To Be a Water Protector: The Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers

1: Omaa Akiing: Here on Earth 

Part 

Count 

Winter 

to Be Better Ancestors 

How 

Holy Land Is Here 

The 

2: Relatives 

Part 

of Hope: Mino Gitigaaning 

Seeds 

In Praise of Frogs 

Omaakaakii: 

Miss You 

I 

the Snake 

Free 

Do We Grieve the Death of a River? 

How 

Should Save the Amazon 

Amazon 

Mexico 

Viva 

A Rebirth 

Borinquén: 

Is Time for Reparations 

Thanksgiving 

3: Mni Wiconi 

Part 

Buffalo to Black Snake 

From 

Deep North 


Seventh Generation 


Rise of the Water Protector 


Siege at River’s Edge 


Art of Indigenous Resistance 


The Dust Settles 

How 

4: The Last Tar Sands Pipeline 

Part 

Pipeline Runs Through It 

A 

Contents 

Introduction 

The Month You Remember Me 

The Telescope and the Mauna 

Spreading the Sacred Fire 

Sandpiper Timeline

Minnesota Nice 

Not 

Let’s Be Good Neighbors 

Palisade: 

Necessity Defense 


Dirty Secrets: Enbridge and That Indigenous Peoples Policy 

Whispering 

Violence, Fossil Fuels and Enbridge 

Sexual 

Can Only Be One 

There 

the Party’s Over: Starving the Wiindigoo 

When 

to the Kill Zone: The Shadow of Husky 

Welcome 

on a Dime 

Turning 

Finland, Must You? 

Really 

New Iron Horse 


Sweet It Is 

How 

Renaissance of Cannabis 


Hearts — Poetry and the UN Declaration 

Lifting 

Dish One Spoon 

One 

Reconciliation, Just Transition 

Beyond 

When the Bat Challenged the Wiindigoo 

Part 5: Eighth Fire 

Notes

Introduction 

is Life. I live at the headwaters of the Ottertail River. I live at the place 

Water 

Round Lake meets the Ottertail River. is river is clean; swans, geese 

where 

eagles greet you. I live in the place where the wild things are. When the 

and 

leaves my beloved lake, it is clear and clean. is water travels down to 

river 

the Red River, joining there with many other tributaries until its 

nal 

Hudson Bay and the Arctic Ocean. By the time this river is 

destination, 

this same water to which I pray is not so clean or so full of good life. 

there, 

what I know. 

at’s 

is the time of the Water Protectors. It has always been. It’s also the time of 

It 

Wiindigoo. I am writing and editing this book at a time when the world 

the 

still, quarantined with -19, a virus. It is an amazing time. I’m 

stands 

to be here and to share these stories of Water Protectors. Or as Isaac 

grateful 

tells us, 

Murdoch 

In the future, our descendants will be sitting around a 

re in their 

telling this story of when the two legged tried to destroy the 

lodges 

We are no doubt in a sacred legend that will be told for thousands 

earth. 

years. For whatever reasons, we have been speci cally placed here on 

of 

to participate in this incredibly sacred time. We need to believe in 

earth 

what our heart tells us and to nd the strength to follow it. 

is sacred 

needs heroes and we are the chosen ones. Rise strong and never 

story 

believing in the great power of this earth. We are completely 

stop 

surrounded by our ancestors. 1 

I am not the 

rst Water Protector, nor the last. And as I write this 

I want to acknowledge the Water Protectors I have known — 

beginning, 

role models and leaders. ere are many, they are young and old. 

great 

I remember riding a train with the great Creek leader Phillip Deere. 

e 

year was 1977. I had seen 18 winters, and we’d just 

nished the UN 

on Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples and the Land. 

Conference 

years later, that historic gathering would have launched three decades 

irty

international work to recognize and protect the rights of Indigenous 


at was the beginning of what, 30 years later, would result in the 

Peoples. 

of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. 

passage 

Deere and I are on a grand adventure. We are sitting on a train, and 

Phillip 

said to me, “One day, water will be more expensive than oil.” And, I didn’t 

he 

understand what he meant. I thought that sounded strange, but now I 

really 

understand. 

e world needs water, not oil; that’s the basics. And, as a liter 

Fiji Water, having traveled 8000 miles so I can pick it up, costs $7, we see 


water costs more than oil. What that’s really about is that Water is Life, 

that 

oil is not. 

and 

as Mohawk Chief Sakokwenonkwas ( 

Indeed, 

omas Parker) told a 

University audience in 1972, “Someday President Nixon and the 

Harvard 

world leaders are going to nd out that once they catch the last sh, 

other 

they cut down the last tree, they won’t be able to eat all the money they 

once 

in the banks.” 2 He would know, as the Akwesasne Reserve was heavily 

have 

by a set of industries, and their water quality severely 

contaminated 

impacted. 

for decades Indigenous Peoples have been saying this and putting 

Indeed, 

bodies on the line for our water. People have opposed mega dam 

our 

ranging from those on the Klamath River to those on the Columbia. 

projects 

like the Dalles (Celilo Falls), Kinzua (Seneca Territory), to the battles 

Dams 

the dams in James Bay, in northern Ontario, and throughout the 

against 

People who live with water still understand that Water is Life. e 

Amazon. 

is old, and it’s profound. 

teaching 

narrative is subsumed by corporate advertising and mythology, 

at 

for instance, Enbridge Energy uses the moniker “Life Needs Energy.” 

where, 

relationship with water has changed dramatically — ocean 

People’s 

oceanic nuclear testing in the Paci c, over shing, more plastic in 

dumping, 

ocean than sh, the list goes on. A er consuming a lifetime of Pepsi 


a good lot of people become consumed by Wiindigoo Economics, 

products, 

perhaps become Wiindigoos themselves. In a way, this book is a calling 

or 

to that. And a reminder to be sensible people, to do things which make 

out 

sense. good 

begin this book, I want to acknowledge those who I remember rst 

To 

“Water is Life,” and reminded us all of that. John Trudell, in the early 

saying 

1980s, began this Water is Life set of concerts, music and awareness.

emember 

We 

water is our beginning 


hear the ocean 

I 

her song 

Singing 

with musicians like Jackson Browne, Jesse Ed Davis, Bonnie Raitt, 

Working 

Kristo erson and others, Trudell traveled up and down the west coast 

Kris 

with that message. He understood fully. 

life before pro t 

choosing 

water is our relative 


water loves us 

e 

us her power is real 

Telling 

Water for Life 3 

long ago spoke of the rights of Mother Earth. More than just civil 

Trudell 

or human rights, it is Natural Rights. I am grateful to him for his 

rights 

I knew Trudell through ve decades of my life. He was a friend 

teachings. 

mentor, and his commitment to life, art and protecting Mother Earth 

and 

an inspiration to so many of us. A Santee man, born in Nebraska, he 

was 

politicized a er he returned from the military in 1968. e 

became 

of Alcatraz was the moment for John, like many young Native 

Liberation 

on the west coast, and nationally, as Native people demanded the 

people 

of the former military prison, something which is provided for 

rematriation 

federal law. 

under 

used his skill set to establish Radio Free Alcatraz and served as 

Trudell 

of the American Indian Movement for most of the 1970s. at’s when I 

chair 

Trudell. A profound thinker and orator, Trudell’s in uence was 

met 

cant. As the power of the movement grew, so did the repression, as 

signi 

other federal intelligence, police and military programs 

and 

into the reservations and Indian Country. A er his pregnant wife, 

moved 

Manning, and his three children and mother-in-law died in 1979 in a 

Tina 

house re, John’s life turned to more music and he ranged further 

suspicious 

further. His poetry, music and acting lit up a generation of youth, with 

and 

word and political insight. In 2012, he formed Project Hempstead, 

spoken 

Willie Nelson, to co-create the hemp economy. His words live on in 

with 

lm and music, with Bad Dog. John crossed boundaries. He crossed 

books,

nal boundary to the spirit world in December of 2015. Or as John 

that 

say, “I caught my ride.” I had visited him two days before. 

would 

Trudell. 

John 

raise my hands to you. 

I 

~~~ 

sing praises for the Water Protectors. I sing praises in these words. 

I 

Mandamin, a Water Warrior, is also one of those whom I look to 

Josephine 

guidance, as a living being and as a spirit woman. 

for 

have known for a long time that water is alive. Water can hear you. 

We 

can sense what you are saying and what you are feeling. ere’s a 


I put tobacco in the water where the water is so still. It was dead. I 

place 

for it, I put my tobacco in the water and it started oating 

prayed 

So the water was alive, it heard my prayers. It heard the song. 

around. 

I know it listened. I know that if you pay attention to it, it can come 

So, 

alive. Give it respect and it can come alive.… Give it love. 4 

Indeed, the Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto in his NYT bestseller 

e 

Messages in Water, documented the same knowledge in a scienti c 

Hidden 

Emoto would freeze water into crystals from di erent locations, some 

form. 

polluted and some pristine. 

e water crystals were all di erent, but the 

water was highly deformed. He found that water crystals from clear 

polluted 

and crystals that were exposed to loving words were complex, 

springs 

and colorful. His scienti c research created a new awareness of the 

brilliant 

of good intent and practices to heal water and ourselves. 

possibility 

I came to know Josephine Mandamin in the 

ree Fires Midewin Society, 

she too prayed with the Anishinaabeg for the good life and healing. 

where 

Anishinaabe from Fort Williams Reserve, Josephine had grown up in the 

An 

shadow of the 

under Bay Smelters, where acid rain and mining projects, 

gold to uranium, plagued the waters of her territory, as well as mercury 

from 

at Grassy Narrows. Josephine became a Water Walker, a leader of 

poisoning 

movement and an inspiration to thousands of people for her 

this 

to the Great Lakes. She walked around the Great Lakes, in 

commitment 

and with companions. 

prayer 

the ree Fires Midewiwin Society, spiritual leaders told of a time when 

At 

will cost as much as gold.” at time was the year 2030. e 

“water 

to care for the water is with Ojibwe women. We are entrusted 

responsibility

with water ceremonies and songs. 

at movement and traditional way was 

revitalized and brought back in a strong way by Josephine. In 2003, 

really 

began her rst walk, walking the perimeter of Lake Superior, carrying a 

she 

copper bucket and praying for the water. 

at was the beginning of many 

walks, and more walks inspired by other 

ree Fires Lodge members like 

Sharon Day, another Water Walker. 

e movement has grown and continues 

prayers for the water. It is estimated that Josephine walked more than 


kilometers during her lifetime for the water. Josephine completed her 

25,000 

sacred walk in 2017, passing over the next year. 5 

nal 

Mandamin 

Josephine 

I raise my hands to you. 

~~~ 

was a long time back that I came to meet Milton Born With A Tooth. He 

It 

a Water Protector. A Peigan leader of the Lone Fighters Society, Milton’s 

was 

was with the Oldman Dam on the ree River, a dam project not 

battle 

the Kinzua Dam. “I was born by that river,” Milton would tell me. 

unlike 

in a small house to a large family that made their life in that world of 

Born 

Old Man River. 


the Alberta government proposed a new dam on the river, this one 

When 

both electricity and to provide ood control for agricultural interests in 

for 

region, Born With A Tooth restored the Pikani Lone Fighters Society, an 


medicine society, to protect the river. In the 1990s, when I came to 

ancient 

him, Milton spoke of a dream about a beaver, noting, as others have, 

know 

“beavers are the only ones allowed to make dams in our territory.” 

that 

by the beaver, Born With A Tooth, who argued that the Pikani 

Inspired 

the rights to the water in the river and that the dam would result in 

owned 

ooding of sacred places, resorted to a beaver-like action. at’s to say, 


With A Tooth borrowed an excavator on the construction site and 

Born 

the river into a canal bed. is action ended in a shootout with 

redirected 


and jail time for Born With A Tooth. Legal challenges continued 

the dam was built, but the commitment of a man to a river remained. 

and 

2003, a 32 megawatt hydroelectric plant has operated, providing 114 

Since 

gigawatt hours per year. 

at hydro plant is 25% owned by the Pikani 

Milton Born With A Tooth passed away in 2019. 

Nation. 

will never be peaceful. It’s like a nice beautiful day that changes 

“Change 

into a thunderstorm, or a snowstorm — that’s how change is going to be.”

Born With A Tooth. 

Milton 

raise my hands to you. 

