SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, California, June 24, 2021-- Today, The Biden Administration’s Department of Justice announced its decision to support key permits issued to the Line 3 pipeline under the Trump Administration.

The Biden Administration also called for the court to reject a federal lawsuit citing tribal sovereignty and environmental concerns. The lawsuit was filed by Earthjustice on behalf of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, Honor the Earth, and the Sierra Club.

In response, Osprey Orielle Lake, WECAN Executive Director, released a statement today:

“As the worst drought in history slams the west, and countries globally reel from climate disasters, we are extremely disappointed  by the Biden Administration’s decision to align with Trump-era decisions and choose not to stop the tar sands Line 3 pipeline. This pipeline is not only a disaster to local communities and ecosystems, but construction is moving forward without the explicit free, prior, and informed consent of local tribal nations as outlined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Biden Administration has a responsibility to uphold the country’s Indigenous Treaty obligations, and the rights of water protectors, who are experiencing harassment and violence as they stand for their communities and our global climate. Everyday frontline water protectors, many of whom are Indigenous women, are taking action to protect Indigenous rights and sovereignty, and to defend sacred waters, wild rice beds, and homelands, and to stop the fossil fuel industry who is pushing us further toward irreversible climate chaos. This is not only a fight for Minnesota but for our entire planet.

With the escalation of the climate crisis, business as usual must not and cannot continue. If Biden wants to make good on his campaign promises, and be a climate president, he needs to step up, heed the call of Indigenous leaders, and put an end to Line 3.”

The Line 3 tar sands pipeline is currently under construction in northern Minnesota, and is set to cross more than 200 waterways and cut through the 1854 and 1855 treaty territory where Anishinaabe people retain the right to hunt, fish, gather medicines, and harvest wild rice. If built, the pipeline would unlock CO2 emissions equivalent to 50 coal plants, and cost society more than $287 billion in climate impacts in just its first 30 years of operation. Since the issuance of final permits in December 2020, frontline groups have been taking action to stop the pipeline.