Enbridge

----promoted primary 2/18 dapl, shareholders
see enbridge line 3 for newertar sands==
921no link oIL COMPANY OFFICIAL OVERSEEING CRACKDOWN ON PIPELINE RESISTANCE CUT TEETH AT AMAZON AND EXXONIn the small world of corporate security, officials like Enbridge’s Troy Kirby take counterinsurgency practices from one megacompany to another.Alleen BrownAlleen BrownSeptember 17 2021,Policing the PipelinePart 15When the oil company Enbridge sought to build its Line 3 pipeline through northern Minnesota, it faced opposition from Indigenous-led water protectors. The company moved to coordinate with local police as they cracked down on the resistance.
 EXPAND ALL PARTS:

PART 15Oil Company Official Overseeing Crackdown on Pipeline Resistance Cut Teeth at Amazon and Exxon
PART 14Line 3 and a Week of Climate Catastrophe
PART 13Minnesota Law Enforcement Shared Intelligence on Protest Organizers With Pipeline Company
PART 12Minnesota Law Enforcement Agency Blocks Release of Public Records About Surveilling Pipeline Opponents
PART 11Minnesota Police Expected Pipeline Budget Boost to Fund New Weapons
PART 10Corporate Counterinsurgency Against Line 3 Pipeline Resistance
PART 9Indigenous Water Protectors Face Off With an Oil Company and Police Over a Minnesota Pipeline
PART 8Minnesota Sheriff Barricades Pipeline Resistance Camp’s Driveway
PART 7Low-Flying DHS Helicopter Showers Anti-Pipeline Protests With Debris
PART 6Local Cops Said Pipeline Company Had Influence Over Government Appointment
PART 5Minnesota Police Ready for Pipeline Resistance as Enbridge Seeks to Drill Under Rivers
PART 4Minnesota Police Want a Pipeline Company to Pay for Weapons Claimed as PPE
PART 3Minnesota Tells Pipeline Company Not to Run “Counterinsurgency” Against Protesters
PART 2How Police, Private Security, and Energy Companies Are Preparing for a New Pipeline Standoff
PART 1Tribal Liaison in Minnesota Pipeline Review Is Sidelined After Oil Company Complains to Governor
THE HEAD OF security for the oil transport company Enbridge built his résumé managing Exxon Mobil’s response to community protests in Nigeria and helping oversee Amazon’s Global Security Operations Center, a division that has monitored environmental groups and union organizers.Now, at Enbridge, Troy Kirby oversees efforts to combat a protest movement aimed at stopping construction of the company’s Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota. Enbridge’s security operation has drawn criticism for its efforts to influence the police response to the Indigenous-led movement, whose members are known as water protectors.“These are the people that specialize in the dark arts. Maybe it’s a bit more banal than we might imagine, but these are the spooks.”Enbridge’s response to the water protectors is part of a pattern of megacorporations working to quell resistance to their environmentally harmful activities. Enbridge’s close cooperation with police, including payments and intelligence sharing, has been deemed by academics and water protector critics as emblematic of corporate counterinsurgency — a suite of tactics, ranging from public relations campaigns to surveillance and support for armed force, designed to win over communities to controversial profit-making projects.“You have companies that have entire departments dedicated to making sure you stay in your place, that you don’t resist, that you don’t talk about it, and you most certainly don’t act on it,” said Alexander Dunlap, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo, who has written extensively about how corporations utilize counterinsurgency tactics to quell movements against environmental degradation. “These are the people that specialize in the dark arts. Maybe it’s a bit more banal than we might imagine, but these are the spooks.”Policing the PipelineAn Enbridge spokesperson said the company supports the rights of individuals to protest lawfully and peacefully. “Security teams use a ‘people first’ concept to ensure public safety — their mission is to observe, respond, and report safety issues,” said Juli Kellner, a communications specialist for the company. Kellner did not make Kirby available for an interview.As this story was being reported, Kirby’s Amazon job description was deleted from his LinkedIn page.AS SOPHISTICATED CORPORATE security efforts have burgeoned, lucrative positions lure specialists from company to company, linking together the practices of megacorporations. Kirby, for his part, started at Enbridge in 2019 after a three-year stint as Amazon’s head of corporate security throughout the Americas, according to LinkedIn. Part of his role included overseeing the online giant’s Global Security Operations Center. Internal Amazon documents dated to the year Kirby left, obtained by Vice, provide clues. According to the report, security personnel with the center used Facebook and Instagram to monitor environmental groups as well as union organizers.In Poland, operatives working for the private security company Pinkerton were sent to an Amazon warehouse to investigate reports of employee misconduct, Vice reported. Pinkerton got its start in the late 19th century, using undercover operatives and agents provocateurs to bust unions. The firm is now a subsidiary of the private security giant Securitas — one of the companies providing security for Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota.Before Amazon, Kirby spent 16 years doing security work for Exxon Mobil. For at least four years, he worked for Exxon in Nigeria — where there is a history of energy company complicity in human rights abuses. During his time in Nigeria, Kirby was an adviser on “strategic security countermeasures,” which involved managing so-called crises, including pirate attacks and kidnapping, as well as “community protests,” according to a section of his LinkedIn page that has since been deleted.As in Minnesota, the work in Nigeria included collaborating closely with public agencies. Kirby’s LinkedIn page said he “Established a Nigerian based security network with private and public sector security leaders” and was involved in “Oversight of host government security forces.”The Exxon Mobil security operation was heavily militarized and focused in part on Exxon’s offshore oil operations. Kirby described designing a “Security Maritime Operations center including a fleet of 17 military-grade security vessels.”FOR CRITICS OF corporate counterinsurgency, Kirby stands as just one example of corporate officials steeped in highly militarized security efforts abroad bringing those practices back home.“To corporate entities like Energy Transfer and Enbridge, water protectors and land defenders are perceived as ‘security threats’ endangering shareholders’ profits.”“It’s telling, but not at all surprising, that the head of security for Enbridge has trained in the so-called Third World to deal with high-stakes security issues impacting corporations in Africa and the Americas,” said Natali Segovia, an attorney and the legal director for the Water Protector Legal Collective. The collective is representing opponents of Energy Transfer’s Dakota Access pipeline, who argue that aggressive law enforcement tactics used near the Standing Rock reservation were influenced by the contract security firm TigerSwan, run by special operations military veterans. “To corporate entities like Energy Transfer and Enbridge, water protectors and land defenders are perceived as ‘security threats’ endangering shareholders’ profits,” Segovia said.Kirby appears to have put some of the lessons he learned with Exxon Mobil in Nigeria into practice on Enbridge‘s project in Minnesota. Under Kirby’s watch, Enbridge pays law enforcement for pipeline-related police activity. The company’s security team members have set up trainings for local law enforcement and have been invited to attend public safety officials’ intelligence sharing meetings, where information on individual pipeline opponents has been discussed.[RelatedMinnesota Law Enforcement Shared Intelligence on Protest Organizers With Pipeline Company]In advance of Line 3 pipeline construction, Kirby planned meetings with local law enforcement officers to discuss Enbridge’s approach to responding to opposition. When a local sheriff expressed concern over whether law enforcement agencies would be reimbursed for pipeline-related expenses, Kirby reassured him that the security head had influence over the appointment of the public official who would approve reimbursement requests, according to the sheriff. As the sheriff recalled in an email, Kirby told him “he would be involved to ensure we are taken care of, one way or another.”It’s Kirby’s colleague Brian Aldrich, Enbridge’s Line 3 security lead, who has worked more routinely on the ground in Minnesota. Aldrich, according to an email sent to state officials, served with the Marines before working for large security firms including Control Risks and Gavin DeBecker and Associates. He also has an Amazon connection — providing personal security for the corporate giant’s founder and executive chair, Jeff Bezos himself.==
intercept 921 eileen brn?<div data-reactid="218" style="box-sizing: border-box;">POLICE RESPONSIBLE FOR public safety surrounding the construction of an oil pipeline in Minnesota have repeatedly denied having a close relationship with Enbridge, the company behind the controversial energy project. According to records obtained by The Intercept through public information requests, however, Enbridge has provided repeated trainings for officers designed to cultivate a coordinated response to protests.By the time construction on Line 3, a tar sands oil pipeline, began last December, a working relationship had been established between Enbridge and police officers. A public safety official even invited the company’s Line 3 security chief to regular intelligence sharing meetings. In one case, the official passed along intelligence to Enbridge’s security chief for Line 3: a list of people who attended an anti-pipeline organizing meeting.Line 3 opponents have long raised concerns about payments made to law enforcement by Enbridge to cover pipeline-related policing. A special account set up by the state of Minnesota has distributed $2.3 million in Enbridge funds to public safety agencies so far. The records shed new light on the level of close coordination between law enforcement agencies and the Canadian oil company to police the Indigenous-led movement to stop Line 3.</div><blockquote class="Pullquote Pullquote--right" data-reactid="219" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; box-shadow: none; line-height: 1.125; float: right; max-width: 55%;"><span class="Pullquote-line" data-reactid="220" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; position: relative; bottom: -4px; width: 2em; height: 0.7em; margin-right: 0.3em; float: left; background-color: rgb(17, 17, 17);"><div data-reactid="221" style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Local law enforcement has become the brutal arm of a Canadian corporation.”</div></blockquote><div data-reactid="222" style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Local law enforcement has become the brutal arm of a Canadian corporation,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund’s Center for Protest Law and Litigation and an attorney representing opponents of the pipeline. “It’s highly inappropriate for law enforcement to target people based on First Amendment activity, collect identity information and then deliver that information to their political opponents.”The effort to halt the Line 3 pipeline is the latest flashpoint in the movement to end development of new fossil fuel infrastructure amid a growing climate crisis. In Minnesota, members of the Indigenous-led resistance, known as water protectors, have turned to tactics that directly disrupt construction, sometimes trespassing on private property, blocking roads, or locking down to pipeline company equipment."Community police and sheriff deputies are responsible for public safety,” Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner told The Intercept. “Our security call the police when a disturbance occurs. Officers decide when an individual is breaking the law — or putting themselves or others in danger.”</div><div data-reactid="233" style="box-sizing: border-box;">How law enforcement responds to the protest movement is a matter of training and discretion. The documents obtained by The Intercept suggest that Enbridge has stepped in to influence officers’ choices.Water protectors point to the close working relationship between Enbridge and law enforcement to explain escalating police tactics, with rubber bullets and other “less-lethal” weapons deployed in recent weeks.<h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 1em 0px; font-kerning: normal; font-feature-settings: " kern="kern">Plans to Coordinate</h3>Emails between Enbridge and members of the Northern Lights Task Force — a group consisting of sheriffs and public safety officials coordinating plans for expected protests against Line 3 — <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049691-enbridge-coordinates-training-exercises-with-public-officials" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">describe</a> several <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049689-deer-river-tabletop-exercise-situation-manual" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">joint</a> training <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049692-enbridge-email-with-deer-river-tabletop-exercise-situation-manual-and-call-in-information" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">exercises</a> and other coordination <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049694-enbrige-official-emails-law-enforcement-about-sensitive-security-information-meeting" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">meetings</a> set up by the energy firm. The largest of the trainings was in Bemidji, Minnesota.In October 2020, according to emails, Enbridge organized an all-day training at the company’s Bemidji Emergency Operations Center. According to an email sent a day before the event, dozens of Enbridge employees, public safety officials, including local sheriffs along the pipeline route, and an FBI agent were invited to attend. A primary goal for the event: “Coordination between Line 3 project team and L.P.” — an acronym that typically refers to “local police.”</div><div class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo" data-reactid="234" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-top: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); padding: 20px 0px 10px; margin: 7px 40px 20px 0px; float: left; width: 400px;"><a class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2021/07/07/line-3-pipeline-minnesota-counterinsurgency/" data-reactid="235" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: flex; flex-direction: row;" /><div class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link-thumbnail" data-reactid="236" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-right: 20px; position: relative; z-index: 1;"><a class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2021/07/07/line-3-pipeline-minnesota-counterinsurgency/" data-reactid="235" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: flex; flex-direction: row;" /><a class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2021/07/07/line-3-pipeline-minnesota-counterinsurgency/" data-reactid="235" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: flex; flex-direction: row;" /><a class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2021/07/07/line-3-pipeline-minnesota-counterinsurgency/" data-reactid="235" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: flex; flex-direction: row;" /><a class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2021/07/07/line-3-pipeline-minnesota-counterinsurgency/" data-reactid="235" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: flex; flex-direction: row;">
</a></div><div class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link-text" data-reactid="238" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link-eyebrow" data-reactid="239" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: normal; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; font-kerning: normal; font-feature-settings: " kern="kern" padding-bottom="padding-bottom" px="px">Related</h2><h3 class="PromoteRelatedPost-promo-link-title" data-reactid="240" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; font-kerning: normal; font-feature-settings: " kern="kern">Indigenous Water Protectors Face Off With an Oil Company and Police Over a Minnesota Pipeline</h3></div></div><div data-reactid="241" style="box-sizing: border-box;">The <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049690-enbridge-and-minnesota-police-emails-ahead-of-joint-exercise-on-pipeline-protests" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">email</a> sent out ahead of the training included a series of “<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049695-incident-briefing-for-joint-exercise-by-minnesota-officials-and-enbrige-on-pipeline-protests" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Incident Briefing Maps</a>” laying out scenarios where Enbridge and law enforcement might need to coordinate a response. The various scenarios had something in common: They all involved protests.The list of scenarios — which were drawn up by the Response Group, a <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2010/06/15/lawmakers-attack-oil-companies-spill-plans/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">controversial</a> crisis management firm that works for the energy industry — laid out four possible events: demonstrators blocking traffic, the breach of a construction site, “swarming” of a pipeline hub while streaming on social media, and project opponents locking themselves to the gate of an Enbridge office.Training participants would be asked to come up with a plan to respond to each of the scenarios, as well as to develop an “Information and Communication Strategy” to keep government agencies, the public, and the media informed of what was happening, according to a list of exercise objectives. Enbridge <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049701-planning-email-for-october-joint-exercise-with-enbridge-and-police" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">planned to discuss</a> providing local law enforcement with a project radio, according to an email describing the exercise.