change impacts and on all the natural resources… and so forth. I was I’m still having trouble seeing the DNR doing those, things that are really in conflict with one another. That is my question. Thank you.

Don Pietrick’s OHV (Off-Highway Vehicles) Question at January 2022 DNR Office Hours event

Gail had NO Criticism for Don being disrespectful… though perhaps it’s because she was confused trying to hear him… even though his question had already been posted in the chat… TWICE!?! [Which he mentioned as he began speaking… meaning she could have simply read along, as some of us did to understand Don’s question? Alas, she could not.] But HEY! At least the Chat was PUBLICLY TRANSPARENT!! That’s a change I often requested in complaints to the DNR in 2020 & 2021 regarding their continued apparent unwillingness to have publicly visible comments between attendees at these events. Just giving them clues on how to TRULY Engage the Public!! 😀
[One small change I was able to help bring about… only took a couple years, eh? Though we’ll see if they continue this practice in February? We now know that they can!! So if they don’t continue this bit of transparency, it will be just one more nail in the coffin labeled “The DNR Just Doesn’t Want Public Engagement”?] Here are a couple of the great public chat comments:

Public Chat is NOW AVAILABLE in the DNR Office Hours events!

Perhaps most concerning is, for those hard of hearing or reading the transcript after the fact, the real question Don asked is HIDDEN by DNR’s verbiage. Their transcript 1) implied DNR is NOT making more trails, 2) minimized the impacts Don shared about trailering and increased fossil fuel use, and finally 3) obfuscated Don’s main focus of SQUARING the DNR’s heavy OHV focus with their proposed mission of mitigating climate change. Though, reading this sentence – as DNR captured it – may be telling: “I’m wondering how does the DNR — trying to mitigate climate change impacts and all the natural resources.” Yeah, they do seem, Don, to be “mitigating… ALL the natural resources” …and by that, I mean all these appropriate synonyms: reducing, diminishing, weakening, and, most often… deadening our natural resources.

MinnPost had a good piece on these concerns Friday as well, noting: “Sustainable environmental policy needs more holistic oversight and that is limited in this state.”

MinnPost 1/21/22: Environmental inequality: the other Minnesota paradox by Peter Calow

Peter closes with a strong argument and a few great suggestions:

The state should have a high-level group for strategic thinking on sustainable environmental policy options, but then decisions on priorities need to be refined by preferences elicited across all the important stakeholders including the tribal nations. There will undoubtedly be urgency and political pressures to act as more funds flow so it will be impractical to ask everybody about options all the time. Community leaders will be important. Increasingly, though, we should involve the power of the internet, big data and crowdsourcing in informing decisions.
To deliver for the economy, environment and people taking account of the present and future generations needs a holistic approach. Balancing the inevitable trade-offs in a way that is transparent and sensitive to public preferences is the challenge. The state has a way to go in delivering on this. 

MinnPost 1/21/22: Environmental inequality: the other Minnesota paradox by Peter Calow

I’d agree on the Minnesota Agencies’ LONG WAY TO GO in Transparency, for sure… as well as their inability to be sensitive to public preferences… though I might take friendly disagreement with his earlier statement on technical expertise. While technical experts may exist in our agencies, it seems they lack the capacity to piece through the misinformation and deceptions presented by Engineers representing Applicants. This might be no more clear than in the Enbridge Aquifer Breach at Clearbrook.

The DNR was unable to detect the inaccurate information presented in applications by Enbridge’s engineers, which drove them to allow Enbridge a “Low Risk Construction Permit” at this location. A huge mistake as the site of the breached aquifer is quite close to two Calcarious Fens, which are specially protected entities. It’s hard to comprehend, as the state geologists and hydrologists should surely have been able to understand that this area – an old washout of a long ago river – would be full of irregular geology that might cause problems in trenching?

OUR experts could see the issues. And we testified about the problems of putting a new tar sands pipeline through this area of our state, giving proposed alternative routes, and begging for agency officials to COME SEE THIS LAND with their OWN EYES… all to no avail. And, in the end, the DNR obviously lacked the necessary technical resources to properly and/or completely READ THE MONITORING REPORTS and determine that something was amiss and more urgent attention was clearly needed at the work site… for over 5 months!

