FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 21, 2020
MN350 response to Gov. Walz’s decision to refile state’s appeal against Line 3
MN350 applauds Gov. Tim Walz’s announcement Tuesday that the state will refile its appeal of the Certificate of Need for the Line 3 pipeline.
“We’re grateful to Wabigonikwe Raven from Giniw Collective, who suspended herself from a tripod in front of the governor’s residence for 11 hours,” said MN350 organizer Andy Pearson. “We’re grateful to the 200 community members who showed up on Saturday to call on Gov. Walz to do the right thing, to the thousands of supporters who made phone calls and wrote emails, and to the governor himself, for hearing the voices of Minnesotans and upholding his commitment to see the Line 3 appeal through. This is the right decision, the choice that steers toward climate justice, and the path that best supports the process, the law, and the science.”
The appeal likely will play out over several months, further delaying Enbridge Energy’s construction plans, and will involve the Department of Commerce, tribal nations and environmental advocates who have been fighting Line 3 for years. They will lay out the deep flaws underlying Line 3’s Certificate of Need and explain how it fails to meet the standards in Minnesota law. A three-judge panel from the Minnesota Court of Appeals will issue a decision. If the panel agrees the certificate was issued illegally, it may be overturned or sent back.
“This is an important process and we’re glad to see it move forward,” Pearson said. “The new Line 3 would be massive, toxic infrastructure, with climate damages in the hundreds of billions of dollars. It would violate treaty protections and put Minnesota’s water at risk. With Greenland melting and our neighbors in Iowa suffering from floods and a devastating derecho, we shouldn’t be building this kind of pipeline at all anymore.
“Climate science and human decency demand a swift and just transition to a clean energy economy. It is especially egregious for Enbridge to continue to pursue this project when a state agency has shown for nearly three years that it would be illegal. The state’s appeal, along with associated appeals by Red Lake Nation, White Earth and Mille Lacs Bands, Honor the Earth, Friends of the Headwaters, Youth Climate Intervenors, and the Sierra Club, represents a decision to continue in the right direction.”
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MN350 is a statewide group with 20,000 supporters working to make Minnesota a national leader in a just transition to a clean energy economy. MN350 Action is its political and advocacy arm.