<a class="Promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2021/09/01/fbi-spy-plane-alazhari-surveillance/" style="letter-spacing: 0.05em; text-transform: uppercase; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline !important;" /><div class="GridRow" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: -20px; margin-right: -20px; height: 169.5px; width: auto !important; display: inline !important;"><div class="Promo-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow: visible; width: 191.25px; padding: 0px; display: inline !important;"><div class="Promo-title-block" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-top: 10px; display: inline !important;"><div class="Promo-author" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px; display: inline !important;"><a class="Promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2021/09/01/fbi-spy-plane-alazhari-surveillance/" style="letter-spacing: 0.05em; text-transform: uppercase; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline !important;">o</a></div></div></div></div></div><div data-reactid="243" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="Promo-link" href="https://theintercept.com/2021/09/01/fbi-spy-plane-alazhari-surveillance/" style="letter-spacing: 0.05em; text-transform: uppercase; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline !important;">It wasn’t the first conversation of its kind. In </a><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049700-notes-from-enbridge-and-northern-lights-task-force-april-coordination-call" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">advance</a> of a smaller version of the exercise, back in April, members of the Northern Lights Task Force <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049688-carleton-county-minnesota-sheriff-april-email-about-joint-exercise-with-enbridge" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">filled out</a> a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049693-enbridge-line-3-distance-workshop-questionnaire-completed-by-minnesota-officials" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">questionnaire</a> for Enbridge. The public safety officials noted that it was a “priority” for law enforcement to obtain access to Enbridge security camera feeds. It also referenced the possibility of placing an Enbridge liaison inside the two law enforcement emergency operations centers, as well as a law enforcement liaison in Enbridge’s emergency operations center.The Northern Lights Task Force’s communications team did not answer a detailed list of questions. Aitkin County Sheriff Dan Guida, a member of the task force, said his office never received a project radio nor saw other agencies with one. Guida said that the scenarios served to show law enforcement how Enbridge runs its emergency operations center. “It was for Enbridge to learn. We didn’t get trained by Enbridge,” he said, adding that law enforcement might carry out a similar exercise with a bank. “We assisted them and told them this is how we do it, you do your own thing.”It’s not clear how many officers attended the trainings offered by Enbridge. Clearwater County Sheriff Darin Halverson was copied on the invite and RSVP’d that he would attend an additional Enbridge security exercise as well as a “<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049694-enbrige-official-emails-law-enforcement-about-sensitive-security-information-meeting" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">sensitive security information</a>” meeting. He told The Intercept that he did not attend any of the gatherings.<h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 1em 0px; font-kerning: normal; font-feature-settings: " kern="kern">Sharing Intelligence</h3>By the time construction on Line 3 began, a comfortable working relationship appeared to have been established between Enbridge and some of the public safety agencies invited to the company’s meetings. Public officials repeatedly expressed interest in exchanging information on pipeline opposition with Enbridge.In December 2020, a St. Louis County sheriff’s deputy distributed language to be used by officers issuing dispersal orders during protests against Line 3 and also sent a list of potential charges that could be applied to pipeline protesters. Another officer <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049698-minnesota-police-email-about-dispersal-orders-statutes-for-charging-and-enbridge-videotaping" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">responded</a>, noting that it would be legal to arrest water protectors even if they trespassed without a law enforcement officer present. “Hopefully Enbridge security would be videotaping when able,” the officer said. Other documents affirmed that Enbridge security would be wearing body cameras.The Northern Lights Task Force, the group of public safety officials, occasionally suggested that Enbridge should be excluded from planning, the documents show. In November 2020, Guida, the Aitkin County sheriff, copied Enbridge public information officers on an email about the task force’s public messaging strategy. Another sheriff advised that the corporate representatives did not belong in the group: “It is not a good idea to have Enbridge employees in our group, but they would certainly be good contacts to have to know what info is being put out,” wrote Carlton County Sheriff Kelly Lake. (Guida told The Intercept he copied Enbridge on the email so that law enforcement and the company could avoid mixed or duplicate messages.)In other cases, public safety officials actively sought out Enbridge security to assist with law enforcement officers’ efforts, inviting an Enbridge representative to share space and attend meetings. St. Louis County Emergency Management Coordinator Duane Johnson copied Enbridge’s security lead for the Line 3 project on an email inviting first responders to work out of the law enforcement emergency operations center as they monitored intelligence on a potential direct action the next day. “There is considerable intel on something brewing tomorrow. Let me know if you’d like to come over and work out of the EOC tomorrow just in case something pops,” the official <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049696-invitation-to-work-out-of-public-emergency-operations-center" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">wrote</a>, referring to the emergency operations center.In another email, Johnson <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049697-minnesota-official-invites-enbridge-official-to-police-intelligence-meetings" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">requested</a> that Enbridge’s Line 3 security lead attend regular intelligence meetings. “We have missed you on our 0900 intel meetings. Is there another time that would work better for you?” asked the emergency management coordinator in a January 2021 email. “It would be nice to have someone from your company on.”The Enbridge security officer was kept in the loop. The next day, Johnson <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21049699-minnesota-public-safety-official-shares-intelligence-on-anti-pipeline-organizing-meeting-with-enbridge" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">copied him</a> on another email, forwarding a list of names of water protectors who had attended a “Line 3 Organizing Meeting” the night before.“It was all I really got from last night,” Bruce Blacketter, emergency management director for the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, wrote to Johnson in the forwarded email. “Well, this and a slight ‘back of the head’ headache from the musical performances and guided breathing/stretching exercises.”St. Louis County did not respond to a request for comment, and the Fond du Lac Band declined to comment.</div>==<a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/02/10/police-minnesota-enbridge-pipeline-ppe/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://theintercept.com/2021/02/10/police-minnesota-enbridge-pipeline-ppe/</a>no lnxMINNESOTA POLICE WANT A PIPELINE COMPANY TO PAY FOR WEAPONS CLAIMED AS PPEPolice monitoring Enbridge Line 3 pipeline opponents submitted invoices for tear gas, batons, flash-bang grenades, and other riot gear.Alleen BrownAlleen BrownFebruary 10 2021, 3:00 a.m.A MINNESOTA SHERIFF’S OFFICE has requested that the tar sands pipeline company Enbridge reimburse the department for nearly $72,000 worth of riot gear and more than $10,000 in “less than lethal” weapons and ammunition, including tear gas, pepper spray, bean bag and sponge rounds, flash-bang devices, and batons. The sheriff’s office of Beltrami County, which sits at the center of an Indigenous-led fight to stop the construction of Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline replacement project, labeled the weapons as “personal protective equipment.”
The invoices, some of which were first described by the blog Healing Minnesota Stories, await review by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. The agency maintains an escrow account set up so that Enbridge can reimburse public safety agencies for expenses associated with Line 3 construction, especially costs for policing protests. In its construction permit, the utilities commission clarified that the fund “may not be used to reimburse expenses for equipment, except for personal protective gear for public safety personnel.” The commissioners did not define the term “personal protective gear.”“I don’t think by any stretch of the imagination batons could be considered PPE — or grenades,” said Tara Houska, an organizer with the anti-Line 3 Giniw Collective. “Those are obviously militarized equipment to be used to subdue and oppress the Indigenous people and allies that are resisting this project from going through our territory.”The Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office did not answer a detailed request for comment.For nearly a decade, Anishinaabe organizers have fought to stop Line 3, which passes through their treaty lands and traditional territory. Enbridge is replacing a deteriorating pipeline with a new, higher-capacity line that would allow the struggling tar sands industry of Alberta, Canada, to more cheaply send its oil to a transport hub in Wisconsin and then on to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Opponents point to the spill risk the project poses to more than 200 streams and 700 acres of wetlands, as well as the fact that tar sands oil is one of the world’s worst fossil fuels for the climate. One researcher found that the project’s annual carbon output would be equivalent to 50 coal-fired power plants.... =chipewa WIline 5 enbridge<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25072019/oil-spill-risk-bad-river-tribe-lawsuit-enbridge-pipeline-remove-wisconsin-michigan">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25072019/oil-spill-risk-bad-river-tribe-lawsuit-enbridge-pipeline-remove-wisconsin-michigan</a><h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</h3><div><a href="https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-halts-action-line-5-tunnel">https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-halts-action-line-5-tunnel</a></div><div><ul open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="tc-link" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px; padding-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid rgb(240, 117, 38); border-top-color: rgb(240, 117, 38); border-right-color: rgb(240, 117, 38); border-bottom-color: rgb(240, 117, 38);"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/todaysnews/29032019/michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-halts-action-line-5-tunnel" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none;">Michigan Gov. Whitmer Halts Action on Pipeline Tunnel Under Great Lakes</a> -Bridge Magazine</li><li class="tc-link" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 1.5em 0px; padding-left: 1em; border-left: 2px solid rgb(240, 117, 38); border-top-color: rgb(240, 117, 38); border-right-color: rgb(240, 117, 38); border-bottom-color: rgb(240, 117, 38);">LANSING – Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday ordered state agencies to halt action on a proposed tunnel to encase the controversial Line 5 pipeline in a tunnel.Whitmer’s<a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/MIEOG/2019/03/28/file_attachments/1182712/ED%202019-13%20Public%20Act%20359%20of%202018%20.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(17, 107, 198);"> executive directive</a> came minutes after a fellow Democrat, Attorney General Dana Nessel, issued a legal opinion claiming that a law creating a state authority to oversee construction of the tunnel is unconstitutional.“I agree with the conclusion reached by Attorney General Nessel,” Whitmer said in a statement. “The Great Lakes are our most precious resource in Michigan, and because of their significance, I’ve instructed state departments and agencies to halt any actions in furtherance of this law.”Nessel’s opinion was her first since taking office Jan. 1, and it came in response to a request from Whitmer to review the law. Last year, both campaigned on shutting down the 66-year-old oil pipeline, and they opposed compromises including a tunnel.The move puts Whitmer and Nessel on a collision course with Republicans that could likely end up in court. "An AG opinion is exactly that, an opinion.  It’s not binding.  It's not final.  And it's certainly not without cause to challenge," said Senate Majority Leaker Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake."The Senate will pursue its options in order to advance the very important work and purpose of the energy tunnel. This is the fastest, safest, and most economical long-term solution for Michigan. It’s very important to our economy."House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, called the tunnel plan "the right thing to do for our state, our waterways, and for our future." "It is well past time to put aside political talking points and campaign rhetoric and just do the right thing. This administration needs to protect the people of our state, secure our critical Mackinac Straits and approve the tunnel project immediately," he said in a statement.Whitmer's move was cheered by environmental groups, who have repeatedly said a leak in the line could create havoc on the Great Lakes.“Governor Whitmer’s leadership today ... should be immediately followed by implementing a process to decommission Line 5,” Anne Woiwode, chair of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter, said in a statement.“Every day these oil pipelines remain in the Mackinac Straits is a day when Michigan’s future can be drowned in a sea of oil,” she added.For its part, Enbridge said it was "surprised and disappointed" and wants Whitmer to clarify the path forward.“Enbridge worked in good faith with the Michigan government on the tunnel project,”  Chief Legal Officer Bob Rooney said in a statement Thursday night. “We disagree with the attorney general’s opinion and continue to believe in the benefits of the tunnel.”Nessel's opinion kickstarted a new chapter in the short, but complicated history of Enbridge’s plans to encase Line 5 in a $350 million to $500 million tunnel below 100 feet of bedrock.During his final weeks in office in December, Gov. Rick Snyder signed <a href="http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(mhppzpkzy1qqrtmjhnrflt4e))/mileg.aspx?page=GetObject&objectname=2018-SB-1197" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(17, 107, 198);">Public Act 359</a> to create the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority to oversee construction and operation of the tunnel. The Republican immediately made appointments to the authority’s three-member board, which approved a series of tunnel related agreements with Enbridge.Republicans, Enbridge and other supporters have called a tunnel the best way to protect the Straits while keeping energy flowing to the Upper Peninsula.The legislation’s passage, the board’s creation and its signed agreement with Enbridge came in a matter of days, leading to complaints from Democrats and environmentalists that language in the law and was poorly vetted, if lawmakers had any time to read it.Initially, Snyder’s plan hinged on the Mackinac Bridge Authority, an independent state agency that oversees the iconic bridge, owning the 4-mile, 12-foot in diameter tunnel and leasing space to Enbridge for 99 years.That prompted fierce opposition, including from <a href="https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/mackinac-bridge-authority-no-hurry-consider-line-5-tunnel-deal" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(17, 107, 198);">former bridge authority members</a>who worried it would distract from oversight of Mackinac Bridge.Rather than scrapping the original bill, Republicans — to save time during the fast-moving lame duck session — re-wrote it, keeping the Mackinac Bridge Authority in the bill's title as a body authorized to acquire the new “utility tunnel."The bill was written so that the Mackinac Bridge Authority would immediately transfer all of its initial powers over the tunnel — including acquisition construction and operation —to the newly created corridor authority board.In doing so, Nessel wrote in her opinion, the Legislature violated the “title-object” provision of the 1963 Michigan Constitution, which is meant to give lawmakers clear notice of what they’re voting on. The provision says “no bill shall be altered or amended” after passing either legislative chamber “so as to change its original purpose.”The far-reaching power transfer to the corridor authority board "comes without fair notice and is a surprise" to lawmakers, Nessel wrote, because it is not mentioned in the bill's title. “Michigan law is clear that where the body of an act exceeds the general scope of what is expressed in the title, the offending provisions violate” the Constitution, Nessel wrote.Her opinion came two weeks after Michigan Court of Claims Judge Stephen L. Borrello<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-halts-action-line-5-tunnel&source=gmail&ust=1553895744558000&usg=AFQjCNGo1NduIkAuQzpe6L5RhCX2fhbK0g" href="https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/michigan-gov-gretchen-whitmer-halts-action-line-5-tunnel" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(17, 107, 198);">found another part of the corridor authority law unconstitutional.</a> The law granted six-year terms to the board’s members, even though the constitution bars terms greater than four years.That ruling came in a lawsuit filed by a nonprofit called A Felon's Crusade for Equality, Honesty and Truth. The term-limit issue was the only challenge in that lawsuit, and Borrello wrote that the corridor could continue to operate.In her review, Nessel wrote that courts would likely see the separate “title-object” violation as too large to keep the corridor authority intact.“It cannot be concluded” that lawmakers would have passed the law had they known of the constitutional violations, she wrote.  </li></ul></div><div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28032019/pipeline-protest-crackdown-state-law-legislation-south-dakota-conspirators-riot-boosting" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28032019/pipeline-protest-crackdown-state-law-legislation-south-dakota-conspirators-riot-boosting</a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit;">This story was updated with a lawsuit filed March 28 over the South Dakota law.Bills to clamp down on pipeline protests have spread to at least nine new states this year, part of an industry-backed push that began two years ago to heighten penalties for activists who try to block fossil fuel infrastructure projects.Several of the bills also allow prosecutors to go after people or organizations as "conspirators" or "riot boosters" for merely supporting or coordinating with others who violate the law.Civil liberties advocates argue that these vague and far-reaching provisions risk violating free speech protections under the First Amendment, and they have already started launching legal challenges. The latest government move came on Wednesday in South Dakota—one of the states the planned Keystone XL pipeline is slated to cross—when Republican Gov. Kristi Noem signed a law that enables state and local governments, as well as "third parties," to seek civil damages from people or organizations that engage in "riot boosting."Lawmakers in North Dakota, a hub of oil and gas development, also <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/north-dakota/articles/2019-03-25/north-dakota-legislature-bumps-pipeline-tampering-penalties" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">passed a bill</a> this week that stiffens penalties for anyone who interferes with the construction or operation of pipelines and other "critical infrastructure." Once the Senate approves some minor changes, it heads to Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, who has not said whether he will sign it.The North Dakota bill was based on a law <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22082018/pipeline-protest-laws-felony-free-speech-arrests-first-amendment-oklahoma-iowa-louisiana" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">that was enacted in Oklahoma in 2017</a> and then circulated by the industry-backed American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Versions of that legislation <a href="http://www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">have now been introduced</a> in at least 15 states, three of which have enacted it: Oklahoma, Louisiana and Iowa. A version of the bill passed the Indiana legislature this week, too, though the Senate there must also approve some amendments before sending it to the governor.While the details vary from state to state, the bills generally increase penalties for trespassing on or tampering with a range of facilities, including pipelines, oil storage tanks, railroads and utility infrastructure. Several of them, including North Dakota's, also include language assigning higher penalties—up to $1 million in some cases—for any group found to be a conspirator in violating the law.The South Dakota law is different. Rather than imposing new penalties for interfering in pipeline construction, the bill enables state or local governments—or a third party working with government—to seek compensation from anyone who engages in "riot boosting," which includes encouraging or directing someone to engage in a riot, defined by the state as the use of force or violence by three or more people acting together.Someone can qualify as a "riot booster" even if they reside out of state and act indirectly "through any employee, agent or subsidiary." Anyone found liable would be responsible for three times the ordinary penalty.The bill was introduced at the end of the legislative session and approved <a href="https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2019/03/07/keystone-xl-pipeline-protest-bills-pass-south-dakota-senate-house/3090014002/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">over the course of four days</a>, with only one hearing.Environmental and civil liberties advocates, as well as many Native American tribes, say the bills are an attempt to stifle legitimate protest by creating harsh penalties for minor infractions and by trying to scare off advocacy groups. An organization that holds a nonviolence training, for example, might be targeted under the law if attendees are later part of a protest that ends in a clash with private security forces or police."'Riot boosting' is an unusual and new term. You might be asking yourself what that means, and I think protesters will too," said Vera Eidelman, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who has tracked the bills. "I think it poses a unique threat to speech and appears to be targeted at protests. It uses words like 'encouraging' and 'advising' that are very broad and refer to a category of protected speech."On Thursday, the ACLU <a href="https://www.aclusd.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/complaint_0.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">sued South Dakota officials</a> in federal court on behalf of indigenous and environmental groups, arguing that the new law and two related statutes violate the Constitution by suppressing free speech and failing to describe what actions could qualify as violations. In a statement, the group said "such vague and broad language invites arbitrary enforcement, will chill protected speech, and will result in indiscriminate targeting of peaceful organizers."<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333;">Industry-Backed Group's 'Model Legislation'</h3>The legislation is part of a wave of state bills introduced across the country since President <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/donald-trump" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">Donald Trump</a>'s election in response to high-profile protests like those against the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota in 2016 and 2017.Oklahoma state Rep. Scott Biggs said he was responding to those protests when he <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22082018/pipeline-protest-laws-felony-free-speech-arrests-first-amendment-oklahoma-iowa-louisiana" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">introduced a bill</a> in 2017 to impose harsh penalties on people or groups who interfere with "critical infrastructure." After ALEC adopted the bill as model legislation, versions quickly spread across several states with active pipeline projects.The bills' supporters have said they make it easier for prosecutors to go after protesters or vandals who violate the law, and that they do not target free speech.Advocates have pointed out that the actions in question—trespassing, vandalism—are already covered by existing laws. Instead, they say, the aim of the bills is to intimidate protesters who draw attention to their concerns through civil disobedience, including minor infractions like blocking the gates of construction sites. Advocates say these protests are part of a long tradition of American civil disobedience dating back to the Boston Tea Party."Even where these bills are simply introduced, even if they do not move, even if they do not become law, they have potential to chill free speech and curtail activism," said Maggie Ellinger-Locke, a staff attorney with Greenpeace. "We're hearing from people on the frontlines of activism in these states that these bills frighten them."<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;">Pipeline Companies Register Their Support</h3>Energy companies and associations have supported the bills and have continued to push the legislation this year, according to documents compiled by Greenpeace.TransCanada, the Canadian company behind the Keystone XL pipeline, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5755007-Missouri-SB-293-Witness-Slips-From-Senate.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">registered its support</a> for the bill this year in Missouri along with the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers and other industry groups. <a href="http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/Witnessslip.asp?LegDocId=147293&DocNum=1633&DocTypeID=HB&LegID=116175&GAID=15&SessionID=108&GA=101&WSType=PROP" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">In Illinois</a>, TransCanada was joined by Enbridge and Energy Transfer, two other leading pipeline developers, as well as the American Petroleum Institute.Sen. Janne Myrdal, who sponsored the North Dakota bill this year and is a member of ALEC's energy task force, did not respond to requests for comment. But <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/north-dakota/articles/2019-03-25/north-dakota-legislature-bumps-pipeline-tampering-penalties" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">she told the Associated Press</a> that she introduced the bill in response to a protester who in 2016 broke into a control site for the existing Keystone pipeline that cuts through the state and manually closed one of the valves."There was frustration from law enforcement and residents that there wasn't enough teeth in current law to go after these people and the organizations that support them," she said.[pix]The protester, Michael Foster, was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison, though two of those years were suspended. He ended up serving about half a year.In South Dakota, Gov. Noem's office did not answer emailed questions about TransCanada's role in drafting the bill, but Noem <a href="https://www.kotatv.com/content/news/Noem-meets-with-TransCanada-officials-505732281.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">said in February</a> that she had met with representatives of the company to discuss her legislative package, which also includes a bill that requires pipeline developers to contribute to a fund that would help pay for government costs associated with construction."I fully support the freedoms of speech and assembly, but we must also have clear expectations and the rule of law," Noem said in a statement issued Wednesday. "My pipeline bills make clear that we will not let rioters control our economic development."Terry Cunha, a spokesman for TransCanada, said in an email that "we appreciate the efforts of Governor Noem and her administration to help advance Keystone XL construction and other pipelines," adding that "any legislation that deters unlawful activities and encourages the advancement of critical infrastructure projects is a positive step."<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333;">Is It Stifling Dissent?</h3>Some activists say the bills are part of a wider effort by the oil and gas industry and its allies in government—through <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22012019/greenpeace-racketeering-lawsuit-rico-claims-dismissed-federal-court-resolute-forest" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">lawsuits</a>, public relations campaigns and legislation—to paint protesters as criminals and even terrorists."All of these things I think incorrectly mischaracterize protesters and respond to a powerful pushback against pipelines and other protests, not by trying to engage on the issues but by trying to stifle dissent," Eidelman said. "I think this is really part of a broader trend."Last year, the <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07092018/protester-surveillance-anti-terrorism-training-keystone-xl-pipeline-aclu-lawsuit-federal-law-enforcement" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">ACLU sued the federal government</a>, accusing several agencies of withholding documents detailing preparations for the potential construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The group had submitted records requests seeking information about the preparations, and the documents that did emerge, mostly from state agencies, showed that law enforcement agencies were conducting trainings for potential protests. The ACLU said the activities risked treating activists as criminals even before protests broke out. State officials have said they are simply doing their jobs.In January, The Intercept <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/01/30/enbridge-line-3-pipeline-minnesota/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">reported on similar concerns</a> in Minnesota, where police had been preparing for a year and a half for protests against Enbridge's proposed Line 3 pipeline expansion project by identifying groups opposed to construction and monitoring some activists.The ACLU and other civil liberties groups said they are continuing to evaluate the state bills and considering whether they may challenge them as unconstitutional. So far,Louisiana is the only state where protesters have been <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24082018/pipeline-protests-new-louisiana-law-activist-arrests-oil-bayou-bridge-energy-transfer-partners" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">arrested under the new laws</a>. Bill Quigley, a lawyer who is representing several of the activists, said prosecutors have two years to press charges and have yet to do so.</div></div></div></div><div class="tagged-with" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 1em;"><label style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; line-height: 1.2;">PUBLISHED UNDER:</label><div class="field field-name-field-topics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/activism" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">ACTIVISM</a></div> <div class="field-item odd" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/oil-spillspipelines" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">OIL SPILLS/PIPELINES</a></div> <div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/regulation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">REGULATION</a></div></div></div></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div>pipelines
on <a href="https://www.ran.org/press-releases/media-advisory-indigenous-environmental-and-climate-justice-groups-rally-outside-equator-principles-meeting-demand-stronger-commitments/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">October 16</a>, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Crédit Agricole and 91 other global banks <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y9znwxct" style="text-decoration-line: none;">met in Washington, DC, to revise the Equator Principles</a>, industry-led due diligence standards meant to prevent banks from supporting environmentally and socially harmful projects.On the very same day, in a bitter irony, many of those same banks <a href="https://www.ran.org/endfinanceline3/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">re-upped their support for Enbridge, the Canadian company behind the Line 3 tar sands pipeline, which tramples Indigenous rights</a> and is flatly <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y8np6vyt" style="text-decoration-line: none;">incompatible with the goals of the Paris climate agreement</a>. They did so just days after the publication of a <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">landmark United Nations report</a> showing the desperate urgency of taking concrete steps to tackle the climate crisis. It’s as if the banks wanted to supply their own headline example of exactly why the Equator Principles are broken and in dire need of repair.The current round of soul-searching around the Equator Principles dates back to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and the Indigenous-led campaign calling out the banks behind the project. DAPL was a crisis for those banks, and it was a scandal for the Equator Principles Association. How did such an obviously flawed project pass muster?In response to <a href="https://www.equatorbanksact.org/home" style="text-decoration-line: none;">activist pressure</a>, in 2017, the Equator Principles Association agreed to a <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y8a6qpuz" style="text-decoration-line: none;">revision process</a>, including examining how the principles deal with the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/publications/2016/10/free-prior-and-informed-consent-an-indigenous-peoples-right-and-a-good-practice-for-local-communities-fao/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">internationally accepted standard</a> that projects cannot be built unless directly impacted Indigenous communities give their free, prior and informed consent. The Equator Principles currently ignore these principles in rich countries like the US — and ignore climate impacts everywhere.It’s astonishing that the banks were discussing those revisions on exactly the same day that many of them reaffirmed their support for Enbridge, when the Line 3 pipeline — the company’s largest new investment — is in danger of becoming DAPL 2.0. In a clear echo of DAPL, Enbridge has failed to secure the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous communities impacted by Line 3: <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58a3c10abebafb5c4b3293ac/t/5b6bbf598985835b3fce16a2/1533787994006/LAWSUIT+Tribes+vs.+PUC+08082018.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">three Ojibwe tribes in the Minnesota portion of the pipeline’s proposed path remain staunchly opposed</a>. There’s been a steady and growing drumbeat of Indigenous-led <a href="https://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/news/4493238-opposition-streets-activists-gather-downtown-bemidji-protest-line-3" style="text-decoration-line: none;">legal and direct action, up to and including peaceful civil disobedience</a>.Of course, all this comes on the heels of the historic report recently released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that describes food shortages, growing wildfires and massive coral reef destruction by 2040 unless we take immediate action to curb greenhouse gas emissions.We urgently need to stop expanding and start phasing out fossil fuels to have any chance of meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement. Flying in the face of these facts, the Line 3 pipeline would increase extraction and burning of tar sands, one of the dirtiest forms of oil. Enbridge is a company going in exactly the wrong direction: Last year, it even <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/business/energy/enbridge-defends-decision-to-sell-onshore-renewables-as-climate-action-increases" style="text-decoration-line: none;">sold off a huge wind farm</a> <a href="https://sightline-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Enbridge-Line-3-Financing-Sightline-09-2018.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">to free up capital</a> to build Line 3.