I 

~~~ 

Caceras is another Water Protector. She too has passed on, though in 

Berta 

case it was a bullet, not cancer, that ended her life. Hers is the story of 

her 

water and land protectors everywhere, as hundreds of us are 

Indigenous 

by corrupt governments and corporate goons. A Lenca Indigenous 

killed 

from Honduras, Caceras also faced a dam project, Agua Zarca, 

leader 

dam that supported rich interests in a corrupt country. In 1993, she 

another 

an Indigenous Honduran organization, Consejo Cívico de 

co-founded 

Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras ( 

, Council of 

and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras), which is committed to 

Popular 

protection of Indigenous Peoples and the environment, particularly the 


Lenca people in Intibuca. 

e organization’s 2004 history recalls that the 

“began to discover their indigenous face, a face of resistance and 

Lenca 

identity.” 6 at is a story everywhere, from the Zapatista Movement 

national 

the movement of Water Protectors. 

to 

organization was known for mobilizing masses. In 1994, 

e 

on the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, with multiple demands. 

marched 

other things, they demanded self-government, a moratorium on 

Among 

and investigation into violence against Indigenous Peoples. In 

logging 

to the protest, the Honduran government signed a 48-point 

response 

7 In another action, on October 12, 1997, the anniversary of the 

agreement. 

arrival in the Americas, about 150 protestors knocked down a statue 

Spanish 

Christopher Columbus in Tegucigalpa. Arguing that they were protesting 


history of exploitation of Indigenous Peoples, one of the leaders arrested 

a 

this action, Salvador Zuniga, declared, “It would seem that in this 

for 

clay leaders matter more than the real problems faced by indigenous 

country 

If there is justice, we will be released, but we are not sorry for the act 

people. 

dignity carried out on October 12.” 8 


Cáceres was a leader in the movement opposing the Aqua Zarca 

Berta 

project. She was assassinated in her home on March 3, 2016. A 

hydroelectric 

weeks later, another Indigenous leader, Nelson Garcia, was also 

few 

While Cáceres’ assassins were later convicted, Honduras 

assassinated. 

a place where Water Protectors are always in danger. A 2016 survey 

remains 

by Global Witness found that 185 water and land protectors in 16 

conducted

were killed in 2015 alone. Eight of those were in Honduras. 9 

countries 

sometimes those deaths stop projects. e Aqua Zarca project had 

Yet 

$17 million, or just under 40% of the necessary funding from its 

received 

major European funders, when an employee of the company building 

three 

dam was charged with Cáreces’ murder. Amidst international outrage at 


murder and other human rights violations, the banks divested. “ e 


is no longer funding the project. Nor is there any intention to further 

bank 

in the project. Each bank is going to have their own exit strategy. Our 

invest 

stopped all disbursements,” said a spokesperson for the largest investor, 

bank 

Cabei. 10 e 

I raise my hands to you and to other Water Protectors and Friends of 

Berta, 

Butter ies who are killed by the Wiindigoos. 


are many more Water Protectors, and as the younger generation 

ere 

like Clayton omas Muller, Gitz Crazy Boy Eriel Deranger, Dawn 

emerges, 

Kimberly Smith, Tara Houska and Melina Lubicon, they continue 

Goodwin, 

work to protect the waters of the north. I raise my hands and put them to 


heart. You are loved. 

my 

book is written in the spirit of acknowledging that Water is Life. 

is 

is 

book is a testimony to the resistance and defeat of the Wiindigoo. 

e term 

Protector” became mainstream under a hail of rubber bullets at 

“Water 

Rock. is book is about that spirit, and that spirit is forever. 

Standing

Part 1 

Akiing: 

Omaa 

on Earth 

Here

Winter Count 

ancestors and those to the west used to keep track of historic events on 

My 

wiigwaas, our bark, or Winter Counts — records inked on bu alo and 

our 

robes. Our ancestors would remember in these Winter Counts the winter 

elk 

the snow was higher than the tipis, when the smallpox came and when 

when 

the people were victorious in a battle. 

ey would remember important 

events. 

this era, I am not sure how I keep track of these moments; maybe 

In 

or perhaps in my writing. I have yet to draw a Winter Count, 

Facebook 

on robe or perhaps hemp canvas. at may, however, be in the 

recording 

What I know now is that I write, usually each day. 

future. 

will remember this as the year that the Bat Changed the World. 

We 

at’s 

for sure. 

e fact is that a virus brought to us by a bat is changing the world, 

world of the Wiindigoo. We have some stories of the epic bat in Ojibwe 


and this will be a new one. 

history, 

has caused unprecedented social disruption and wreaked havoc 

-19 

the markets, but it has also resulted in lower energy demand and a 

in 

signi cant reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions. 

is is where we 

understand that crisis is opportunity. 

is will be remembered, I am sure, as 

time when we changed our direction, and that is because of a bat. 


are long ago stories. Sometimes the changes come fast, and then it 

ere 

we slumber for years of solitude. We come to take a moment for 

seems 

a person for permanent. We are a transient bunch, myself 

permanent, 

We travel faster than perhaps our spirits can travel, and our 

included. 

of time change. When we return home, Giiwedinong, we look 

perceptions 

something familiar, or maybe, in some cases, an improvement, a healing 

for 

a horse, a person or a place; scar tissue remains. Travel changes your 


perception of time. 

ere is much that can be missed. 

we are home, or perhaps when we return home, we remember the 

When 

of the land. at’s not digital, hourly or mechanical. e time when the 

time 

maple syruping season is when the crows gather; it’s called Aandeg Biboon,

Crow Month, the time when winter is breaking, the Wiindigoo is leaving, 

or 

and the sap will run. en there’s a snow storm, and it’s the 

GaaBiboonoke, 

for the maple. at’s the time on the land. en the swans come. 

time 

Hearty and majestic, they stand on small ice patches at the 

Waabiziiwag. 

beginning of the Ottertail River. 

at river, traveling to the Red and one day 

Hudson Bay, begins on my lake, Round Lake, Gaawaawiye Gaamag. Here 

to 

water is clean, long before industrial agriculture and long before it turns 


the Red River and carries the bodies of my sisters, the Missing and 

to 

Indigenous Women. Long before the polar bears of Churchill 

Murdered 

Manitoba. Here it is peaceful. 

e pheasants are enjoying some early thaws; 

and turkeys, they stay the winter. 

eagles 

friend Georgianne Baker used to talk to me about calling your spirit. 

My 

we travel so fast that our spirit may not catch up with us, 

Sometimes 

behind, stunned or pleased by the moment. She used to make a call, 

remains 

tell the spirits she was home, remind her spirit to be present. In the time 

to 

air travel, digital time and the jackhammer of the industrial world, I nd 


caught. I call my spirit back, back to the lake, the birds and the 

myself 

horses. 

return each winter, as my ancestors did, to see who has survived this 

I 

survived the time of the Wiindigoo, the harshest of winters. ey 

winter, 

used to talk about the times of the plagues. 

ose came to our people with 

missionaries and traders. Many would pass, according to the Winter 


of the west. Omaa Akiing, here on this land and memories, you 

Counts 

know the family had perished when the smoke no longer came from 

would 

wigwam. at is what we remember. 


year, I watched the deaths of the young from heroin overdoses and 

is 

and the old from illness. e smoke no longer comes from their 

violence, 

wigwams. 

winter, to my modern day Winter Count, I remember the storms and 

is 

cold. I remember the big storm which froze the Dakotas, Iowa, 


Minnesota, Wisconsin into a stillness. I remember feeling 

Manitoba, 

and knowing I knew better. I remember this year past, of the 

unprepared 

to the west, the winds and water to the south, and I prayed for more 

res 

to prepare for a future that is transforming patterns forever by climate 

time 

And then came a searing spring and a summer of water, water to 

change. 

wash everything. 

en I remember the time of the Bat.

you travel far, you may sometimes see what is coming towards you, 

When 

climate change or who has learned good lessons. You take these 

whether 

and teachings home for the people and the future generations. You 

lessons 

just as in days of old, the sadness, joy and beauty of the large world. But, 

see, 

the fast-paced time, you forget your own Winter Count. We forget to be 

in 

now. To call our spirits home. 

here 

bi daagoshin. It is a new spring which comes. Recognized as the 

Ziigwan 

venture out, the aandegoog, crows, move in large numbers. ey 

waabiziwag 

to the skies and signal that it is time to tap our trees and venture from 

take 

wigwams, our warm houses, into the woods, hoping that smoke comes 

our 

many res. It is time to go into the woods; nopeming to be grateful for 

from 

homecoming. It is time to call our spirits home. I pause from my travels 

this 

and look to see my world; she is beautiful.

How to Be Better Ancestors 

long are you going to let others determine the future for your 

How 

Are we not warriors? When our ancestors went to battle they 

children? 

know what the consequences would be, all they knew is that if they 

didn’t 

nothing, things would not go well for their children. Do not operate 

did 

of a place of fear, operate out of hope. Because with hope anything is 

out 

possible. 

— under Valley Community Development Corporation 1 

to many who read this, to be a warrior may be something that rankles 

Now, 

sensibilities, but let us say that in the face of daunting forces we must 

your 

our courage, our hearts, our minds, and work together. Zapatista 

summon 

Marcos would say: “Our word is our weapon.” Or 

Sub-Commandante 

your organic goat cheese, your small energy company, your 

maybe 

way of teaching is your tool, your weapon. To be courageous 

enlightened 

thoughtful, perhaps, is the key to being good ancestors. 

and 

Anishinaabeg, sort of like old guard Anishinaabeg, the cool ancestors. 

Gete 

are larger than life and memory and continue to be present in one of 

ey 

eight worlds that surround the Anishinaabeg. ey are courageous and 


practiced, intelligent, and kept a covenant with the Creator to 

thoughtful, 

for all we are given and be grateful. ey are my role models. 

care 

believe in place. Anishinaabe Akiing, the Land to which the people 

I 

that’s where I live. 

belong, 

live in the same area my great-great-great-great grandparents lived. 

I 

I harvest wild rice on the same lakes, canoe to the same 

Nimanoominike, 

patches and am eternally grateful for their consistency, their 

berry 

to land and ceremony, and to those who had not yet arrived, 

commitment 

myself. My lake itself, Round Lake, is where the so-called last Indian 

like 

in Minnesota occurred. And I am eternally grateful to the Skip In 

uprising 

Day family for demanding justice on our Lake, and stopping the timber 

e 

from stealing all of our great and majestic pines. In walking, riding a 

barons 

horse or canoeing these lakes and this place, I remember those ancestors.

And I o er them food and prayers. 

ose are cool ancestors, great role 

models. 

my mother, the artist Betty LaDuke’s side, my family originates in the 

On 

Jewish farmers who became union workers in New York City. My 

Ukraine. 

grandfather had a windmill to grind wheat and was displaced by 

great-great 

burning of coal and the progress of new mills. My grandmother worked 


the garment district and my grandfather worked as a house painter. 

in 

Decent people. Courageous, humble, sensible people. 

ere’s something 

about that 

imprint which maybe reminds me of where their journeys 

them. Some days, I feel I continue their journey or see, perhaps, my 

took 

continue those journeys. 

children 

I re ect on the question of how to be good ancestors, I re ect on 

As 

accountability. How do I account for my behaviors and 

intergenerational 

to my ancestors and to my descendants? 

decisions 

is easier for some of us than others. America does not stay in 

is 

Akiing. Privileged by the fossil fuel economy, which has put all 

Anishinaabe 

on steroids, we are transient, we move. Few people live in the same 

things 

as their ancestors, and many more of us have historical amnesia. 

place 

always trying to run away from what we’ve done, so amnesia 

We’re 

becomes the coping mechanism. 

en we continue in our anthropocentric 

thinking we are kings and continuing as slave holders. Ecological 

world, 

holders that is. Not knowing history has huge perils. Ecological 

slave 

is when we forget what was there, complicated by all of this 

amnesia 

transience. 

means that we do not come to know and love a place; we move 

Transience 

and as such are not accountable to that place. Always looking for greener 

on, 

a new frontier, I fear we lose depth, and a place loses its humans 

pastures, 

would sing to it, gather the precious berries, make clean the paths and 

who 

the waters. 

protect 

on a worldwide scale, Indigenous Peoples represent about 4% 

Remember, 

of the world’s people, but we live with 80% of the world’s biodiversity. 

at’s 

worth 

ghting for. My counsel is stay, make this place your home and 

this land like a patriot. 

defend 

look to minobimaatisiiwin, the excellent life o ered to the Anishinaabeg 

I 

the Creator. In this life, the basic teachings are elegant and resonant: care 

by 

yourself, the land and your relatives. Remember that this world is full of 

for

spirit and life and must be reckoned with. 

e land of berries, wild rice, 

syrup and medicines comes with a covenant, an agreement between 

maple 

Anishinaabeg, or myself, and the Creator. Keep that covenant, that 


that we will take care of what is given to us, and your descendants 

agreement 

be grateful. 

will 

your responsibility for this moment. I understand mine. As I 

Understand 

my brothers and sisters to the west at Standing Rock facing rubber 

watched 

tear gas and the spraying of poisons to protect the water, I was awed, 

bullets, 

and reminded that I am one of them. In this moment, not unlike 

inspired 

Selma Moment, be present. 


the Dark Lord rises in the East, nd your courage, my Hobbit brothers 

As 

sisters… (Wait, I can’t actually say that?), but remember the shire is 

and 

and your descendants would appreciate your voice, words and 

everywhere, 

action. 

Rock is not only a place; it is a state of mind, it is a thought and it 

Standing 

action. In a time when the rights of corporations override the rights of 

is 

stay human, and remember that the law must be changed. For civil 

humans, 

is made, as democracy is made, by the hands of people, courageous 

society 

and is not a spectator sport. While at one time slavery was legal; it is 

people, 

longer, and soon we must free our Mother Earth from her slavery to an 

no 

economy and ensure her rights. 

exploitive 

each day there is a heartbreak of story, a constant heartache for our 

In 

whether they have wings, ns, roots, paws or hands, but there is 

relatives, 

much beauty and joy. Remember always that in these times of - 

also 

the virus brought by a bat, we retreated into our human worlds, and 

19, 

took a breath, strolled our streets with ease and enjoyed a fresh 

animals 

day. Hold your sorrow and grief to remember, but be grateful for this 

spring 

life. 

e Creator has given us a good one. And your descendants will be 

for this good life, this minobimaatisiiwin. 

grateful 

this time, do not underestimate yourself, nor the power of the larger. As 

In 

saw at Standing Rock, unity, hope, a worldwide outpouring of love and 

we 

emboldens Water Protectors worldwide — and that is something we 

support 

all need, along with our Mother. How that power is actualized is up to 

will 

of us, but acknowledging our responsibility for power is how we are 

each 

intergenerationally. 

accountable, 

lessons I take from one of my great teachers, Wes Jackson of the Land 

Two

Institute. As you contemplate your choices, mill about. 

is is to say, if you 

live in your one acre, do so, mill about on that one acre, and do not 

can 

Perhaps that lesson is to live simply and care for the place you know 

move. 

so that those who follow can live there too. He calls it the Mill About 

eory. 

believe. Wes said one time that if you’re working on something that you 

And 

on nishing in your lifetime, you are not thinking big enough. Let us 

plan 

the gi of our thoughts, and in the words of the Great Hunkpapa leader 

use 

Bull, “Let us put our minds together to see what kind of future we 

Sitting 

can make for our children.” 

en we will be great ancestors.

The Holy Land Is Here 

Native People, the Holy Land is here. Whether Bear Butte, Manitoulin 

For 

Mni Sose or Gichi Gummi, people who have lived on this land for 

Island, 

years know this as the Holy Land, not elsewhere. 

10,000 

recognition is growing into a body of law, not just in North America, 

is 

worldwide. It’s about time, or as Indigenous Peoples will say, it’s time to 

but 

to the Creator’s law. ese laws are considered the Rights of Nature, 

return 

the Rights of Mother Earth, a body of new jurisprudence which is 

or 

internationally. 

growing 

2017, Mount Taranaki in New Zealand was granted the same legal rights 

In 

a person, in turn becoming the third major geographical feature in New 

as 

Zealand to be granted a “legal personality.” 

e mountain is sacred to the 

Maori People. 

e mountain, named — poorly — Mount Egmont by 

Cook a er the Second Earl of Egmont, was formally stolen with pen 

Captain 

paper by the New Zealand government in 1865. In 1978, the mountain 

and 

returned to the people of Taranaki by federal jurisdiction. 2 

was 

legal designation follows a set of similar acknowledgements, most 

is 

from India, which granted the Himalayan glaciers, rivers, streams, 

recently 

air, meadows and forests the same legal rights as persons, joining 

lakes, 

sacred Ganges and Yamuna Rivers as having standing under the law. 3 

India’s 

legal recognitions are intended to protect those living beings. is 

ese 

set of international rulings represents the most signi cant creation of 

new 

legal rights for Nature since 2010, when Bolivia passed the Law of 

new 

Earth as a part of their constitution, 4 with a similar law being passed 

Mother 

the Ponca Nation of Oklahoma (2017) and the Ho Chunk Nation of 

by 

Wisconsin. 5 

e 2017 jurisdictional decision by the Ponca Nation 

the rights of Nature Nature came in response to their 

recognizing 

to the water. “We all know that water is life. e years of sh 

responsibility 

related to the fracking and injection wells amount to environmental 

kills 

said Casey Camp-Horinek. “It is going to take all of us humans 

genocide,” 

because we’re speaking for those without voices, for the deer, the cattle,

the Laws of Men Are Wrong 

When 

a moment when the law begins to change. 

It’s 

that y. In our tribe we have a funeral a week now. We’re being fracked 

those 

death and it’s time to take a stand for our people and defend the earth.” 6 

to 

we look around us, we can see that the legal systems of nation states 

As 

failed Mother Earth and Indigenous Peoples. While laws like the 

have 

Species Act really speak to the essence of the right of a “species” 

Endangered 

exist in the United States, the broad application and practice of regulatory 

to 

and law do not protect a river, a watershed, a species, a mountain 

authority 

an ocean. 

or 

at’s the moment, when the 

— created primarily by papal law, English common law and then 

laws 

law — have created an untenable situation for most of the world’s 

corporate 

beings, from animals to rivers to people. 

living 

in the United States and Canada the situation is untenable, and 

Indeed, 

gives corporations more rights than humans, and certainly more rights 

now 

Nature. What the Canadian Supreme Court decided in the Percy 

than 

case was that corporations owned life. And what has happened in 

Schmeiser 

case law is that the rights of corporations have exceeded the rights 

American 

most of us. Corporate personhood is the legal notion that a corporation 


at least some of the legal rights and responsibilities enjoyed by humans. 

has 

Supreme Court decisions, like Citizens United and Burwell v Hobby Lobby 

In 

the Court has ruled in favor of corporations, even extending religious 

Stores, 

to corporations. 

freedom 

the case of Hobby Lobby, this ruling of the right to religious freedom 

In 

the corporation does not have to provide contraception as a part of a 

means 

care package to employees. Not only do corporations have rights, 

health 

religious freedom, but their rights are stronger than yours or 

including 

And their rights extend inside your body. 

mine. 

the time of Standing Rock, I was assured that Energy Transfer Partners 

In 

more rights than the Lakota People and the Water Protectors. In the 

had 

of Quebec Hydro and Manitoba Hydro (Muskrat Falls), what’s clear is 

case 

these corporations exercise authority over the rights of people and 

that 

rivers. 

at’s an aberration of justice. 

be in reality. Corporations are ctitious creations, and the natural world 

Let’s 

… well real. I also o en muse that if a corporation was a person, it would 

is

e a person with a multiple personality disorder. A er all, those mergers, 

likely 

and bankruptcies can certainly change your identity. 

acquisitions 

we enter the New Year in that Gregorian calendar, I remember the Holy 

As 

is also here. 

Land 

us take the case of Mahto Paha, or Bear Butte, in the heart of the Paha 

Let 

or the Black Hills. According to a Lakota story, long ago a giant bear 

Sapa, 

a water monster similar to a dinosaur battled for many days and nights. 

and 

of the erce battle, valleys lled with blood. e giant bear, 

Because 

wounded by the sea monster’s jagged teeth, crawled away to die. 

e bear’s 

disappears, leaving in its place a hill in the shape of the bear’s sleeping 

body 

which continued to rumble and smolder. Today, hambleceya, vision 

body 

is o en done at Bear Butte, a sacred place, as sacred as Mount Sinai. 

quest, 

so di erent is the story of Mni Sose, the Missouri River. e longest 

Not 

in North America, when combined with the Mississippi, forms the 

river 

fourth longest river system. e river, once drinkable, has been life 

world’s 

all of us for thousands of years. It gave rise to the ancient agricultural 

for 

of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Peoples and was a super 

empires 

highway for trade travel. 

e fertile Nile river valley of the Northern Plains. 

that river is an industrial sewer to corporations that rarely pay nes, 

Today, 

alone remedy their crimes against Nature. Just as an example, since 

let 

of 2016 over 100,000 gallons of crude oil, waste oil, bio solids, 

January 

gas and brine have been spilled into the waters of the region, along 

natural 

about 50,000 gallons of slaked lime solids which slid directly into the 

with 

River. e river is choked with industrial and agricultural runo 

Missouri 

solids. Indeed, in some cases, a river, like the Animas River ( owing 

and 

Ute and Dine Territory of the Colorado Plateau), may be legally 

through 

dead, devoid of life from acid mine drainage or toxins. Who has the 

termed 

to commit ecocide? And conversely: Should a river have a right to live 

right 

free? poison 

reality is that American, Canadian and other legal institutions are not 

e 

of regulating the intergenerational violence of technology. What is 

capable 

in war and in industry exceeds the experience of any generation before 

done 

in scope and damage, and our regulatory institutions have no framework 

us 

understanding the impact of these decisions. 

for 

rather than being cautious, the legal institutions, to which Native 

Sadly, 

are asked to subjugate themselves, are inadequate to address 

Peoples

prudence and indeed justice. Historically, North American legal 

regulatory 

have protected the rights of private property holders, not Nature 

systems 

Indeed, private corporations continue to pillage the commons, 

herself. 

toxic poisons from their world into the world of rivers, 

transferring 

and sacred places. 

mountains 

leadership on the transition to a more enlightened set of legal canons 

e 

is being provided by Indigenous Peoples. 

at’s because our legal systems 

and will postdate those of the church and the nation states. 

predate 

away, the question of the life of a river has taken on a new legal 

Oceans 

In 2012, the Whanganui River became a legal entity 7 and in 2017, 

meaning. 

given the same status as a person under New Zealand law. 8 In an 

was 

between the Maori and the Crown, the river has been given legal 

agreement 

under the name Te Awa Tupua, and two guardians, one from the 

status 

and one from the Maori, have assumed the responsibility to protect 

Crown 

river. is responsibility is a rea rmation of Indigenous practice and is 


to the laws of nation states. One can easily argue that many 

transformative 

in an American or Canadian regulatory process are only 

“stakeholders” 

in their rights and rarely interested in their “responsibilities.” In 

interested 

recently signed treaties like the Bu alo Treaty 9 and the Treaty of 

contrast, 

Salish Sea, 10 between Indigenous Nations, pledge to care for the 


of humans in relationship to these great spiritual beings, the 


alo Nation and the Salish Sea. 

Bu 

on Turtle Island, another river is recognized. In May of 2019, the 

Here 

Tribal Council voted unanimously in favor of a resolution 

Yurok 

the rights of the Klamath River, spanning through Modoc, 

establishing 

Hoopa, Karuk Territory to the Paci c Ocean. 

to the Yurok Tribe, the resolution “establishes the Rights of 

According 

Klamath River to exist, ourish, and naturally evolve; to have a 


and healthy environment free from pollutants; to have a stable 

clean 

free from human-caused climate change impacts; and to be free 

climate 

contamination by genetically engineered organisms.” 

from 

is resolution provides another powerful tool to protect our river, 

“ 

has sustained the Yurok people since time began,” said Joseph L. 

which 

the Chairman of the Yurok Tribe. “We have always and will 

James, 

always do everything in our power to preserve and enhance the

Klamath for all future generations.” 11 

is the time to make legal institutions that re ect the world we live in, 

Now 

the anthropocentric world we fantasize is a reality. It really is not 

not 

to regulate watersheds until there is no water in a river. Now is the 

prudent 

to make laws which rea rm the spirit of place, of beings, and rea rm 

time 

the relationship between humans and the Holy Land. Omaa Akiing.

The Month You Remember Me 

is this magical made-up time in the United States between so-called 

ere 

Day (or Indigenous Peoples’ Day for the enlightened) and 

Columbus 

anksgiving, where white Americans think about Native People. 

at’s sort 

our window. Honestly. Now, let me tell you the truth; I think about white 


every day … every day. How o en do white Americans think of 

people 

people? Rarely. 

Native 

2019, November was known as Native American Heritage Month, 

Until 

in the middle is that Halloween thing, and until about three years ago, 

plus 

of the most popular Halloween costumes was Pocahontas. So, people 

one 

nothing about us, but like to dress up like us, or have us as a mascot. 

know 

President Trump renamed Native American Heritage Month as 

Sadly, 

Founding Fathers Month, so we might have lost out on a few 

National 

of collective acknowledgement. In other words, will you still think 

seconds 

Native People if we don’t have a month? 

about 

are invisible. Take it from me, I travel a lot, and o en ask this question: 

We 

you name 10 Indigenous Nations? Sometimes I ask for 25. You can ask 

Can 

in a room full of PhDs, or a lecture hall full of college students, and 

this 

en no one can name us. If we are to be named, it is Lakota, Cherokee, 

o 

Cheyenne, Blackfeet, mostly Native People from westerns, or maybe 

Navajo, 

that Cherokee great-grandmother someone believes they have. 

is is the 

of history: writing out the victim, making the victim disappear; 

problem 

is no victim so there was no crime. We just disappeared. 

there 

always, when I am traveling, there will be this feeling that someone 

And 

seen a unicorn in the airport. at would be me, in my Pendleton jacket 

has 

an apparition from times long ago. ere will be that awkward question 

— 

whether I am Navajo or Cherokee, and then we will sort it out … 

about 

on how much patience I have. Most people are very well 

depending 

intentioned. 

do I want to tell you while you are thinking of me? Let me squeeze 

What 

in: ere are over 700 Indigenous Nations in North America, and, in 

this

and Bolivia in South America we are the majority population. 

Guatemala 

Indigenous presidents have been elected — Evo Morales in Bolivia and 

Two 

Chavez in Venezuela. We are doctors, lawyers, writers, educators, and 

Hugo 

are here. we 

are land-based and intend to stay that way. Our land and water is our 

We 

I hear White People (using the term White as a social construct) talk 

life. 

how the Americans gave us land. Treaties reserved land, and 

about 

were reserved. America was stolen, or purchased for a pittance. 

reservations 

Andrew Jackson forced the removal of thousands of our people, 

President 

then sold our land. Some historians point out that Jackson’s Louisiana 

and 

knocked US debt from $58 million in 1828 to $38,000 in 1834. 

purchase 

deal, except for us. Of the 4% of our land base that remains, we intend 

Good 

keep it. Of our treaties which were signed between our ancestors and your 

to 

we intend to stand by them. 

ancestors, 

are not you. Worldwide, there are about 7,000 languages in the world 

We 

and they are primarily Indigenous. Some languages are very close to 

today, 

At least 52 North American Indigenous languages have 