Perhaps Gail’s comment on my being “disrespectful” was because she didn’t like the FACTS that I was disclosing about the DNR? 🧐

All this said, it does seem the tide is turning.

• The people continue to speak… even when they are PUSHED from the Public Right-of-Way.
• We continue to make valid points and ask concerning questions that the Agencies CONTINUE TO IGNORE and NOT ANSWER.
• Yet we persist. Even with all the gaslighting techniques employed by the DNR.

Last Real Indians posted this Friday:

US Attorney Drops Charges Against Indigenous Water Protectors and Allies Who Occupied Bureau of Indian Affairs Demanding Indigenous Rights Be Upheld

US Attorney Drops Charges Against Indigenous Water Protectors and Allies Who Occupied Bureau of Indian Affairs – 1/21/22

It’s time for Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to FOLLOW THIS LEAD, writing an amicus brief to all Law Enforcement Agencies that banged heads for Enbridge along the corridor – arresting PEACEFUL CITIZENS and Tribal Members ON THEIR OWN LAND – as Jaci mentioned at the start of this blog. He must insist that they DROP THE CHARGES!

The counties were reimbursed by Enbridge to the tune of almost $5M – with more filings expected so likely to be higher still? – for their LE officers “trouble” in harassing citizens on Enbridge’s behalf. But Enbridge’s escrow account manager refuses to FINANCE the prosecutions… as they are outside the allowed reimbursables. Just another way Enbridge creates more costs and cleanup for local people as it leaves their environment and communities in disarray.

It is ridiculous to me that Water Protectors, standing for us all, face criminal charges and fines geared to disable them in major ways… while the real criminal, Enbridge, gets to continue hiding it’s damages, paying pittances of fines, and facing no criminal charges for poisoning our air, land, and water.

Still, we have pending suits remaining against the project. (Why is Biden’s Court taking OH SO LONG to rule on filings made 12/24/20 and 1/24/21? And WHY did they refuse to even HEAR the case where Tribes asked for an injunction on the Line 3 project?) Seems so many agencies, courts, and officials have colluded to keep this project from stopping… while ignoring the obvious science, climate chaos, and voices speaking in opposition.

To close, here’s a little Fun Stuff from the Clearbrook Breach-iversary event! It seems perhaps Enbridge is ready to get involved with us!?!? 🧐

This is a little clip of their operator… blocking the entrance to the work site… as we all watched… and filmed. He’s got a whole new technique!! 😜

Fix Clearbrook Aquifer

Tags

Aquifer, Aquifer Breach, Breach, Clearbrook MN, DNR, Enbridge, Line 3

How screwed up is a species that allows the destruction of forests and water bodies for the creation of a tar sands pipeline?
So screwed up they’ll also allow the destruction of the Boundary Waters for a nickel or copper mine?
And so addicted to oil they will allow a CO2 pipeline, full of gas that can kill in minutes, to be built… only so ‘enhanced oil recovery’ can continue… thus further poisoning the atmosphere with carbon?

All this with no accountability for cleaning up our messes?

Interior’s analysis found there are more than 130,000 documented orphaned wells in the United States — far more than the 56,600 tallied in a report by the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission in 2019. Many more wells exist that were drilled before regulators began requiring documentation in the mid-1900s.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are more than 3 million total abandoned oil and gas wells. About 2 million of those are estimated to be very old and never properly plugged. The agency believes such wells are responsible for most of the methane emitted from abandoned wells.

U.S. says more than half of states will seek oil well cleanup funds

When will enough be enough?
When we obliterate the very sources of life itself? Clean land, air, and water? When the last fish has been eaten? The last tree culled?

This is how screwed up: Around the world, humans are struggling to survive raging wild fires, flooding, tornados, ice storms… and all these in unexpected places and/ot during atypical times.. Yet, as our systems are failing, we continue… business as usual.

But there is a better way.