<a href="https://www.ran.org/the-understory/whos-banking-enbridge/" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Crédit Agricole are the lead banks behind two key Enbridge credit facilities</a>, loans that act like giant credit cards for Enbridge to use as it pleases. <a href="https://sightline-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Enbridge-Line-3-Financing-Sightline-09-2018.pdf" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">They are crucial for Enbridge’s ability to build Line 3</a>. When these loans are set to mature, banks have a choice: They can let them expire, or they can renew their support. One of Enbridge’s credit facilities was <a href="https://www.ran.org/endfinanceline3/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">renewed recently, with another scheduled for renewal in December</a>. At the beginning of October, Minnesota-based Native rights group Honor the Earth and a coalition of Indigenous and environmental organizations <a href="https://www.ran.org/endfinanceline3/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">sent a letter</a> to those three banks laying out the case against Line 3 and calling on them not to renew their support.Because Enbridge is <a href="https://www.ran.org/the-understory/whos-banking-enbridge/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">funding Line 3 from its general corporate coffers</a>, the pipeline illustrates another fundamental shortcoming of the Equator Principles: Since <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y7ctbmhp" style="text-decoration-line: none;">the standards only cover direct finance for projects</a>, Line 3 is outside of their scope, despite the project’s clear impacts on Indigenous rights and the climate. This is a litmus test for the current revision of the Equator Principles, which should cover projects like Line 3 if they’re going to be worth anything. As a start for companies sponsoring harmful projects, the Equator Principles evaluation should be triggered when these companies are up for credit renewals as well.But JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Crédit Agricole can’t hide behind the revision of the Equator Principles. They should immediately end their support for Line 3 by dropping their financing for Enbridge, so long as the company is pushing forward this destructive project. The December credit renewal will serve as another test. This time they should make sure they pass it.This article was produced by <a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/earth-food-life/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Earth | Food | Life</a>, a project of the Independent Media Institute, and originally published by <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/big-banks-just-flunked-their-own-test-on-climate-indigenous-rights/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Truthou</a>t<interaction data-token="5b96855f8198b4e625350260" data-context="true" data-tags="" data-fallback="true" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/environment/big-banks-just-flunked-their-own-test-climate-indigenous-rights">https://www.alternet.org/environment/big-banks-just-flunked-their-own-test-climate-indigenous-rights</a></div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.ran.org/press-releases/media-advisory-indigenous-environmental-and-climate-justice-groups-rally-outside-equator-principles-meeting-demand-stronger-commitments/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">October 16</a>, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Crédit Agricole and 91 other global banks <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y9znwxct" style="text-decoration-line: none;">met in Washington, DC, to revise the Equator Principles</a>, industry-led due diligence standards meant to prevent banks from supporting environmentally and socially harmful projects.On the very same day, in a bitter irony, many of those same banks <a href="https://www.ran.org/endfinanceline3/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">re-upped their support for Enbridge, the Canadian company behind the Line 3 tar sands pipeline, which tramples Indigenous rights</a> and is flatly <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y8np6vyt" style="text-decoration-line: none;">incompatible with the goals of the Paris climate agreement</a>. They did so just days after the publication of a <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">landmark United Nations report</a> showing the desperate urgency of taking concrete steps to tackle the climate crisis. It’s as if the banks wanted to supply their own headline example of exactly why the Equator Principles are broken and in dire need of repair.The current round of soul-searching around the Equator Principles dates back to the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and the Indigenous-led campaign calling out the banks behind the project. DAPL was a crisis for those banks, and it was a scandal for the Equator Principles Association. How did such an obviously flawed project pass muster?<interaction data-token="5b96855f8198b4e625350260" data-context="true" data-tags="" data-fallback="true" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />In response to <a href="https://www.equatorbanksact.org/home" style="text-decoration-line: none;">activist pressure</a>, in 2017, the Equator Principles Association agreed to a <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y8a6qpuz" style="text-decoration-line: none;">revision process</a>, including examining how the principles deal with the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/publications/2016/10/free-prior-and-informed-consent-an-indigenous-peoples-right-and-a-good-practice-for-local-communities-fao/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">internationally accepted standard</a> that projects cannot be built unless directly impacted Indigenous communities give their free, prior and informed consent. The Equator Principles currently ignore these principles in rich countries like the US — and ignore climate impacts everywhere.It’s astonishing that the banks were discussing those revisions on exactly the same day that many of them reaffirmed their support for Enbridge, when the Line 3 pipeline — the company’s largest new investment — is in danger of becoming DAPL 2.0. In a clear echo of DAPL, Enbridge has failed to secure the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous communities impacted by Line 3: <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58a3c10abebafb5c4b3293ac/t/5b6bbf598985835b3fce16a2/1533787994006/LAWSUIT+Tribes+vs.+PUC+08082018.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">three Ojibwe tribes in the Minnesota portion of the pipeline’s proposed path remain staunchly opposed</a>. There’s been a steady and growing drumbeat of Indigenous-led <a href="https://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/news/4493238-opposition-streets-activists-gather-downtown-bemidji-protest-line-3" style="text-decoration-line: none;">legal and direct action, up to and including peaceful civil disobedience</a>.Of course, all this comes on the heels of the historic report recently released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that describes food shortages, growing wildfires and massive coral reef destruction by 2040 unless we take immediate action to curb greenhouse gas emissions.We urgently need to stop expanding and start phasing out fossil fuels to have any chance of meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement. Flying in the face of these facts, the Line 3 pipeline would increase extraction and burning of tar sands, one of the dirtiest forms of oil. Enbridge is a company going in exactly the wrong direction: Last year, it even <a href="https://calgaryherald.com/business/energy/enbridge-defends-decision-to-sell-onshore-renewables-as-climate-action-increases" style="text-decoration-line: none;">sold off a huge wind farm</a> <a href="https://sightline-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Enbridge-Line-3-Financing-Sightline-09-2018.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">to free up capital</a> to build Line 3.<a href="https://www.ran.org/the-understory/whos-banking-enbridge/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Crédit Agricole are the lead banks behind two key Enbridge credit facilities</a>, loans that act like giant credit cards for Enbridge to use as it pleases. <a href="https://sightline-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Enbridge-Line-3-Financing-Sightline-09-2018.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">They are crucial for Enbridge’s ability to build Line 3</a>. When these loans are set to mature, banks have a choice: They can let them expire, or they can renew their support. One of Enbridge’s credit facilities was <a href="https://www.ran.org/endfinanceline3/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">renewed recently, with another scheduled for renewal in December</a>. At the beginning of October, Minnesota-based Native rights group Honor the Earth and a coalition of Indigenous and environmental organizations <a href="https://www.ran.org/endfinanceline3/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">sent a letter</a> to those three banks laying out the case against Line 3 and calling on them not to renew their support.Because Enbridge is <a href="https://www.ran.org/the-understory/whos-banking-enbridge/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">funding Line 3 from its general corporate coffers</a>, the pipeline illustrates another fundamental shortcoming of the Equator Principles: Since <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y7ctbmhp" style="text-decoration-line: none;">the standards only cover direct finance for projects</a>, Line 3 is outside of their scope, despite the project’s clear impacts on Indigenous rights and the climate. This is a litmus test for the current revision of the Equator Principles, which should cover projects like Line 3 if they’re going to be worth anything. As a start for companies sponsoring harmful projects, the Equator Principles evaluation should be triggered when these companies are up for credit renewals as well.But JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Crédit Agricole can’t hide behind the revision of the Equator Principles. They should immediately end their support for Line 3 by dropping their financing for Enbridge, so long as the company is pushing forward this destructive project. The December credit renewal will serve as another test. This time they should make sure they pass it.This article was produced by <a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/earth-food-life/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Earth | Food | Life</a>, a project of the Independent Media Institute, and originally published by <a href="https://truthout.org/articles/big-banks-just-flunked-their-own-test-on-climate-indigenous-rights/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Truthout</a>.</div><div></div><div><a href="https://www.ran.org/endfinanceline3/">https://www.ran.org/endfinanceline3/</a></div><div>
</div><div>honor the earth 3 banks ltrs</div><div>
</div><div></div><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">Standing Rock Veterans Lead Fight to Shut Down Enbridge Line 5 Pipeline</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2598173435" data-authors="Olivia Rosane" data-headline="Standing Rock Veterans Lead Fight to Shut Down Enbridge Line 5 Pipeline" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description" style="">A group of Standing Rock veterans and their allies have set up camp in Northern Michigan to stop another <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="self" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">pipeline</a>: Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline that passes under the Straits of Mackinac between Lakes Huron and Michigan as it carries oil from Western Canada to Ontario, <a href="http://www.michiganradio.org/post/water-protectors-say-they-will-stay-camp-anishinaabek-until-line-5-shut-down" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">Michigan Radio reported Sunday</a>.The protesters, about 15 in total, are concerned about the possible damage an <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-spill" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">oil spill</a> from the pipeline could do to the Great Lakes and have vowed not to leave their camps until the pipeline is removed."As long as it takes 'til it's shut," Nancy Shomin, who helped start the camp, told <a href="https://upnorthlive.com/news/local/protesters-gather-at-line-5" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">UpNorthLive</a> Monday.The protest camps follow growing concern about the aging pipeline after it was dented by an anchor in April. In July, an <a href="https://mipetroleumpipelines.com/document/risk-analysis-straits-pipelines" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">independent report</a> found a spill from the pipeline could damage 400 miles of shoreline in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario and cost Michigan around $2 billion, <a href="http://www.michiganradio.org/post/new-report-highlights-what-would-happen-worst-case-line-5-oil-spill" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Michigan Radio reported</a>.At a Senate Commerce Committee field hearing Monday, Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) criticized Enbridge for dragging its feet to shut down operations during a storm shortly after the anchor strike."Can you see why that is something that people look at and say, Enbridge is not really focused on going the extra measure of safety, when they had a damaged pipe and severe weather and they pushed back on shutting down to make sure nothing happened?" he said to applause, addressing Enbridge senior vice president of operations for liquid pipelines David Bryson, <a href="http://www.michiganradio.org/post/senator-gary-peters-grills-feds-enbridge-vp-line-5-field-hearing" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">according to Michigan Radio.</a>The protesters say the only safe move is to shut the pipeline down permanently."It's one of those things where it's not if, it's when," Clint Cayou, who joined the protest from Mason, Nebraska, told UpNorthLive. "The pipeline is dangerously close to being a real hazard to a lot of people and it needs to be shut down."The group is led by members of Indigenous nations from the Great Lakes area and has named its camp Camp Anishinaabek, from Anishinaabe, which is the name for an umbrella group containing the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi and other peoples, according to Michigan Radio.The camp set-up actually includes two locations about 15 miles south of the Straits of Mackinac and is on land owned by husband-and-wife protesters James Pitawanakwat of the <a href="https://wiikwemkoong.ca/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Wikwemkoong Unceded Territory First Nation</a> and Christina Keshick of the <a href="http://www.sagchip.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe</a>.Pitawanakwat, who was arrested during the protests against the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dakota-access-pipeline" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Dakota Access Pipeline</a>, linked the two struggles."This was the same concern over at Standing Rock, and it would affect millions of people," Pitawanakwat told UpNorthLive. "We're just appalled that the oil companies still are this defiant."The protesters first announced their camp on their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/207551026772509//" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Facebook page</a> Aug. 9, but have begun to get attention from local media since Sunday."I hope a lot of people come and help shut it down," Keshick said.</div></div>=<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28062018/enbridge-tar-sands-oil-pipeline-minnesota-tribes-wetlands-watershed-route-approval">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28062018/enbridge-tar-sands-oil-pipeline-minnesota-tribes-wetlands-watershed-route-approval</a>In a unanimous decision, state regulators in Minnesota approved a controversial new pipeline that will increase the flow of tar sands crude oil from Canada to refineries in the United States.<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">The long-anticipated ruling is a victory for Canadian pipeline owner Enbridge and a significant blow to environmental and Native American advocates who opposed the pipeline through northern Minnesota in a region rich in wetlands and wild rice lakes.<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">The "certificate of need" granted Thursday by the state's Public Utility Commission greenlights a replacement for Enbridge's Line 3, a 1,000-mile pipeline that runs from Hardistry, Alberta, to Superior, Wisconsin. The new Line 3 will have an initial capacity about twice that of the current pipeline, and that volume could be increased and also allow for other increases elsewhere in Enbridge's cross-border pipeline network<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">.<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">he exisiting pipeline, built in the 1960s, crosses Native American land, and a state judge <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25042018/minnesota-oil-pipeline-enbridge-line-3-route-map-tar-sands-native-american-tribal-sovereignty-leech-lake-fond-du-lac" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">recommended</a> in April that the new Line 3 use the same path. However, the commission on Thursday approved Enbridge's preferred route instead, with some modifications.<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">While the Enbridge route would skirt the reservations, it would still pass through areas where tribal members harvest wild rice.<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">"The process kowtowed to corporate interests," said Tara Houska of Indigenous environmental advocacy group Honor the Earth. "Just because a regulatory body that is supposed to protect Minnesotans didn't do its job, it doesn't mean that this is a lost case."<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " playfair="Playfair" display="Display" serif="serif" font-weight="font-weight" normal="normal" line-height="line-height" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">The Pipeline Would Increase Tar Sands Exports</h3><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">In anticipation of the decision, pipeline opponents blocked one of the streets outside the Public Utility Commission's building in St. Paul on Thursday with a sign reading <a href="https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2018/06/28/enbridge-energy-pipeline-decision-looms/" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">"Expect Resistance."</a><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">When it became clear that the commission would approve the pipeline, Tania Aubid, a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, stood and shouted, "You have just declared war on the Ojibwe!" <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/minnesota-regulators-begin-deliberating-disputed-pipeline/2018/06/28/1d173ef0-7af1-11e8-ac4e-421ef7165923_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.492970befe24" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">the Associated Press reported from the scene.</a><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Enbridge spokesperson Jesse Semko declined to comment on the decision, saying the company was waiting until after the hearing.<p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">The new pipeline would allow for a significant increase in exports of Canadian tar sands crude oil, which is difficult to extract, costly to transport and has a high carbon footprint compared to other crude oil. Currently<a href="https://www.neb-one.gc.ca/nrg/sttstc/crdlndptrlmprdct/stt/crdlsmmr/crdlsmmr-eng.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;"> 2.5 million barrels</a> of tar sands crude is exported from Canada each day, and the region has an oil glut exacerbated by years of opposition to building new pipeline capacity.no lnxHow Enbridge Helped Write Minnesota Pipeline Laws, Aiding Its Line 3 Battle TodayBy Logan CarrollThe Minnesota section of Enbridge's Line 3 pipeline accounts for nearly 300 miles of the longest crude oil transport system in the world, and it is failing. The multi-billion-dollar transnational corporation has applied for a permit to replace it. Opposition from tribes in the region and environmental groups is slowing the project, but the process at times appears so tilted in Enbridge's favor that, watching the court battles and utility commission meetings, it almost feels like Enbridge wrote the rules.At one point in its application to build the new Line 3, Enbridge listed all the federal and state laws that regulate the permitting and construction of pipelines. Nearly all the Minnesota laws originated in one 1987 Senate bill: S.F. 90.This bill was accompanied by unprecedented pipeline industry lobbying—led in spending by Enbridge—and included subtle but major handouts to pipeline companies. One such provision imposes a sweeping limit on the public's ability to oppose new pipelines, including the Line 3 replacement project.
On May 18, 2018, about 100 people gathered at the Minnesota capitol in protest of the Line 3 project.