disappearing. 

46 languages are known to have just one native speaker, while 

disappeared, 

languages have fewer than 50 speakers. 12 Of those languages, this means 

357 

roughly 2680 languages are facing a risk of extinction. 13 It’s called 

that 

the forced loss of a language, and the US government and 

linguicide, 

carried it out well. e UN has declared 2019 the year of 

churches 

languages, to raise awareness about their loss. Lakota and 

Indigenous 

are two of the strongest living languages in North America. We 

Ojibwe 

to keep our words. 

intend 

intend to keep our spiritual and religious practices — I am not a 

We 

and it was not until 1978, with the passage of the American 

Christian, 

Freedom of Religion Act, that Native people could freely practice our 

Indian 

religions. 

at is, unless someone wanted to mine your sacred site or put a golf 

on it. course 

women are here, and we birthed this Nation. We created the agro 

Native 

of 8000 varieties of corn, and a multitude of beans, squash and 

biodiversity 

varieties which are now touted by big agriculture and are the 

melon 

for most crops. We are the ones whose hearts cannot fall on the 

foundation 

Despite that my heart breaks every day I see an opioid epidemic 

ground. 

brought to me by the pharmaceutical industry or see another Native person

cannot get health care. 

who 

are also at risk; been that my whole life. I, like many other Native 

We 

have been beaten, and have a female relative who was missing, 

women, 

and ended up in the Mississippi River. Over a thousand Native 

murdered 

are missing or murdered in the past decade. I am tired of being 

women 

to you all. I am tired of the lack of compassion of the settler state, or 

invisible 

president who slashes health care and access to food, or the state that seeks 

a 

contaminate the remaining wild rice with sul de to keep a dying mining 

to 

a oat. And I am tired of North Dakota pretending that Standing 

industry 

does not exist. I am tired of being invisible and demand that you see me. 

Rock 

right here, I’m the stu this country is made of. Honest. 

I’m 

I want to say is that we are beautiful, amazing, tough-as-can-be 

What 

It would be nice if we thought of each other kindly and with 

people. 

Civil society would bene t; the legal, political, economic, 

compassion. 

systems would bene t if Indigenous Peoples were not written out of 

judicial 

public policy and thinking. A er all, if you want to gure out how to 

history, 

out on the continent for 8000 years or so, you might want to see us. 

hang 

I want Native American Heritage Month back. But more, I want to be 

And 

seen, heard and respected.

Part 2 

Relatives

Seeds of Hope: Mino Gitigaaning 

father used to say that there will be a time when there will not be food in 

My 

stores. at would be a good time to know how to grow food. I am 


what American historians would call a Victory Garden. Well a 

planting 

of them. I am calling it Mino Gitigaaning. A Good Garden. It is full 

couple 

heritage varieties of corn, beans, squash, potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, 


and hemp. en, there’s a he y tomato, basil, cucumbers, eggplants 

tobacco 

other produce section of the gardens, and more to come. I am planting 

and 

and a commitment to the covenant I have with this world. I am 

hope 

in a time of ongoing wars. I’m planting for life, because I love her. 

planting 

Garden: a vegetable garden, especially a home garden, planted to 

Victory 

food production during a war. Answering the federal government’s 

increase 

by May 1943, there were 18 million victory gardens in the United 

challenge, 

— 12 million in cities and 6 million on farms. Together, they 

States 

almost 10 million short tons of food. In 1944, that was an amount 

produced 

to all commercial production of fresh vegetables. 1 It’s time for a 

equivalent 

Garden as our transition to the next economy. Or maybe a Garden 

Victory 

Gratitude and Joy. 


fact is that food systems of the globalized capitalist economy are 

e 

failing. 

ey are Wiindigoo Economics at their best. We see shrimp raised in 

deveined in China and served on a platter at Walmart in North 

Scotland, 

at’s not a web that can last. In 2020, we saw this unravel quickly 

America. 

as the coronavirus moved through globalized economies. 

e New York 

reported that, as restaurants, hotels and schools close in the face of the 

Times 

pandemic, 

Wisconsin and Ohio, farmers are dumping thousands of gallons of 

in 

milk into lagoons and manure pits. An Idaho farmer has dug huge 

fresh 

to bury 1 million pounds of onions. And in South Florida, a 

ditches 

that supplies much of the Eastern half of the United States with 

region 

produce, tractors are crisscrossing bean and cabbage 

elds, plowing 

perfectly ripe vegetables back into the soil….

e amount of waste is staggering. 

e nation’s largest dairy 

Dairy Farmers of America, estimates that farmers are 

cooperative, 

as many as 3.7 million gallons of milk each day. A single 

dumping 

chicken processor is smashing 750,000 unhatched eggs every week. 2 

at’s tragic. 

e response by people has been life. Seed companies are 

a surge in sales, back orders and more as people become home 

experiencing 

People want to grow food, and that’s a great thing. Crisis is 

gardeners. 

opportunity… 

I had to put my thumb on it, I would say people are worried about their 

“If 

security right now,” said Emily Rose Haga, the executive director of the 

food 

Savers Exchange, an Iowa-based nonpro t devoted to heirloom seeds. 

Seed 

lot of folks even in our region are putting orders into their grocery stores 

“A 

having to wait a week to get their groceries. Our society has never 

and 

a disruption like this in our lifetime.” 3 

experienced 

seems that my father was right about the grocery stores. His name was 

It 

LaDuke, his name was also Sun Bear. Now looks to be that time, 

Vincent 

time to garden and return to the seeds. 

that 

e New York Times reminds us, “ 

is isn’t the rst time in recent years 

there has been a run on seeds. ‘When the market crashed in 2008, there 

that 

a big increase in people starting to grow their own food,’ Ms. Kruysman, 

was 

Johnny’s Selected Seeds, said. But that uptick was more gradual.” And of 


our Elders who lived through the Great Depression remember times 

course 

these, and they remind us that “this is the time to be saving these seeds 

like 

making sure that we can feed ourselves.” Native Seed Search is one 

and 

that sells seeds to the public, “But our priority is seeds for 

organization 

communities,’ Mr. Schlager said, pointing out that the Navajo 

Indigenous 

Nation is already su ering because of the new coronavirus. ‘ 

ey’re 

o entimes the last place where real aid, or 

support, or anything really 

handed out to people,’ he said.” 4 

gets 

and water will be pretty essential, perhaps with more long-term 

Seeds 

bene ts than federal 

support. 

the corporate food system fails, President Trump further destabilized 

As 

foods with his unrelenting attack on people of color. Of the l.5 to 

American 

million people working in agriculture today, 50–70% of them are 

2 

farm workers, according to a report by the American Farm 

undocumented

5 Donald Trump has suggested the deportation of many of those 

Bureau. 

ere are about 11 million of them. It was particularly striking 

immigrants. 

many of these workers were deemed “essential” during the -19 

that 

but they are still “illegal.” Business Insider reports that if the 

pandemic, 

sector were to eliminate all undocumented workers, the US 

agriculture 

be le with a $30–$60 billion food production loss. 6 ( ink of the 

would 

A Day Without a Mexican). I am not sure who is going to pick my 

lm 

for me, frankly, let alone most of the food that comes from 

avocados 

Central Valley. 

California’s 

to the deportations, retail food prices could increase by 5–6% on 

Due 

with some categories seeing higher jumps than others. For example, 

average, 

National Milk Producers Federation expects a 90% increase in milk 


if the country removes the immigrant labor supply. 7 Add to that a 

prices 

million loss from the 2016 California drought 8 and the unstable 

$603 

brought to us by climate change. Sprinkle that with some bad water 

weather 

California is using groundwater in fracking operations, and Nestle 

policies: 

sucking up groundwater in California and elsewhere to bottle. 

is 

is about a promise and hope. Gardening and rebuilding our 

Gardening 

relationships with the relatives which have roots. Rea 

rming relationships 

with plants is a rea 

rmation of our agreements and responsibilities with 

Mother Earth. 

at’s if, indeed, we are able to survive. 

grow a really old squash. We call it Gete Okosomin, or “really cool old 

We 

at variety has been around 800 or more years and is well adapted 

squash.” 

northern Minnesota. It keeps over the winter, and when opened up, 

for 

well over a thousand seeds within beautiful orange esh. Each year, 

contains 

plant more heritage varieties, watch them grow with wonder, have a large 

we 

family who weeds together, a pony we use to cultivate, and some 

extended 

that we are intent upon improving a er forty years of scorching with 

soils 

agriculture’s pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers. All together we 

industrial 

looking to grow not only food for our community, but with our 

are 

family by family. And we are intent upon growing hemp, or 

community, 

as the anecdote to the fossil fuel era. A er all, in the early days of 

cannabis, 

American farming community, people would grow a half acre of hemp 


a half acre of ax — which would supply the needs of each extended 

and 

before cotton from Pakistan, before polyester from China. Native 

family 

people also grew hemp; it was a useful and magical plant. 

e White Earth

hemp crop, focused on ne textile varieties, is ourishing, well over 

tribal 

high by the fourth of July. We are ready for peace and victory. 

knee 

is a wondrous time now. Mandaamin, the Anishinaabe word for corn, 

It 

wonderous seed, and in many ways re ects understandings from 

means 

land-based cultures. Vandana Shiva, Indian physicist and political 


reminds us that seed is sacred. In Hindi, seed is bija or “containment 

leader, 

of life.” 

is created to renew, to multiply, to be shared, and to spread. Seed is 

Seed 

itself.… Globalized industrialized food is not cheap,” Shiva writes, 

life 

“it is too costly for the Earth, for the farmers, for our health. 

e Earth 

no longer carry the burden of groundwater mining, pesticide 

can 

disappearance of species and destabilization of the climate. 

pollution, 

can no longer carry the burden of debt, which is inevitable in 

Farmers 

farming with its high costs of production. It is incapable of 

industrial 

safe, culturally appropriate, tasty, quality food. And it is 

producing 

of producing enough food for all because it is wasteful of 

incapable 

water and energy. Industrial agriculture uses ten times more 

land, 

than it produces. It is thus ten times less e cient. 9 

energy 

understanding guides me in the Victory Garden — Mino Gitigaaning, 

at 

Good Garden. 

my 

have been planting my eld of dreams. I started early this year, as it was 

I 

degrees in May–August weather. I plant for peace and so that people will 

90 

have food this year and in the years ahead. I plant for victory and hope.

Omaakaakii: In Praise of Frogs 

I would like to sing the praises of frogs. Omaakaakii. 

at’s the Anishinaabe 

for them. Ancient beings here of this place, maligned in European 

word 

of frogs and princes; I love them. As a young child, in a small town in 

fables 

Oregon, we lived on the hill, next to the irrigation ditches that ran 

southern 

the reservoir to the elds. I remember frogs. ey were loud, in 

from 

abundance, captured, looked at in wonder and then released. 

at was the 

of my mother. 

request 

know how this story ends. 

You 

ere are no frogs in those irrigation 

these days; victims of pesticides and chemical poisoning, they 

ditches 

perish. 

days remain here in the north, but in less abundance; that’s on a 

Frog 

scale. e frog populations are plummeting. ey are, in many 

worldwide 

a mirror of our relationship to that land and water. I have unearthed 

ways, 

sleeping peacefully in the garden, dormant, almost corpselike for the 

them 

I am always happy, relieved, when they return to the marshes and 

winter. 

of our north country. Spring, Ziigwan, is welcomed by their songs. 

lakes 

nights, during a certain rain, the frogs move by the thousands — I am 

Some 

sure why. I only worry and fret as I drive the northern roads, hating to 

never 

them in my fast life and deadly combustion engine. 

kill 

all know what happens to the frogs. Amphibians, they absorb 

We 

everything we put in the environment. 

ey live between land and water. As 

we, 60% water. As Anishinaabe People, we always recognize that we are 

do 

related, even the little guys. 

all 

fact is that industrial agriculture doesn’t really recognize this. Atrazine 

e 

one example. According to the National Academy of Science, “atrazine can 

is 

turn male frogs into females that are successfully able to reproduce. 

e 

suggest that atrazine … a weed killer used primarily on corn crops, 

results 

have potentially harmful e ects on populations of amphibians, 

could 

animals that are already experiencing a global decline.” 

at’s what Tyrone 

B. Hayes of the University of California, Berkeley said in the study. 10

Atrazine is banned in Europe. 

Lost Boys of Aamjiwnaang 

ere’s a reason it’s banned in Europe. Maybe this is it: 

ere’s an 

reserve in southern Ontario surrounded by a bunch of 

Anishinaabe 

plants and tar sands re neries. Some of the chemical companies 

chemical 

include Dow and Syngenta, and 

is the big tar sands re nery. 

62 separate industrial facilities cluster there, comprising 40% of 

Actually 

chemical facilities. 11 e village there, Aamjiwnaang, has been the 

Canadian 

of numerous international studies, mostly because of the birth ratio. 

subject 

how it goes: over the past twenty years, there’s been two times as 

Here’s 

girls born as boys. Writing for Men’s Health, Melody Peterson and 

many 

LaMarca pen: “ ese tribal lands have become a kind of petri 

Christopher 

for industrial pollutants. And in this vast, real-time experiment, the 

dish 

of Aamjiwnaang (AHM-ju-nun) are the lab rats.” 12 

children 

go on to explain: “Scientists turned their attention to the reserve a 

ey 

years ago, a er a study of the tribe’s birth records con rmed what tribe 

few 

had already sensed: a steady plunge in the number of boys born 

members 

1993 and 2003. In fact, by the end of the study period, two girls had 

between 

born for every boy — one of the steepest declines ever reported in the 

been 

of boys to girls. With fewer boys, the community of 850 has had to 

ratio 

adjust, although in subtle ways so far. One year, the tribe had enough girls

for three baseball teams, but the boys could ll just one team. 

e boy’s 

team has been disbanded.” 13 And so forth. 

hockey 

here I am; it’s spring. ere are no frogs in the valley of my youth. And 

So, 

I remember them. I do not have ecological amnesia. I remember not only 

yet, 

frogs but the stories. 


Coastal Tlingit stories speak of Frog Woman, who called the 

Northwest 

forth when the frogs were abused. Volcanoes erupt worldwide in 

Volcanoes 

Ring of Fire. I am going to say that at some deep level, we are all related. 


that Frog Woman asks us to be mindful. It is a metaphor; take it for that. 

And 

on the so-called Ponsford Prairie, the atrazine from the corn and 

Back 

has wiped out the frogs, or changed their sexes, most likely. I even 

potatoes 

a one-eyed frog once. By and large, they are no more. Spring is here, 

saw 

and each year we can make new decisions. My companion has a 

however, 

which had no frogs a er six years of agricultural chemicals, and now, 

farm 

er three years of organics, the frogs have returned. Omaakaakii giiwewag. 

a 

frogs come home. 

e 

do my part, and kiss more frogs happily in my life, taking one for the team 

I’ll 

it were… Noopeming, back in my woods I hear them still, clinging to 

as 

and water; a place between land and water, where the Omaakakii 

marshes 

live. Here Omaa akiing. On this land.

have missed you. I missed the butter ies for sure. My yard has milkweed in 

I 

— and there were no pods. I am not sure why, but I saw very few 

it 

ies. Monarchs are particularly impacted by Monsanto’s BT corn, 

butter 

is genetically modi ed to produce an insecticide. But it’s more than 

which 

it’s all of you … little bugs, big bugs, mosquitoes … the windshield full 

that; 

bugs, no longer. A fog of bugs, no longer by the lake. Where have you 


I canoed and rode horse throughout the north country, and missed 

gone? 

e Ace Hardware, Menards, Fleet and every store is full of ways to kill 

you. 

pretty well documented, as colonies collapse; the story of why is told 

been 

retold, attributed at one time to the cell phone towers, and then nally 

and 

neonicotinoids, the powerful pesticides now banned through most of 

to 

In short, in 2017, 33% of the bee colonies died o , down however 

Europe. 

previous years. From 2012 to 2013, nearly half of the nation’s colonies 

from 14 died. 

in every three bites of food is directly or indirectly pollinated by 

One 

and other pollinators. 15 Honeybees alone pollinate about $15 

honeybees 

300 species of plants, another 300 species of birds, tens of species of 

to 

and uncounted hundreds upon hundreds of insect species. Fast 

mammals, 

to late summer 2012, when the air should have been buzzing with 

forward 

and few will be found. One survey of an Iowan corn eld turned up 

bugs, 

six creatures we might call bugs. 17 (Not simply six species — six 

exactly 

bugs.) Two grasshoppers, an ant, a red mite, and a cobweb spider 

individual 

a crane y. Otherwise, silence. I attest to this, as I farm in the middle 

eating 

the industrial agricultural zone known as the Ponsford Prairie. e prairie 


I Miss You 

they have been pretty successful. 

bugs; 

all of you. 

Congratulations 

however, am pretty concerned … and I nd I miss them all. 

I, 

being called an Insect Armageddon. Now, of course, the bee die-o has 

It’s 

worth of US crops each year. 16 Not to mention life. 

billion 

the die-o is widespread. In the early 1900s, Iowa’s prairies were home 

But

dominated by R.D. O utt and other farmers who overspray the elds. 

is 

days I have worked in the elds to the sound of crop dusters on both 

Some 

of me, and some days we have been over sprayed. 

sides 

eld, the non-sprayed eld, has insects in it. e rest do not. at’s the 

My 

nationally and internationally. A well-documented German study 

norm 

in the last 27 years, the ying insect biomass measured in protected 

found 

nature reserves declined an average of 76%, with an 82% drop 

German 

the midsummer season, when insect populations should be 

during 

18 Another study found that Germany experienced a 15% drop in its 

thriving. 

population over the last decade. 19 Clearly, an insect collapse also a ects 

bird 

birds who feed on them. 


here we are, the land of 10,000 lakes and hopefully a gazillion sh. What 

So, 

was raised by an entomologist, a bug man. His name was Peter Westigard, 

I 

Norwegian by genetics, who worked on the insects of fruit trees. My father 

a 

to tell me that there were 800 million species of insects in the world 

used 

nothing could diminish the biomass of the insects. Now I wonder… 

and 

as we go dormant for the winter, I pose the question that Rachel 

So, 

brought forth some y years ago in her book Silent Spring. e epic 

Carson 

manifesto documented the detrimental e ects on the 

environmental 

of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Silent Spring was met 

environment 

erce opposition by chemical companies, but it spurred a reversal in 

with 

pesticide policy, led to a nationwide ban on for agricultural 

national 

and inspired an environmental movement that led to the creation of the 

uses 

Environmental Protection Agency. To be sure, Donald Trump’s 

US 

are unlikely to read this book. 

appointees 

am going to do my part to bring back those “pests,” a short-sighted term 

I 

has been misapplied. I will grow organically, plant for bees, and in the 

which 

I plan to launch my beekeeper career. A er all, the Bear Clan should 

future, 

began on January 1, 2018, in Maryland. Connecticut followed suit 

pesticides 

a er Maryland. 20 Maryland lost 60% of its bees in 2015. 21 It is time to 

shortly 

into the billion pounds of pesticides applied in the US annually and 

look 

out if all the killing is worth it. I remember Joni Mitchell lyrics, “You 

gure 

the sh going to eat if all the insects are gone, smart guys? What about all 

are 

our pollinators? 


secure with honey. 

be 

rst US ban on sales of products containing the neonicotinoid class of 

e

know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” 

don’t 

think my six-legged relatives are part of what we need. In the meantime, 

I 

is coming. Please rest, my six-legged relatives. I hope to see you in the 

winter 

I miss you. 

spring.

Free the Snake 

For the 

rst time in 131 years, a Nimiipu (Nez Perce) dug-out canoe 

the Snake and Columbia Rivers as a part of a restoration of 

traversed 

and salmon to a place. Each fall, Nimiipu and their allies from 

relationship 

Palouse, Colville and other nations, as well as hundreds of supporters, 


on Timothy Island, just down from Lewiston, Idaho, on the 

gathered 

Greeting some strong-backed individuals who had canoed 17 

Columbia. 

to honor ancestors and a river, the Save the Snake otilla, the largest 

miles 

gathering to date, pushed ahead in dam removal. 

e focus: the Ice, 

Monumental and all the dams that are aging. 

e tribes want the dams 

and so do millions of those downstream. 

removed, 

Talequah, the mother orca who carried her dead calf for 17 days in 

Perhaps 

a grieving, tells this story best. 

ere are no salmon because of the dams, 

and the orcas are starving. “ 

e southern resident orcas of the Salish Sea are 

ing toward extinction. eir population has dwindled to just 75 

dri 

Every calf that has been born in the last three years has died 

individuals. 

it could reach maturity,” D.R. Mitchell writes in the Seattle Times. 22 

before 

are the keystone species of the ecosystem, feeding not only the 

Salmon 

and the shers but the bears, eagles and every species with excellent 

orca 

e Columbia used to have one of the largest salmon runs on the 

taste. 

o en 10 million salmon a year. Today, only a fraction return to 

continent, 

in an enormous unused habitat. A series of dams, beginning on the 

spawn 

cut the river from the sea; the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest of all, 

Snake, 

built without a sh ladder, so salmon are trucked up the river to spawn. 

was 

makes sh and it makes soil. Fish are life. Today very few sh 

Spawning 

And if you want to save the orcas, you have to feed them. 

return. 

aquatic world is worsened by climate change. Salmon need moving 

eir 

and cold rivers. Dams cut the movement, climate change heats things 

rivers, 

In 2015, 250,000 salmon died at the mouth of the Columbia — the 

up. 

warm water, a result of climate change, and slack water. 23 

culprits: 

Dams are o en touted as green energy, but the fact is that mega dams are

from that. While Canada still pretends that big dams are a solution and 

far 

so en the country’s climate criminal status, the US is removing dams. 

will 

United States removed roughly 900 dams between 1990 and 2015, with 

e 

50 to 60 more removed every year. 24 In southern Oregon and 


California, the Klamath River dams are slated for 

northern 

the Elwha Dam is decommissioned. 

decommissioning; 

federal dams were built on the Snake River in the 1960s and 70s to 

Four 

atwater negotiations between Lewiston and the lower Columbia. 25 

provide 

Nez Perce tribe, in close collaboration with the State of Oregon and 

e 

has successfully challenged ve ine ective federal plans to 

conservationists, 

the damage done by the dams, 26 and a er signi cant expenditures, 

mitigate 

integrated plan to decommission the dams is under review at the federal 

an 

Removing four lower Snake River dams would yield bene ts that 

agencies. 

outweigh the costs, according to a recent study. e study calculated the 

far 

costs of dam removal at $2.21 billion for loss of grid services the dams 

net 

$1.08 billion for actual dam removal and $170 million related to 

provide, 

On the other hand, the study also found that $90 million would 

irrigation. 

saved on transportation, mainly due to reduced operations and 

be 

costs, and $1.04 billion gained in the recreation category. With 

maintenance 

billion in non-use bene ts, that brought the total value of dam 

$10.97 

to $8.65 billion. 27,28 

removal 

lobbies of agricultural interests push against the tribes and the 

Large 

complicating the situation with a set of agricultural choices based 

salmon, 

access to water, in an area with little. Once, thousands of horses, antelope, 

on 

and deer ranged the territory, now largely bere of those creatures. I 

moose 

reminded of Charles Darwin’s theory of the “survival of the ttest” and 

am 

reminded that the decisions of men (and I say men deliberately) cause 

then 

Some would say, our minds are not t. 

extinction. 

the Nimiipu, and so many others of salmon cultures, it is impossible to 

For 

a salmon people without salmon. Today, as diabetes rages in Indigenous 

be 

it’s clear that quality of diet and emotional and physical health 

communities, 

without salmon. Fishing is not only a source of food; it is what 

decline 

do. Loss of salmon is loss of culture and well-being; study a er study 

people 

a rm that. For me, I have been gi ed some salmon from the river by a 

will 

Perce leader, Brooklyn Baptiste, and I hold close to the gi ; the salmon 

Nez 

return. 

must

the upcoming years, a window of federal review opens, as state, tribal, 

In 

and other interests look to federal decisions. A federal court has 

shers 

ordered a review, and the Nimiipu and the state push for an exit plan. 

e 

River Treaty is the 1964 agreement between the United States and 

Columbia 

that provides joint management of the river system. In May 2018, 

Canada 

US and Canadian o 

cials began renegotiating the treaty. 29 Freeing the river 

provide salmon to 5500 square miles of forests, lakes and ecosystems. As 

will 

come down to the south, policy makers come to recognize that old 

dams 

is not good technology in this case. And, for those who lack an 

technology 

geography, almost every dam has ooded a Native community 

Indigenous 

from Celilo (Columbia) to Oahe (Missouri/Standing Rock) — with 

— 

impacts. 

devastating 

story of Snake River and the dams is hardly unique to the region. Most 

e 

dam projects, from the Garrison to the Colorado River Project, have had 

US 

results for Native People. Canada is the same. With over 900 

devastating 

dam projects, the largest, whether Quebec Hydro, Manitoba Hydro, 

mega 

Hydro or BC Hydro, drown Native People. 

Ontario 

of resistance to James Bay 2 saved part of the ecosystem, but new 

Years 

came online just the same. Villages like South Indian Lake and Cross 

dams 

have been devastated by these dam projects as the world they know is 

Lake 

beneath turbulent waters. Time and time again, the Canadian 

drowned 

has promised Indigenous Peoples that dam projects will bring 

government 

but the truth is always far from that. As James B. Waldram from 

prosperity, 

Department of Native Studies, University of Saskatchewan, would write, 


And in 1965, when the 

rst winter’s snows melted around the new 

community of Easterville making painfully visible the 

Chemawawin 

of soil and vegetation, and as the waters rising behind the Grand 

lack 

dam changed forever the face of the lake they knew so well, 

Rapids 

not only the shoreline but also the habitat for moose, 

obliterating 

and sh, the importance of this clause became evident. How 

muskrat 

the economy and the lifestyle of the Chemawawin people be 

would 

maintained in the face of such devastation? 30 

with big dam projects continues to be a Canadian strategy, 

Greenwashing 

the British Columbia government announces it will move ahead with the 

as 

highly controversial Site C Dam project near Fort St. John. 

e C$10.7

(US$8.32 billion) Site C hydroelectric dam project approved by the 

billion 

Canadian province’s previous government has not surprisingly 

western 

anger and threats of court cases. 

provoked 

Columbia Premier John Horgan said he was continuing with the 

British 

Site C project with “a heavy heart,” but feared that electrical costs would rise. 

is not a project that we favor, or a project that we would have 

is 

Horgan told reporters. e project, which would provide 

started,” 

electricity for about 450,000 homes a year, would ood more 

enough 

5,000 hectares (12,355 acres or about 19 square miles) of land in 

than 

British Columbia, spurring opposition from local farmers and 

northeast 

groups. 

Indigenous 

forward with Site C is a “major setback to reconciliation,” 

Moving 

of First Nations national chief Perry Bellegarde said in a 

Assembly 

statement, adding that the “next step will be legal challenges.” 31 

on a river about to see freedom, it’s a di erent feeling. I canoed slowly 

Back 

to a dug-out canoe, ate salmon and berries from the river and thought 

next 

the future. To the people of river and lakes, salmon and sh are our 

about 

e waters are a part of people as are the lands. And, the taste of justice 

lives. 

for a river, in this case the Snake River, is a good taste.

Do We Grieve the Death of 

How 

River? a 

Grandfather Disaster 


Krenak told me about the river his people call Waatuh, Grandfather, 

Ailton 

Our people blocked the road. When the troops arrive, we will face them. 

— Ailton Krenak, Krenaki People, Brazil 

2014–2015 we saw three of the largest mine tailings pond disasters in 

In 

ese stories, like so many others, do not make many headlines, 

history. 

raising so many questions about public policy, mining safety and 

despite 

