It’s past time to stop building new fossil fuel pipelines. They are costly, unsustainable, dangerous, and will lock us into further decades of leaked methane and carbon emissions – two major contributors to climate change. Just last year, 350 New Hampshire and our NH community defeated the Granite Bridge pipeline – another attempt to expand fossil fuels instead of investing in renewable energy. Now the attention is on Minnesota and the Line 3 tar sands pipeline.
If completed, Line 3 would violate treaty rights of Indigenous people, threaten the headwaters of the Mississippi river, and commit us to fossil fuel dependency for years to come. As fuel sources, tar sands are vastly wasteful. Each barrel of crude oil extracted from tar sands uses 2-4 barrels of water and tremendous amounts of energy. An estimated one billion gallons of wastewater from this process leaks into surrounding natural habitats every year. Once crude oil is burned, it releases large amounts of carbon and sulfur dioxide, contributing to the greenhouse gases that are driving climate change.
More than 10 New Hampshire activists joined in the Treaty People Gathering Over the weekend between June 5th and June 9th to join in efforts to stop a tar sands pipeline being built through Minnesota. Frontline groups have been fighting the pipeline for years and called for allies from across the country to join them for mass action to call attention to the injustices of the pipeline.
“Biden promised us on the campaign trail that he would end fossil fuels,” says Lila Kohrman-Glaser, Co-Director of 350NH Action, “I am here taking a stand against Line 3 to make sure Biden keeps his promise.”
Lila was not the only New Hampshire resident who traveled to Minnesota – at least 10 others from across the state made the journey to support the efforts to stop Line 3, including Kai Parlett, from Manchester.
“The fossil fuel industry operating in a ‘status quo’ fashion and continuing their path of destruction is propped up by public consent,” Parlett said. “When masses of people withdraw their consent from the system, that’s when real change happens. The fossil fuel industry cannot continue to burn our future if we refuse to let it, if we put our bodies in the way and actively work to change the status quo.”
Over 2,000 people from across the country were gathered in Minnesota overall, and more than 150 people were arrested for trespassing on pipeline property.
The more we allow pipeline projects like these to go ahead, the worse climate change will get. We will continue to see rising sea levels, oil spills from pipelines, changing weather patterns, natural disasters, destruction of natural landscapes, and disregard for the rights of Indigenous folks and of everyone along the path of these pipelines. A better choice is possible! We demand a renewable energy future, free from environmental injustice and climate catastrophe. It’s time to Stop Line 3, and keep new oil infrastructure away from communities all across this country.
