An Equitable Transition Is Possible; the Fight at Line 3 Can Lead Us There

Brenna Two Bears pictured in front of Walla Walla US Army Corps of Engineers office

December 2021

reposted from Saving Earth Magazine

THE TREATY PEOPLE GATHERING

Mne Sota Makoce - The air is thick with the heat and energy of Water Protectors gathering. Voices echo out across the road that is blocked off by cars to protect the Water Protectors in Anishinaabe land as thousands of people gather alongside Leech Lake and Fond du Lac Nations. The fight against Enbridge’s Line 3 hits a peak, one in a long line of building momentum.

This was the scene I saw in June as I joined the Treaty People Gathering, an event organized to stand up against Enbridge’s Line 3. This event intended to “gather in Northern Minnesota to put our bodies on the line, to stop construction and tell the world that the days of tar sands pipelines are over.” It was organized by nonprofit organizations wanting to support the Ojibwe bands that would be affected by the construction in what is now called Minnesota state.

While I joined the Treaty People Gathering at Coffee Pot Landing, there were also hundreds of activists who went to a blockade of the Line 3 Pump Station just miles away. I remember the scattered shouts across Coffee Pot Landing as news of the arrests at the Pump Station spread through the rally. The Gathering was just the latest in a long history of indigenous voices and their allies standing up against these kinds of developments. The whole experience reminded me of my time at home, in Standing Rock, three years ago. It reminded me of the voice of my elders from the Toh Nizhoni Ani sharing teachings about the Black Mesa fight against coal. All of these fights are connected.

Yá'át'ééh, my name is Brenna TwoBears. I am Bitterwater born for Warrior clan, my maternal grandfather is red running through water, and my paternal grandfather is Standing Rock. In these ways I am a Diné, Ho-Chunk, and Standing Rock person from Flagstaff, AZ and Black River Falls, WI.

Where I grew up, resource extraction has always been prioritized over the people. My mother taught me that; she said that the uranium and coal extraction on the Navajo reservation put our elders in the hospital, and she said it all started when they stole the land from our ancestors.

Whether it’s the Dakota Access Pipeline or the general cessation of land throughout Wisconsin, a horrifying amount of indigenous people suffer from the greed of capitalism. Even if we narrow down our scope from over +500 federally recognized tribes in the US, it wouldn’t begin to cover the damage and degradation wrought over the past four centuries. There isn’t one indigenous person who hasn’t grown up with respect for the land, and seen that respect thrown right back in their faces everyday in a world that doesn’t respect their culture or the earth.

It is what I see everyday. It is what I saw in Mne Sota Koce.



THE HISTORY OF LINE 3

In 1961 the existing Line 3 was built to ship crude oil from Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin. It spanned northern Minnesota in Leech Lake and Fond du Lac reservations, otherwise known as 1854, 1855, and 1842 treaty land, and was built with faulty steel. Throughout the years it experienced ruptures and spills, including a 1 million gallon spill in 2010 on the Kalamazoo River.

As the biggest Enbridge project to date, here’s the issue with Line 3: Enbridge is all set and ready to abandon their trash (the existing Line 3 pipeline) on Treaty land, and begin a new pipeline through Anishinaabe territory.

According to this Violation Tracker, Enbridge already owes upwards of $2 million in penalties over the past two decades. The State of Minnesota calculated the “social cost of carbon” as almost $300 billion over the first three decades of the new pipeline’s existence. Historic and sacred sites under protection of the National Historic Preservation Act are sliced and diced and put up for the highest bidder, wild rice beds are at risk, and the potential for spills rides high due to this worst possible route for the proposed pipeline.

Moreover, we have an excess of  fossil fuels already in production worldwide to support a full wind down of coal, oil, and gas plants to stay within a 1.5C pathway if we stopped extracting fossil fuels this second.