liability concerns. ey certainly don’t raise concerns about the 

economic 

important question: what are the moral implications of the death of a 

most 

is became increasingly apparent as I interviewed Ailton Krenak, 

river? 

of the Onassis International Prize and a leader of the Indigenous and 

winner 

movement in Brazil. 

forest 

sing to the river, we baptize the children in this river, we eat from this 

“We 

the river is our life.” Really, how do you express condolences for a river, 

river, 

a life, to a man for whom the river is the center of the life of his people? 

for 

is a question we must ask ourselves. 

at 

November 2015, the collapse of two dams at a Brazilian mine on the 

In 

River released a deluge of toxic sludge over nearby villages and 

Doce 

changed the geography of a world. “ 

e dam collapse cut o drinking water 

a quarter of a million people and saturated waterways downstream with 

for 

orange sediment. Nine people were killed, 19 are still listed as missing, 

dense 

500 people were displaced from their homes when the dams burst at an 

and 

ore mine in southeastern Brazil on Nov. 5. e sheer volume of water 

iron 

mining sludge disgorged by the dams across nearly three hundred miles 

and 

staggering: the equivalent of 25,000 Olympic swimming pools or the 

is 

carried by about 187 oil tankers.” 32 

volume 

Brazilians compare the damage to the BP oil disaster, calling it one of 

e

EPA Disaster 


2015 saw a similarly disastrous failure in a tailings pond feeding into 

August 

the worst environmental disasters in Brazilian history. 

e water has moved 

the ocean — not only into a delicate ecosystem, but also right into the 

into 

area for endangered sea turtles. “Renowned Brazilian documentary 

nesting 

Sebastiao Salgado, whose foundation has been active in e orts 

photographer 

protect the Doce River, toured the area and submitted a $27 billion clean- 

to 

proposal to the government. ‘Everything died. Now the river is a sterile 

up 

lled with mud,’ he told reporters.” 33 

canal 

When the mining companies — including Australian-based 

Billiton, 

largest mining company in the world and the one that sold a 60-year-old 


strip mine to the Navajo Nation in 2013 — wanted to come back, “we 

coal 

blocked the road,” Ailton Krenak told me. 

the Animas River in Southern Colorado. 

e amazing thing about this dam 

was that it was caused by the Environmental Protection Agency. In 

failure 

case, the was looking into a mine water tailing pond at the Gold 

this 

King Mine near Silverton Colorado. 

e mine had been abandoned, one of 

astonishing 22,000 abandoned mines in the state, 34 meaning, 

an 

there could be more to come. It seems that on August 5, 2015, 

unfortunately, 

along with workers for Environmental Restoration 

personnel 

the release of toxic wastewater when attempting to add a tap to the 

caused 

tailing pond for the mine. 

e workers accidentally destroyed the dam 

held the pond back, causing 3 million gallons of cadmium-, arsenicand 

which 

lead-laced mine waste water and tailings to gush into the oddly named 

Creek, a tributary of the Animas River. e was criticized for 

Cement 

warning Colorado and New Mexico until the day a er the waste water 

not 

spilled. 

e Navajo Nation, directly downstream, also did not receive the 

memo. 

e 

did take responsibility for the incident and had the area declared a 

disaster zone. 

e Navajo Nation has sought disaster relief, since this was a 

source of water for Navajo livestock and agriculture, many of which 

major 

not survive the spill as the Dine irrigation system had to be cut o . e 

did 

Nation had a bit of time to prepare for the onslaught, in that 

Navajo 

way that you know your life is about to change dramatically. By 

terrifying 

August 7, the waste reached Aztec, New Mexico, then the next day, it

Salmon Disaster 


exactly a year before, in August 2014, in northern British Columbia, 

Almost 

Farmington, a major Navajo city, before the orange ood moved 

reached 

the San Juan River. As of August 11, acidic water continued to spill at a 

into 

of 500–700 US gal/min (1.9–2.6 m 3 /min) while remediation e orts were 

rate 35 Reporters noted, “ e heavy metals appeared to be settling to 

underway. 

bottom of the river because largely, they are insoluble unless the entire 


becomes very acidic.” 36 

river 

e Navajo Nation attempted to sue the 

to the tune of $130 million, 

but in 2017 the 

declared that it was legally protected from damages 

caused by the spill and asked that the claims be dismissed. 37 

is, despite the 

that a Freedom of Information Act request found that government 

fact 

cials “knew of ‘blowout’ risk for tainted water at mine” for at least a 

o 

38 Perhaps one of the most tragic sidebars of this story is that the Gold 

year. 

Mine itself was abandoned in 1923. And, prior to the spill, the Upper 

King 

water basin was already devoid of sh due to previous acid mine 

Animas 39 drainage. 

Mount Polley Mine disaster spilled an estimated 1.2 billion gallons of 


waste from the Imperial Metals mine into the pristine forests and 

mine 

waterways of the remote region. 40 “ 

e dam’s failure was catastrophic, 

nearly the entire contents of the mine’s tailings pond — an area the 

allowing 

of New York’s Central Park holding years worth of mining waste — to 

size 

out into Hazeltine Creek, Polley Lake and Quesnel lake.” 41 

ow 

Lake is one of the deepest ord lakes in the world, and home to 

Quesnel 

of BC’s salmon population. 42 e Secwepemc First Nation, on whose 

25% 

lands the spill happened, were on the nearby Fraser River 

traditional 

the largest sockeye salmon return in recent history. Instead they 

awaiting 

a river overrun with toxins from the largest mine waste spill in 

found 

history. In the days following the disaster, Secwepemc Elder Jean 

Canadian 

said, “ e loss of the salmon for us as Secwepemc people is a 

Williams 

of life or death for our culture. Can our salmon survive this 

matter 43 Indeed, a study commissioned by the First Nations Health 

devastation?” 

found that there were signi cant economic and social impacts on 

Authority 

surrounding communities: 


Emotional stress and trauma as a result of the spill was shared across

22 communities which participated in the study. 


impacts to traditional territory, such as loss of access to sacred 

Direct 

traditional foods and medicines, in three First Nations — Xat’sull 

land, 

Nation, Williams Lake and Lhatko Dene First Nation. Impacts 

First 

immediate and ongoing. 

were 

decrease in individual 

A 

shing practice reported by almost all 

resulting in changes to diet composition, physical activity 

communities, 

cultural practices. 

and 

Impacts to commercial 

sheries in six communities, leading to 

economic income and employment opportunities for 

reduced 

members. 44 

community 

over the potential devastation from spills of this kind spread 

Concerns 

even before the cause of the breach was known, Native communities in 

and, 

parts of the province began to speak out against mining operations on 


lands. their 

e spill’s rami cations rippled to Imperial’s Red Chris mine in 

“ 

BC, where elders from the Tahltan Central Council (with 


the company previously had a positive working relationship) 

whom 

a blockade to voice their concerns about the potential of a 

established 

incident in their territories.”… In order to continue operations, 

similar 

company was forced to sign an agreement that would allow third- 


party inspection of the operation under the band’s auspices. 45 

that they would be powerless in the face of another spill, “the 

Concerned 

took what some might feel was a bold step: It invoked its rights 

Secwepemc 

a sovereign First Nation of Canada and evicted Imperial Metals from its 

as 

It also announced that it now had mining policies of its own, and 

land. 

enforce from herea er.” Invoking the UN’s Declaration of Indigenous 

would 

the Secwepemc Nation argued that it’s their right to “determine and 

Rights, 

priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or 

develop 

and other resources,” including the right to close the mine and 

territories 

mining companies as it sees t. As Jacinda Mack, council coordinator 

evict 

the Secwepemc Nation, said, “One thing I want to make perfectly clear is 

for 

policy isn’t a wish-list. is is Indigenous law.” 46 

this 

two years a er the disaster the mine was repaired and reinforced 

However,

of the River? 

Rights 

2012, New Zealand’s Whanganui River became a legal entity and was 

In 

was once again fully operational. Shortly a er that, the provincial 

and 

announced that there would be no provincial charges related to 

government 

tailing ponds collapse. A year later it was announced that there would be 


private charges. e h anniversary — and the deadline for federal 

no 

— came and went with no charges being laid. 47 And some residents 

charges 

still reluctant to drink the water. 

are 

mining economy of northern British Columbia continues, along with 

e 

fracking pipelines and a host of extreme energy proposals, which seem 


to be undertaken out of sight and out of mind, except if you live there. 

the same status as a person under the law. In an agreement between 

given 

Maori, represented by the Whanguanui iwi, and the Crown in 


the river has legal status under the name Te Awa Tupua. Two 

Parliament, 

one from the Crown and one from a Whanganui River iwi, are 

guardians, 

given the responsibility of protecting the river. 

agreement which recognizes the status of the river as Te Awa 

“Today’s 

(an integrated, living whole) and the inextricable relationship of 

Tupua 

with the river is a major step towards the resolution of the historical 

iwi 

of Whanganui iwi and is important nationally,” said New 

grievances 

Zealand’s Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. 48 

the Animas River, the Fraser River and the Rio Doce have similar 

Should 

or standing? Should the St. Louis River, or Gichigami Ziibi (River 

rights 

Runs to the Sea) as it is known in Anishinaabemowin, have similar 

which 

And, importantly, who gets to determine what is alive? 

status?

Should Save the 

Amazon 

Amazon 

Ever worry that one day you will wake up and 

nd you are owned by 

Amazon? 

ey keep growing. With all their in uence, gobbling and growth, 

would be great if they would do something good with it. Like save the 

it 

Amazon. 

though, they are buying everything, and some days, I have to pinch 

Really 

to see if I am really me or owned by Amazon. 

myself 

from deep in the woods, I watch a circus of corporate 

Nopeming, 

You’ve got Bayer buying Monsanto; General Electric — the guys 

takeovers. 

make appliances and nuclear power plants — well they own 80% of 

who 

; Enbridge bought Spectra; Exxon bought Mobil; Delta 

and 

Northwest; and Amazon bought Whole Foods. Kind of like watching 

bought 

Pacman game. 

a 

just can’t keep track of the drama in the corporate world. Seems like their 

I 

come and go so quickly, it must be hard to keep the right make up, 

identities 

logo, on. I don’t really know who they are … I don’t think they really 

or 

who they are. 

know 

And then, they go bankrupt and aren’t around anymore. Poof. 

ey are 

gone. 

at, however, usually occurs a er they have a catastrophic accident 

Union Carbide, a er the Bhopal disaster). 

(i.e., 

California’s Paci c Gas and Electric. 

Take 

is one of California’s largest 

corporations, providing power transmission to 16 million customers. 

ey 

not take care of their powerlines, so, those lines caused a re, aka the 

did 

Fire. Camp 

was the one that took out the town of Paradise, where 86 people died. 

at 

is ling for bankruptcy, because they have $30 billion in liability. 49 

Now 

means that they have to pay o their creditors rst — the guys who 

at 

them money. It’s unknown how much will trickle down to Paradise. 

gave 

And poof, they are gone. 

at corporation is no more. Somehow I am 

trying to rectify in my little head why the president of 

gets to sit in his

Brazil 

only that big Amazon would help save the actual Amazon. 

If 

in Bermuda, or wherever, having sucked millions annually out of 

armchair 

and not having to pay for any of the disaster he’s caused. 50 

California, 

corporate gobbling and getting rich thing is really bothersome to me. 

is 

also boggles me why a corporation is considered a person under the law, 

It 

the same rights as you and I. Now, a corporation is not actually a 

with 

because a person has a soul. And, besides that, if a corporation was a 

person, 

I think they would be su ering from a multiple personality disorder 

person, 

er all those mergers and limited liability things are sorted out. 

a 

Now back to Amazon. 

at corporation is one of my favorite corporations; 

love that Amazon Prime. Now, Amazon is getting bigger. Je Bezos, the 

I 

has done well. Bezos is the rst person in modern history to 

, 

a fortune of over $200 billion, according to the latest Forbes 

accumulate 

of his net worth. e company is now worth $1.49 trillion. 51 

estimates 

e rainforests 

getting clear cut, dams are breaking and killing people, mining 

are 

are running amuck, and Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, has 

companies 

an assault on environmental and Amazon protections by 

launched 

the regulation of Indigenous reserves to the agriculture 

transferring 

— a ministry known to be controlled by the powerful agribusiness 

ministry 

lobby. 

at the 2019 Bioneers Conference, executive director of Amazon 

Speaking 

Leila Salazar-López, notes that Brazil had over 100,000 res in 2019 

Watch, 

burning 3 million hectares of Amazon forest, and puts the blame for 

alone, 

squarely on the shoulders of the Bolsonaro administration: 

this 

lot of people ask us, well, who’s responsible?… It is the Bolsonaro 

A 

Let’s not make light of it. e Brazilian government has … 

government. 

only the rhetoric, but the policies to destroy the Amazon to make 

not 

for economic development, to make way for agribusiness, to make 

way 

for soy and cattle, to make way for mining. It is their policy to 

way 

the Amazon for economic development. So it’s not a mistake. 

destroy 

It’s not a wild re. It’s intentional, and malicious, and destructive.… 

e 

moment Bolsonaro got in o 

ce, he rolled back the rights of Indigenous 

merged environmental and agribusiness ministries to 

peoples, 

destroy the lands and the rights of Indigenous peoples. 52 

intentionally

Peru 

to the west, Peru is moving quickly into the Amazon. One of the 

Meanwhile, 

ere will be an increase in deforestation and violence against indigenous 

“ 

Dinaman Tuxá, executive coordinator of the Articulation of 

people,” 

Indigenous People of Brazil ( 

), said. “Indigenous people are defenders 

protectors of the environment.” 53 

and 

of Indigenous reserves was previously controlled by the 

Demarcation 

agency Funai, which fell under the justice ministry until 

Indigenous 

attempted to move it to a new ministry of human rights, family 

Bolsonaro 

women, under the control of an evangelical pastor. Fortunately, 

and 

cant public pressure forced him to return Funai to the justice ministry. 

signi 

original executive order also gave Bolsonaro’s government secretary 

e 

far-reaching powers over non-governmental organizations 

potentially 

in Brazil, clearly targeting the successful work to support 

working 

Peoples. Bolsonaro, a political combination of Andrew Jackson 

Indigenous 

Donald Trump, issued an ominous statement, “More than 15% of 

and 

territory is demarcated as indigenous land and quilombos. Less than 

national 

million people live in these places, isolated from true Brazil, exploited and 

a 

by s. Together we will integrate these citizens.” 54 

manipulated 

health minister, Luiz Henrique Mandetta, is doing his part too 

Bolsonaro’s 

spending cuts to health care for Indigenous People. “We have gures 

with 

the general public that are much below what is spent on health care for 

for 

indigenous,” he said. 55 


ending the demarcation of new Indigenous lands, reducing the 

Well, 

of environmental agencies and freeing up mining and commercial 

power 

on Indigenous reserves were key elements of Bolsonaro’s election 

farming 

so it’s not like this is a surprise. It’s like the 2019 version of the 

campaign, 

Allotment Act, which allotted reserve land to individual Indigenous 

General 

to create a more European model of land holding. 

People 

projects, the $2 billion Inter-oceanic Highway, connects Peru and 

biggest 

by way of the Amazon. e 2600 kilometers of highway travels over 

Brazil 

Andes and through a large chunk of the Amazon. 56 Elsewhere, the Belo 


hydroelectric dam, licensed under Lula’s government, was brought to 

Monte 

November 27, 2019, in the presence of Bolsonaro. 

life 

response to the “Blue Gold Rush” a sort of a green energy 

In 

asco

Amazonian Tribes and COVID-19 

Isolated 

gold means a gold rush, and during a pandemic like 

e 

as huge hydroelectric dams threaten other parts of the 

internationally, 

the Movimento Xingu Vivo para Sempre (Xingu Alive Forever 

Amazon, 

Movement), issued a statement damning the dams: 

a time when the people of the Xingu agonize over their lack of water, 

At 

hails the nal turbine of Belo Monte. At a time when the sh 

Bolsonaro 

the Xingu River are reduced to skin and spine because there are no 


nutrients in the river, Bolsonaro celebrates Belo Monte. When the 

more 

tumbles like it never has before in the areas of Belo Monte … 

forest 

honor him by setting res to the forest.… 

supporters 

Monte, as expected, is killing the Volta Grande of Xingu, and 

Belo 

new turbine requires more and more water for it, further 

every 

the river and its people. 

endangering 

you all! May those who commemorate Belo Monte be cursed. 

Damn 

the one who comes to inaugurate the last turbine of the dam be 

May 

May the pain of Volta Grande keep you up at night, take away 

cursed. 

peace and quiet, and may it strip the laughter from your mouth. 

your 

all of the violence against the Xingu people come to haunt you one 

May 

day. Damn you all! 57 

then there’s gold. Peru is the world’s sixth-largest gold producer, and 

And 

much of it comes from Andean mines, a growing portion — by some 

while 

16 to 20 of the 182 tons that Peru exports annually — comes from 

estimates, 

or quasi-legal mining along the rivers. e mercury will choke and 

illegal 

poison the rivers, all for some baubles on a nger. 

e Peruvian government 

that 30 to 40 tons are dumped into the country’s Amazonian rivers 

estimates 

year. 58 each 

, that’s a bad 

for anyone. e rst -19 death in the Amazon was reported on 

thing 

9, 2020. at, according to National Geographic, is a Yanomami youth 

April 

moved back and forth through an area full of wildcat gold miners. 

who 

isolated Indigenous communities have been protected under federal 

Brazil’s 

since 1987, barring outsiders from entering the territories of these 

policies 

principally because Indigenous Peoples have no immunological 

nations, 

defense.

that matters. 

Now 

Federal Public Ministry “warned on April 8 of the ‘risk of genocide’ 

Brazil’s 

amid allegations that 

, Brazil’s indigenous a airs agency, had done 

little to protect native communities from the coronavirus contagion. 

e 

Public Ministry also repeated its call for the immediate removal of 

Federal 

Lopes Dias, an evangelical missionary appointed in February to 

Ricardo 

head 

’s Department of Isolated and Recently Contacted Indians.” 

is concern that Dias’s history as a missionary might lead him to 

ere 

the department away from its strategic role of shielding isolated tribes 

“steer 

the forces of the outside world.” e con rmed 28 — and suspected 80 

from 

— communities living in “extreme isolation” have been protected from 

more 

since 1987, principally to protect the tribes from communicable 

outsiders 

diseases. 

National Geographic explains, “Many of their villages have little or no 

As 

with the outside, but their sprawling reserve has been illegally 

contact 

ltrated by thousands of gold prospectors, posing a grave threat to the 

in 

Yanomami leaders have been pleading with o cials for weeks to expel 

tribe. 

miners. “You should do your work to avoid the penetration of the 


into our homes along the pathways opened by the non-indigenous 

epidemic 

warned the Hutukara Yanomami Association in an open letter on 

invaders,” 

19, 2020, to federal health and Indigenous a airs o cials.” 

March 

e 

-19 death wasn’t the only tragic death in these communities in 

2020. As National Geographic reports, “On March 31, (2020) Zezico 

early 

a leader of the Guajajara people, was found shot dead outside his 

Rodrigues, 

in the Arariboia Indigenous Territory in Maranhão. Investigators 

village 

yet to produce a suspect, but the Guajajara have been locked in a war 

have 

with illegal loggers that has le 

ve of its members dead since last 

While the political power of the Kayapo has resulted in an 

November.” 

with miners to withdraw from their territory, and other nations, 

agreement 

the Muduruku, have posted signs prohibiting trespass into their areas, in 

like 

regions, illegal miners, loggers and land speculators continued their 


moves into Indigenous territory during the crisis. 59 

aggressive 

is considered the second-largest contributor to climate 

Deforestation 

a er fossil fuel use, accounting for about 10 percent of greenhouse 

change, 

emissions. Forests act as sponges for carbon dioxide, soaking it up and 

gas 

converting it into plant material. And oxygen. 

e Amazon is the lungs of

Earth and the people who live there, the ones who have forever, they 


want to be le alone. ere’s even about 5000 of them who are 

just 

— that means they want nothing to do with the rest of us. I, 

“uncontacted” 

one, want to support that. Leave them alone. A er all, oil mining 

for 

are causing enough messes in the Amazon, and I’d like to see 

corporations 

“Garden of Eden,” or maybe just a safe place for nature. 

one 

let me be clear about this. In 2018, Amazon, the company, was worth 

So, 

billion, and earned $11 billion in pro ts. 60 ey will pay zero in federal 

$600 

It used to be that when I thought of the Amazon it was the lungs of 

taxes. 

Earth, but a Google search will rst point me to shopping. ey 


the name of a place, and apparently don’t give a damn about 

appropriated 

place. I nd that sad. 

that 

stated, before you gobble up anything else Mr. Bezos, aka. Mr. 

Simply 

can you pay some royalties to the protection of the Amazon? Or 

Amazon, 

some of what you could have paid in taxes if you didn’t have all those 

maybe 

the little people don’t have. ose Forest Guardians, the guys with 

breaks 

on scooters protecting the Amazon, could use some gear and some 

machetes 

Maybe get it delivered Amazon Prime to a nearby town. at 

support. 

would be swell.

Viva Mexico 

ey tried to bury us. 

ey did not know we were seeds. 

—Mexican proverb 

Ihave always loved that quote, rooted, ancient and resilient. 

at is my 

not the Mexico of Donald Trump tales. Forty thousand years of 

Mexico, 

the origin of corn, potatoes, tomatoes, avocados and, let me say it, 

history: 

chocolate. 

e Mayans have a Goddess of Chocolate, Ixcacao. Now I can 

that. A land which remembers, people who remember and are 

understand 

as seeds. And a river, reborn. 

reborn, 

early September 2018, I was invited to a conference on de-growth in the 

In 

city in the world, with 21 million people, Mexico City. ere, 

largest 

and leaders of social movements talked of how we might live in 

academics 

for another 100 years, maybe 1000. A er all, if the ecosystems 

societies 

and there is no food, air or water and a few people head to another 

collapse, 

well that’s not really a long-term plan. e conference, held at the 

planet; 

Nacional Autónoma de Mexico’s Museum of Medicine, 

-Universidad 

me pause, as I listened not only to academics but to the voices of a 

made 

social movement in Mexico. A movement for change and resilience. 

strong 

does this story begin? With land and water, far before the people. 

Where 

e Colorado River is one beginning. 

e river was once alive, the delta 

that invisible line called a border encompasses 3,000 square miles. 

spanning 

size of Rhode Island, the Colorado Delta is one of the largest desert 

e 

estuaries in the world. 

e nutrients brought by the river nourished 

the rare vaquita porpoise and an enormous relative to the white 

dolphins, 

bass which grew to 300 pounds, spawning in the brackish water and 

sea 

the Sea of Cortez. When the Spaniards arrived, they spoke of ocks 

ranging 

birds so abundant they darkened the sky, deer, bobcats, beavers and 


coyotes. 

e people there, the Cocopah, have an origin story which reminds 

they are children of the gods. When the Spaniards saw them, there 


thousands of them, tall and strong, the women adorned with feathers 

were 

that fell from the waist, feasting on a cornucopia of gardens, with soils rich

Indigenous Candidate 


de Jesus Patricio Martinez — or Marichuy, as she’s known — an 

Maria 

a river delta and harvests plentiful. 

from 

was before the dams. e United States has squeezed the lifeblood out 

at 

of the Colorado River, literally. 

e Hoover Dam, built in 1935, reduced the 

ow of the river to ll Lake Mead, the water supply for Los Angeles. 

en 

the Glen Canyon Dam, cutting the river ow for 17 years, then the 

came 

and Morelas dams, until the Delta is without water. Choked. e 

Imperial 

fewer in numbers, many refugees in their own country, and sad for 

people 

world they knew. As Joni Mitchell would say, “You don’t know what 


you’ve got till it’s gone.” 

at is a story of a river, one of so many stories. 

o cial period of the Mexican Inquisition was from 1571 to 1820. 61 

e 

a pretty long run as inquisitions go. at’s where a good deal of 

at’s 

burning of witches occurred and a good deal of torture. 

e conference I 

attended was in the former Holy O 

ce of the Inquisition, the “palace” now 

called the Museum of Medicine. 

ick stone walls still smell like blood of 

the tortured, I swear. 

at’s another beginning of this story, little vignettes of 

history. 

Mexican 

am reminded of the Inquisition in Diego Rivera’s mural “Dream of a 

I 

Sunday a ernoon in the Alameda.” Mexican history is told in art. 

e city 

boasts more museums and public art than any in the world. 

at’s along 

free education, from grade school to graduate school. It is beautiful, 

with 

Mexico. 

woman backed by the Zapatista National Liberation Army 

Indigenous 

), ran for the presidency of Mexico. Her campaign changed the 

( 

in Mexican national politics and focused on the rights of women, 

dialogue 

Peoples and nature. Running as an independent — which was 

Indigenous 

allowed for the 

rst time in the country, on condition of collecting a 

of 850,000 signatures — she collected signatures and told the 

minimum 

of Indigenous Peoples and the Zapatistas. Although Marichuy’s 

story 

was not successful, she was able to gain broad community 

registration 

and marked a change in Indigenous politics. 62 In a country with one 

support 

the highest death rates for Indigenous and environmental leaders, 


courageously traveled the country and provided courage and a 

Marichuy 

voice. A spokeswoman for the National Indigenous Congress, the political

River The 

then there is the river, resilient and hopeful. On March 23, 2014, the 

And 

arm of the 

, she brought to the electoral politics a strong movement. As 

record numbers of Indigenous women run for o 

ce in the US, we are also 

inspired. 

shunned party politics generally, the Zapatistas and the National 

Having 

Indigenous Congress ( 

) formed independent autonomous communities 

known as “Caracoles” across the country. 

ese are founded on the principle 

self-determination and are seen as resilient models of self-government for 


across the globe. is campaign marks a move into national political 

people 

arenas. 

however, have come. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is the new 

Changes, 

of Mexico, a progressive leader, former Mexico City mayor, 

president 

and le ist. at’s who Trump is trying to get to pay for that wall. 

nationalist 

Dam groaned open, unleashing a surge or “pulse ow” of water into 

Morelas 

thirsty Colorado River. As the gray-green torrent roared south, children 


had only known a dry riverbed played as the Colorado River came back 

who 

life. e Environmental Defense Fund’s Colorado River Project helped 

to 

through an international multi-agency initiative allowing the release of 

work 

acre-feet of water (52,000 Olympic-size swimming pools). e goal: 

106,000 

restoration of the Colorado River Delta. 63 In September 2017, the 

jump-start 

administration’s Interior Ministry allocated 210,000 acre-feet of 

Trump 

water annually for delta restoration over the next nine years. 64 

at’s a 

Life returns. Egrets, geese, cormorants, sandhill cranes, who 

beginning. 

in the north country, to the Colorado Delta they y. To them, and 

summer 

the Cocopah, this is life. 

at is my Mexico.

Borinquén: A Rebirth 

does Puerto Rico’s catastrophic 2017 hurricane teach us about 

What 

how we treat each other and the future? e Taino name for the 

ourselves, 

island is Borinquen; it is still that land. A er the disasters of 

beautiful 

Irma and Maria, very little has changed. e country was 

Hurricanes 

by the worst natural disaster to hit the island region, about 3,000 

devastated 

died, and President Trump bumbled a lot, including throwing paper 

people 

at Borinquenos and criticizing the Mayor of San Juan. And, as Naomi 

towels 

reminds us, there is nothing natural about this disaster: 

Klein 

major causes of death were people being unable to plug in medical 

e 

because the electricity grid was down for months; health 

equipment 

so diminished they were unable to provide medicine for 

networks 

diseases. People died because they were le to drink 

treatable 

water because of a legacy of environmental racism. 

contaminated 

died because they were abandoned and le without hope for so 

People 

that suicide seemed the only option. 

long 

deaths were not the result of an unprecedented “natural 

ose 

or even “an act of God,” as we so o en hear. 

disaster” 

the dead begins with telling the truth. And the truth is that 