Industry-Friendly Language
According to environmental lawyer Paul Blackburn, one of the largest barriers to pipeline regulation is actually the federal Pipeline Safety Act, which preempts most state regulations. He called the law "a beautiful example of how to appear to regulate something without actually regulating it at all."
Still, Blackburn said there are ways for states to regulate pipelines, with some of the most powerful being zoning, permitting, and routing laws. However, S.F. 90 includes industry-friendly language that undercuts these and other potential regulations.
The bill allowed pipeline operators to classify their own data after a spill, making it inaccessible to the public. It instituted stiff civil and criminal penalties for pipeline company employees who failed to alert the authorities or destroyed evidence after a spill, but the companies were subject only to relatively small fines.
Perhaps S.F. 90's largest handout was the overhaul of Minnesota's routing and permitting process. Before 1987, counties and towns could use zoning to exert some control over the routing and permitting of pipelines (how and where they were built), but S.F. 90 preempted local zoning of pipelines, a measure with implications for the Line 3 battle today. Instead, a new pipeline would require only a single routing permit, issued by the Environmental Quality Board, an authority which shifted to the Public Utilities Commission in 2005.
This is the commission that will decide the fate of Enbridge's Line 3 replacement project, a decision expected in June.
The bill's strongest provision established the call-before-you-dig system, requiring pipeline operators to register the locations of their lines. However, the system is overseen by a nonprofit run by pipeline and excavation industry representatives, and while excavators who don't comply are fined, there is no punishment for pipeline operators who don't register their lines.
Hidden Pipelines, Hidden Influence?
In 1986, in Mounds View, Minnesota, a gasoline pipeline exploded, leveling an entire city block and killing two: a woman and her daughter. After the explosion, the governor convened a commission to study how to better regulate the industry. The commission was co-chaired by state Senator Steve Novak, who was also S.F. 90's primary sponsor.
He describes the bill as a compromise between three sides: industry, government and environmentalists. Before S.F. 90, Novak said, "You'd be living in your neighborhood, going to a school, at a park—some damn pipeline was going right underneath you and you didn't know it."
The next legislative session, while S.F. 90 was being drafted in early 1987, Enbridge Energy Partners (then Lakehead Pipe Line Company) spent more than $15,000 lobbying the Minnesota Legislature. This might seem modest post-Citizens United, but it was more than the company would spend in the state in the next 18 years combined.
The petroleum and natural gas industry spent $47,101 in the first six months of that year, nearly all of it by pipeline companies, a figure that would drop to only $17,479 in the year that followed this period. Although not required to disclose how they spent this money, typical lobbying expenses include wining and dining public officials, advertising, or preparing and distributing lobbying materials.
Novak doesn't recall many specifics of how the bill was drafted, except that nothing was controversial at the time and everything was unanimous, including the preemption of local zoning. One of the problems S.F. 90 addressed was that no one—including counties and cities—was regulating pipelines at all. The routing and permitting provision wasn't meant to limit regulation, but to expand it by clearly identifying who was responsible for these decisions.
For his part, Novak doesn't recall the industry manipulating the process, though he admits the possibility. "If there were things that occurred in the seams and along the edges that, possibly, 30 years later, appear to be a manipulation, we didn't know it at the time," Novak said.
Novak's explanation echoes the conclusion of a 2014 Suffolk University study of the effectiveness of state-level lobbying: "By showing a willingness to work with a bill that an interest group opposes in its current form, the lobbyist reassures legislators who might otherwise worry about the intent of the lobbyist and the veracity of the information the lobbyist is providing." When using this approach, the study found, lobbyists were able to insert industry-friendly language into 65 percent of state legislation.
"There may be conspiracies," Novak laughed a little, "going on today that we didn't think of in those days … I would recommend you find some legislators to fix it."
Trying to Fix It
In 2013, state Rep. Frank Hornstein introduced a modest oil transport safety bill in response to the Lac-Mégantic, Canada, oil train disaster that killed 47 people and an oil train derailment in Minnesota that released 30,000 gallons.The bill would have required pipeline and railroad companies to pay into a first responder safety fund and conform to some standards for responding to spills.Early on, rail companies opposed the bill but quickly accepted many of the provisions. The pipeline industry was silent until the very end. "Out of nowhere, they almost literally parachuted into town," Hornstein said. They poured in from Washington, DC; Oklahoma; the Gulf Coast: "All these lobbyists descended on the capital and started lobbying against my bill."
Hornstein sat down with the lobbyists, who represented the American Petroleum Institute and pipeline companies, including Enbridge. He described a tense meeting which culminated in one lobbyist demanding to know his "philosophy of oil.""I don't know," he said. "There's a lot of it and it causes climate change."After that, things moved quickly. While Hornstein worked to get his bill through the House, industry lobbyists worked to get all references to pipelines removed from the Senate version. A small war erupted when reconciling the two versions, requiring the governor's intervention. In the end, the bill regulated only oil trains; pipeline operators would pay into the safety fund but all other references to them were removed.
New Line 3, Same Old Story
In the last several years, most of Enbridge's lobbying efforts in the state have been directed at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Last year, Enbridge spent more than $5 million to influence the PUC, including lawyers' fees to argue before the commission. However, the company now spends more than $200,000 a year lobbying the legislature. Perhaps not coincidentally, the legislature passed a bill last week that would have allowed Line 3 to bypass the PUC altogether. This week, the governor vetoed that bill.Sections of pipe destined for Enbridge's Line 3 replacement project, in Hardisty, Alberta, August 10, 2016.
Most developments in the bureaucratic war over Line 3 happen at the state capital, politically and geographically removed from those the pipeline would affect most. The wording was subtle, but if S.F. 90 hadn't preempted local zoning, those opposing Line 3 could work with local officials to erect additional barriers.
For better or worse, S.F. 90 was an historic piece of legislation. Just last summer, Novak met with others who helped craft S.F.90 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of its passage. He's proud of the bill and points out that call-before-you-dig has likely prevented another catastrophe. On the other hand, S.F. 90 continues to benefit oil and pipeline companies and limit public participation in decisions about pipelines.
"Maybe times have changed," Novak said of the law, "and it's time to revisit it."
Enbridge did not respond to requests for comment.
Reposted with permission from our media associate DeSmogBlog. Follow this link for relevant details on Minnesota laws and the Minnesota Commission on Public Safety.
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</div><div>AN ACTIVIST IN Montana was sentenced on Tuesday in a case that has become both a touchstone for industry-friendly legislators pushing to increase penalties for pipeline protest and a measure of the U.S. legal system’s ability to recognize the emergency presented by climate change.On October 11, 2016, while the Dakota Access pipeline protests were in full force, climate activists approached above-ground valve sites on five tar sands pipelines in Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, and Washington state. After calling the pipeline companies to give warning, they turned the valve wheels in a coordinated attempt to stop the flow of tar sands oil.Tuesday’s sentencing hearing tested a Montana court’s willingness to apply the severe penalties already available for use against pipeline protesters. For halting the flow of oil through Enbridge’s Express pipeline for several hours, Leonard Higgins, a 66-year-old retired information technology manager for the state of Oregon, faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine for charges of misdemeanor trespass and felony criminal mischief. Higgins was sentenced to three years’ probation and $3,755 in restitution to the pipeline company.“I’m relieved and actually a bit bewildered. It’s unexpected to me. I came very much prepared and expecting to do some jail time at least,” Higgins told The Intercept. “This is a case where both in terms of the severity of the charges and the large amount of claimed damages, I think they were using it to chill the possibility that others might do similar protest.”Enbridge had initially claimed more than $200,000 in losses, a figure later reduced to $25,630, including $16,000 worth of replacement chains to secure valves along the pipeline against future tampering.“The courts and the juries are not hammering individuals in the way these corporations would like to see, so they attempt to use the restitution process to grossly inflate their damage numbers with hope that threatening the citizen with $200,000 might chill others from committing similar acts,” said Lauren Regan, Higgins’s attorney.“Enbridge respects the court’s decision,” said company spokesperson Michael Barnes. “It is our intention to donate any court-ordered payment in this case to local area first responders. … We believe it’s important to support the people who every day focus on the safety and wellbeing of the community and the environment.”Although the sentence is lenient in light of the possible penalties Higgins faced, it does not represent a full win for the activists. Higgins’s legal team had hoped Judge Daniel Boucher would allow them to argue that, given the severity of the climate threat, he had no choice but to act — a strategy known as a necessity defense. But Boucher <a href="https://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/2017/11/22/portland-man-found-guilty-damaging-montana-oil-pipeline/889732001/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">said</a> that since Higgins appeared to fear harm to his children and grandchildren, rather than an imminent threat to his own life, the defense could not apply. In his denial, Boucher wrote, “The energy policy of the United States is not on trial, nor will this court allow Higgins to attempt to put it on trial.”</div>=<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06022018/marathon-oil-shareholder-resolution-human-rights-dakota-access-environment-social-risk-disclosure">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06022018/marathon-oil-shareholder-resolution-human-rights-dakota-access-environment-social-risk-disclosure</a>
<div class="panel-pane pane-node-content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="pane-content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><article id="node-48885" class="node node-article node-promoted node-content-48885 full clearfix" about="/news/06022018/marathon-oil-shareholder-resolution-human-rights-dakota-access-environment-social-risk-disclosure" typeof="sioc:Item foaf:Document" role="article" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="content" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit;">The clash between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and backers of the <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/dakota-access-pipeline" target="blank" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">Dakota Access pipeline</a> unfolded in news clips of violence, intolerance and humiliation. Demonstrators against the pipeline were met with snarling guard dogs, armed security officers and fire hoses that drenched them during freezing weather.  For a block of shareholders in Marathon Petroleum Corp., an Ohio-based company that bought a minority interest in the Dakota Access pipeline just as <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24112016/police-dakota-access-protesters-aclu-amnesty-international-standing-rock" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent;">tensions hit a flashpoint</a> in 2016, it was an unsettling scene that played out on social media and network news.<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/dakota-access-pipeline" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">What happened</a> in full view of the world on the remote plains of North Dakota has prompted a shareholder resolution calling on <a href="http://www.marathonpetroleum.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Marathon</a> to explain how it identifies and addresses environmental and social risks—including potential violations of the rights of indigenous peoples—when making business decisions related to acquisitions."The construction and operation of energy infrastructure in North America requires respect for rigorous standards of environmental review and the human rights of Indigenous Peoples," <a href="https://tools.ceres.org/resources/tools/resolutions/report-on-environmental-and-human-rights-due-diligence-process/@@s3_view" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">the resolution</a> says.The shareholders argue that Marathon, which contributed $500 million in partnership with Enbridge to buy a $2 billion stake in the Bakken pipeline system that included Dakota Access, must consider environmental and human rights issues when assessing risks associated with purchases. They cite the <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/declaration-on-the-rights-of-indigenous-peoples.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">United Nations' Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples</a> as a measure of the expectations for considering the rights of indigenous people to "free, prior and informed consent prior to the approval of any projects affecting their traditional territory.""When such risks are not adequately considered, decisions can be made that lead to reputational, regulatory and financial loss," says the resolution, which will be considered during the company's <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/marathon-petroleum-corp-announces-2018-annual-meeting-of-shareholders-300589278.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">annual meeting</a> in Findlay, Ohio, on April 25.The shareholders say the value of their investments could be jeopardized by the negative image created by future confrontations that could result in damage to the company's reputation.So, they are asking Marathon to prepare a report that describes the review process used to identify and address environmental and social risks in reviewing potential acquisitions. They want the company to consider a number of points, including how environmental and social risks are identified and assessed; which international standards are used to define the company's human rights; and how this information is calculated into business decisions.Jamal Kheiry, communications manager for Marathon, said the company had no comment. The company's position will be spelled out later in its proxy statement that addresses business to be conducted at the meeting.<h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.333;">Human Rights Risks Are Investment Risks</h3>The resolution by Marathon shareholders is one of more than two dozen resolutions on environmental matters filed with oil and gas companies. Those resolutions, which address concerns such as reducing methane emissions and curbing global warming, could be considered during annual meetings usually scheduled throughout the spring.Marathon shareholders <a href="https://tools.ceres.org/resources/tools/resolutions/report-on-environmental-social-due-diligence-for-acquisitions/@@s3_view" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">filed a similar resolution last year</a> that met resistance from the company but still earned approval by 35 percent of the company's stockholders who voted.The New York State Comptroller's Office, which manages public employee pension funds that are major shareholders, was the lead sponsor of both resolutions.Although the office declined to discuss the resolution in detail, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said a year ago that investors had a right to know how Marathon considered the rights of indigenous peoples."Given the nationwide protests and controversy that surrounded the Dakota Access Pipeline, we assume Marathon would have undertaken robust due diligence before getting involved with that project," DiNapoli said in <a href="https://www.osc.state.ny.us/press/releases/mar17/032717.htm" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">a 2017 statement</a>. "Risks to the environment and to human rights create risks for our pension fund's investments and should be addressed as part of a sustainable business plan."<h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;">Why Marathon Says It Opposed the Resolution </h3>The company, in its proxy statement last year, said it "respects the human, cultural and legal rights of individuals and communities" but still urged shareholders to reject the resolution.Preparing the kind of reports sought through the resolution would require a highly customized study of projects under consideration, <a href="http://www.marathonpetroleum.com/content/documents/investor_center/proxy_statements/2017MPCProxyStatement.