Most recently, the Line 3 Water Protectors succeeded in gaining a court issued restraining order against Hubbard County & Sheriff to end the police blockade of the Line 3 camp. The order was co-issued by Center for Protest Law and Litigation, co-counseled with EarthRights, Jason Steck, and indigenous lawyers Tara Houska and Winona LaDuke.

This fight is a reflection of the ongoing struggle of indigenous people across North America for a long time, but there is a precedence of success with the sacred right of indigenous people. We can see that in the wake of the huge win in the fight to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline, the resilience of Indigenous people in enforcing their rights can only be good for the people and the land. However, cases like the Navajo Nation’s Empowered Transition away from coal and their establishment of the NTEC (to continue coal mining in Wyoming which makes them America's 3rd biggest coal producer) show that we still have more work to do.

THE NEED FOR A NEW KIND OF AGREEMENT

The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Campaign aims to foster a global equitable transition away from fossil fuels to clean, low-carbon energy and economies. It can cover the huge blind spots on fossil fuel production in existing international agreements on climate change, and build a new model for reciprocal relationships with indigenous peoples across the world.

The Treaty operates under three pillars. The first seeks the non-proliferation of coal, oil, and gas by ending all expansion and new project plans. The second addresses the phase out of the existing stockpiles and production. The third prioritizes a commitment to “fast-tracking real solutions and a just transition for every worker, community, and country.”

I remember the first time I saw the Treaty’s website I was in awe at how well a non-tribally affiliated mission could cover so many bases. What stood out to me most, and what continues to play a part in our work, was the final pillar: equity in a fossil fuel phase out. Equality and justice lay the groundwork in what some might call the most foundational pillar in the Treaty campaign, and that is non-negotiable when it comes to indigenous people.

In thinking about what type of world we would need in order to ensure a just transition, I turn to my ancestor’s teachings passed down through generations before me. The Treaty’s North American partner, the Indigenous Environmental Network, lays these out in three Indigenous Principles of Just Transition to rebuild our Nations and communities.

  • Responsibility and Relationship: The recognition of indigenous connections and lifeways as valuable within a new global system that prioritizes balance and harmony with all.

  • Sovereignty: The inherent right of indigenous people to steward the land, and the authority of indigenous-based agriculture and bio-cultural diversity.

  • Transformation for Action: Restructuring the roles for underrepresented groups, as well as the standards of living for communities around the world.

I see these values reflected in what the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty promises. If applied to the fight at Line 3, all the issues laid out by frontline organizers would be addressed. Indigenous knowledge would be taken seriously, like it should have from the very beginning. The governments would bear the brunt of the cost to switch to renewable energy, and nothing like this would ever happen again. This could become a chance to right the wrongs that colonization has wrought on Indigenous people. Now is the time to act.

Unlike four centuries ago, the political landscape is different now. This includes the confirmation of Deb Haaland as the 54th Secretary of the Interior, which makes her the first Indigenous lead of a Cabinet agency to care for the land and natural resources. Awareness of generational trauma is rising and the rights of Indigenous people officially recognized within the United Nations. Indigenous peoples are taking huge steps everywhere around the world.

Though these fights for land and future generations started with stolen resources, they will not end that way. The Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty is a completely different animal going by a similar name; this agreement is not meant to trick or steal, but to empower and spread the wealth. It takes into account the workers who depend on energy for their income, and the cost to come with such a shift and which wealthy countries deserve to shoulder that burden. Most importantly, it holds indigenous dreams as the ultimate goal to aspire to, and the rules by which to act by.

It was my honor to join the actions at Line 3 on behalf of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, as an indigenous person, and as a believer. It is also my honor to work with them, and to bring a step to communities around the world that finally offer a solution I can stand behind.

To get involved in the campaign for a Treaty, see our Campaign Hub. Here, you can learn how to endorse the Treaty, share information about the Treaty on social media, and call on your city to endorse it. If you have any questions about the campaign, or our upcoming events, please visit our website at fossilfueltreaty.org or get into contact with our Communications team media@fossilfueltreaty.org.

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