Honoring 

there is nothing natural about this disaster. 65 

According to a study published in 2019, 

federal government responded on a larger scale and much more 

e 

across measures of federal money and sta ng to Hurricanes 

quickly 

and Irma in Texas and Florida, compared with Hurricane Maria 

Harvey 

Puerto Rico. e variation in the responses was not commensurate 

in 

storm severity and need a er landfall in the case of Puerto Rico 

with 

with Texas and Florida. 

compared 

even today, the administration is sitting on $18 billion in 

Indeed, 

aid to Puerto Rico that has been approved by Congress. 66 

recovery 

ere’s a lot of reasons: racism, ignorance, a hundred years of colonialism,

archaic colonial law called the Jones Act, which is basically stopping aid 

an 

getting in, an economy constantly structurally adjusted to 

from 

corporate interests and a crushing debt. But Puerto Ricans 

accommodate 

with allies on the mainland and internationally, have a new and 

themselves, 

better plan for their country; that vision is being born. 

a 

little history lesson: 2017 marked the 100th anniversary of the US 

A 

absorption of Borinquén, or Puerto Rico, under the Jones Act, 

political 

citizenship, but not the full bene ts of citizenship. As an 

conferring 

territorial possession, Puerto Rico is the world’s oldest 

unincorporated 

Residents are US citizens, but have no say in presidential elections. 

colony. 

can die for this country in the military, but they cannot vote. And the 

ey 

Act — the shipping law that requires that all goods entering Puerto 

Jones 

from the mainland arrive via US ships, dramatically driving up costs 

Rico 

limiting options 67 — restricts what can come into Puerto Rico and is a 

and 

signi cant factor in Puerto Rico’s economic di 

culties, and it’s killing 

today. Something is profoundly wrong about that second-class 

people 

which should rankle not just Puerto Ricans, but us all. 

citizenship, 

is not surprising that colonialism has not worked well for Puerto Rico. 

It 

the economic dominance of the sugar industry, to the military 

From 

of Vieques, a small Puerto Rican island, Puerto Rico has seen the 

occupation 

kind of relations as much of Indian Country. Take the example of 

same 

Between 1941 and 2003, two-thirds of this small island was 

Vieques. 

by the US Navy. Bombed an average of 180 days per year; in 1998, 

occupied 

last year before protests interrupted maneuvers, the Navy dropped 


bombs on the island, the majority of which contained explosives. 

23,000 

the course of US Navy occupancy, nearly 22 million pounds of 

“Over 

and industrial waste, such as oils, solvents, lubricants, lead paint, 

military 

and 55 US gallon (200 L) drums were deposited on the western portion 

acid 

the island.” 68 e US Military is the largest polluter in the world. 


sounds quite a bit like many cases in Indian Country, whether the Ho 

is 

Badger Munitions Site, Fort Wingate, Western Shoshone Territory or 

Chunk 

Pine Ridge’s Gunnery range, all territories occupied by the US military. 

e 

did some work to clean up Vieques, but by 2003 they had handed most 

Navy 

the island to the Department of Interior, who had the lands reclassi ed as 


wildlife refuge. Since humans are not allowed to enter wildlife refuges, that 

a 

up can be avoided. is sounds a great deal like Badger Munitions in Ho 

clean

New Birth for Puerto Rico 

A 

brings opportunity. I think it’s time to support Puerto Rico to become 

Crisis 

Territory. 

Chunk 

scholar Nelson Davis writes, 

As 

er one hundred years of citizenship, Puerto Ricans are prohibited 

A 

managing their own economy, negotiating their own trade 

from 

or setting their own consumer prices. Puerto Rico has been 

relations, 

more than a pro t center for the United States: rst as a naval 

little 

station, then as a sugar empire, a cheap labor supply, a tax 

coaling 

a captive market, and now as a municipal bond debtor and target 

haven, 

privatization. It is an island of beggars and billionaires: fought over 

for 

lawyers, bossed by absentee landlords, and clerked by politicians. 69 

by 

results: economic refugees, who leave their beloved homeland and are 

e 

onto the mainland, where they continue to be treated as second-class 

forced 

citizens. From 2006 to 2015, more than 700,000 people 

ed debt-ridden 

Rico, to cities like Orlando, New York, Philadelphia and Miami. 70 

Puerto 

knew they were US citizens? One poll found that only 54% of 

Who 

knew that Puerto Ricans were American citizens, 71 therefore 

Americans 

to the same disaster relief a orded Houston or any other city facing 

entitled 

climate change disasters. Donald Trump appeared quite unaware of this. 

self-reliant, multi-racial and beautiful country, as it was intended. Early on, 

a 

Elon Musk came out and said that Puerto Rico should just go solar, 

Tesla’s 

that was a moment to re ect. It turns out that a movement of Puerto 

and 

like Resilient Power Puerto Rico, supported by many allies, is 

Ricans, 

a future. As Naomi Klein writes in the Intercept, “Under the banner 

creating 

a ‘just recovery’ for Puerto Rico, thousands have come together to design 


bold and holistic plan for the island to be rebuilt as a beacon for a safe, 

a 

and thriving society in the era of accelerating climate chaos, 

resilient, 

economic inequality, and rising white nationalism.” 72 

spiraling 

is, frankly, an opportunity to do the right thing. A er all, a resilient 

is 

and energy system is sure better than a non-working system, and 

economic 

climate change disasters on the increase, we will need to be prepared. 

with 

Puerto Rico’s energy system was ine 

cient and outdated before the 

hurricanes. So how bad was it? Imagine that they are operating on

petroleum. 

at’s right, until 2012, 65% of their electricity came from 

petroleum, with only 1% coming from renewables. 

is has changed slightly 

recent years. In 2019, 40% of Puerto Rico’s electricity came from 

in 

39% from natural gas, 18% from coal and 2.3% from renewable 

petroleum, 

energy. 73 

at’s expensive and is forced through a surcharge in the US, via 

Jones Act, which requires Puerto Rican imports to touch US soil. So, the 


Rican Electrical Company uses fuel oil no. 6 (the heavy, dirty version 

Puerto 

New York City has banned), or fuel oil no. 2, which costs about $3 per 

that 

It’s so expensive that the Puerto Rican Electrical Company decided to 

gallon. 

cash from its capital works fund — up to $100 million — to buy oil. It’s 

take 

surprising that Puerto Rico’s electricity costs — at about 27 cents per 

not 

— are about twice what they are on the mainland. Puerto 

kilowatt-hour 

however, use much less power. 74 

Ricans, 

let’s say we set up a power grid and a local food system which would feed 

So, 

people, reduce the debt and make sure that they still had power in the 

island 

next hurricane. 

en maybe get rid of that Jones Act. 

this plan. Sunrun and Tesla, two solar companies, brought over 

at’s 

solar panels with powerwall batteries to power water desalination 

smaller 

Funding for the project was provided by Empowered by Light (a 

tanks. 

backed by Leonardo DiCaprio), roo op company Sunrun Inc. (which 

group 

donated the solar panels) and GivePower, a nonpro t that specializes in 

also 

installation in con ict regions. 75 at’s some solutions. It’s a 

solar 

e ort for these companies, but it’s also a chance to showcase 

humanitarian 

energy source capable of enduring natural disasters. e Solar Energy 

an 

Association has received pledges for more than $1.2 million in 

Industries 

and monetary contributions from its network. 76 

product 

than perpetuate the island’s dependence on vulnerable distribution 

“Rather 

and carbon-heavy fuel,” Resilient Power explains on its website, 

hardware 

prioritize clean production of energy that allows each household to be 

“we 77 

self-reliant.” 

well, many of the island’s farmers are creating a similar revolution in 

As 

Most of the season’s crops were destroyed by Maria, but the 

agriculture. 

for a restorative agriculture system is clear. Because so much of the 

potential 

farm land is not being cultivated, Puerto Rico has been importing 

potential 

of its food. Even before the hurricanes there was a movement to restore 

80% 

or Indigenous knowledge and modern appropriate 

“agroecology,”

into farming, adding in the bene t of carbon sequestration. It 

technologies 

out that organic agriculture sequesters carbon, which is what we need. 

turns 

like Boricuá Organization for Ecological Agriculture have 

Organizations 

brigades,” now traveling from community to community to 

“agroecology 

seeds and soil so that residents can begin planting crops immediately. 

deliver 

Naomi Klein writes, “Katia Avilés-Vázquez, one of Boricuá’s farmers, said 

As 

a recent brigade: ‘Today I saw the Puerto Rico that I dream being born. 


week I worked with those who are giving it birth.’” 78 

is 

and nationally, internationally acclaimed musician Maria Isa, 

Locally 

Borinquena, worked with leaders like Minnesota State 

Minneapolis-raised 

Melissa Lopez Francis (Edina) to leverage relief, and as of May 2018, 

Senator 

$270,000 and delivered it directly to Puerto Rico. 79 e Puerto Ricans 

raised 

Minnesota Coalition along with Borinquen will continue to support the 


of a new Puerto Rico. And in its own example of being, so much like a 

birth 

reservation, let us support this rebirth, as it is our own.

Theft Continues 

Land 

not going to give a long speech about the Wampanoags and the Pilgrims. 

I’m 

Is Time for 

Thanksgiving 

Reparations 

anksgiving morning. Everywhere in America. anksgiving seems 

It’s 

important to white folks, but it needs to mean something to Native 

pretty 

people too. Perhaps it could mean something like justice and reparations. 

a brutal history that begins with the beheading of their leaders (which 

It’s 

then displayed on spikes for decades in Puritan towns) and continues 

were 

the most recent attack on the People of the First Light by the Trump 

to 

administration. 

March 2020, the Secretary of the Interior made the unprecedented 

In 

to take the land of the Wampanoag Cape Cod Reservation out of 

decision 

trust and disestablish the reservation. 

e status of the trust had been in 

for some time, but the announcement of the decision, coming 

question 

late Friday a ernoon in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic is 

down 

said William Keating, Massachusetts senator. Tribal Council chair 

“cruel,” 

Cromwell said, “It feels like we’ve been dropped o into a new world 

Cedric 

never seen before, i.e., in this pandemic and the way my tribe is being 

we’ve 

With this happening now, this is a direct, hardcore blow to 

treated. 

and disestablishing my tribe.” 80 

dissolving 

Pierite, of the North American Indian Center, argues that this is 

Jean-Luc 

power grab and a land grab by the Trump administration.” He suggests 

“a 

this, along with a decision to withdraw trust status from lands owned by 

that 

Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians in California, demonstrates that 


Trump administration is willing to use its discretionary powers to 


to take lands away from tribes. 81 

attempt 

real estate, like Cape Cod, is always a bitter ground for Native 

Prime 

people; just ask the Hawaiians or the Wiyots of California.

Parks as Land Theft 

National 

well-being is land based. And, nationally, most of that land is not 

Indigenous 

by Native people. Prime real estate is not the only land that has been 

held 

from Indigenous Peoples — national parks are literally a treasure 

stolen 

stolen from Native people. Historian Phil Burnham describes the 

chest 

of tribal lands for national parks in his book Indian Country, God’s 

taking 

A few of the takings include Glacier, Badlands, Mesa Verde, 

Country. 

Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Death Valley and of course the 

Yosemite, 

Hills. Black 

the west, the Pikuni, or Blackfeet Nation, have begun to push for more 


to Glacier Park. Indeed, the Lame Bull Treaty of 1855 recognized the 

access 

lands, as well as those lands to the north and south in Glacier 

Blackfeet 

by Kootenai and Salish people, respectively. But in 1896, because 

occupied 

potential mineral resources on the land, the Blackfeet were starved into 


transferring more land to the federal government for $1.5 million. 

ey sold 

or perhaps leased — the land, but on the grounds that it remains public. 

— 

the land was declared a national park in 1910, Blackfeet hunting and 

When 

rights were revoked, though gathering rights remained. Since then, 

shing 

people have been arrested and forced to ght in court for their use 

Blackfeet 

the land. of 

2019, the Blackfeet announced their own national park project, led by 

In 

DesRosier, a thirty-year veteran of park tourism and owner of Sun Tours, 

Ed 

Loren BirdRattler, project manager for the Blackfeet Nation’s 

and 

Resource Management Plan. Approximately 55 percent of 

Agricultural 

biodiversity is present on Blackfeet Nation’s 1.5 million acres, 

Montana’s 

tourism an important industry in the area. But the revenues do not 

making 

t the Blackfeet Nation, so some members have decided to change that 

bene 

opening a national park as “a way to assert the tribe’s place in the region’s 

by 

protect its natural resources and provide new economic 

history, 

to its members.” A er all, the history of Glacier is the Pikuni, 

opportunities 

they call themselves. 82 

as 

the Salish and Kootenai continue a collaborative management 

Nearby, 

with the National Bison Range, carved entirely out of their 

initiative 

Meanwhile, here in Minnesota, the Tamarac National Wildlife 

reservation. 

was carved out of the White Earth Reservation, and really should be 

Refuge

Stolen Land 

Returning 

there are many ways to make good on this 

Fortunately 

to the tribe. Almost one-third of the White Earth Reservation is 

returned 

by federal, state or county governments, all of it taken illegally. 

held 

fact is that the national parks and wildlife refuges hold more land than 

e 

people nationally. As Keller and Turek point out in American Indians 

Native 

National Parks, “tribes today contain 50 million acres; the Park Service 

& 

approximately 80 million.” 83 at’s ironic and tragic. 

controls 

anksgiving and 

On October 21, 2019, Tuluwat, known as Indian Island, was 

beyond. 

to the Wiyot Tribe of northern California. e Wiyots are 

returned 

speakers, a linguistic miracle, thousands of miles from the rest of 

Algonquin 

linguistic family. e Wiyot tribe, who still live on this small stretch of 

our 

had begun purchasing plots of land years ago, but in 2015 Eureka city 

land, 

began to explore returning the land to the tribe. In 2019, it was 

council 

nally approved. 84 “ 

is is the rst known transfer of land from a city to a 

of this kind,” Eureka Councilwoman Natalie Arroyo said. “We are all 

tribe 

to do what we can to actively participate in healing. I will be so 

responsible 

as to say under current conditions Eureka owns the land, but it was 

bold 

truly ours.” Eureka Mayor Susan Seaman con rmed that “the vote to 

never 

the Tuluwat island to the Wiyot Tribe was unanimous and the motion 

return 85 passed.” 

at’s a good way to begin reparations. Return of stolen land. 

ere’s a lot of 

on that island. In 1860, Tuluwat was the site of a massacre, one of over 

blood 

dozen that occurred in a ve-day period in the area. Most of the adult men 

a 

away, bringing back essentials for their Earth Renewal Ceremonies, 

were 

the massacre, which took the lives of about 250 men, women and 

when 

children, occurred. 

local newspaper, the Northern Californian, described the scene 

Arcata’s 

follows: “Blood stood in pools on all sides; the walls of the huts were 

as 

and the grass colored red. Lying around were dead bodies of 

stained 

sexes and all ages from the old man to the infant at the breast. 

both 

had their heads split in twain by axes, others beaten into jelly with 

Some 

others pierced or cut to pieces with bowie knives. Some struck 

clubs, 

as they mired; others had almost reached the water when 

down 

and butchered.” 86 

overtaken

Back the Land 

Taking 

2018, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe secured the return of part of the 

In 

Brutal indeed. 

e work of vigilantes, but also the responsibility of those 

stood back and said nothing. 

who 

Tuluwat/Indian Island massacre was part of a coordinated 

e 

attack on other Wiyot villages, including those on the Eel 

simultaneous 

and South Beach. ough the attack was widely condemned in 

River 

outside Humboldt County, no one was ever prosecuted for the 

newspapers 87 murders. 

e only compensation for land is land. 

at’s what Oren Lyons, the 

Faith Keeper, has always reminded us. “Land acknowledgements” 

Onondaga 

a start. Indigenous People’s Day declarations begin a process. But the 

are 

only compensation for land is land. 

Chippewa National Forest. 

at was about 11,700 acres stolen from the 

band by the National Park Service in the 1940s. 

at’s the story of Indian 

However, although the Leech Lake Reservation is the second 

Country. 

reservation in Minnesota and is wealthy with water and land, less 

largest 

5% of the Leech Lake Reservation actually remained in Ojibwe hands. 

than 

of the reservation’s prime lakeshore and islands were held by non- 

Most 

lakeshore owners. 

Indian 

why, in 2017, Leech Lake made the decision to phase out leases to 

at’s 

Over 350 lots of prime land along the lakeshore were occupied 

non-Natives. 

non-tribal members. At the same time, noted former Natural Resources 

by 

Levi Brown, there were 500 homeless tribe members looking for 

Director 

to live on the reservation, and 100 more applying for tribal land 

places 

where they can build a home. 

allotments 

Brown told Minnesota Public Radio, “You can put a dollar sign on what 

As 

have to spend on somebody. Or you can say, ‘You’re Anishinaabe. You’re 

you 

from the water. We’re going to allow you to live and be who you 

people 

are.’” 88 

same year, the Bad River Band of Ojibwe in Wisconsin also ended 

at 

with non-band members. In 2014, the band made the decision not to 

leases 

the 50-year lease, up in 2017, of 17 plots of land that were held by 

renew 

members in the remote and pristine Amnicon Bay on Madeline 

non-band 

Island. 89

the long arc of history, we nd that enlightenment is possible. And on 

In 

anksgiving, I am reminded that the brutality of history only nds 

this 

redress in reparations and justice.

The Telescope and the Mauna 

e Mountain brought us together,” Luana Busby tells me. It’s 200 days into 

“ 

prayer vigil and blockade which has brought the proposed irty Meter 


( ) to a stop in Hawai’i. at’s to say, the project, the fourteenth 

Telescope 

telescope in Hawai’i, has met with resistance, big time. Luana is one of 

giant 

Kapuna, or Elders, who was arrested in July of 2019. 


is the rst major Indigenous occupation since Standing Rock, and, 

is 

Standing Rock, it’s a Selma Moment. It’s a moment which unites people 

like 

understanding with water and land. ousands have come. 

and 

Understanding this as a battle over the 

, one also sees a story that is not 

about a telescope, but about who gets to decide the future and 

just 

and interpret the world. It’s about deciding if we will look to the 

understand 

or the Earth. And it is about deciding if we want bombs or water. It’s a 

stars 

of the Kia’i, or the Protectors. 

time 

is is the place where the Earth is born. 

e farthest and most remote set 

of islands in the world is a magical land. Pele rules. 

at happened in a big 

way in 2018, when a four-month lava 

ow out of the Kilauea volcano 

the landscape of the island, vaporizing a lake, covering a bay 

transformed 

toasting 700 homes. Pele is a force to be reckoned with and not one that 

and 

can be controlled by humans. 

at’s this place too. Mauna Kea is not only 

to some 13 giant telescopes, but it’s also home to a huge military 

home 

range and a volcano which erupts and transforms the Earth. ere 

bombing 

some strange bedfellows in the military industrial complex. 

are 

July 17, 2019, Native Hawaiian Mauna Protectors faced o with 200 

On 

police on the Hawaiian Homesteads Road to the proposed site of the 

riot 

billion . Native Hawaiian Kia’i or Protectors watched as the oldest 

$1.9 

among them were carted o , one by one, by law enforcement o 

cers. Some 

in wheelchairs or using canes or walkers. Some 35 Elders were arrested 

were 

day, as they told their children and supporters to stay calm. “ ey 

that 

arrested our 80-year-old Kapuna 

rst. Kapunas are the bedrock of the 

communities, they created our front line. 

ese are our beloved sacred

Kapu System 


the center of the occupation is culture and a worldview of the Mauna as a 

At 

Luana Busby, one of the defendents tells me in an interview. “We 

Kapuna,” 

charged with the obstruction of the road. We really shouldn’t be 

are 

charged.” 

being. To Indigenous Peoples, the Earth is alive, and there is no place 

sacred 

this is more obvious than here on the Big Island, the land of the 

where 

Each island has a spirit and a place in the universe. “Kapiko o 

volcano. 

that’s the summit of Mauna Kea. at’s the umbilical cord to the 

Wakea, 

Luana explains to me patiently. “Piko of Kanaloa or Kaho olawe, 

heavens,” 

was the umbilical cord of the sea. e shining vagina of the ocean. Kaho 

that 

like Mauna Kea, is a portal of the spirits.” Hawaiians are clearly much 

olawe, 

sexually liberated than their colonizers. 

more 

camp, set up there to resist construction of the telescope, “works under 

e 

strict discipline. Everything is based on ritual and based on the 


of our ancestors,” Pua Case, one of the leaders in the Mauna Kea 

framework 

tells me. “Our traditional practice includes Cities of Refuge, a 

movement, 

Kapu system and village system. 

at’s the model we use here, our 

traditional governance and organization.” 

is means there’s a list of rules, 

those who are here agree to the rules and the boundaries, including no 

and 

and no smoking of any kind. “ at keeps us clean,” Pua tells me. 

alcohol 

this is a well-run camp. I have developed a theory that women are 

Indeed, 

campers and good camp leaders. A er all, feeding big families and 

practiced 

all those needs is good practice. Women are pretty practical. 

juggling 

from Standing Rock, the medical tent at the Mauna Camp is 

Learning 

ed by doctors and health practitioners, and includes an examination 

sta 

a lot of basic medical supplies, a room for acupuncture and 

room, 

healing massage. “We are keeping the camp small for now,” 

traditional 

tells me in the middle of January 2020. New arrivals are encouraged 

Noelani 

to sign in at an orientation station. 

ere is a tented cafeteria providing free 

meals and a community-run medic station, daycare and school. 

e camp 

Hawaiian Kapunas, traditional, and a good group of Water 

includes 

and allies. “We set up a university,” Chancellor tells our group. 

Protectors 

ere are over 200 classes being taught here. We are also challenging who 

“ 

to set up a university.” 

gets

to God 

Closer 

irty Meter Telescope project was birthed in California universities. 

e 

the Hawaiian tradition, it’s the season of Lono, and not the time for war, 

In 

is why there is basically a truce between the Hawaiian police and the 

which 

Protectors, or Kia’i, the Protectors. Each day, people gather three 

Mauna 

for ceremony, morning, noon and night. “ at way, we remember why 

times 

are here,” Case tells me. It’s a highly organized camp, again, with some 

we 

taken from Standing Rock. 

notes 

It doesn’t look like anyone is going anywhere soon. 

e camp is 

Kealoha Pisciotta, one of the Kia’i leaders and a spokesperson 

ourishing. 

Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, a Native Hawaiian group, said even the arrests 

for 

ect how the ongoing protest has played out so far: emotional, respectful 

re 

tense. “It’s a temple. You can’t make war in a temple. You can stand for 

and 

righteousness. It demands aloha.” 

at’s a good start. And, in this Selma 

this set of Kai’i water and land protectors have stopped, thus far, a 

Moment, 

billion telescope project. 

$1.6 

at the University of California and Caltech began development of 

Scientists 

design that would eventually become the , consisting of a 492-segment 

a 

mirror with nine times the power of the Keck Observatory, latest 

primary 

thing. e Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation put up a good $200 

big 

for the project. While the idea was born, the telescope has not been. 

million 

was due originally to start in 2014, but was temporarily 

Construction 

due to a blockade of the roadway. While construction of the telescope 

halted 

set to resume on April 2 and later on June 24, 2015, it was blocked by 

was 

protests each time. In 2015, Governor David Ige announced several 

further 

to the management of Mauna Kea, including a requirement that the 

changes 

site will be the last new site on Mauna Kea to be developed for a 

’s 

at made it look a lot better, in his mind. But that did not satisfy 

telescope. 

Native Hawaiians, nor in fact many Hawaiians, who are increasingly 


to the fragile ecology of the islands. 

loyal 

e guys put rocks in the road. at’s how they nally stopped the police. 

“ 

June 24, 2015, there were around 40 people there at the Mauna. e line 

On 

had people in lines about twenty feet apart. By the time all the 

captains 

came, we had 700 people on the Mountain,” Mililani Trask, another 

police 

Native Hawaiian defendant in the Mauna case and long-time political leader,

is is, indeed, how ballads and legends are made: “ e women 

remembers. 

the babies held them o for about ve hours.” en they had to go 

and 

the fog which had emerged, “you could not see 10 feet in front. 

through 

the fog li ed the cops found the rocks in the road. e police nally 

When 

began arrests.” 

Kanuha, a Hawaiian language instructor, had been charged in 

Kaho’okahi 

2015 blockade of the road for Mauna Kea. He only spoke in Hawaiian. 


told a story of a Chief long ago who had to stop an invading force from 

“He 

up the Mountain. at is what the Chief of long ago did. en 

coming 

explained that the Chief was his ancestor. ‘I was not able to stand 

Kaho’okahi 

before, but I am standing here now. I have the same right as my Chief.’ 

here 

was magic. He was a Native person speaking in a Native language in the 

It 

ey had to bring an interpreter for him,” Mililani Trask remembers. 

court. 

at was in 2015, and the story continues. 

is is a story of a genealogy, a 

set of beings — mountains, islands, sky and water — and it’s a story 

living 

a land and its people. 

about 

the Board of Land and Natural Resources approved the 

Nevertheless, 

but the Supreme Court of Hawaii invalidated the building permits 

project, 

December 2015, ruling that the board had not followed due process. On 

in 

30, 2018, the Court approved the resumption of construction, and 

October

Long Occupation 


been ghting telescopes and the military for 

“We’ve 

Gov. David Ige announced that construction would resume the week 

Hawaii 

July 15, 2019. at’s when the Hawaiians threw down on the road. In 


words, the current protest is just the latest time over the past ve years 


Protectors have intervened at the construction site, and the second time 

that 

they’ve halted construction altogether. 

y years,”Luana Busby 

me. Indeed Hawaiians have been protecting their waters and lands 

reminds 

long before the time of live Facebook feeds. at is, pretty much since 

since 

the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. 

e military occupation 

continues. 

we are all looking at this giant telescope project, the ultimate phallic 

While 

right next to the telescope project there’s this military base called 

symbol, 

at’s a bombing range for the US military where they just bomb 

Pohakuloa. 

side of the island without a live volcano. Because the military seems to 


that’s a smart thing to do. And they want more land. A er all, the 

think 

is the largest land owner in Hawaii, or thief of land, since 

military 

most of the Hawaiian lands belong to the Hawaiians, since they 

technically 

never relinquished title. 

e road to the Mauna Kea observatories is a good 

of this, as the road actually belongs to the Hawaiian Homelands. 

example 

the end of World War II, Hawaii has been the center of the US 

Since 

military’s Indo-Paci c Command ( 

), from which all US forces 

the region are directed. It serves as an outpost for Paci c expansionism, 

in 

with Guam and the Marshall Islands, Samoa and the Philippines. 

along 

the center of US military activities over more than half the 

is 

from the west coast of the US to Africa’s east coast, from the Arctic to 

earth, 

Antarctica, covering 70% of the world’s oceans. 90 

at’s not getting any 

smaller with the US military budget. 

at’s to say, if the US spends 57% of 

the federal budget on the military, half of that is spent in Hawai’i. 

is is big 

. stu 

military owns or controls more than 200,000 acres, about 5% of the 

e 

state’s total land area. 

e army has the largest landholdings: approximately 

acres. Although Hawai’i Island has the largest acreage devoted to the 

150,000 

(102,000 acres) much more signi cant are the roughly 80,000 acres 

military 

the military controls on O’ahu — a staggering 21% of the island’s limited

ase. 91 land 

is big business. “Direct and indirect impacts of military expenditures 

War 

reported to generate $14.7 billion into Hawai’i’s economy, creating more 

are 

102,000 jobs for residents that collectively report household incomes 

than 

$8.7 billion. Military expenditures totaling $8.8 billion annually have 

around 

the defense industry. Military procurement contracts amount to 

elevated 

$2.3 billion annually, making it a prime source of contracting 

about 

for hundreds of Hawai’i’s small businesses. 92 Hawai’i has also 

opportunities 

the presence of the nation’s top prime defense contractors: Boeing, 

secured 

Martin, Northrop Grumman, Systems, General Dynamics, 

Lockheed 

and several others. 

Raytheon 

are new military and there are old military sites on the islands. In 