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">the company's 2017 proxy statement said. </a>"Providing a report of the nature the proponent seeks would require (Marathon) to present an incomplete and potentially misleading picture of prospective strategic transactions," it said.Marathon's Board of Directors argued that the company's community engagement program provided a forum and allowed adequate opportunity for any group to make its positions known.The resolution resonated with shareholders, though, said Jonas Kron, a senior vice president for <a href="http://www.trilliuminvest.com/" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">Trillium Asset Management</a>, a Boston-based company that focuses on socially responsible investing and that filed the resolution.Similar resolutions addressing environmental and social justice issues with oil and gas companies typically generate around 20 percent approval, he said. "This vote shows the intensity of the issue with shareholders," he said. "I would hope they would be more responsive to such a significant plurality, and take steps to reexamine the way they consider indigenous people issues and maybe don't get involved with these types of projects."A year ago, Marathon sought permission from the Securities Exchange Commission to suppress the resolution. The commission, which regulates publicly traded companies like Marathon, rejected the company's request.This year, Marathon has not tried to block the resolution and is in discussions with DiNapoli's office. "Should Marathon decide to endorse its provisions as company policy, the comptroller will ask that the proposal be withdrawn from consideration at the annual meeting," Patrick Doherty, the comptroller's director of corporate governance, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4366641-NY-Comptroller-Marathon-Petroleum-Corp.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">wrote to Marathon</a>.<h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;">'People Are at Stake'</h3>Shareholders in Marathon's partner, Enbridge Inc., a Canadian pipeline company that owns more than 10,000 miles of pipelines in Canada and the United States, filed a <a href="https://www.wespath.org/assets/1/7/16-11-21_enbridge_resolution_final_iccr_3.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">similar resolution last year</a> that was also sparked by the faceoff at Standing Rock."To put it very bluntly, the protest, the movement, if you will, could most likely have been prevented," Chad Harrison, a Standing Rock councilman, said during the Enbridge shareholders meeting last year.The solution would have been for the company to engage the people affected by the pipeline, he said. "People are at stake," Harrison said, according to <a href="http://www.enbridge.com/_{/media/Enb/Documents/Investor%20Relations/2017/2017_ENB_AGM_Transcript.pdf}" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">a transcript</a>. "People on the ground, people where pipelines are built."Although Enbridge opposed the resolution and it was defeated, the company nevertheless vowed to update its policy on indigenous peoples and expand its disclosures about how it addresses human rights."One thing that shouldn't be in doubt is the fact that we recognize and respect the legal and constitutional rights of indigenous peoples, and the vital relationship they have with traditional lands and resources," Enbridge President and CEO Al Monaco <a href="http://www.enbridge.com/media-center/media-statements/al-monaco-statement-on-shareholder-resolution" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">said in a statement</a> following the shareholders meeting.The Dakota Access pipeline is part of Marathon's 8,300 mile pipeline system. It begins in the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota and runs nearly 1,200 miles to Illinois, where it connects to other pipelines that carry oil to refineries as far south as Texas. Along the way, it crosses hundreds of streams, rivers and other waterways, including the Missouri River a half-mile upstream from the Standing Rock reservation.The people of Standing Rock rely on the river for drinking water, irrigation and fishing.A prolonged protest involving people from more than 100 tribal nations, along with veterans and supporters from across the country, began in 2016 during construction of the pipeline. Along with their fear of polluted water, the tribe decried the desecration of sacred sites and the loss of tribal sovereignty; issues that highlighted the tribe <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08092016/standing-rock-sioux-tribe-energy-transfer-dakota-access-pipeline-oil-environmental-justice" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">long-standing struggle for social justice.</a>Oil began flowing through the $3.78 billion pipeline last year. It was designed to carry 470,000 barrels of oil a day.Jodi Gillette of Standing Rock, a former adviser to President Barack Obama on Native American affairs, reminded Marathon shareholders last year of the tribe's <a href="https://www.standingrock.org/content/history" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;">rich heritage</a>. While she said she believes the company can change, she said this of Marathon executives: "They are the ones who will have to look their grandchildren in the eye and say they are the ones who continue the abuse of the indigenous people of America even when they had the chance to change."</div></div></div></div></article></div></div>=<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/umd-study-line-3-2509432069.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/umd-study-line-3-2509432069.html</a><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">Pipeline Study, or PR Puffery for Enbridge?</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2509432069" data-authors="Guest Contributor" data-headline="Pipeline Study, or PR Puffery for Enbridge?" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description" style="">By Public Accountability InitiativeAn economic impact study of Enbridge's proposed Line 3 replacement pipeline released by the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) was financed by an Enbridge-backed business group to which UMD has multiple close ties, all which the study failed to disclose, according to a <a href="http://public-accountability.org/2017/11/enbridge-to-nowhere/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">new report</a>.The report from the nonprofit watchdog group <a href="http://public-accountability.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Public Accountability Initiative</a> (PAI) documents the major undisclosed conflicts of interest surrounding the UMD study, including that the group that requested the study and paid UMD for it, the Area Partnership for Economic Expansion (APEX), is closely tied to and funded by Enbridge, and that, along with Enbridge, UMD is a dues-paying members of APEX, giving it $30,000 a year.UMD Chancellor Lendley Black also sits on the board of APEX alongside fellow board member Lorraine Little, Enbridge's U.S. director of public affairs, and UMD Natural Resources Research Institute Director Rolf Weberg sits on APEX's Executive Committee, all facts which UMD failed to disclose in its study.The results of the study that the Enbridge-backed APEX paid UMD to produce have been pushed by APEX and other Line 3 boosters in the media and in public hearings. Other fossil fuel corporations that have publicly supported the pipeline, such as Allete's Minnesota Power, also have close ties to UMD and APEX, the report shows."The conflicts of interest surrounding this study are huge," said Derek Seidman, a research analyst at PAI and author of the report. "Public universities exist for the purpose of public education and the public good, not as promotional vehicles for industry-backed research. People making up their minds about Line 3 deserve to have their public institutions support more responsible and transparent studies that aren't so closely linked to the very entities aiming to profit off of the pipeline."The report highlights other major conflicts of interests surrounding the UMD study, including that the Duluth News Tribune, the Twin Ports region's main newspaper which has published favorable editorials and op-eds on Enbridge's Line 3 proposal that cite the results of the UMD study, is a paying member of APEX alongside both Enbridge and UMD. Duluth News Tribune publisher Neal Ronquist sits on the APEX board alongside Enbridge and UMD.The Duluth News Tribune has failed to disclose these major conflicts of interest in its coverage of Line 3 and the UMD study, especially the facts that the Tribune is a member of and funds the very group—on whose board it sits, alongside Enbridge and UMD—that commissioned the UMD study."These are stark professional and ethical failings on the part of the Duluth News Tribune and its reporting on Line 3 and the UMD study," said Seidman. "People making up their minds about Line 3 deserve to know if their leading media sources, which ideally they should trust, have major conflicts of interest around coverage of the topic."The report also analyzes the UMD study's methodological flaws, including its use of IMPLAN, a modeling program that can be easily manipulated to arrive at varied results, and its reliance on inputs provided by Enbridge—the very company behind the Line 3 pipeline—to generate the study's findings. The study also doesn't take into account the likely costs associated with environmental damage, declining property values, and emissions that the pipeline will surely create.</div></div><div>=</div><div>clipper tar sands</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19102017/tar-sands-oil-pipeline-approved-line-67-alberta-clipper-enbridge-keystone">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19102017/tar-sands-oil-pipeline-approved-line-67-alberta-clipper-enbridge-keystone</a></div><div></div>=<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/youth-climate-intervenors-2500282730.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/youth-climate-intervenors-2500282730.html</a>
enbridge minnesota=<div class="field field-name-field-date field-type-datetime field-label-hidden" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">January 4, 2017</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Nadia Prupis</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-source field-type-link-field field-label-hidden" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/01/04/analysis-shows-dangerous-pipeline-mega-merger-threatens-climate-and-consumers" target="blank" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Common Dreams</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded">The proposed merger between pipeline giants Enbridge and Spectra would have devastating consequences for consumers and the climate, and would significantly reduce competition in the marketplace, <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/01/04/new-analysis-highlights-alarming-anti-consumer-impacts-proposed-enbridgespectra" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">according to</a> a new analysis released Wednesday by the advocacy group Food & Water Watch (FWW).The group called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to reject the proposal, <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/09/06/enbridge-spreads-tentacles-acquire-spectra-creating-pipeline-enemy-1%20" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">announced last year</a>, which would see the creation of the largest energy-infrastructure firm in the country—one that would control approximately a fifth of North America's natural gas supplies, as well as a large chunk of its processing capacity and other infrastructure.Enbridge is based in Calgary, and Spectra in Houston. According to the group's <a href="http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/sites/default/files/fww_enbridge-spectra_white_paper_jan_2017.pdf" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">analysis</a> (pdf), the merger would give the companies control of 79 percent of the offshore Gulf of Mexico-Louisiana natural gas pipeline network; 92 percent of the pipelines crossing the U.S.-Canada border; and 100 percent of the pipelines in and out of Michigan.It would also enable Enbridge-Spectra to raise prices on consumers or increase costs for its rivals in those key regions at will."An Enbridge-Spectra mega-merger would create a domineering fossil fuel monopoly that would have the economic and political power to arbitrarily raise prices on consumers by manipulating the market at every stage of the natural gas product cycle, from the wellhead to the meter," said FWW executive director Wenonah Hauter.Both companies also have a history of safety issues, with a track record of leaks and spills that have impacted surrounding communities and environments. From 1996 to 2015, Enbridge unintentionally released more than 54,000 barrels of oils and natural liquids. Its leaks and other releases doubled during that time, from 54 to 117, the analysis states.A notorious 2010 incident saw one of its pipelines spill up to 1 million gallons of crude in Michigan's Kalamazoo River and Talmadge Creek, contaminating the local environment. Nearby residents reported neurological, gastrointestinal, and respiratory problems, while Enbridge was ordered to pay <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/05/13/enbridge-fork-over-75-million-role-kalamazoo-tar-sands-spill" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">$75 million</a> in cleanup costs alone."The merger would create a sprawling 38,000-mile oil and gas pipeline network—and with both firms carrying disturbing safety and service records, this deal would put the wellbeing of countless communities at risk," Hauter said. "The FTC must extend its review of this dangerous, anti-consumer merger, and ultimately reject it."Shareholders for both companies <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2016/12/16/shareholders-approve-enbridge-s-28b-acquisition-of.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">approved the deal</a> last month.</div></div></div>Enbridge is the third largest pipeline company operating in the US (by revenue), and is ranked #343 on the Fortune 500 for 2008. It took in $250 million in 2007 profits. Enbridge operates in Canada and the US and is the world's longest crude oil and liquid petroleum pipeline system. The company owns and operates Enbridge Pipelines Inc. and a variety of affiliated pipelines in Canada. It also has an 11% interest in Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P., a publicly-traded master limited partnership and a leader in energy transportation in the Mid-Continent and Gulf Coast regions of the US. Enbridge is also the sponsor and manager of the Enbridge Income Fund.<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.enbridge.com/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" base64="base64" pd94bwwgdmvyc2lvbj0ims4wiiblbmnvzgluzz0ivvrgltgipz48c3znihhtbg5zpsjodhrwoi8vd3d3lnczlm9yzy8ymdawl3n2zyigd2lkdgg9ijewiibozwlnahq9ijewij48zyb0cmfuc2zvcm09inryyw5zbgf0zsgtodi2ljqyosatnjk4ljc5mskipjxyzwn0ihdpzhropsi1ljk4miigagvpz2h0psi1ljk4miiged0iodi2ljkyosiget0inzayljmwosigzmlsbd0ii2zmziigc3ryb2tlpsijmdzjii8="PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBlbmNvZGluZz0iVVRGLTgiPz48c3ZnIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDAwL3N2ZyIgd2lkdGg9IjEwIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjEwIj48ZyB0cmFuc2Zvcm09InRyYW5zbGF0ZSgtODI2LjQyOSAtNjk4Ljc5MSkiPjxyZWN0IHdpZHRoPSI1Ljk4MiIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1Ljk4MiIgeD0iODI2LjkyOSIgeT0iNzAyLjMwOSIgZmlsbD0iI2ZmZiIgc3Ryb2tlPSIjMDZjIi8" pgc="PGc" phbhdgggzd0ittgzms4xotqgnjk4ljc5mwg1ljiznhy1ljm5mwwtms41nzegms41ndutms4zms0xljmxltiunzi1idiunzi1ltiunjg5ltiunjg5idiuoda4ltiuoda4lteumzexlteumzexeiigzmlsbd0iiza2ziivpjxwyxroigq9ik04mzuundi0idy5os43otvsljaymia0ljg4ns0xljgxny0xljgxny0yljg4msayljg4ms0xljiyoc0xljiyocayljg4ms0yljg4ms0xljg1ms0xljg1mxoiigzpbgw9iinmzmyilz48l2c="PHBhdGggZD0iTTgzMS4xOTQgNjk4Ljc5MWg1LjIzNHY1LjM5MWwtMS41NzEgMS41NDUtMS4zMS0xLjMxLTIuNzI1IDIuNzI1LTIuNjg5LTIuNjg5IDIuODA4LTIuODA4LTEuMzExLTEuMzExeiIgZmlsbD0iIzA2ZiIvPjxwYXRoIGQ9Ik04MzUuNDI0IDY5OS43OTVsLjAyMiA0Ljg4NS0xLjgxNy0xLjgxNy0yLjg4MSAyLjg4MS0xLjIyOC0xLjIyOCAyLjg4MS0yLjg4MS0xLjg1MS0xLjg1MXoiIGZpbGw9IiNmZmYiLz48L2c" pc9npjwvc3znpg="=" background-color="background-color" initial="initial" background-position="background-position" xmlns:data="data">[1]</a><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Contents</h2>  [<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Enbridge#" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">hide</a>] </div><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Enbridge#Pipeline_Expansions" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1 Pipeline Expansions</a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Enbridge#Spills" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.1 Spills</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Enbridge#Articles_and_resources" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.2 Articles and resources</a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Enbridge#Related_SourceWatch_articles" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.2.1 Related SourceWatch articles</a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Enbridge#References" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.2.2 References</a></li></ul></li></ul></li></ul></div><h1 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Pipeline Expansions</h1>Enbridge is proposing a number of expansion projects “to help address current and future increases in refinery demand as supply from western Canada's vast oil sands increases.” It is doing so with a tremendous amount of private bank support. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.enbridge-expansion.com/expansion/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" base64="base64" pd94bwwgdmvyc2lvbj0ims4wiiblbmnvzgluzz0ivvrgltgipz48c3znihhtbg5zpsjodhrwoi8vd3d3lnczlm9yzy8ymdawl3n2zyigd2lkdgg9ijewiibozwlnahq9ijewij48zyb0cmfuc2zvcm09inryyw5zbgf0zsgtodi2ljqyosatnjk4ljc5mskipjxyzwn0ihdpzhropsi1ljk4miigagvpz2h0psi1ljk4miiged0iodi2ljkyosiget0inzayljmwosigzmlsbd0ii2zmziigc3ryb2tlpsijmdzjii8="PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBlbmNvZGluZz0iVVRGLTgiPz48c3ZnIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDAwL3N2ZyIgd2lkdGg9IjEwIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjEwIj48ZyB0cmFuc2Zvcm09InRyYW5zbGF0ZSgtODI2LjQyOSAtNjk4Ljc5MSkiPjxyZWN0IHdpZHRoPSI1Ljk4MiIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1Ljk4MiIgeD0iODI2LjkyOSIgeT0iNzAyLjMwOSIgZmlsbD0iI2ZmZiIgc3Ryb2tlPSIjMDZjIi8" pgc="PGc" phbhdgggzd0ittgzms4xotqgnjk4ljc5mwg1ljiznhy1ljm5mwwtms41nzegms41ndutms4zms0xljmxltiunzi1idiunzi1ltiunjg5ltiunjg5idiuoda4ltiuoda4lteumzexlteumzexeiigzmlsbd0iiza2ziivpjxwyxroigq9ik04mzuundi0idy5os43otvsljaymia0ljg4ns0xljgxny0xljgxny0yljg4msayljg4ms0xljiyoc0xljiyocayljg4ms0yljg4ms0xljg1ms0xljg1mxoiigzpbgw9iinmzmyilz48l2c="PHBhdGggZD0iTTgzMS4xOTQgNjk4Ljc5MWg1LjIzNHY1LjM5MWwtMS41NzEgMS41NDUtMS4zMS0xLjMxLTIuNzI1IDIuNzI1LTIuNjg5LTIuNjg5IDIuODA4LTIuODA4LTEuMzExLTEuMzExeiIgZmlsbD0iIzA2ZiIvPjxwYXRoIGQ9Ik04MzUuNDI0IDY5OS43OTVsLjAyMiA0Ljg4NS0xLjgxNy0xLjgxNy0yLjg4MSAyLjg4MS0xLjIyOC0xLjIyOCAyLjg4MS0yLjg4MS0xLjg1MS0xLjg1MXoiIGZpbGw9IiNmZmYiLz48L2c" pc9npjwvc3znpg="=" xmlns:data="data">[2]</a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaanaqmaaabb8jblaaaablbmvex="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX" auow5qsojaaaaaxrstlmaqobyzgaaabnjrefucb1jyeabbqw="AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw" wlcagqeagpidyt0ivcsaaaaasuvork5cyii=");" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Northern Gateway Pipelines Project is a proposal to construct twin pipeline running from <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Alberta%27s_tar_sands" title="Alberta's tar sands" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Bruderheim, Alberta</a>, to Kitimat, British Columbia. The eastbound pipeline would import <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Natural_gas" title="Natural gas" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">natural gas</a> condensate and the westbound pipeline would export <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bitumen" title="Bitumen" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">bitumen</a> from the Athabasca oil sands diluted with the condensate to the new marine terminal in Kitimat where it would be transported to Asian markets by oil tankers. The project was proposed in mid-2000s and has been postponed several times.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Enbridge#cite_note-herald060110b-1" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Enbridge#cite_note-downstream071008-2" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Southern_Access_Pipeline&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Southern Access Pipeline (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Southern Access</a>, an expansion and extension of Enbridge’s existing pipeline system, including pump station modifications in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and new pipeline in Wisconsin and Illinois, to increase crude oil capacity to Midwest refineries and beyond.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Alberta_Clipper_Pipeline&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Alberta Clipper Pipeline (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Alberta Clipper</a>, a new crude oil pipeline from Alberta to Superior, Wis. to increase capacity of the Enbridge system by 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) and later be expandable up to 800,000 bpd.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=NDSE6&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="NDSE6 (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">North Dakota System Expansion Phase 6</a>, an expansion of the North Dakota System, referred to as NDSE6, will increase pipeline capacity from 110,000 bpd to approximately 161,600 bpd of delivery capacity into the Enbridge Clearbrook Terminal Facility in Clearbrook, Minn. NDSE6 is scheduled to be complete in early 2010.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Southern_Lights_Pipeline&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Southern Lights Pipeline (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Southern Lights</a>, a liquid petroleum pipeline from Chicago through Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota to transport light hydrocarbons, or "diluents" to the Canadian oil sands area of Alberta. The project also involves the LSr Project, which will construct a 20-inch crude oil pipeline from Cromer, Manitoba, to Clearbrook, Minn., to replace the capacity of an existing Enbridge pipeline that will be reversed to transport diluent.</li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Spills</h2>On July 25, 2010, a 40-foot long segment of Enbridge's PipeLine 6B ruptured and spilled more than 1 million gallons of diluted bitumen (a black viscous mixture of hydrocarbons) into 38 miles of the Kalamazoo River, Michigan. As of 2012 the leak has cost Enbridge $725-million and U.S. taxpayers another $37-million in clean-up bills.<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://thetyee.ca/News/2012/06/22/Enbridge-Oil-Spill/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" base64="base64" pd94bwwgdmvyc2lvbj0ims4wiiblbmnvzgluzz0ivvrgltgipz48c3znihhtbg5zpsjodhrwoi8vd3d3lnczlm9yzy8ymdawl3n2zyigd2lkdgg9ijewiibozwlnahq9ijewij48zyb0cmfuc2zvcm09inryyw5zbgf0zsgtodi2ljqyosatnjk4ljc5mskipjxyzwn0ihdpzhropsi1ljk4miigagvpz2h0psi1ljk4miiged0iodi2ljkyosiget0inzayljmwosigzmlsbd0ii2zmziigc3ryb2tlpsijmdzjii8="PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBlbmNvZGluZz0iVVRGLTgiPz48c3ZnIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDAwL3N2ZyIgd2lkdGg9IjEwIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjEwIj48ZyB0cmFuc2Zvcm09InRyYW5zbGF0ZSgtODI2LjQyOSAtNjk4Ljc5MSkiPjxyZWN0IHdpZHRoPSI1Ljk4MiIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1Ljk4MiIgeD0iODI2LjkyOSIgeT0iNzAyLjMwOSIgZmlsbD0iI2ZmZiIgc3Ryb2tlPSIjMDZjIi8" pgc="PGc" phbhdgggzd0ittgzms4xotqgnjk4ljc5mwg1ljiznhy1ljm5mwwtms41nzegms41ndutms4zms0xljmxltiunzi1idiunzi1ltiunjg5ltiunjg5idiuoda4ltiuoda4lteumzexlteumzexeiigzmlsbd0iiza2ziivpjxwyxroigq9ik04mzuundi0idy5os43otvsljaymia0ljg4ns0xljgxny0xljgxny0yljg4msayljg4ms0xljiyoc0xljiyocayljg4ms0yljg4ms0xljg1ms0xljg1mxoiigzpbgw9iinmzmyilz48l2c="PHBhdGggZD0iTTgzMS4xOTQgNjk4Ljc5MWg1LjIzNHY1LjM5MWwtMS41NzEgMS41NDUtMS4zMS0xLjMxLTIuNzI1IDIuNzI1LTIuNjg5LTIuNjg5IDIuODA4LTIuODA4LTEuMzExLTEuMzExeiIgZmlsbD0iIzA2ZiIvPjxwYXRoIGQ9Ik04MzUuNDI0IDY5OS43OTVsLjAyMiA0Ljg4NS0xLjgxNy0xLjgxNy0yLjg4MSAyLjg4MS0xLjIyOC0xLjIyOCAyLjg4MS0yLjg4MS0xLjg1MS0xLjg1MXoiIGZpbGw9IiNmZmYiLz48L2c" pc9npjwvc3znpg="=" background-color="background-color" initial="initial" background-position="background-position" xmlns:data="data">"Spill Crisis: 'Whatever, We're Going Home'"</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Articles and resources</h2><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Related SourceWatch articles</h3><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaauaaaanaqmaaabb8jblaaaablbmvex="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX" auow5qsojaaaaaxrstlmaqobyzgaaabnjrefucb1jyeabbqw="AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw" wlcagqeagpidyt0ivcsaaaaasuvork5cyii="); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Tar_sands" title="Tar sands" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Tar sands</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Stephen_J.J.Letwin" title="Stephen J. J. Letwin" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Stephen J. J. Letwin</a></li></ul><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">References</h3><ol class="references" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li id="cite_note-herald060110b-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Enbridge#cite_ref-herald060110b_1-0" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> Dina O'Meara (2010-01-06). "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Tens+billions+flow+pipelines+coming+decades/2410643/story.html" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" base64="base64" pd94bwwgdmvyc2lvbj0ims4wiiblbmnvzgluzz0ivvrgltgipz48c3znihhtbg5zpsjodhrwoi8vd3d3lnczlm9yzy8ymdawl3n2zyigd2lkdgg9ijewiibozwlnahq9ijewij48zyb0cmfuc2zvcm09inryyw5zbgf0zsgtodi2ljqyosatnjk4ljc5mskipjxyzwn0ihdpzhropsi1ljk4miigagvpz2h0psi1ljk4miiged0iodi2ljkyosiget0inzayljmwosigzmlsbd0ii2zmziigc3ryb2tlpsijmdzjii8="PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBlbmNvZGluZz0iVVRGLTgiPz48c3ZnIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDAwL3N2ZyIgd2lkdGg9IjEwIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjEwIj48ZyB0cmFuc2Zvcm09InRyYW5zbGF0ZSgtODI2LjQyOSAtNjk4Ljc5MSkiPjxyZWN0IHdpZHRoPSI1Ljk4MiIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1Ljk4MiIgeD0iODI2LjkyOSIgeT0iNzAyLjMwOSIgZmlsbD0iI2ZmZiIgc3Ryb2tlPSIjMDZjIi8" pgc="PGc" phbhdgggzd0ittgzms4xotqgnjk4ljc5mwg1ljiznhy1ljm5mwwtms41nzegms41ndutms4zms0xljmxltiunzi1idiunzi1ltiunjg5ltiunjg5idiuoda4ltiuoda4lteumzexlteumzexeiigzmlsbd0iiza2ziivpjxwyxroigq9ik04mzuundi0idy5os43otvsljaymia0ljg4ns0xljgxny0xljgxny0yljg4msayljg4ms0xljiyoc0xljiyocayljg4ms0yljg4ms0xljg1ms0xljg1mxoiigzpbgw9iinmzmyilz48l2c="PHBhdGggZD0iTTgzMS4xOTQgNjk4Ljc5MWg1LjIzNHY1LjM5MWwtMS41NzEgMS41NDUtMS4zMS0xLjMxLTIuNzI1IDIuNzI1LTIuNjg5LTIuNjg5IDIuODA4LTIuODA4LTEuMzExLTEuMzExeiIgZmlsbD0iIzA2ZiIvPjxwYXRoIGQ9Ik04MzUuNDI0IDY5OS43OTVsLjAyMiA0Ljg4NS0xLjgxNy0xLjgxNy0yLjg4MSAyLjg4MS0xLjIyOC0xLjIyOCAyLjg4MS0yLjg4MS0xLjg1MS0xLjg1MXoiIGZpbGw9IiNmZmYiLz48L2c" pc9npjwvc3znpg="=" xmlns:data="data">Tens of billions to flow to pipelines in coming decades</a>", <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Calgary_Herald&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Calgary Herald (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Calgary Herald</a>. Retrieved on 2010-02-14.<span class="Z3988" title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.type=newspaperArticle&rft.subject=News&rft.au=Dina+O%27Meara&rft.title=Tens+of+billions+to+flow+to+pipelines+in+coming+decades&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.calgaryherald.com%2Fbusiness%2FTens%2Bbillions%2Bflow%2Bpipelines%2Bcoming%2Bdecades%2F2410643%2Fstory.html&rft.source=%5B%5BCalgary+Herald%5D%5D&rft.date=2010-01-06" /></li><li id="cite_note-downstream071008-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Enbridge#cite_ref-downstream071008_2-0" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.downstreamtoday.com/(S(spkjtg55iu23we55gsibtz55))/Projects/Project.aspx?project_id=135" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" base64="base64" pd94bwwgdmvyc2lvbj0ims4wiiblbmnvzgluzz0ivvrgltgipz48c3znihhtbg5zpsjodhrwoi8vd3d3lnczlm9yzy8ymdawl3n2zyigd2lkdgg9ijewiibozwlnahq9ijewij48zyb0cmfuc2zvcm09inryyw5zbgf0zsgtodi2ljqyosatnjk4ljc5mskipjxyzwn0ihdpzhropsi1ljk4miigagvpz2h0psi1ljk4miiged0iodi2ljkyosiget0inzayljmwosigzmlsbd0ii2zmziigc3ryb2tlpsijmdzjii8="PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBlbmNvZGluZz0iVVRGLTgiPz48c3ZnIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDAwL3N2ZyIgd2lkdGg9IjEwIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjEwIj48ZyB0cmFuc2Zvcm09InRyYW5zbGF0ZSgtODI2LjQyOSAtNjk4Ljc5MSkiPjxyZWN0IHdpZHRoPSI1Ljk4MiIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1Ljk4MiIgeD0iODI2LjkyOSIgeT0iNzAyLjMwOSIgZmlsbD0iI2ZmZiIgc3Ryb2tlPSIjMDZjIi8" pgc="PGc" phbhdgggzd0ittgzms4xotqgnjk4ljc5mwg1ljiznhy1ljm5mwwtms41nzegms41ndutms4zms0xljmxltiunzi1idiunzi1ltiunjg5ltiunjg5idiuoda4ltiuoda4lteumzexlteumzexeiigzmlsbd0iiza2ziivpjxwyxroigq9ik04mzuundi0idy5os43otvsljaymia0ljg4ns0xljgxny0xljgxny0yljg4msayljg4ms0xljiyoc0xljiyocayljg4ms0yljg4ms0xljg1ms0xljg1mxoiigzpbgw9iinmzmyilz48l2c="PHBhdGggZD0iTTgzMS4xOTQgNjk4Ljc5MWg1LjIzNHY1LjM5MWwtMS41NzEgMS41NDUtMS4zMS0xLjMxLTIuNzI1IDIuNzI1LTIuNjg5LTIuNjg5IDIuODA4LTIuODA4LTEuMzExLTEuMzExeiIgZmlsbD0iIzA2ZiIvPjxwYXRoIGQ9Ik04MzUuNDI0IDY5OS43OTVsLjAyMiA0Ljg4NS0xLjgxNy0xLjgxNy0yLjg4MSAyLjg4MS0xLjIyOC0xLjIyOCAyLjg4MS0yLjg4MS0xLjg1MS0xLjg1MXoiIGZpbGw9IiNmZmYiLz48L2c" pc9npjwvc3znpg="=" xmlns:data="data">Gateway Pipeline Project</a>. Downstream Today (2008-10-07). Retrieved on 2010-02-14.</li></ol><h2 class="yiv6686983986null" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1431967367410_3678" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 32.5px; letter-spacing: -0.75px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=ddfe86b82a&e=06876ede6b" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1431967367410_3677" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; word-wrap: break-word; font-weight: normal; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Michigan's $75 Million Settlement with Enbridge Draws Praise, Questions</a></h2>Energy giant Enbridge, Inc. has agreed to a $75 million settlement with the state of Michigan over the rupture of its line 6B that sent more than a million gallons of heavy crude oil into the Kalamazoo River in 2010. Critics say the money isn’t enough to make up for the spill's damage, but state officials are pleased.<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=f26bd141d2&e=06876ede6b" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; outline: none; word-wrap: break-word; background: transparent;">Read more</a>.ALGARY - They stretch the length and breadth of the continent, mostly hidden underground. But lately, they've come into the spotlight of a concerned public weighing in on the impact of oil and natural gas pipelines on the environment and society, with more to come.More than $43 billion will be invested in Canadian pipelines over the next 15 years to feed an energy-hungry North America, most transporting bitumen from controversial oilsands projects to refineries in the United States, and natural gas from shale plays in British Columbia to industries on both sides of the border.Add Arctic natural gas, and the tab goes up to $85 billion, said Brenda Kenny, president of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association."We are anticipating a need for the projects that are being done today, and a continual attention to the changes in developments led by producers, both in oilsands and in unconventional gas or remote supplies," Kenny said. "There were a number of projects completed this year and there are still a fair number of projects foreseen looking out over the next decade or so."More than 580,000 kilometres of steel pipe criss-cross Canada, shipping approximately 2.65 million barrels of crude oil and equivalent per day and 17.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.The pipeline systems are the economic lifeline of oil and gas producers selling their product to markets at home, but mostly abroad, and are heavily regulated by federal and provincial agencies. As such, their shares often are called widow and orphan income because of fairly regular, dull returns.Pipeline operators would disagree with the unexciting bit. In 2009, the nation's two largest pipeline operators, Enbridge Inc. and TransCanada Corp., experienced the biggest, most costly expansions to their intercontinental oil and gas networks.Enbridge, which ships the bulk of crude exports to the United States, spent about $4.9 billion last year on capital projects, including wrapping up its $3.7-billion Alberta Clipper expansion carrying crude oil from terminals in Hardisty to refineries in Wisconsin. The pipeline is expected to be online early this year.It will also wrap up work on its $2.3-billion Southern Lights line, which will ship ultralight oil from the U.S. Midwest to northern Alberta, where it will be blended into heavy oil so it can flow on pipelines.Heading west, Enbridge plans to file regulatory papers during the first quarter on its controversial 1,170-kilometre Northern Gateway project linking Alberta's oilsands with Asian markets via a deepsea terminal in Kitimat, B.C.The 525,000-barrel-per-day Northern Gateway line is the biggest project on Enbridge's table, with an eastbound adjacent line transporting 193,000 barrels per day of diluent used to thin heavy oil back to Edmonton. The last cost estimate for the line was $4.5 billion in 2005, a number that will be revised in the coming year, Enbridge said.Added to the environmental concerns about pushing a line through the Rockies into northwestern B.C. are inklings of doubt the line will be economical. While several producers and refiners have committed $100 million toward funding the regulatory process, some analysts question whether China, reputed to be Enbridge's targeted customer, will buy higher-cost Canadian oil by the time Gateway is up and running.The biggest challenge of investing in a multibillion-dollar project such as a pipeline is ensuring it will still be needed and profitable by the time it's completed, Kenny noted."You want to make sure the timing of the infrastructure matches up with other large capital projects on either end," she saidRecently, Enbridge chief executive Pat Daniel questioned how needed TransCa n a d a's Keystone XL project would be, given the cutbacks in oilsands project budgets.For his part, TransCanada chief Hal Kvisle questioned the Northern Gateway project, on the cost of building a line over the Rocky Mountains and associated tolls, successfully negotiating with local communities, and competing with less expensive crude from the Middle East.Alberta's oilsands surpassed conventional oil production in 2006, adding to Canada's 2.4-million-barrel-per-day volumes last year. Bitumen production is expected to grow from more than 1.2 million barrels per day in 2008 to approximately 2.2 million barrels per day in 2015 and to about 3.3 million barrels per day in 2025, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.TransCanada, which saw its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization grow to $4 billion this year, started filling its $5.5-billion US Keystone crude oil line in December, and expects to be fully operational by the end of the first quarter of 2010.The 435,000-barrels-per-day pipeline line is TransCanada's major foray into oil transportation, a venture connecting Alberta oilsands to U.S. refiners and markets."One of the big differences from '09 to '10 is going to be Keystone coming into operation," Kvisle said in a recent interview. "I'd say the last four months have been the busiest in the history of the company and certainly the busiest for me."A second Keystone phase is planned for 2010.TransCanada has 11 major pipeline projects in its Canadian and U.S. books, including the Mackenzie and Alaska natural gas projects. The company has feelers stretching down to Mexico, and into shale gas plays on both sides of the border. But the recent economic downturn and soft natural gas prices have taken their toll on Canada's largest natural gas pipeline operator.At least two projects have been delayed due to lower demand and reduced need for additional capacity: the Horn River pipeline in northeastern B.C. and the proposed Pathfinder line in the U.S. RockiesXL clone:While the debate over the TransCanada Keystone XL tar sands pipeline has raged on for over half a decade, pipeline giant Enbridge has quietly cloned its own Keystone XL in the U.S and Canada.The pipeline system does what Keystone XL and the Keystone Pipeline System at large is designed to do: ship hundreds of thousands of barrels per day of Alberta's tar sands diluted bitumen (“dilbit”) to both Gulf Coast refineries in Port Arthur, Texas, and the global export market.  <a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://desmogblog.cmail2.com/t/t-l-yuuixl-yuirlyty-jh/" style="text-decoration: none; line-height: 1.2em; outline: none; font-weight: bold;">CLICK TO READ MORE</a>

