Minnesota

Minnesota: Water Protectors Confront Enbridge About MMIW, Line 3

February 5, 2019 Anonymous, Itsgoingdown.org Resist! Minnesota, Pipelines, Water Protectors

Enbridge, in its ongoing efforts to coerce the Fond du Lac band of Ojibwe with “economic incentives,” was holding a job fair and business development seminar at the band’s casino in Carlton, Minnesota, in the same county where the company is already illegally storing pipes for its as yet unpermitted project. Water protectors have been tirelessly seeking to draw attention to these pipeyards as well as to the threat of increased predation of indigenous women and relatives which always accompanies fossil fuel infrastructure projects.

Protests And Legal Actions Promised Against Enbridge Pipeline In Minnesota

November 22, 2018 Steve Karnowski, Ctvnews.ca Resist! Minnesota, Pipelines, Protests

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Minnesota regulators reaffirmed their support Monday for Enbridge Energy's proposal to replace its aging Line 3 crude oil pipeline across the northern part of the state, while dozens of protesters walked out of the overflow hearing to make a point about climate change. The Public Utilities Commission unanimously rejected a motion by opponents to reconsider its previous decision to grant a certificate of need for the project. And the commissioners agreed that Calgary-based Enbridge has met several conditions that they imposed when they approved the plan in June. "Line 3 is a climate change disaster so we will stop Line 3," several protesters in the main hearing room chanted early during the proceedings. Other opponents watching from an overflow room took up the chant and marched across the street to the Capitol...

Judge Tosses Case Against Pipeline Valve Turners

October 10, 2018 By Jordan Shearer, Bemidjipioneer.com Resist! Courts, Minnesota, Pipelines

BAGLEY -- The environmental movement chose a small Minnesota town as the battleground for its latest fight. A judge in Clearwater County dismissed the case Tuesday against three people who were charged with damaging a pipeline in 2016. And while they have made their point, they all traveled a long way to do it. Among the seven people sitting in front of the judge, only two were from Minnesota, and only one was from Clearwater County. The defendants, who have referred to themselves as “valve turners,” shut off the valves of two Enbridge Energy Co. pipelines near Leonard, Minn., in October 2016 as a way to protest the oil industry’s contribution to climate change.

Minnesota Indigenous And Advocacy Leaders Take Direct Action In Continued Call On Governor Dayton To Stop Line 3

September 4, 2018 Staff, Nativenewsonline.net Resist! Indigenous Peoples, Minnesota, Pipelines

BEMIDJI, Minn. — Last Wednesday, Native and non-Native leaders were joined by national environmental advocates to urge Governor Mark Dayton to act immediately to stop Enbridge’s Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Participants included tribal elders, local environmental and Indigenous advocates and faith leaders, Youth Climate Intervenors, and national representatives from the Sierra Club. The group gathered to engage in an act of civil disobedience, occupying an intersection in downtown Bemidji in order to escalate the ongoing campaign against Line 3. At the same time, a group sat-in at the governor’s office playing live-streamed video from the action in Bemidji in order to send a clear message to Governor Dayton that now is the time to take action and stop the pipeline.

Louisiana And Minnesota Introduce Anti-Protest Bills Amid Fights Over Bayou Bridge And Enbridge Pipelines

April 3, 2018 Alleen Brown and Will Parrish, Theintercept.com Resist! Legislation, Louisiana, Minnesota, Pipelines

THIS WEEK, THE Louisiana House of Representatives introduced new legislation aimed at criminalizing the activities of groups protesting the extraction, burning, and transport of oil and gas. The bill is similar to a model created by the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council. Indeed, in the wake of the massive protest movement at Standing Rock, which attempted to prevent completion of the Dakota Access pipeline, at least seven states have introduced or passed “critical infrastructure” legislation. Louisiana’s version comes as opponents of the Bayou Bridge pipeline have ramped up protest activities in the state, staging occupations and blockades aimed at halting construction of the project. The legislation creates new crimes that would punish groups for “conspiring” to trespass on critical infrastructure sites and prescribes particularly harsh penalties for those whose ideas...