ere 

report, the military determined that there were over 236 former military 

one 

in Hawai’i, at 46 separate installations, all of which were contaminated. 

sites 

just to be clear, the military is bombing an island with a live volcano. 

So 

guys for sure. e Pohakuloa training area ( ) is a 108,793 acre 

Smart 

range between the sacred mountains of Mauna Kea and Mauna 

bombing 

in the center of the big island, Hawai’i. Right next to the telescopes. And 

Loa 

in this, an old traditional name for Mauna Kea comes to mind, 

somewhere 

at means the water holder or water vessel. e Mauna is actually a 

Ka’ohe. 

aquifer, a mountain lled with fresh water. Bombing an aquifer is a 

huge 

proposition, particularly because even the military needs water. 

dangerous 

least seven million rounds of ammunition are red annually at that base 

At 

Pohakuloa has the “highest concentration of endangered species of 

alone. 

army installation in the world” according to former commander Lt. Col 

any 

Owen, and it has over 250 ancient Hawaiian archaeological sites. 93 

Dennis 

species and archaeological sites are pretty much “toast” with the 

ose 

in charge. e military proposes to expand the base by 23,000 acres, 

military 

the Military Transformation Proposal, and has brought the Stryker 

under 

to the area. e latest military expansion was 79,000 more acres. 94 

brigades 

ongoing battles of the Hawaiians against the military occupation of 

e 

lands continue. Each year, from the Makua bombing ranges in Oahu to 

their 

successful battle against the Super Ferry in Kauai, the stories grow in 


“It was like Fern Gully,” a Native Hawaiian teacher told me. “A 

number. 

of us old farts went to non-violent civil disobedience training” and 

bunch 

of us were out on paddle boards. “It’s a bard’s heaven, the stu legends 

more

allads are made of, for sure.” 

and 

occupation of Hawai’i began with the illegal overthrow of Queen 

e 

Liliokalani in 1893 by Samuel Dole. 

e military has continuously taken 

from the Hawaiians, and in 1941, Hawai’i was placed under martial law 

land 

er the attack on Pearl Harbor. at’s when the US military took over 

a 

operations on the island of Kaho’olawe. 

e Navy began ship-to-shore 

bombardment of the island. 

en the military began the destruction on 

island, detonating three 500 ton Trinitrotoluene ( 

) charges which 

the island. Ultimately, the military “cracked the bedrock of the 

buckled 

the military bombed it so hard, they broke the bedrock of the island. 

island: 

means that the aquifer broke, seeped through the crack in the bedrock 

at 

now there’s just saltwater on the island. ey broke the bed rock,” Busby 

and 

me. I really can’t imagine a more violent act. 

tells 

is the Hawaiian island you will never visit, that and Ni’ihau. 

Kaho’olawe 

is the place where Hawaiians can live as Hawaiians, in other words 

Ni’ihau 

no tourists there. But Kaho’olawe was the only national historic site 

there’s 

used as a bombing range. 

also 

1976, Dr. Emmett Aluli, a Native Hawaiian medical doctor, led Aluli v. 

In 

challenging the military occupation of the island in federal district 

Brown, 95 A 1977 judgement in favor of what would become the Protect 

court. 

Ohana began the process of Hawaiian recovery of the island, and 

Kaho’olawe 

a 1980 Consent Decree between the military and the Protect 

ultimately 

Ohana began the full military decommissioning and clean up. 

Kaho’olawe 

$400 million later, the island is less full of ordnance, but still full of 

Some 

And there is no aquifer or bedrock. 

craters. 

however, is far from the only Paci c Island used by a military. 

Kaho’olawe, 

1946 and 1996, the United States, Britain and France conducted 

Between 

testing in the deserts of Australia and the atolls of the central and 

nuclear 

south Paci c. Over 

ve decades, more than 315 nuclear tests were held 

the region. “Later underground testing fractured the base of fragile 

across 

contaminating the marine environment.” 96 at radiation doesn’t stay 

atolls, 

the test site; that’s an unfortunate reality. 

at 

arrogance met a citizens movement, of which Protect Kaho’olawe 

Military 

a big part. From the 1950s, churches, trade unions, women’s 

was 

and traditional leaders on the islands opposed these nuclear 

organizations 

tests. Networks like Nuclear Free and Independent Paci c ( 

), the Paci c

TMT The 

are realms we do not belong in. 

ese 

of Churches ( ) and the Paci c Trade Union Forum ( ) 

Conference 

self-determination for Paci c colonies and the abolition of 

supported 

weapons. Protests were diverse, with demonstrations at embassies, 

nuclear 

writing, trade union bans and boycotts of French products. 

letter 

was widespread, from Polynesians, and from Europe, leading to 

Opposition 

French Intelligence agents sinking the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior 


the Auckand, NZ, Harbor in 1985. “Operation Satanique” was carried out 

in 

the French military and intended to stop the opposition to French 

by 

testing. Fernando Pereira, a photographer, died in the sinking, and 

nuclear 

act of state terrorism solidi ed a movement to end nuclear testing. 97 


a clear result of the alliance between Paci c Islanders and the people 

As 

the countries which bombed their islands, more countries withdrew 

from 

nuclear and conventional weapons testing. In the 1980s, at the height 

from 

the US–Soviet arms race, Vanuatu, Palau and New Zealand declared their 


nuclear-free. On Hiroshima Day in 1985, members of the Paci c 

territories 

Forum also signed the Rarotonga Treaty for a South Paci c Nuclear 

Islands 

Free Zone ( 

), an important regional contribution to global nuclear 

Australian disarmament campaigners worked to strengthen 

disarmament. 

Rarotonga Treaty, in the face of government attempts to limit its scope to 


US nuclear deployments in the Paci c. 98 

protect 

Aluli (Aluli v. Brown) remembers, “In the 1980s, we sent 

Emmett 

out to talk to di erent countries about withdrawing from 

delegations 

that’s the tests that they do of the weapons every other year. We 

; 

successful in getting New Zealand, France and Japan to withdraw from 

were 

1983–4.” at’s how change is made, by people like Emmett Aluli 

in 

a strong Nuclear Free and Independent Paci c movement, challenging 

and 

militaries from around the world, continuously. 


ose are the realms that proliferate 

forms on the planet and they need to do what they do without us in 

life 

realm. their 

— Luana Busby 

ey are saying that the telescope project may go to the Canary Islands. 

“ 

we’ve always opposed the telescope project, we’ve been opposing 

Because

Is It about Telescopes? 

What 

people always have to look to space. It’s an ironic moment of 

White 

telescopes for 

y years. In the Canary Islands they are not so opposed to it 

we are,” Luana tells me. Indeed, with the advent of live Facebook feeds 

as 

of course the added presence of superstars like Jason Momoa and 

and 

Johnson, aka the Rock, it’s clear that this movement has big support. 

Duane 

one ever heard our story before, but with all the technology we are 

“No 

able to get our story out more. 

e Mauna is about that there are a lot of 

who have found themselves getting clean up there,” Luana tells me. 

people 

in my limited experience with front-line occupations, it’s a 

Indeed, 

community up there, so you have to be clean. “We need to keep 

functional 

papa clean. No drugs, no alcohol, no cannabis. A’ha morning, noon and 

our 

All of this is built on the well-being of the Mauna.” I stand in a 

evening. 

of new visitors to the camp. We are all being told clearly that this is 

group 

the Mauna; it’s not about us. “Pick up your garbage, including your 

about 

garbage,” the Kapuna tells us. “Even sacred people pick up 

metaphysical 

trash and wash dishes,” our guide tells us. 

is is indeed a spiritually 

grounded and well-disciplined movement. 

systems. Polynesians, like the Hawaiians, navigated the Paci c 

knowledge 

thousands of years, guided by the stars. A very di erent worldview is that 

for 

the realm of science, where universities and surprising entities like the 


continue a quest to look far into space. As such, Native Hawaiians 

Vatican, 

not the rst to be embroiled in a battle over a telescope project. 

are 

Graham — called in Nnee biyati’ (Western Apache) Dził Nchaa 

Mount 

“Big Seated Mountain” — was at the center of a bizarre battle between 

Sí’an 

Apache and the Vatican, which erected a large meter telescope, 


a ectionally known as the Pope Scope, or 

: Vatican Advanced 

Telescope. 

Technology 

are usually not long-term employment opportunities. But 

Megaprojects 

they sure look big. 

may employ up to 300 people, but that number will 

replaced with a much smaller number of astronomers. If Hawaii was 

be 

interested in creating jobs, rebuilding the homes and buried 

actually 

a er the 2018 lava ow might employ more. Or maybe just 

infrastructure 

the masses of people, some farming and all. One thing’s for sure, it’s 

feeding 

busy on the island without the .

always about payo s and corruption in Hawaii. Make no mistake, this is 

It’s 

pretty corrupt state. In September of 2019, investigative journalists found 

a 

of con icting interests with Governor David Ige’s agencies and 

evidence 

interests friends receiving $3 million in payments to promote the 

private 

project. 99 

part of the Mount Graham International 

is 

on Mount Graham in southeast Arizona and 

Observatory 

operated by the Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest 

is 

research institutions in the world, in 

astronomical 

partnership with the University of Arizona. 

at project, 

the Mauna Kea, pitted a Native people against a set of 

like 

and political forces. e land is Apache land, but 

academic 

1873, Mount Graham was removed from the 

“in 

of the San Carlos Reservation and placed in 

boundaries 

the public domain. 

e spiritual value of Mount Graham 

to the Apache was not considered. 

is action set the stage 

for con ict a century later.” 

land had been transferred to the Forest Service, but 

e 

1988, the United States Congress authorized 

in 

of the observatories on the mountain by a 

construction 

peace-time Congressional waiver of US 

rare 

laws. In 1984, the University of Arizona 

environmental 

the Vatican selected Mount Graham as a site for a 

and 

of 18 telescopes. To get around the legal barriers 

complex 

the American Indian Religious Freedoms Act, the 


hired a lobbying rm to put pressure on 

university 

to remove this and other regulatory roadblocks. 

Congress 

the declarations of the sacredness of Mount 

Following 

by the Apache Survival Coalition and the San 

Graham 

Apache Tribe, the Vatican in 1991 declared that 

Carlos 

Graham was not sacred because it lacked religious 

Mount 

Jesuit Father George Coyne, director of the 

shrines. 

Observatory, indicated that he could not nd an 

Vatican 

authentic Apache who thought the mountain was sacred. 

F th r C n t t d th t t n in him th t th

“Why Is the Vatican the Largest and Longest Owners of Telescope 

Source: 

Including the Newest Named L.U.C.I.F.E.R.? Aplanetruth 

Observatories, 

Coyne stated that to convince him that the 

Father 

was sacred he would need to see evidence of 

mountain 

and that he would not accept Apache oral history 

shrines 

statements by Apache-speaking Euro-American 

or 

Father Coyne further declared that 

anthropologists. 

beliefs were “a kind of religiosity to which I cannot 

Apache 

and which must be suppressed with all the force 

subscribe 

can muster.” Tough sledding with the Vatican for sure. 

we 

. 

known corruption and the hiring of more private security forces 

Despite 

rumored that $10 million was appropriated to quell the Kia’i), rumor has 

(it’s 

that the political and social consequences of the telescope project are 

it 

it more di cult than ever. “ can’t a ord to go up in the 

making 

future. ey don’t have the funds to go up. ey don’t feel safe to 

foreseeable 

up,” Busby explained. Arresting 80-year-olds for a telescope project seems 

go 

to be a public relations problem for the proponents. 

at “gave us a two- 

break, kind of like a détente. And they moved ahead with their 

month 

for the Canary Islands.” 

permit 

within a week of the arrests, old friends from the Canary Islands 

Literally, 

to make statements. e agency that manages telescopes in the 

began 

Canary Islands says it’s “ready” to support the irty Meter Telescope. 100 

Duque, Spain’s minister of science, innovation and universities, 

Pedro 

local and national government entities would support if the 

said 

cancels its plans for Mauna Kea and opts for its back-up site in 

project 

Canary Islands, according to Spanish media reports. But so far, 


telescope o 

cials have said they still prefer to build in Hawaii. 

e site in La Palma is an excellent place for astronomy. We have not 

“ 

all the regulatory processes complete there and there’s no time 

had 

for when so it is not viable in that sense at this time,” said Gordon 

frame 

vice president of external a airs for . 

Squires, 

e Canary Islands is an “autonomous community” of Spain. 

e 

archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean is home to the Observatorios de

Up Some Old Messes 

Cleaning 

proponents have cried out about the potential loss of this 

Telescope 

of the Times 

Lessons 

are … joining the world’s indigenous movements,’ Pisciotta says. ‘We 

“‘We 

Canarias, with telescopes on the islands of Tenerife and La Palma. 101 

project. “Hawaii will lose its status as a world leader in astronomy 

telescope 

the telescope isn’t built, Bob McLaren, the director of the University of 

if 

Institute for Astronomy, worried. Existing telescopes may not want 

Hawaii’s 

upgrade facilities and make further investments, and it could lead to a 

to 

spiral for the eld, he said.” 102 It appears the sky is falling for 

downward 

In the meantime, the Kia’i have forced movement in a state which 

some. 

to rarely hold either the military, the tourist industry or any industry 

seems 

that matter, accountable. e rst of ve old, rundown telescopes is 

for 

decommissioned. 

being 

ve old telescopes; now that’s going to create jobs, and 

Decommissioning 

It turns out astronomical garbage exists in space as well as on Earth, 

friends. 

countries look to the skies to gure out how to clean up some old 

as 

and “space junk.” 

satellites 

on Earth, the Hawaii Tribune Herald reported that on January 13, 

Here 

the Mauna Kea Management Board approved environmental 

2020, 

for the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory. e observatory is 

assessments 

of ve telescopes scheduled to be dismantled. A number of them had 

one 

been out of use but had remained on the mountain, essentially as 

already 

garbage. Now, in a time of “deal making” in exchange for permitting 

space 

construction of the irty Meter Telescope, there will be some space 


clean-up. at’s if all goes according to the state’s wishes. e 

junk 

remains on schedule to be removed by the end of 2021, said 

observatory 

Simons, a management board member. e observatory 

Doug 

process involves a full site restoration, including removing 

decommissioning 

structure, lling its foundation and restoring the terrain to its original 


Simons said. 

topography, 

e idea would be that, by the end of next year, you wouldn’t even know 

“ 

was a telescope here at all,” he said. 103 at’s hopeful. 


need Kapu Aloha … to bring back the balance from the insanity and

of our earth.’ We want to show the world how ‘to really live 

destruction 

erently’ while protecting the land.” For any veteran of Standing Rock, 

di 

story resonates. “Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. 

that 

a quiet day, I can hear her breathing,” said Arundhati Roy. 

On 

Native Hawaiians, there is a question of our right to selfdetermination 

“’For 

as de ned by international law, but I think it’s so much bigger 

that,’ said Pisciotta. ‘It’s about us learning to live and be 

than 104 

interdependent.’” 

Pisciotta, a spokesperson for Mauna Kea Anaina 

Kealoha 

told Michelle Broder Vandyke from the Guardian 

Hou, 

newspaper: “ 

e movement is ‘pushing back on the 

culture’ through Hawaiian concepts of ‘Kapu 

corporate 

which emphasizes compassionate responses, 

Aloha,’ 

towards opponents, and ‘Aloha ‘A¯ina,’ a saying 

especially 

translates to ‘love of the land.’” 

that 

a larger sense it is about two di erent worldviews, and who gets to 

In 

the future. As Doug Hernan would write in the Smithsonian 

determine 

“For many … Indigenous peoples, sacredness is not merely a 

magazine, 

or label. It is a lived experience of oneness and connectedness with 

concept 

natural and spiritual worlds. It is as common sense as believing in 


is experience is very much at odds with the everyday secular…. 

gravity. 

of course, seeing nature as inert facilitates both commercial 

And 

and scienti c exploitation.” 105 

exploitation 

a time of con ict between sacred beings and technology. And it’s also a 

It’s 

of the Water Protector. Kalani Souza, a Hawaiian scholar, talks about 

time 

beyond the Doctrine of Discovery, to the Doctrine of 

moving 106 He reminds me again, “It’s really about the water, a name for 

Relationship. 

mountain is also Ka’ohe, the Water Holder, but the name also refers to 


at’s because this is the largest freshwater aquifer in the world. It 

bamboo. 

created in the ice age. From the inside of the largest mountain in the 

was 

— that’s Mauna Kea. “Snow, rain, are living entities that have a 

world” 

on the earth, it’s all this that we are ourishing from…. ose 

purpose 

are interconnected from the Wakea to the bottom of the ocean.” 

beings 

Native Hawaiian traditional knowledge of realms above and below led to

their success in navigating the largest body of water in the world. 

e 

Nation treatied with over 140 nations in the world and navigated 

Hawaiian 

world long before Captain Cook. As we understand the genius of 


Hawaiian thinking, adapted over the centuries, one can’t help be in awe. 

e 

Iolani Palace had electricity before the US president had electricity 

Hawaiian 

the White House. As the Hawaiians contemplate the most complex of 

in 

systems, the people know the Mauna is a sacred living being. 

knowledge 

knowledge is not held by those who seek to colonize land and space. 

at 

You must remember, never cease to act because you fear you may fail. 

— Queen Lilio’kalani

Part 3 

Mni Wiconi

From Buffalo to Black Snake 

2016, late summer, and the weight of American corporate interests has 

It’s 

to the Missouri River, the Mother River. is time, instead of the 

come 

Cavalry, or the Indian police dispatched to assassinate Sitting Bull, 

Seventh 

is Energy Transfer Partners and Enbridge, with their Dakota Access 

it 

Pipeline ( 

). Every major pipeline project in North America must cross 

lands, Indian Country. And these days, every project faces bold 

Indigenous 

But something special is happening here. e people of the Oceti 

resistance. 

(Great Sioux Nation) and their allies have gathered en masse to 

Sakowin 

the river. 

defend 

road west of Fargo is rarely taken. In fact, most Americans just y over 

e 

Dakota, never seeing it. Let me take you there. 

North 

head clears as I drive. My destination is the homeland of the Hunkpapa 

My 

the Standing Rock Reservation. It is early evening, the moon full. If 

Oceti, 

close your eyes, you can remember the 50 million bu alo—the single 

you 

migratory herd in the world. e pounding of their hooves would 

largest 

the Earth, make the grass grow. 

vibrate 

were once 250 species of grass. Today the bu alo are mostly gone, 

ere 

by 28 million cattle, which require grain, water and hay. Many of 

replaced 

elds are now in a single crop, full of so many pesticides that the 


butter ies are dying o . But in my memory, the old world remains. 

monarch 

you drive long enough, you come to the Missouri River. Called Mnisose, 

If 

great swirling river, by the Lakota, she is a force to be reckoned with. She is 

a 

“ e Missouri River has a xed place in the history and 

breathtaking. 

of the Lakota and other Indigenous nations of the Northern 

mythology” 

author Dakotah Goodhouse explains. 1 

Plains, 

the time before Sitting Bull, the Missouri River was the epicenter of 

In 

agriculture, the river bed extremely fertile. e territory was 


known as the fertile crescent of North America. 

at was then, before the 

that reduced the Lakota land base. But the Missouri remained in the 

treaties 

— the last treaty of 1868 used it as a boundary. 

treaties

came the the of land by the US government and the taking of the 

en 

Hills in 1877, in part as retaliation against Sitting Bull’s victory at the 

Black 

of the Little Big Horn. In a time prior to Native Lives Matter, great 

Battle 

like Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were assassinated at the hands of 

leaders 

police. 

e Lakota people have survived much. 

into reservation life, the Lakota attempted to stabilize their society, 

Forced 

the dams came. Over the course of 20 years, the six large dams 

until 

authorized by the 1944 Pick Sloan Plan 

ooded out the Missouri River 

displacing thousands of tribal people and taking the best bottom 

tribes, 

from the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara, the Lakota and Dakota. e 

lands 

Oahe and Fort Randall dams created some of the largest reservoirs 

Garrison, 

North America, eliminating 90% of timber and 75% of wildlife on the 

in 

destroying infrastructure that to this day has never been 

reservations, 

inundating entire tribal communities and desecrating countless 

rebuilt, 

archaeological sites. 2 On the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River 

ancient 

alone, over 200,000 acres were ooded by the Oahe Dam itself, 

Reservations 

not only relocation but a loss of the Lakota world. According to 

forcing 

author, historian and activist Vine Deloria Jr., the “Pick-Sloan Plan 

Lakota 

without doubt, the single most destructive act ever perpetrated on any 

was, 

by the United States.” 3 

tribe 

is how a people are made poor. Today, the Standing Rock poverty rate 

at 

triple the national average, food insecurity is widespread, and many go 

is 

electricity, running water or access to health care and education. 4 

without 

land and Mother River are what remain, a constant, for the people. at 

e 

what is threatened today, as Enbridge and Energy Transfer Partners 

is 

to drill through the riverbed at Lake Oahe, where the Cannonball 

prepare 

joins the Missouri. 

River 

September 3, 2016, private security forces working for the pipeline 

On 

attacked Water Protectors with dogs as they put their bodies in 

companies 

of heavy equipment to stop the intentional destruction of a known 

front 

site, sacred ground. On that day, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard, 

archaeological 

historian and genealogist, matriarch of the o resistance and 

tribal 

of the Sacred Stone Camp, published an article honoring the 153rd 

founder 

of the Whitestone Massacre of September 3, 1863. 5 

anniversary 

On this day, 153 years ago, my great-great-grandmother Nape Hote

(Mary Big Moccasin) survived the bloodiest con ict between the 

Win 

Nations and the US Army ever on North Dakota soil. An 

Sioux 

300 to 400 of our people were killed in the Inyan Ska 

estimated 

Massacre, far more than at Wounded Knee. But very few 

(Whitestone) 

the story. 

know 

we struggle for our lives today against the Dakota Access Ppipeline, 

As 

remember her. We cannot forget our stories of survival. 

I 

50 miles east of here, in 1863, nearly 4,000 Yanktonais, Isanti 

Just 

and Hunkpapa gathered alongside a lake in southeastern 

(Santee), 

Dakota, near present-day Ellendale, for an intertribal bu alo 

North 

to prepare for winter. It was a time of celebration and ceremony — 

hunt 

time to pray for the coming year, meet relatives, arrange marriages, 

a 

make plans for winter camps. Many refugees from the 1862 

and 

in Minnesota, mostly women and children, had been taken in 

uprising 

family. Mary’s father, Oyate Tawa, was one of the 38 Dah’kotah 

as 

in Mankato, Minesota, less than a year earlier, in the largest 

hanged 

execution in the country’s history. Brigadier General Alfred Sully 

mass 

soldiers came to Dakota Territory looking for the Santee who had 

and 

ed the uprising. 

is was part of a broader US military expedition to 

white settlement in the eastern Dakotas and protect access to 

promote 

Montana gold elds via the Missouri River. 


my great-great-grandmother Mary Big Moccasin told the story, the 

As 

came the day a er the big hunt, when spirits were high. e sun 

attack 

setting and everyone was sharing an evening meal when Sully’s 

was 

surrounded the camp on Whitestone Hill. In the chaos that 

soldiers 

people tied their children to their horses and dogs and ed. 

ensued, 

was 9 years old. As she ran, she was shot in the hip and went 

Mary 

She lay there until morning, when a soldier found her. As he 

down. 

her into a wagon, she heard her relatives moaning and crying on 

loaded 

battle eld. She was taken to a prisoner of war camp in Crow Creek 


she stayed until her release in 1870. 

where 

grew up on the banks of the Cannonball and Missouri rivers and 

Allard 

a young girl when the oods came in the late 50s. She remembers it 

was 

well: 

ey took all our trees, all our forest, when they ooded us. 

ey took all

our medicines, our plants, the things that we survive on. And so, if you 


to the people that are my age and older, you can hear the grief in our 

talk 

because we still grieve for the loss of this land. And they moved us 

voice, 

top of the hills, where it is more of a clay-based soil, so we could no 

on 

grow gardens, we could no longer plant trees, we could no longer do 

longer 

things that we did. 6 


As the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s former historic preservation o 

cer and 

historian and genealogist, Allard also carries the larger history of 

current 

land: that 

the Cannonball River joins the Missouri River, at the site of our 

Where 

today to stop the Dakota Access Ppipeline, there used to be a 

camp 

whirlpool that created large, spherical sandstone formations. 

e river’s 

true name is Inyan Wakangapi Wakpa, River 

at Makes the Sacred 

and we have named the site of our resistance on my family’s 

Stones, 

the Sacred Stone Camp. e stones are not created anymore, ever 

land 

the US Army Corps of Engineers dredged the mouth of the 

since 

River and ooded the area in the late 1950s as they nished 

Cannonball 

the Oahe Dam. 

ey killed a portion of our sacred river. 

north and east now, toward the construction sites where they 

Look 

to drill under the Missouri River any day now, and you can see the 

plan 

Sundance grounds, burial grounds, and Arikara village sites that the 

old 

would destroy. Below the cli s you can see the remnants of the 

pipeline 

that made our sacred stones. Of the 380 archeological sites that 

place 

desecration along the entire pipeline route, from North Dakota to 

face 

26 of them are right here at the con uence of these two rivers. It 

Illinois, 

a historic trading ground, a place held sacred not only by the Sioux 

is 

but also the Arikara, the Mandan, and the Northern Cheyenne. 

Nations, 

it is the US Army Corps that is allowing these sites to be 

Again, 

destroyed. 

US government is wiping out our most important cultural and 

e 

areas. And as it erases our footprint from the world, it erases us 

spiritual 

a people. ese sites must be protected, or our world will end, it is 

as 

that simple. Our young people have a right to know who they are. 

ey 

have a right to language, to culture, to tradition. 

e way they learn 

these things is through connection to our lands and our history.

we allow an oil company to dig through and destroy our histories, 

If 

ancestors, our hearts and souls as a people, is that not genocide? 

our 

on this same sacred land, over 100 tribes have come together to 


in prayer and solidarity in de ance of the black snake. And more 

stand 

keep coming. 

is is the rst gathering of the Oceti Sakowin (Sioux 

since the Battle of the Greasy Grass (Battle of Little Bighorn) 140 

tribes) 

ago. years 

father is buried at the top of the hill, overlooking our camp on the 

My 

below. My son is buried there, too. Two years ago, when 

riverbank 

Access rst came, I looked at the pipeline map and knew that 

Dakota 

entire world was in danger. If we allow this pipeline, we will lose 

my 

everything. 

are the river, and the river is us. We have no choice but to stand 

We 

up. 7 

I drive west through the Plains towards the Missouri River and take the 

As 

route around the roadblock that state law enforcement has put up in 

scenic 

of dissuading people from joining the protest camps or spending 

hopes 

at the tribal casino, I remember the bu alo. I remember the grass. I 

money 

the beauty of the way of life so freshly taken from these people. 

remember 

I am grateful for memory. e great Lakota leader Mathew King once 

And 

“the only thing sadder than an Indian who is not free, is an Indian who 

said, 

not remember what it is to be free.” 

does

movement here at Standing Rock represents that ongoing struggle for 

e 

and the future of a people. ere are many at Standing Rock today 

freedom 

remember their history and the long stando at Wounded Knee in 

who 

a similar battle for dignity and human rights. In fact, many of those at 

1973, 

Rock today were there. 

Standing 

am not sure how badly North Dakota wants this pipeline. If there is to be 

I 

siege, it will be here. For a people with nothing else but a land and a river, I 

a 

not bet against them. 

would 

this is also a battle for a future for all of us. An old Lakota prophecy 

But 

of a time when a great black snake would come to the land, bringing 

tells 

and destruction not only to Lakota and Dakota communities, but to 

sickness 

water and land of all Mother Earth. And that the people would have to 


come together to kill that black snake. 

at time is now.

The Deep North 

Dakota did not become the Deep North, as it is now called, overnight. 

North 

people have been treated poorly here for more than a 150 years, 