The aquifer breach Enbridge created almost a year ago now, is a calamity that should never have happened. Had there been proper oversight by the state agencies, the many problems created in our lands during the building of Enbridge’s new Line 3 might never have occurred. (Enbridge named this new pipeline “Line 93”.)

Remediation Order

If agencies had bothered listening to those of us warning of the dangers, especially of believing Enbridge lies, perhaps they would have denied this project and our trees would still be standing.

Or, if the DNR hadn’t given Enbridge the benefit of the doubt, trusted them to be forthcoming, trusted their “independent” environmental monitors (almost half of whom are previous Enbridge employees!?!?!) to be unbiased observers. If they’d visited the work sites more or even simply bothered to READ the reports on the project, we might have avoided these issues? Had they bothered to look at this land, and realize this is no place for a tar sands pipeline from the beginning, we would not have drilling mud embedded at so many rivers across Minnesota and ww could have avoided this year of dewatering at this aquifer breach in Clearwater County. So many failures of the DNR.

Perhaps their mission should have been a red flag? With its focus on “commercial use” of our land, air, and waters, perhaps they for the part that says, “in a way that creates a sustainable quality of life”? As we hear often, and seems more evident every day, it’s all about the Benjamins?

The mission of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is to work with Minnesotans to conserve and manage the state’s natural resources, to provide outdoor recreation opportunities, and to provide for commercial uses of natural resources in a way that creates a sustainable quality of life.

DNR Mission Statement

[This soooo reminds me of that question I asked DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen back in 2019 around what her department does besides simply keep an account of who is buying all our natural resources.]

As the DNR protocols to evaluate projects showed a failure to fact check the inputs by Enbridge, which might have saved so much, had it been done. DNR has not been cautious. They have seemingly colluded with Enbridge to allow continued construction… even when it was discovered Enbridge had completely violated their construction permit. And failed to report it for months!

So what can they do now? The DNR can come clean on why they allowed such egregious violations to go without repercussions to the applicant. They can open their processes to public scrutiny and engage with Native and scientific voices to assure our natural resources are protected, not just sold off to the most readily available bidders.

It’s time. If ever there was a time for action, it is now. As we are observing the exponential changes in weather, climate, and risks… all of which mean more losses and more costs with a business as usual approach.

Let’s change the systems that currently decide our future. The lawsuit filed by Mark Toso against the MPCA gives hope that some from our Agencies are courageous enough to challenge the current culture.

Let’s hold them accountable and assure this kind of atrocity NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN.

Let’s ask the DNR to fix Clearbrook Aquifer.

An Update on the Turkeys in Clearbrook

Tags

Aquifer, Aquifer Breach, Breach, Clearbrook, DNR, Enbridge, Line 3, Line 93, MDNR, Minnesota

Since we don’t really celebrate many typical holidays here at the HARN, last Thursday we decided to head up to the Enbridge Terminal Aquifer Breach in Clearbrook. Here’s what we found:

The Beginning of the Existential End?

Tags

Aquifer, Beau of the fifth column, DNR, Enbridge, IEN, Line 3, Line 93, MN DNR, MPCA, PHMSA, Ron Turney, Watch the Line MN

As we continue with the ongoing and increasingly horrific climate catastrophes, just thought I’d give a bit of insights for your consideration.

As you regular readers know, this blog has written much about Line 3 – now Line 93 as Enbridge says they are already pushing tar sands through it… regardless of the fact that there are many water issues remaining to be resolved, perhaps most significantly, the aquifer breach adjacent to the Enbridge Clearbrook Terminal, which has been leaking since January… and there appears to be no immediate remedy in sight.

Ron Turney of Indigenous Environmental Network has put together some amazing drone footage covering the problems, for which the Minnesota DNR and Pollution Control Agency (those agencies charged with managing our natural resources to assure clean land, air, and water for all) seem to have no care or time.