http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20140623/first-nations-being-courted-back-tar-sands-refinery-projects-their-land

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TORONTO (AP) — Canada's government on Tuesday approved a controversial pipeline proposal that would bring oil to the Pacific Coast for shipment to Asia, a major step in the country's efforts to diversify its oil exports if it can overcome fierce opposition from environmental and aboriginal groups.

Approval for Enbridge's Northern Gateway project was expected as Canada needs infrastructure in place to export its growing oil sands production. The project's importance has only grown since the U.S. delayed a decision on TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline that would take oil from Alberta to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The northern Alberta region has the world's third largest oil reserves, with 170 billion barrels of proven reserves.

Enbridge's pipeline would transport 525,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta's oil sands to the Pacific to deliver oil to Asia, mainly energy-hungry China. About 220 large oil tankers a year would visit the Pacific coast town of Kitimat and opponents fear pipeline leaks and a potential tanker spill on the pristine Pacific coast.

Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said Canada's national interest makes the pipelines essential.

He was "profoundly disappointed" that U.S. President Barack Obama has delayed a decision on the Texas Keystone XL option, and spoke of the need to diversify Canada's oil industry. Ninety-seven percent of Canadian oil exports now go to the U.S.

Meanwhile, China's growing economy is hungry for Canadian oil. Chinese state-owned companies have invested more than $40 billion in Canadian energy in the past few years.

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/17/canada-approves-northern-gateway_n_5505109.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/17/canada-approves-northern-gateway_n_5505109.html</a>

==

BC blocks:<a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDIQqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbc.ca%2Fmt_ept%2Fstories%2F2013%2F06%2F01%2Fbc-officially-opposes-enbridge-northern-gateway-pipeline.html&ei=Nm-rUZfdG4ao9gTJvoAg&usg=AFQjCNHFKtDhLqjwQ-IAUKgZ5L3Rjv6skg&bvm=bv.47244034,d.eWU"> http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDIQqQIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbc.ca%2Fmt_ept%2Fstories%2F2013%2F06%2F01%2Fbc-officially-opposes-enbridge-northern-gateway-pipeline.html&ei=Nm-rUZfdG4ao9gTJvoAg&usg=AFQjCNHFKtDhLqjwQ-IAUKgZ5L3Rjv6skg&bvm=bv.47244034,d.eWU</a>

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<a href="http://grist.org/news/enbridge-doesnt-want-to-clean-up-its-oil-spill-it-wants-to-go-play/">http://grist.org/news/enbridge-doesnt-want-to-clean-up-its-oil-spill-it-wants-to-go-play/</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nu6iY4eozM">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nu6iY4eozM</a>

Animation by Dan Murphy, editorial cartoonist for Vancouver's "The Province," that was pulled from the newspaper's website after a complaint from Enbridge. backofthebook.ca posts it here under fair use laws. Read the complete story at <a href="http://backofthebook.ca/2012/06/25/va">http://backofthebook.ca/2012/06/25/va</a><a href="http://backofthebook.ca/2012/06/25/vancouvers-province-pulls-animation-satirizing-enbridge/7367/" target="_blank" title="http://backofthebook.ca/2012/06/25/vancouvers-province-pulls-animation-satirizing-enbridge/7367/" rel="nofollow" dir="ltr" class="yt-uix-redirect-link">...</a>

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Regarding Kinder Morgan, Coles does not believe the application to twin the pipeline's current capacity will ever be approved.

“There are a whole set of First Nations issues that would have to be resolved.  Then there’s the environmental issue of how do you get the oil out of Vancouver, or any other terminus, and the only answer is you have to rail it. And that’s not practical at the volumes they’re talking about.

"Or you bring half a dozen tankers a day into Burrard Inlet?”

He's sure Enbridge's pipeline proposal will also fail.

“It doesn’t matter which government is in power. They’re not going to build the Northern Gateway Enbridge pipeline," he said.

"The First Nations, the communities involved are not going to allow it.  You are not going to see any tempering of the resistance for these absolutely dreadful positions called pipelines.”

And as far as Coles is concerned, no matter how much Canada's government spends to get Keystone XL approved, "it's not going to happen."

"America no longer needs Canadian oil, and Obama has nothing to gain by approving Keystone XL,"  he said....

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<h2 class="title">With Keystone XL in Limelight, Enbridge Plans 'Aggressive' Pipeline Push</h2>

</div>

<h3 class="subtitle">First Nations call to end all tar sands development</h3>

- Lauren McCauley, staff writer

</div>

As Transcanada's Keystone XL pipeline project has become the subject of increasing protests and scrutiny, the Edmonton Journal reports that Enbridge has quietly amassed a comprehensive network of pipelines capable of moving more than one million barrels of toxic tar sands per day (bpd).

An Enbridge pipeline, which will soon be able to carry over 1 million barrels per day of toxic tar sands, snakes through pristine wilderness. (Photo: CBC) According to the <a href="http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Enbridge+pipeline+network+aims+move+million+barrels+market/7901687/story.html" target="_blank">reporting,</a> Enbridge's total "combination of line expansions and new construction represents more capacity than TransCanada’s 830,000 bpd Keystone XL pipeline."

Thus far, environmentalists and critics of tar sands have primarily focused their efforts on the Keystone XL pipeline, with tentative success. Increasing <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/01/31-5">protests</a> and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2013/01/15-6">awareness</a> of tar sands' <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/11/13-6">calamitous effects</a> have temporarily curtailed Transcanada's pipeline project and, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/31/usa-keystone-delay-idUSL1N0AZOO620130131" target="_blank">according</a> to an "unnamed US official," the Obama administration has further postponed the final decision "to sometime at the beginning of the summer."

According to Enbridge chief executive Al Monaco, the oil giant has been working "aggressively" to counter the resultant and growing bottleneck of tar sands by developing their own network of pipelines in an effort to move oil from Alberta, Montana and North Dakota to markets on the Gulf Coast and eastern seaboard.

“Over the next three years we’re investing $15 billion in three initiatives that can provide additional markets for about one million barrels of Alberta production. And that is in addition to all the regional pipeline development we’re undertaking in the oilsands and elsewhere.”

_

Last week, representatives from over 25 US and Canadian First Nations tribes met on Yankton Sioux land in South Dakota to craft and sign a mutual-support treaty <a href="http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/01/31/tribal-members-sign-treaty-calling-end-alberta-oil-sands-development-and-keystone-xl" target="_blank">calling on governments</a> to halt all pipeline projects and put an end Alberta tar sands development.

"Oil sands projects present unacceptable risks to the soil, the waters, the air, sacred sites, and our ways of life,” the treaty states. Signers pledged "mutual and collective opposition to the XL pipeline, Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipelines through British Columbia, and the Kinder Morgan trans-mountain pipeline and tanker projects that are being reviewed by the Canadian government."

</div>

...

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