Native 

with the Indian Wars and the smallpox epidemics that wiped out 

starting 

of their population. en the dams drowned their villages, drowned 

90% 

agricultural wealth, drowned their history and rewrote it into 


manual of agricultural progress. ere is an unspeakable poverty 

America’s 

of loss, and it is di 

cult to imagine a deeper grief. 

most, North Dakota is something unknown. We y over the plains, 

For 

about how the movie Fargo was funny and wonder sheepishly how it’s 

talk 

out in the Bakken. Very few visit, and there is almost no civil 

working 

to advocate for the environment or the people — as evidenced by the 

society 

that, before o , the Sierra Club had one sta person in North 

fact 

and the American Civil Liberties Union had one sta member 

Dakota, 

both North and South Dakota. It is as if North Dakota is just too 

covering 

for a progressive movement. Instead, we have watched. 

uncomfortable 

North Dakota is a place of entrenched, systemic racism. It is a place 


Nazis move. e Native incarceration rate is six times higher than that 

where 

whites, 8 Native suicide rates are several times that of North Dakotans 

of 9 and basic infrastructure on the reservations — like hospitals, 

overall, 

schools, grocery stores — is profoundly insu 

cient. People freeze to death 

overdose in the shadow of the Bakken oil elds. 

and 

of this is just a second layer of abuse, of course, underneath the day-to- 

All 

discrimination, harassment by cops and white supremacists now 

day 

by Morton County and the Trump government, and the 

emboldened 

of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Almost every family 

epidemic 

my community has one of those women. It’s not because we’re not 

in 

anything. It’s an ongoing stress in the community, something we live 

“post” 

every day. 

with 

population decline of North Dakota was pretty well documented in 

e 

and Deborah Popper’s book e Bu alo Commons. Young people 

Frank

Mother Earth 

Cannibalizing 

I’m an economist by training, and I refer to our current economic 

Now, 

moving out, to anywhere but North Dakota, so the state became a 

started 

people le , particularly white people. Native populations continue to 

place 

dramatically, at a rate almost twice that of non-Indians. In the midst of 

grow 

a state that clearly had some populist progressive history became 

this, 

conservative. 

increasingly 

comes the oil industry. Along the gentle rolling hills of the northern 

In 

Missouri River is the Fort Berthold Reservation, home to the 

ree 

A 

liated Tribes, the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara. It is also known as the 

spot for Bakken crude oil. I went to Fort Berthold a er riding 

sweet 

with family, friends and allies to raise awareness about a pipeline 

horseback 

to pump this fracked oil through my community and the sacred 

intended 

of Lake Superior. I wanted to see what was happening at the source, 

waters 

where this oil is extracted. 

as Wiindigoo Economics. In our Anishinaabe stories, the Wiindigoo 

system 

a giant murderous monster that used to rampage through the north 

is 

fueled by an insatiable greed and a relentless desire for human esh. 

woods, 

fuel era capitalism is like the Wiindigoo: a predator economics, the 

Fossil 

of a cannibal. It is a system based on colonization, wastefulness 

economics 

ravenous greed, a system that destroys the very source of its own wealth 

and 

well-being, Mother Earth. In my lifetime, we’ve consumed 50% of the 

and 

oil. at means there’s still a whole bunch le , but most of it is really, 

known 

hard to get out of the ground. So this system of cannibal economics, 

really 

the Lakota might call Wasicu, Taker of the Fat, economics, has led us 

which 

the era of extreme extraction. Extreme extraction is when you blow the 

to 

o of 500 mountains in Appalachia to get coal for export to Asia; it’s 

tops 

you strip mine tar from the oil sands of Northern Alberta and turn 

when 

First Nation communities into sacri ce zones; it’s when you inject 

entire 

of millions of gallons of chemical-laced water into the bedrock of 

hundreds 

Earth at such pressures that you cause earthquakes. at’s where we 


at right now. 

are 

around 2007, extreme extraction came to the Northern Plains in 

Starting 

form of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, also known as 


— two relatively new technologies that allowed the pro table 

fracking

Needs Regulations Anyway? 

Who 

North Dakota, sex tra cking, violence, pollution and corruption have 

In 

of tight shale oil formations like the Bakken Formation of North 

extraction 

e resulting boom was dramatic. By 2011, the State of North 

Dakota. 

had a billion-dollar budget surplus and the lowest unemployment 

Dakota 

in the country. 10 Along with the money and rapid population growth 

rate 

profound housing shortages, skyrocketing rates of violent crime and 

came 

of drug and sex tra cking. 11 e man camps — temporary trailer 

epidemics 

where transient oil workers are housed — are hubs for all of this. 

parks 

men have more money than they know what to do with, and they are 

ose 

from their families. Indigenous women and girls from surrounding 

far 

are kidnapped, bought, sold and murdered. 

communities 

industry claims about health and safety, fracking is actually just a 

Despite 

experiment, made possible by a lack of regulation and the unlimited use 

big 

the commons as a dumping ground. Fracking involves the use of 


amounts of water mixed with salt and toxic chemicals. Proponents 

immense 

to say that the process uses chemicals that are regularly found in the 

like 

home. at might be true — if we all ran meth labs out of our 

average 

In fact, the water used by fracking companies is laced with over 1000 

houses. 

and carcinogens. 12 ose chemicals are considered trade secrets and 

toxins 

so are not subjected to federal scrutiny. 13 

is has become a bit of a problem. 

with spills simply do not know the nature of the chemical 

Communities 

contamination. 

of the polluted water is simply being dumped into deep 

Much 

caverns. A 2017 report found that “US industries have injected 

underground 

than 30 trillion gallons of toxic liquid deep into the earth, using broad 

more 

of the nation’s geology as an invisible dumping ground.” 14 It seems 

expanses 

have built an entire industry on the unquestioned belief that what goes 

we 

can’t come up. 

down 

the state’s capacity to address them. Or perhaps it is the 

overwhelmed 

that have overwhelmed the state. In North Dakota, as with 

corporations 

corporations direct state policy. Known as “regulatory capture,” 

everywhere, 

and gas companies move in, take control of a state’s regulatory process 

oil 

manipulate it to serve their bottom line. In other words, North Dakota 

and 

sold not only its water, but also its soul, to the oil companies. 

has

Flares 

Gas 

Berthold is the tribal epicenter of the fracking industry, home to about 

Fort 

this happens, states nd themselves doing weird stu , like excusing 

When 

spills without penalty. Less than one 1% of spills result in nes from the 

oil 

Dakota Industrial Commission or Department of Health, and even 

North 

they do issue nes, companies o en negotiate them down to a fraction 

when 

of the original amount. 15 

is is hardly surprising since states regularly fall 

over themselves to ensure corporations don’t have to compromise their 

all 

ts by putting money into the public purse. 

pro 

some of the other decisions made by the state may be more surprising. 

But 

the decision to legalize nuclear waste in municipal dumps. Yes, you 

Like 

that correctly. In 2016, in an e ort to accommodate the fracking 

read 

the North Dakota Department of Health approved a 10-fold 

industry, 

to the allowable level of radiation in municipal and county 

increase 

lls. 16 ey call it — Technologically Enhanced Naturally 

land 

Radioactive Materials. It’s naturally occurring so it must be safe, 

Occurring 

I testi ed against it at the public hearings, but they approved it 

right? 

anyway. 

at same year, a study conducted by Duke University found soil at 

spill site that was contaminated with radium, and at one site, “high levels 

a 

contaminants were detected in residual waters four years a er the spill 


17 So nuclear waste is in our dumps, our soil and our water. And, 

occurred.” 

our bodies. 

undoubtedly, 

the height of the oil boom in 2012, the Associated Press in Bismarck 

At 

that North Dakota had experienced over 300 oil spills and 750 

announced 

eld incidents” in just over a year and a half. Not one of these 1000+ 

“oil 

was reported to the public. Why? Because regulators are not 

“incidents” 

by state law to do so. 18 Of course, this corporate takeover of 

required 

processes has been supported at the federal level. e 

regulatory 

Amendment” of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which exempted 

“Halliburton 

sectors of the oil and gas industry, especially fracking, from most major 

key 

environmental laws, is a particularly egregious example of this. 19 

of the state’s oil wells. 20 At night, Fort Berthold is lit up with gas aring 

20% 

the wells, like the omnipresent lidless Eye of Sauron. ese ares burn 

from 

natural gas that is a byproduct of crude oil extraction. Without enough 


to transport the gas, about a third of what’s released each day — 

pipelines

$1.4 million — goes up in smoke. 21 According to Bloomberg News, 

worth 

a percentage basis, more gas was ared in the state [of North Dakota] 

“On 

in any other domestic oil eld and at a level equal to Russia and twice 

than 

in Nigeria.” 22 

that 

there is twice as much aring on the reservation as anywhere else in 

But 

state. Tribal members say as much as 70% of gas from wells on the 


is ared. “Every single day, more than l00 million cubic feet of 

reservation 

gas is ared away. at’s enough to heat half a million homes. at’s 

natural 

much carbon dioxide emitted as 300,000 cars,” Fort Berthold tribal 

as 

Kandi White observes. “ at’s crazy.” 

member 

White is sta with the Indigenous Environmental Network and part 

Kandi 

the grassroots advocacy group is Is Mandaree, along with many other 


community members, like 

eodora and Joletta Birdbear. Together with 

like Lisa Deville of Fort Berthold Protectors of Water and Earth Rights 

folks 

), is Is Mandaree has been ghting the threats to their community 

( 

for over a decade. “ 

e companies have generously put up signs for us to tell 

that the toxins are present in the air,” says White. “What do we do? Just 

us 

breathing?” 

stop 

health of the Missouri River has been especially taken for granted. 

e 

the Missouri is the seventh most polluted river in the country. 23 


runo and now fracking have contaminated the river. In the 

Agricultural 

days of the Sacred Stone Camp, my sister shed a gar out of the river, a 

early 

prehistoric sh, only to nd it covered with tumors. 

giant 

2013, North Dakota su ered the largest oil spill in state history when a 

In 

Tioga farmer discovered 800,000 gallons of oil in his 

elds, about two 

a er it had started seeping out of a quarter size hole in a pipe. It 

months 

ve years and $100 million to clean it up. 24 Two years later, another 

took 

occurred at the Garden Creek gas processing plant resulting in a 

“incident” 

spill of about 10 gallons. at’s fairly insigni cant as far as spills go. 

reported 

that it turns out they lied. A whistleblower later revealed it was 

Except 

over 11 million gallons, larger than the devastating Exxon Valdez 

actually 

25 Not so insigni cant a er all. 

spill. 

out these companies have a bit of a problem with truth-telling. 

Turns 

companies generally claim a 99% safety record, but studies have 

Pipeline 

that to be grossly inaccurate. A 2012 study by the US Pipeline and 

found 

Hazardous Material Safety Association, found that “the ‘average’ pipeline

Toxic Garbage 

More 

the while, North Dakota has become a petri dish for neo-Nazis. 

All 

has a 57% probability of experiencing a major leak, with 

therefore 

over the $1 million range, in a ten-year period.” 26 Not good 

consequences 

odds. 

is against this backdrop — of lackluster regulation, regular spills, 

It 

contamination and outright lies — that the Dakota Access Pipeline 

obscene 

proposed to cross the Missouri River just upstream of the tribe’s water 

was 

intake. What could go wrong? 

at’s to 

say, in the midst of chaos, more chaos came. 

e town of Leith, North 

was the focal point for an attempted takeover by white supremacist 

Dakota, 

Cobb, an American Canadian white nationalist neo-Nazi. In 2010, he 

Craig 

to the town of 16 and purchased 12 plots of land with the intention 

moved 

building a community of people that share his white nationalist ideology, 


gaining the electoral majority. His battle for political power 

thereby 

failed as a result of multi-racial organizing and opposition. e 

ultimately 

Welcome to Leith, which was directed by Michael Beach Nichols and 

lm 

Walker and premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, 

Christopher 

documented the con ict over Leith. 

at was right before Standing Rock. 

Christopher Hagen, a reporter for the High Plains Reader ( 

), really 

have received a Pulitzer Prize for his writing on Standing Rock and 

should 

undercover journalism in North Dakota. His January 25, 2017, 

his 

entitled “White Supremacists’ Hit List of Small Towns” documents an 

article 

movement. 

ongoing 

the town of Leith’s victory against white supremacists, eleven 

Since 

across North Dakota made their hit list. e towns range from 

towns 

of 16 to nearly 7,000. Listed by names, pictures and real 

populations 

advertisements by Pioneer Little Europe North Dakota, a white 

estate 

operation welcoming Nazis, the Creativity Movement, Ku 

supremacist 

Klan, militants, white nationalists and racialists, the North Dakota 

Klux 

are the group’s next targets to become Aryan enclaves. Known 

towns 

Underwood, Carson, Kenmare, Washburn, Tioga, Newburg, 

targets: 

City, Antler, Sherwood, Landa and Leith. Operative concept: 

Valley 

Little Europes are identi ed as the “vanguard model for the 

Pioneer 

next form of a white community, a vessel for its cultural revival,”

to white supremacist Hamilton Michael Barrett, a prominent 

according 

and author of the operation. Operative goal: create “arks of 

gure 

for the white race, and prepare for RaHoWa, or racial holy 

survival” 27 war. 

a pretty tall order in the face of climate change. 

at’s 

Dakota represents a state of mind and a moment in history. One 

North 

for sure, the Native community is not going anywhere; in fact, it’s 

thing’s 

Another thing: We will all be drinking the same water. 

growing.

The Seventh Generation 

April 2016, with snow still on the ground, a small group of Standing Rock 

In 

members erected a tipi and lit a sacred re on Ladonna Bravebull 

tribal 

Allard’s land at the mouth of the Cannonball River. 

e Sacred Stone Camp 

founded. For months the camp remained small, made up mostly of 

was 

of the local community of Cannon Ball. e Dakota Access 

members 

had been proposed to cross just north of the reservation, a 570,000- 

Pipeline 

pipeline to carry that fracked oil. 

barrel-a-day 

July, a group of Standing Rock youth organized a prayer run to hand 

In 

petitions opposing the pipeline. ey rst ran from Cannon Ball to 

deliver 

Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District branch in Nebraska, then 


on to Washington DC, over 2000 miles in all. e youth named 

continued 

campaign “Rezpect Our Water” and quickly gained the support of a 


key celebrities that helped amplify their voices. In addition to the 

few 

of the black snake, there is a second prophecy held by many tribes 

prophecy 

reiterated in the nal vision of Lakota Chief Crazy Horse, that tells of a 

and 

that the seventh generation would rise up and join with those of other 

time 

to bring healing and unity to the world. ese courageous young 

nations 

announced their arrival on the world’s stage as the ful llment of that 

people 

As 23-year-old Terrell Iron Shell put it, “We’re the answers to our 

prophecy. 

prayers.” 28 

ancestor’s 

August 1, we nished the spiritual horse ride of our fourth annual Love 

On 

Not Oil tour in Northern Minnesota, with a celebration feast in our 


Rice Lake, on the White Earth Reservation. We rode and prayed 

community, 

our Dakota relatives for two weeks, along the route of the proposed 

with 

and Line 3 pipelines. e next day, we threw a party in Bemidji to 

Sandpiper 

the tour, with fabulous music, food and friends. As we drove away 

conclude 

the venue and watched the northern lights dance on the horizon, we 

from 

the phone call saying that the Sandpiper project was likely dead. 

got 

had just announced their purchase of 28% of the Dakota Access 

Enbridge 

Pipeline, with plans to terminate their joint venture partnership with the

anchor shipper, Marathon Petroleum. 29 

Sandpiper’s 

proposed Sandpiper would have carried 640,000 barrels a day of 

e 

oil out of the Bakken in North Dakota, weaving through the Ojibwe 

fracked 

of Northern Minnesota and through a vast aquatic ecosystem of 

reservations 

lakes, wetlands teeming with biodiversity and some of the largest 

pristine 

rice beds in the world. Enbridge said it was the only route that would 

wild 

And so for four years our people went to every single regulatory 

work. 

and, whether single mom, traditional rice harvester or tribal 

hearing 

said the same thing: Gaawiin, No. We prayed, we held 

government, 

and we rode our horses. We fought in the courts, in the media, 

ceremonies, 

the streets and on the land and water. And we were not alone, because 

in 

is not North Dakota, and a lot of non-Indian people love the 

Minnesota 

as much as we do. And we won. 

water 

was a historic victory, one that showed us how powerful we are when we 

It 

together and take a stand. Enbridge, the largest energy infrastructure 

come 

in North America, had planned to be long nished with 

company 

by then, but we stopped them. But it was also a bittersweet 

construction 

for although we won the battle, the war remained. e black snake is 

victory, 

hydra — cut o one head and two more will emerge. 

a 

headed west to team up with Energy Transfer Partners, which 

Enbridge 

not on the best nancial footing, to help get that oil out of the Bakken. 

was 

by four years of accountability in Minnesota, they changed 

Frustrated 

course to follow the path of least resistance. 

ey thought that, as usual, no 

was paying attention to North Dakota. And so, although our 

one 

in Anishinaabe Akiing still faced the expansion of the Alberta 

communities 

pipeline, a proposed new Line 3 pipeline in a brand new corridor, 

Clipper 

daily threat of a whole set of ancient crumbling pipelines already in the 


and proposed nickel and copper mines that would poison 

ground 

we have le , we too headed west, to answer the call from the 

everything 

Stone Camp and stand with our Lakota and Dakota relatives. 

Sacred 

Lakota legal and regulatory objections, construction on the Dakota 

Despite 

Ppipeline had recently begun, in May 2016, a er an egregious rubber 

Access 

job by the states and the US Army Corps of Engineers, without tribal 

stamp 

consultation or meaningful environmental review. 

e 1600 mile route 

to snake through North and South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois, where it 

began 

to connect to a larger pipeline network with access to the re neries in 

was

Cancer Alley and export markets via the East and Gulf Coasts. A 

Louisiana’s 

pipeline, Dakota Access would carry a proposed 570,000 

30-inch-diameter 

a day of fracked Bakken crude oil, crossing hundreds of water bodies 

barrels 

hundreds of historic and archaeological sites. 

and 

important but o en forgotten detail: the Dakota Access Ppipeline was 

An 

slated to cross the Missouri River just upstream of Bismarck. But 

originally 

order to avoid the predominantly white population — indeed, in response 

in 

concerns about proximity to their drinking water source — the company 

to 

the route south to Lake Oahe, just 500 feet from of the boundary of 

moved 

Standing Rock Reservation and just a mile above the tribe’s water intake 


30 One cannot imagine a clearer or more egregious example of overt, 

valves. 

environmental racism. 

intentional 

late July, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, represented by Earthjustice, 

In 

a lawsuit in US District Court for the District of Columbia, against the 

led 

US Army Corps of Engineers. 31 

e Army Corps has jurisdiction over all 

waters in the country and must issue a permit each time a 

navigable 

pipeline is to cross one. Standing Rock claimed that the Army 

proposed 

Corps’ approval of 

’s crossing of the Missouri River violated federal law 

failing to uphold the trust responsibility to protect rights guaranteed to 

by 

Great Sioux Nation in the treaties — in this case, hunting, shing and 


gathering rights. Standing Rock also 

led an intervention at the United 

in coordination with the International Indian Treaty Council. 

Nations, 

Chair David Archambault Jr. explained, “ e Environmental Protection 

As 

the Department of the Interior and the National Advisory Council 

Agency, 

Historic Preservation supported more protection of the tribe’s cultural 

on 

but the Corps of Engineers and Energy Transfer Partners turned a 

heritage, 

eye to our rights. e rst dra of the company’s assessment of the 

blind 

route through our treaty and ancestral lands did not even mention 

planned 

tribe.” 32 e Army Corps had approved the water crossing without even 

our 

conducting an environmental impact statement ( 

). Instead, they issued a 

brief document that simply concluded a “ nding of no signi cant 

very 33 A rubber stamp. 

impact.” 

is this possible? Well, through the usual loopholes. One of the main 

How 

of pushing these projects through is fragmentation — divide it up 

strategies 

that many di erent jurisdictions each look at their own small piece, such 

so 

no one is responsible for the whole thing and no one even seems to have 

that

the power to say no. 

e particular loophole used in this case takes 

to the extreme. As they have done for many other pipelines, 

fragmentation 

Army Corps approved the 203 water crossings using a fast-track 


called “Nationwide Permit No. 12,” a general permit process for the 

process 

Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act that grants 

Clean 

from environmental reviews for small construction projects with 

exemption 

impact. 34 e general permit program was intended for things like 

minimal 

ramps, mooring buoys and small recreational facilities. But by abusing 

boat 

program and arti cially treating the project as simply a collection of 

that 

of tiny, separate construction projects, the Corps avoided entirely 

hundreds 

transparent and thorough review process required by federal law. 


September, Honor the Earth, the Indigenous Environmental Network 

In 

the Sierra Club sent a letter to the US Army Corps of Engineers, making 

and 

case and asking for a full environmental impact statement on the 

this 

Dakota Access Pipeline. at never happened. 

proposed 

wish I could say that what happened to Standing Rock was unusual, but it 

I 

not. Typically, what passes for “tribal consultation” is, at best, simply a 

was 

for the corporation to “get to yes.” Sometimes, it is just a letter sent to 

way 

tribe to inform them of the corporation’s plans. For me, consultation 


doesn’t mean that. It’s just like sex: each party has a right to say no. 

is is 

in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous 

articulated 

which sets the standard of “Free, Prior, and Informed Consent.” 

Peoples, 

state of North Dakota and the federal government say to the tribe, 

e 

you didn’t participate in our process!” But the tribe had voiced their 

“Well 

clearly and directly, at a tribal council meeting held on Sept. 30, 

concerns 

when and the ND Public Service Commission rst noti ed them 

2014, 

the new route. And frankly, I have participated in “the process.” I have 


time and time again to work within the system. Even in Minnesota, a 

tried 

with at least the accouterments of a sensible regulatory structure, the 

state 

is thoroughly skewed against us. In North Dakota, the system is 

system 

screwed. 

totally 

came the desecration. In mid-August, Standing Rock Tribal Chair 

en 

Archambault II and Councilmember Dana Yellowfat were arrested by 

Dave 

police, a er charging onto a construction site when archaeological 

state 

were found. 

remains 

are laws to protect historic and sacred sites. On Friday, September 2, 

ere

day before Labor Day weekend, Standing Rock submitted to the court 


ndings of rare cultural sites, which include 27 graves, stone prayer 

detailed 

and other sacred artifacts directly in the path of the proposed pipeline. 

rings 

are at least 380 archeological sites that face desecration along the 

ere 

entire pipeline route. Early the next morning, 

responded by bringing 

construction crews and bulldozing the speci c areas described by 

in 

Rock in their ling. When protectors of the site entered the 

Standing 

area, private security guards attacked them with dogs and 

construction 

spray. 

pepper 

is demolition is devastating,” Tribal Chair Archambault said. “ ese 

“ 

are the resting places of our ancestors. e ancient cairns and stone 

grounds 

rings there cannot be replaced. In one day, our sacred land has been 

prayer 

into hollow ground.” 35 

turned 

National Historic Preservation Act expressly prohibits the Corps from 

e 

the nal permit for the river crossing if it is shown that the company 

issuing 

destroyed or impacted potential historic sites along the 

intentionally 

path. But despite our e orts to hold them accountable, the Corps 

pipeline’s 

a blind eye. 

turned 

in Iowa, as the lawsuit of three Iowa farmers moved forward 

Meanwhile, 

the pipeline company and the Iowa Utilities Board attempting to 

against 

the loss of their land through eminent domain, three res erupted 

prevent 

heavy damage to equipment and an estimated $2 million in 

causing 

Investigators suspected arson. 36 

damages. 

oil companies are a lot like Custer, no idea what they’re walking into. 

ese 

clearly thought they’d bought a slam-dunk pipeline. ey were wrong. 

ey

The Rise of the Water Protector 

Protectors. ey came from the four directions. ey came from the 


ey came from the mountain they stood and protected. ey came 

stars. 

from the depths of the beautiful ocean. 

ey came from the corn pollen 

and sage they had gathered in their hands. 

ey came wounded from 

generations of pain. 

ey came bearing gi s of strength, tears, and song. 

is is where they stood in the four directions. 

—Inyan Wakankagapi Wakpa, Sara Juanita Jumping Eagle 

simply do not know what brought about the rise of the Water Protector. 

We 

our people have been protecting water since time immemorial, and we 

Yes, 

continue to do so as long as we live. But something special happened at 

will 

Rock in 2016 — a ful llment of prophecy, the blossoming of a 

Standing 

social movement led by Indigenous Peoples and rooted in 

historic 

teachings, but o ering a home to anyone, of any race or culture, 

Indigenous 

to ght for the water. Water Protectors are everywhere. 

willing 

of all places, why Standing Rock? We do not know. I do not say that to 

But 

in any way, the courage of LaDonna and Joye Braun and the 

diminish, 

people who founded the Sacred Stone Camp, or the power of those 

young 

youth’s 2000 mile run to Washington DC. With no material 

Lakota 

beyond their own willingness to take a stand in the face of 

resources 

odds, they started a movement. All alone, they stuck their necks 

impossible 

to demand clean water and defend their sacred sites. And they ended up 

out 

the rst gathering of the Oceti Sakowin since the Battle of the 

convening 

Grass in 1876. ey inspired the largest gathering of North 

Greasy 

American tribes in modern history. 

ey started the most powerful and 

confrontation of colonial and corporate resource extraction in recent 

direct 

right in the heart of America’s most backward petro-state. 

memory, 

why here? Why now? Of all the terrible projects constantly being 

But 

and resisted across Indian Country, why was Dakota Access the 

proposed 

one that ignited a movement? 

e answer, most will say, is in the stars and 

with the greatest of mysteries.

st exposure to the American Indian Movement was at 17. Having 

My 

my rst year at Harvard, I went to work for the International Indian 

nished 

Council in researching natural resource exploitation on Indigenous 

Treaty 

at was in l977. e International Indian Treaty Council had just 

lands. 

in 1974. In 1977, the Council held their meeting, prior to the rst 

formed 

Nations Conference on Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples, 

United 

Wakpala on the Standing Rock Reservation. Indeed, the modern political 

at 

of the American Indian Movement was formed at Standing Rock, 

arm 

the leadership of the Lakota traditional Chiefs of the Oceti 

following 

and the Lakota Treaty Council, who had strong convictions and 

Sakowin 

spiritual guidance. A er all, the Lakota had rejected the proposed 

stronger 

Claims Commission settlement of $105 million for the Black Hills of 

Indian 

Dakota, reminding the US that the Black Hills were not for sale. As 

South 

interest on the account increased (it’s over $1 billion now), the Lakota 


to the United States with a bill, telling Congress that the only 

returned 

for land is land. Called the Bradley Bill (introduced by former 

compensation 

Jersey Senator Bill Bradley), the bill called for the transfer of 1.3 million 

New 

of Black Hills National Forest land to the Great Sioux Nation, lands 

acres 

excluded Mount Rushmore National Memorial, private lands, 

that 

and other park lands. Interest from the judgment award 

municipalities 

be distributed amongst the tribes as compensation for the loss of use 

would 

the land; the principal would remain in the trust fund. Appropriations 


be provided to assist the Sioux Nation in managing the returned 

would 37 lands. 