Aquifer Breach at Enbridge’s Clearbrook Terminal – leaking since January 21, 2021 with no remediation progress in sight. Photo Credit: Ron Turney

Watch the Line MN has a great “Guest Blog: Former pipeline inspector raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the current regulatory system” this week:

It’s unfortunate that humans can never anticipate all the myriad ways that an accident can occur. But once an accident does occur, PHMSA wants to ensure that the same scenario never happens again. So the agency requires regular inspections on every aspect of the pipeline, from its corrosion control measures to the calculation of maximum allowable pressure within the pipe. And this means a regular and frequent presence of state and federal inspectors traveling the pipeline, poking around pump stations, taking pictures of workers welding, looking through manuals, and sitting in on table-top disaster response drills.

However, the inspection agencies are funded by the pipeline companies, including inspectors’ salaries, office equipment, personal protective equipment, and vehicles for conducting inspections.

If the agencies conducting the inspections are funded by those being inspected, who are the inspectors really working for?

In addition to a flow of oil and funding, there is a flow of personnel. An enormous amount of job-shifting occurs between the inspection agencies and the pipeline companies, similar to the famous revolving door between legislators and lobbyists. That means that pipeline companies get personnel who are fully trained in the regulations—and who also understand how to keep certain issues, even violations, from the eyes of the inspectors. In turn, the inspection agencies sometimes get personnel who might give a pass to certain possibly unsafe practices. …

When an inspector does find a problem, from anything as minor as the company failing to do a timely inspection on an element of the pipeline to something as consequential as causing a death, the inspector may impose a fine. While the regulatory codes are extensive, penalties for violations are small. … They remain comically low compared to the profits that the company rakes in.

Even then, companies argue and litigate over those small fines and penalties. Penalties are often reduced or eliminated altogether.

How effective can an inspection be if the companies don’t face repercussions for bad behavior?

What is the message sent to pipeline companies if the already miniscule slap on the wrist for violations is further reduced?

Enter Enbridge Line 3. Given the amount of scrutiny over pipeline construction, why didn’t Minnesota’s state pipeline inspection agency send increased numbers of inspectors to the construction sites, if only to give the appearance of understanding the public’s concern about the pipeline? Instead of paying for the enhanced “security” during construction, why didn’t Enbridge instead pay for enhanced presence of inspectors, people who are supposed to ensure the safety of the public?

It is clear that Enbridge is beholden to its profits and not to protecting the public. 

Watch the Line MN Guest Blog by a former pipeline inspector

If the Minnesota PUC, MPCA, or DNR HAD required Enbridge to fund added INSPECTION instead of added security, we’d have likely not had an aquifer breach, that happened in January and remains unresolved to this day… and we’d likely not have had so many grandmas and children in hand cuffs by overly aggressive (and financially incentivized) local law enforcement care of Enbridge. [***Thanks to IEN for the footage of the aquifer breach as I continue to not have found the ability to finalize my own footage yet Nice coverage, Simone, Dawn, and Ron.***]

So, while Enbridge fails to clean up their current mess, they are claiming their pipeline is pushing tar sands by 10/3… or was it 10/1? As they appeared to be hydrostatic testing the pipeline in my neighborhood on September 30th this past week… I kinda think that this is really a “Hey, we hit the On-Time Deadline! Bonuses can be paid! (But slow roll those sands as we’re really still building here! Shhh… ‘Substantially’ is where we’re at… not complete. Shhh!) Shareholders, rejoice as we’ll be making money instead of bleeding it!! Hoorah for Enbridge! (Well, we’re still bleeding money on the build with that darn aquifer breach… toughie, that one, eh, but we’re sure we can afford enough grout to seal it closed once we… uh… flow oil? {gulp})…”

Afternoon of 9/30/21… RA-05 portion of the NEW Line 93: 250th Crossing in Clearwater County (Spread 2 of the LR3 project)

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Meanwhile, the world is falling apart in so many ways. This week, I’ll give a shout out to Beau of the Fifth Column, who puts it this way when it comes to water shortages in the Southwest. The impacts are staggering… and with the historic droughts… the most severe in paleoclimate and historic records… it MIGHT (maybe?) be a good idea to consider water as a most critical resource. Uh, you know, water? The source of all life?

We are running out of time.”

Beau… in the video noted above.