Red Lake Votes To Remove Pipelines

March 16, 2018 By Grace Pastoor, Bemidjipioneer.com Resist! Indigenous People, Minnesota, Pipelines

RED LAKE -- The Red Lake Tribal Council voted Tuesday to remove Enbridge-owned oil pipelines from its land. The unanimous vote came two months after the council agreed to rescind a resolution accepting a land swap agreement with the Canadian energy company. That Jan. 9 vote paved the way for Tuesday’s action, according to Red Lake Representative Robert Smith. The pipelines in question are located on a 24-acre parcel of land about 30 miles northwest of Bemidji. They were installed by Lakehead Pipeline Co. Inc. sometime before the 1980s, when the reservation realized it owned the land. Enbridge Energy now owns the pipelines, but does not own the land under which they are installed. So in December 2015 the tribal council voted to accept $18.5 million -- meant to be spent on other land -- in exchange for the parcel.

Invest In Minnesota’s Communities, Not The Super Bowl

February 2, 2018 By Negin Owliaei, Inequality.org Educate! Minnesota, New Economy, Super Bowl

Activists are using the spotlight on the Twin Cities to draw attention to affordable housing and corporate mistreatment in their hometown. The Super Bowl is headed to Minnesota’s Twin Cities on February 4, and with it, analysts and officials promise, will come millions of tourism dollars. Questions linger about how much the game will actually bring in, but a group of Minnesota residents are fighting to bring the lion’s share of the sum back into the community. In the days leading up to the big game, more than a dozen local organizations are coming together to ensure that the needs of the community are front and center as sports fans descend upon the city. Octavia Marberry, one member of that coalition, is directing the spotlight towards the renters demanding safe and affordable housing.

Judge Allows Necessity Defense In “Valve-Turner” Trial

October 18, 2017 Stephen Kent, www.shutitdown.today Resist! Climate Change, Courts, Minnesota

By Stephen Kent for Shut It Down - While this is not the first time a court has approved presentation of the necessity defense in a criminal trial of a climate activist, the ruling is a milestone that will have far-reaching implications. "Only a few courts have allowed presentation of the climate necessity defense, and until Friday, no judge in a jury trial in the United States had recognized the defense in writing,” according to a statement from the Climate Defense Project, a legal nonprofit that provided pre-trial briefing and is part of the defendants’ legal team. The defendants are climate activists who sought to prevent climate damage by stopping the flow of carbon-intensive tar sands. “Valve-turners” Emily Johnston and Annette Klapstein closed safety block valves on Enbridge pipelines in Clearwater County, Minnesota, on October 11, 2016 as part of the coordinated “Shut It Down” climate direct action, which disrupted all five pipelines bringing carbon-intensive tar sands crude from Canada to the United States. Two other defendants face criminal charges for documenting Johnston and Klapstein’s action: videographer Steve Liptay and support person Ben Joldersma. They have also been granted permission to present a necessity defense, and will be tried separately from Johnston and Klapstein.

Minnesotans Rally To ‘Hold The Line’ Against Enbridge Pipeline Project

October 4, 2017 Brandon Jordan, www.wagingnonviolence.org Resist! Minnesota, Pipelines, Protests

By Brandon Jordan for Waging Nonviolence - Hundreds of residents gathered in front of the Minnesota State Capitol in Saint Paul on Thursday for a rally to “Hold the Line” against a pipeline project called Line 3. Backed by the Canadian pipeline company Enbridge Energy, the inter-state project was the subject of the city’s only public meeting held later that day, and residents were firmly determined to make their voices heard. With an hour to go until the public hearing, they marched over a mile to the InterContinental Saint Paul Riverfront hotel. Once inside, they argued against the project’s approval to the judge who will decide Line 3’s fate next year. “It’s just nice to be in a sea of people who feel the same way that you do,” said Mysti Babineau of the Red Lake Band of Ojibwe in northwestern Minnesota. “It gives me hope because a lot of these people I’m seeing nowadays are so young.” Enbridge is proposing a replacement of its old Line 3, which was installed in the 1960s and is now considered to be inefficient and too costly to remove. Once decommissioned, the old Line 3 would be cleaned and left in the ground and a new $7.5 billion pipeline would be constructed. While taking a slightly different path through northern Minnesota, it would end at the same oil facility in Superior, Wisconsin. Enbridge claims the project is the “best [way] to maintain system integrity while minimizing disruption to landowners and communities.”

New Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Isn’t Worth The Risks, Minnesota Officials Say

September 14, 2017 Phil Mckenna, www.insideclimatenews.org Create! Minnesota, New Economy, Oil, Pipelines

By Phil Mckenna for Inside Climate News - The Minnesota Department of Commerce recommended this week that a major tar sands oil pipeline should not be expanded and that the old, existing line should be shut down. Its reason: the state's refineries don't need additional crude oil, so there's no point in taking on extra risks. The recommendation is the latest sign of opposition to fossil fuel pipelines at the state level, just as the federal government is strongly supporting them. The Minnesota Department of Commerce's report, submitted to state regulators who will eventually decide whether or not to approve the pipeline, cites a consulting firm that determined Minnesota's refineries are already running at peak capacity and that there's no sign of a long-term increase in local demand for fuel. The analysis concludes that the proposed Enbridge Line 3 pipeline project, from Hardisty, in Alberta, Canada, to Superior, Wisconsin, isn't worth the risks. "In light of the serious risks and effects on the natural and socioeconomic environments of the existing Line 3 and the limited benefit that the existing Line 3 provides to Minnesota refineries, it is reasonable to conclude that Minnesota would be better off if Enbridge proposed to cease operations of the existing Line 3, without any new pipeline being built," the department states. Environmental advocates said that the line might still be approved, despite the report's conclusions.

Why Minnesota’s Community Solar Program Is The Best

August 3, 2017 John Farrell, www.ilsr.org Create! Minnesota, New Economy, Solar Energy

By John Farrell for ILSR - I’ve been asked a lot of questions about Minnesota’s community solar program over the past couple years and it’s time to make one thing clear: Minnesota’s program is the best in the country. Why? Because there 10 times more community solar projects in the queue—400 megawatts—in Minnesota than have been built in the history of community solar in the United States (40 megawatts). Minnesota’s program (see infographic) is a comprehensive approach that makes developing community solar projects economically viable and—most importantly—that does not cap the development of community solar projects. Colorado’s landmark community solar legislation, for example, caps the program at 6.5 megawatts per utility per year (although there’s hope it may increase in the future). Massachusetts has just revamped their solar renewable energy credit program to make community solar a better investment. No other state has had significant community solar development, despite 11 states that have some form of virtual net metering that allows for sharing electricity output from an off-site solar energy project. How big is Minnesota’s projected success?

How Minnesota Doubled Its Solar Capacity

June 5, 2017 Elizabeth Daigneau, www.governing.com Create! Minnesota, New Economy, Solar Energy

By Elizabeth Daigneau for GOverning - Americans love solar. Almost 9 in 10 adults favor expanding it, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. But not everyone can put panels on their homes. For one thing, the upfront cost of solar can be prohibitive. For another, some people don’t have the space, or their rooftops may be too shady or may face the wrong direction, or they don’t even own their rooftops because they rent. That’s where community shared solar comes in. Here’s how it works: Third parties set up solar panels on a parcel of land or rooftop. Households and businesses then share the electricity it produces through subscriptions. Community solar’s primary purpose is to give people access to solar power even if they cannot or prefer not to install it on their property. As it turns out, the same things that make community solar ideal for households and businesses are what make it ideal for governments, too. Minnesota proved that last year when it roughly doubled its solar capacity thanks to a group of local governments in the greater Twin Cities metropolitan region. The solar boom in the state is largely the result of a 2013 law, which required Xcel Energy, the state’s largest electric utility, to create a third-party solar garden program.

Tired Of Waiting For Corporate High-Speed Internet?

August 8, 2016 Ben DeJarnette, www.yesmagazine.org Create! Internet, Minnesota

By Ben DeJarnette for Yes Magazine - Seven years ago, Winthrop, Minnesota, population 1,400, decided it needed an internet upgrade. Most local residents were served by companies like Mediacom, whichConsumer Reports consistently ranked among the country’s worst internet providers. Slow connection speeds made work difficult in local schools and businesses, but farmers outside of town, who increasingly rely on connectivity to do business, experienced the worst of it.

Allina Nurses Go All In

June 23, 2016 Alexandra Bradbury, www.labornotes.org Resist! Minnesota, Nurses, Strikes, Workers Rights and Jobs

By Alexandra Bradbury for Labor Notes - Sometimes solidarity comes shaped like a popsicle. That’s what one nursing assistant, on her way in for the evening shift at United Hospital in St. Paul, delivered to nurses picketing in blazing 95-degree heat. Five thousand members of the Minnesota Nurses (MNA) walked out June 19, kicking off a weeklong strike at five Allina hospitals in the Twin Cities. The immediate sticking point is health insurance, but this is also a showdown over nurses’ power on the job, as Allina pushes to hand over staffing decisions to a robot.

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