UMD students taking action against Line 3

Photo by Eliana Sonderup

There was a rally held at UMD on March 5 for the divestment of Enbridge’s Line 3 oil pipeline. UMD has admitted to investing in other fossil fuel corporations, such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Royal Dutch Shell.

The goal of this rally and die-in is to have UMD reveal their investments, divest from the ones that are related to fossil fuels, and reinvest into more sustainable green energy sources. The University of Minnesota Duluth has two sources of funding. The first fund is the operating budget, which is how financial aid is given, salaries are paid and other similar matters. The second form of funding for the university are endowment funds. These are long term investments. This is where UMD is invested in fossil fuels. 

The university has a policy about sustainability stating that “the University shall strive to be a world leader by promoting and demonstrating sustainability.” Quote from the University of Minnesota Board of Regents, sustainability and energy efficiency. This policy was adopted in 2004 and has not changed since. UMD is known for wanting to be a world leader in sustainability, yet their investments say otherwise. MPIRG held this rally to show that the board of regents are not sticking to their word and their own policy of sustainability. 

There were a good amount of speakers at the rally. There were speakers from the community, from UMD, from reservations and from camp Migizi. The speakers from the community were citizens who worked closely with Line 3 and agreed that it should not be rebuilt and should be cleaned up. 

Michele NaarObed is a woman who has seen the impact of Line 3 through most of her life. She has seen the impacts Line 3 has made on the reservations and the lake in Duluth. 

“We have made Mother Earth sick, we must attempt to turn off the poison,” NaarObed said.

Alex Golden-Wolf was one of the next speakers. He is from the reservation and had a beautiful speech. He spoke about how line three is breaking an existing treaty. It runs right across the border of the reservation, and the oil leaks into the reservation and into the water sheds. According to stopline3.org, Line 3 is breaking treaty rights called usufructuary rights. This is a right describing that the Ojibwe have a property right to make a living off the land. This right is protected by the US government. Because Line 3 is destroying their ability to profit from fresh soil and water, they are breaking the law. It impacts their traditions and their treaty rights. It affects everyone on the reservation’s well-being. 

“Our treaty rights are being violated and the corporations don’t care. They just want the money that they are getting from Line 3,” Golden-Wolf said.

Camp Migizi is an organization that works towards a better environment. They are working a lot on Line 3 right now. They are hosting events to explain more about how line 3 is breaking treaties and laws. They also describe what you can do to take action. The speaker from camp Migizi was Taysha Martineau. She is also from a reservation. She ended her speech beautifully by asking everyone to put their hands on the ground and connect themselves with Earth. She reminds us that this is our home and we must protect it. 

Not only is Line 3 breaking treaty rights, destroying land and making money off of others’ suffering, but it is creating an environment that we will not be able to live on forever. Line 3 is leaking, and hurting the land, the animals and the waters. We need UMD to divest and keep their policy of being a world leader in sustainability. UMD needs to match their words with their actions.