this is to say that, as astonishing as it is, some people still have integrity 

All 

moral convictions that remind them that money is not God, and that a 

and 

wellspring, like the Black Hills or the Missouri River, is in fact 

spiritual 

at said, even without looking back to the 70s and the 

sustaining. 

Indian Movement, the constant struggle to survive as Indigenous 

American 

in a place as repressive as the Dakotas meant endless legal cases, 

Nations 

defense of children and human rights — and always ghting to 

advocacy, 

our water. e emergence of stronger sovereign governance 

protect 

and the increasing aggression of late stage extractive capitalism 

structures 

more organizing, that is, tireless organizing which laid the 

meant 

for more Indigenous resistance — from Idle No More and 

groundwork 

opposition to extraction in the Bakken, to tribal resistance to the 

grassroots

Here and Now 

Why 

that proposed Keystone XL pipeline, for example. 

Consider 

Are the Water Protectors? 

Who 

the summer, it was mostly local folks from Cannonball and 

roughout 

Keystone XL pipeline. 

proposed 

scientists and historians can always identify the conditions that 

Social 

it possible — the long history of oppression that eventually reached a 

made 

point, the vision and bravery and leadership that paved the way — 

tipping 

there remains a mysterious spark that eludes all attempts at analysis. 

but 

no exactness in the re of a social movement. We hope that people 

ere’s 

will 

nd their power, their understanding and the strength of collective 

as it is there that change is made. But what is it that brings about a 

action, 

James Cameron, director of Avatar, would say that righteous 

moment? 

and hope are the tipping point, when people come together and 

indignation 

— like the Zapatista did — “Enough.” Or take to becoming magical 

say 

and rage against the machine. We can make plans, we can develop 

beings 

strategies and workplans, but there are forces at play much larger than 

goals, 

ourselves, and sometimes that spark comes when we least expect it. 

e threats 

by the two pipelines to the environment, public health and tribal and 

posed 

rights are strikingly similar. But before it ever received permits, 

human 

a seven-year, multi-million-dollar campaign of opposition led by some 

saw 

the largest environmental nonpro ts in the world, with regular media 


attention in major international outlets. 

e advocacy campaign to stop 

Access — well, there wasn’t one. It passed largely under the radar. 

Dakota 

in early August, as the youth ran to DC and a dozen people from 

Even 

Stone set up a tipi on the North Dakota capitol lawn during a special 

Sacred 

session, many assumed the pipeline to be a done deal. It seemed it 

legislative 

simply end up like the 16 other crude oil pipelines already operating 

would 

North Dakota. 38 But just a few weeks later, a thousand people from across 

in 

continent were camped at river’s edge, many of them prepared to 


ce everything to keep that pipe out of the ground. A people had been 

sacri 

awakened. A historic siege had begun. 

communities on the Standing Rock Reservation holding it down at 

nearby 

Sacred Stone Camp. When construction began in early August, just days 

the

er the youth runners reached DC, people from Sacred Stone started 

a 

vehicles from entering the nearby Cannonball Ranch. ey were 

blocking 

arrested. Upon rumor that 

had encountered archaeological artifacts, 

Rock Tribal Chair Dave Archambault II and Councilmember Dana 

Standing 

were arrested while attempting to push through the police line to 

Yellowfat 

39 Each day the confrontation escalated, and each day more and 

intervene. 

people showed up, mostly from Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, 

more 

Pine Ridge and other Lakota and Dakota reservations. But many 

Rosebud, 

tribes from across the continent were soon represented, and plenty of 


allies answered the call to support as well. Soon, LaDonna’s land 

non-Native 

couldn’t t another tipi or tent, so new arrivals were sent to camp on 

simply 

adjacent federal land, just on the other side of the Cannonball River. 


they just kept coming. Something magical was happening. Prayers 

And 

being answered. Whole families were showing up, with Elders, 

were 

horses. ere was excitement in the air. A paddle demonstration 

children, 

organized and the Cannonball River was covered in canoes all the way 

was 

the con uence with the Missouri. At night, hundreds of camp res lit up 

to 

sky across the prairie. It became clear that the “Over ow Camp” had in 


become the setting for the rst gathering of the Oceti Sakowin, the 

fact 

Seven Council Fires, in 140 years. 

us was born the Oceti Sakowin Camp. 

within it, dozens of other smaller camps soon emerged — Rosebud 

And 

Red Warrior Camp, Two-Spirit Camp. Wild Oglala, Ponca, Yankton. 

Camp, 

whole tribal universe. 

A 

really are no words to describe what that space meant for people, the 

ere 

power in it. If you were there, you understand. 

at is really all we can say. 

me, it was in the camps at Standing Rock that we remembered what it 


like to be free. We remembered what it was like to create a village of 

feels 

of people, a powerful Indigenous space that welcomed people of 

thousands 

di erent colors and nations. And we remembered what it feels like to 

all 

the infrastructure we need to care for ourselves entirely outside the 

create 

money economy — to feed and clothe our people, to have stable 

colonized 

and quality medical care for everyone, to have control of our 

housing 

upbringing, to practice our spirituality freely and share our stories 

children’s 

Every single night, all through the night, the drums would echo 

unafraid. 

across the plains — the heartbeat of Mother Earth — and the singers 

out 

would pour every bit of themselves into those songs, their ancestors owing

them as they cried out to future generations that we were all there 

through 

protect. I was so proud to be a part of that moment. Everyone was. 

to

came from the far corners of the world. Many gave up their jobs, 

People 

houses, even their relationships back home. ey came with the shirts 


their back and found a place in the movement. Some felt called to the 

on 

lines, others helped cook and wash dishes, cared for children, chopped 

front 

winterized shelters or supported the legal defense of those 

rewood, 

e Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council was sta ed by top- 

arrested. 

professional herbalists, doctors, nurses and other medical 

notch 

from around the world, but drawing on generations of plant 

practitioners 

held by Linda Black Elk and other Indigenous leaders. Families 

wisdom 

child care, and Sacred Stone Camp built a beautiful school. People 

organized 

what was going on and said, “You know, I want to be the person that I’m 

saw 

to be. I’m going to go to Standing Rock to nd myself.” And that’s 

supposed 

we did; we found ourselves at Standing Rock. 

what 

siege escalated quickly, with the State of North Dakota declaring a 

e 

State of Emergency in order to fund their brutal response, including setting

a military style checkpoint on the highway between Bismarck and the 

up 

as a form of economic sanction against the tribe, which relies on 

reservation 

casino revenue to survive. 

e rst lockdown actions came at the end of 

when two Lakota Water Protectors — one from Standing Rock and 

August 

from Rosebud — locked their bodies to heavy equipment and stopped 

one 

for the day as Morton County Sheri s spent more than six 

construction 

clumsily and recklessly trying to extract them. In early September, the 

hours 

companies intentionally desecrated the sacred sites disclosed by the 

pipeline 

archaeologist in a legal ling the day before. When Water Protectors 

tribe’s 

to intervene, private security guards attacked them with dogs, injuring 

tried 

including one pregnant woman. A few days later, the Canoe Families 

several, 

the Salish Sea and across the Paci c Northwest paddled down the 

from 

to the camps — some 18 canoes in all, massive ocean-going vessels 

Missouri 

in a majestic display of pride and solidarity. e journey ful lled a vision 

— 

the late Tribal Canoe Journey Elder Tom Heidlebaugh had over 20 years 

that 

in which he saw the canoe people and the horse people come together at 

ago 

mighty river to join forces to protect the earth. 

a 

of such visions and prophecies were not uncommon, and tribal 

Stories 

became almost a daily occurrence, as representatives from 

delegations 

all over the world were received at the sacred re in the Oceti Camp, 

nations 

gi s, words of support and resolutions of solidarity from their tribal 

bearing 

By fall, the main dirt road in camp was lined with hundreds of 

councils. 

ags. Many came in full regalia and o ered their traditional songs and 

tribal 

ere was a spirit of celebration, reverence and determination. e 

dances. 

people of Northern Russia and Scandinavia sent a delegation. e 

Sami 

community of Sarayaku, in the Ecuadorian Amazon, sent a 

Kichwa 

in ful llment of the ancient Incan prophecy of the Eagle and the 

delegation, 

in which the Indigenous Peoples of North America and South 

Condor, 

come together and the Earth awakens. Delegations also arrived 

America 

non-Native liberation movements — the Palestine Youth Movement, 

from 

Lives Matter — and from faith communities of countless di erent 

Black 

religions and denominations. 

e Veterans came, in an epic show of 

and force, and found their place in a moment of struggle 

commitment 

enemies foreign and domestic. ousands of people came to 

against 

Standing Rock, thousands of Water Protectors. 

ey came from everywhere, 

from every economic sector; clergy, veterans, school children, families,

Native people from all these categories, elected o 

cials and many more. 

ey came because they wanted to protect the water. 

ey came because 

Earth needs us. 


sent semi loads of logs for rewood, endless bu alo meat, dried 

Tribes 

salmon, plant medicines. 

e food was good, our spirits and prayers 

For all of us it was a magical place to be, to have an understanding 

renewed. 

a battle on the ground, to see yourself in history. Walking through camp or 


Rock’s Prairie Knights Casino (that’s where you could get a hot 

Standing 

if you had a friend) was like time traveling. People who had known 

shower 

other for four or more decades, veterans of other Indian Wars, veterans 

each 

social justice struggles, would meet and smile, greet each other and be 


pleased that we were in this moment in time. 

en we would look and see 

children and our future. We were together. We were epic, and we still 

our 

are. 

the battle continued and the state’s militarized response escalated, 

As 

continued to build, beyond what anyone imagined was possible. 

energy 

faced an outrageous militarized and violent response from North 

ey 

law enforcement with knowledge that millions all over the world 

Dakota 

watching and supporting us. In addition to the hundreds of tribes 

were 

resolutions in support, labor unions started to follow suit, then 

passing 

cities across the US — Los Angeles, Seattle, Cleveland, Minneapolis, 

major 

St. Louis, Nashville and more. In mid-November, organizers in the 

Portland, 

called for a National Day of Action, and demonstrations were 

camps 

online in over 300 cities across the world, including several 

registered 

numbering in the thousands. 

protests 

yet, on some level it was a moment we all knew had been coming, in 

And 

the violence and perversion of our economic system would start to 

which 

It was a moment of extreme corporate rights and extreme racism 

unravel. 

by courage, prayers and resolve. It was remarkable what our 

confronted 

were able to do. We learned that when we work together, we can 

people 

change, that when we stand together, we can nd our courage. For 

make 

of us, Standing Rock was a Selma Moment where all of our mettle and 

many 

was tested as we faced down large multinational corporations 

determination 

lots of guns and said: “We’re still standing.” A moment when we all 

with 

woke up and said, “ 

is is when we become the ancestors our descendants 

will be proud of.”

not that we were free 

It’s 

really not 

on a clear day 

But 

could see what 

we 

looked like 

freedom 

Tilsen 40 

—Mark 

The Siege at River’s Edge 

I did not experience these confrontations with police rsthand, but have 

Note: 

my best to reconstruct the events based on descriptions from my relatives 

done 

did. who 

A small procession of women walks slowly, humbly, towards a pink 

Dawn. 

and orange sky. 

ey carry a copper vessel to the bank of the Cannonball 

o er prayers and tobacco and sing songs for the water, as they do each 

River, 

It is October 27, 2016, a day that will be remembered for many 

morning. 

to come. 

generations 

four days, Water Protectors have maintained blockades on the two 

For 

connecting the camp (and the reservation) to the rest of North 

roads 

A small radio tower has been erected to facilitate communication 

Dakota. 

outposts. And a new encampment has blossomed on the 

between 

Ranch, the private land adjacent to the Army Corps’ land where 

Cannonball 

the Oceti Sakowin camp is located. 

e 1851 Treaty Camp, as it has come to 

called, is located directly in the path of the pipeline, just across the 

be 

from the sacred ground that was intentionally desecrated in early 

highway 

on the day of the dog attacks. It is called the Treaty Camp 

September 

this land was never ceded to the US government, and in fact it was 

because 

preserved as sovereign territory of the Oceti Sakowin by the Fort 

explicitly 

Treaties of 1851 and 1867. 

Laramie 

autumn deepens, this escalation in tactics has birthed a new sense of 

As 

Water Protectors have gone on the o ensive. e resistance has 

power. 

beyond questions of environmental racism and cultural preservation, 

moved 

an assertion of fundamental rights to the land, a questioning of settlement 

to

People have literally put their physical bodies in the way of 

itself. 

e point is not just to shed light on the fact that the state is 

colonization. 

of trespass, that the treaties have been consistently violated for the 

guilty 

of corporate resource extraction ever since their signing. e idea 

purposes 

to take the land back. 

is 

absurd as North Dakota’s hyper-militarized response to unarmed 

As 

on prayer walks has been, to some extent the two sides have been 

people 

on this deeper level all along. Why else would hand drums 

communicating 

sage smudges be met so consistently with tanks, assault ri es and 

and 

weapons? e deployment of police forces to protect the oil and 

chemical 

barons and keep money owing out of the ground is nothing new, but 

gas 

case has been di erent — Water Protectors have faced a uni ed, well- 

this 

military force of oil industry personnel, local, state and federal 

coordinated 

enforcement, federal intelligence agencies, the National Guard and 

law 

from unlicensed paramilitary organizations fresh from the war 

mercenaries 

of Iraq and Afghanistan. In many cases, the line between that o cial 

zones 

and everyday white supremacist North Dakotan vigilantes has 

structure 

blurry to say the least. You see, the memory of genocidal colonial 

been 

is fresh here; in fact it is still happening, and North Dakota seems 

violence 

understand very well a fact that much of the rest of America has managed 

to 

forget — that its entire economy and way of life is predicated on the the 

to 

Indigenous lands. 


is why they have come for the Water Protectors on this beautiful fall 

is 

wielding all their toys. A battalion of cops decked out with riot gear and 

day, 

tactical equipment, armored tanks and snipers on the 

state-of-the-art 

come to clear out a few handfuls of tipis and tents. ere are long 

hillside, 

of tense confrontation as the Water Protectors gather to face the 

moments 

line. Eventually, a er an extended performance of Orwellian police 

police 

and threats over the loudspeaker, that line advances, and the Water 

warnings 

are pushed backward. Some are snatched to the other side and 

Protectors 

Some are snatched back. As a young woman is seized by police and 

arrested. 

to the ground, live gunshots are red. Cops with assault ri es slash 

wrestled 

canvas walls of tipis and drag half-naked Elders out of their sweat lodges. 


are beaten with batons and thrown to the ground. Pepper spray ies 

Bodies 

the gallon. e sound cannon (long range acoustical device, or ) 

by 

across the plains. Police shoot tasers, rubber bullets and bean bag 

echoes

ounds. 

is disagreement among the Water Protectors about whether to stand 

ere 

retreat — barricades are built, then dismantled, then built again. One is 

or 

on re. Vehicles and trailers are placed in the path of the police, and 

set 

dive under them and lock their necks to the steel. New tipis are 

people 

at lightning speed, hay bales are dragged and logs rolled frantically 

erected 

a desperate attempt to slow things down. But the police line keeps 

in 

and the Water Protectors lose inch a er painful inch. Suddenly, 

advancing, 

the east, the bu alo herd is charging, ying over the hills in a cloud of 

to 

e Water Protectors cheer and war whoop. A group of young Lakota 

dust. 

horse riders has herded them towards the con ict, and cops on 

s have 

pursuit, ring rubber bullets at the riders in full gallop. 

given 

the midst of all the chaos, a private security worker races his truck 

In 

the road full of people, with an assault ri e visible through the 

through 

Water Protectors quickly hop in a vehicle and ram the truck o the 

window. 

He jumps out and is chased into a backwater of the river, standing 

road. 

deep as he points the assault ri e at the Water Protectors, nger on the 

waist 

Eventually he gives up the weapon to a Bureau of Indian A airs cop. 

trigger. 

the blockade of the other main access road has been lit on re. 

Meanwhile, 

crude pile of logs and tires blazes, and a vehicle has been ipped upside 

A 

into the ames, barring a second unit of police from anking the 

down 

Protectors in retreat. People will go to prison for this. On the side of 


road near the burning vehicle, a few small bodies huddle around a pan 


of sizzling grease, making frybread. 

e tanks and riot cops are just beyond 

crest of the hill. 


the police reach camp, Water Protectors retreat to what will later 

Before 

become known as “Backwater Bridge.” 

ere, in a move of questionable 

they build a massive blockade, and as darkness approaches they set 

strategy, 

on re, facing o with police all through the night. In the morning, two 

it 

military trucks will have been burned, and their charred frames 

heavy-duty 

remain on the bridge dressed in gra ti for weeks, a new obstacle 

will 

blocking tra 

c between camp and the pipeline route, as well as between the 

and the outside world. Over 140 Water Protectors will wake up 

reservation 

jail. in 

Militarization

there is a turning point in the story of o resistance, this is it — 

If 

27, the raid of the Treaty Camp. e weeks leading up to it had seen 

October 

steady escalation on the part of law enforcement in response to relentless 

a 

actions by Water Protectors, shutting down work sites day in and day 

direct 

In addition to consistent lockdowns, and daily marches and prayer 

out. 

Water Protectors also led Toxic Tours, where caravans of dozens of 

walks, 

would gather at one of the camp’s exits and proceed to active 

cars 

sites to stop work. O en these actions would result in mass 

construction 

with police actively targeting journalists and medics, in violation of 

arrests, 

humanitarian law. Just days before, on October 22, over 140 

international 

were suddenly arrested a er walking many miles down the pipeline 

people 

followed by police, singing songs and burning sage. 

corridor, 

enforcement assembled an army over 1300 strong, drawing from 

Law 

across North Dakota and nine other states, through what is called 

counties 

Emergency Management Assistance Compact, an interstate agreement 


to facilitate the sharing of resources for natural disaster relief. 

intended 

own Hennepin County, home to Minneapolis, sent many 

Minnesota’s 

cers, and they proved to be some of the most brutal. 

o 

Armed with mine-resistant armored personnel carriers ( 

), long range 

devices, rubber bullets, mace, tear gas, water cannons, bean bag 

acoustic 

concussion grenades and razor wire, and with the full force of the 

guns, 

government behind them, law enforcement injured, tormented, 

federal 

and humiliated hundreds of Water Protectors. Many of those 

taunted 

were stripped and cavity searched and placed in dog kennels in 

arrested 

cold conditions, with numbers written on their arms with 

freezing 

marker. Some had hoods placed over their heads, a practice 

permanent 

considered torture. 

generally 

was not until months later, thanks in large part to leaked documents and 

It 

excellent investigative journalism of e Intercept, 41 that we fully 


the degree to which this multi-agency army of cops, feds, private 

appreciated 

and oil men was actually coordinated by the private paramilitary 

security 

TigerSwan. Folks had grown accustomed, in the tragic way that 

group 

get used to trauma, to the daily low-level ights of privately owned 

humans 

planes and helicopters circling over the camp, despite the “noy 

surveillance 

zone” declared by the . We knew they were using hi-tech equipment 

to jam our cell phones, folks had found bugging devices in their hotel rooms

Promises 

Empty 

er the raid of the Treaty Camp came something of a stalemate, North 

A 

the casino, and we assumed there were in ltrators among us. But we did 

at 

know that the hyper-militarized police program was being led by a 

not 

“war on terror” defense contractor hired by a Fortune 500 oil 

private 

comparing us to “jihadist insurgents” in order to sell the rural 

company, 

on the need for “aggressive intelligence preparation of the battle eld.” 

cops 

did we appreciate the depth of the so-called “counter-terrorism 

Nor 

they led, with a level of surveillance, in ltration and provocation 

program” 

seen in Indian Country since the ’s of the 1970s, an 

not 

to destroy the American Indian Movement, the Black Panthers and 

attempt 

revolutionary groups, by any means necessary. 


le the burned trucks on Backwater Bridge for many weeks, 

Dakota 

that the bridge itself might be structurally compromised. But 

claiming 

everyone knew the bridge was ne. 

e truth was that the images of the 

trucks provided media cover for their brutality, plus they got a free 

burned 

out of the deal. e blockage of the highway connecting Bismarck 

roadblock 

the Standing Rock Reservation was absolutely critical to their strategy, a 

to 

war tactic of restricting freedom of movement and su ocating the 

classic 

enemy economically. 

e tribe lost millions in casino revenue, its main 

of income. Meanwhile, construction could proceed on the 

source 

Ranch and Water Protectors had no way of accessing it — they 

Cannonball 

trapped in camp. Life went on, direct actions continued, and the 

were 

movement of solidarity ourished, but the tribe’s legal 

international 

were gaining no traction, and winter was on its way. 

challenges 

early November, Water Protectors used canoes and a makeshi oating 

In 

to cross backwater creeks and attempt to occupy a small hill north of 

bridge 

e hill, which came to be known as “Turtle Island,” is a sacred burial 

camp. 

home to the remains of several children and well-known local 

ground, 

women. ey climbed the hill to protect the sacred site, but law 

Lakota 

attacked with tear gas and pepper spray from atop the hill and 

enforcement 

motorized boats, destroying the bridges. So people swam across, in ice 

from 

water, only to emerge shivering at the base of the hill and be doused 

cold 

pepper spray. On that exact same day, President Obama spoke about 

with 

the situation publicly for one of the rst times, making vague statements

a possible reroute but saying “we are gonna let this play out for a few 

about 

weeks.” No reroute considerations were announced, he did not 

more 

to stop the violence, and his federal agencies continued to work 

intervene 

with TigerSwan and North Dakota cops to repress the resistance. 

closely 

had visited Standing Rock personally in 2014, becoming only the 

Obama 

US president to ever visit a reservation, and as he kissed the babies he 

third 

the tribe he would be “a president who honors our sacred trust and who 

told 

your sovereignty.” More empty promises. 

respects 

than a week a er the stando at Turtle Island, Donald Trump was 

Less 

as the 45th president of the United States. 

elected 

November 20, Water Protectors tried to clear the trucks o the bridge. 

On 

ensued was one of the most dangerous and terrifying clashes of the 

What 

campaign, the Battle of Backwater Bridge. Law enforcement blasted 

entire 

Protectors with water cannons in freezing temperatures for nearly 


eight hours, causing widespread hypothermia. 

ey sprayed mace and red 

gas and rubber bullets, o en aiming for the groin and the face. 

tear 

were injured, including multiple fractured bones, one grand mal 

Hundreds 

one permanent eye injury, severe lacerations, blunt traumas and 

seizure, 

bleeding. Twenty-one-year-old Sophia Wilansky’s arm was blown 

internal 

by a concussion grenade. Linda Black Elk, matriarch of the Standing 

apart 

Medic and Healer Council, said, “We are 100% con dent that if our 

Rock 

medics and the Standing Rock 

had not been there … local law 

would have deaths on their hands.” 

enforcement 

weeks later, on December 4, as a group of thousands of US military 

Two 

arrived at Standing Rock to stand in solidarity with the Water 

veterans 

with talk of marching in formation to overtake the drill pad, the 

Protectors, 

Corps of Engineers announced a delay in granting the essential 

Army 

for to drill under the Missouri River, with plans to rst 

easement 

an environmental impact statement to “evaluate reasonable route 

conduct 

We all wondered, had the Obama administration nally 

alternatives.” 

listened? Some celebrated, cautiously. 

en the sun set and the oodlights 

on the hill overlooking the camps. Snow dri ed down onto the 

remained 

wire of the walled fortress surrounding the drill pad. e national 

barbed 

police and armored vehicles stayed in place. Nothing changed. 

guardsmen, 

Transfer Partners described the decision as a “purely political 

Energy 

action” written in obvious “Washington code” and consistent with the

Filth of North Dakota 


January of 2017, a newly elected Governor Burgum worked with North 

In 

handling of the situation for the previous four months — 

administration’s 

intention to delay a decision in this matter until President Obama is 

“their 

out of o 

ce.” 42 Sadly, their take on the situation was one of the most 

accurate. 

is uent in the language of death, destruction and lies, and at 

moment when President Obama asked Native people to love him even 

that 

er his government had once again brutalized our grandmas and our 

a 

children, 

understood him perfectly. He was simply delaying a crisis and 

kicking the can to Donald Trump. 

authorities to peddle a story to the media about the feces and 

Dakota 

runo into the river from the Oceti Sakowin Camp, requiring their 

garbage 

attention as a public health risk. 43 Rather ironic, since the state 

immediate 

ago removed all sanitation support to the thousands of people who 

long 

to live in the l4th largest city in the state of North Dakota. Forced out 

came 

thousands of pounds of food was bulldozed and tossed by federal 

midwinter, 

stores for a winter camp that might have gone to people, tents, 

authorities, 

the whole is gone, along with strawbale structures, greenhouses and 

tipis, 

more. All of this to clean up a er “protestors.” 

e spin continued in North 

corporate fed media. As Dr. Jumping Eagle explained in a 

Dakota’s 

post: 

FaceBook 

biased media use this as opportunity to talk smack once again. 

Racist 

empty tents and cardboard can be recycled, etc.… benzene, oil, 

Some 

other chemicals in the water cannot be removed. So … when it 

and 

to trash and waste, I will take some jacked up tarps any day, over 

comes 

years of contaminated water from oil pipeline spills and frack 

50–100 

contamination. It’s too bad that Morton County doesn’t look in 

waste 

own trash — maybe they would nd their integrity, honesty, and 


buried in there somewhere. ey likely burned them while 

humanity 

were busy taking sel es with half naked freezing Water Protectors 

they 

cages in the background ala Guantanamo Bay and Auschwitz. 

in 

be honest. North Dakota does not care about garbage. Nor pollution. 

Let’s 

fact, in 2015, the state decided that instead of protecting citizens from the 

In 

radioactive waste from fracking, they would just increase the recommended

Those Pipeline Spills 

About 

January 2016, more than 100,900 gallons of crude oil, waste oil, bio 

Since 

allowance of radiation allowed in the state from 5 picocuries per gram 

daily 

50 picocuries per gram. 44 In Orwellian terms, “Technically Enhanced 

to 

Occurring Radioactive Materials” is really just a word for fracking 

Naturally 

Let me remind Governor Burgum, that at no point has radiation 

wastes. 

safer for your citizens. 

become 

just the beginning of the garbage insanity. Morton County sprayed a 

at’s 

of unknown toxins onto the Water Protectors — from antifreeze-laden 

lot 

cannons, to mace — which then ended up in the river. 

water 

then there’s David Meyers, a “rancher” who purchased 40,000 pounds 

And 

Rozol, a prairie dog poison that causes animals to bleed to death, for use 


land adjoining the Missouri River. An Environmental Protection 

on 

investigation determined that the Rozol poison had been 

Agency–led 

distributed across more than 5,400 acres on both the Cannonball 

illegally 

and the Wilder ranches. As the investigation noted, instead of 

Ranch 

applied into the prairie dog burrows, the bright blue poison pellets 

being 

broadcast on the ground. Dead prairie dogs were le where they died 

were 

of being expeditiously removed to protect other wildlife. Six dead 

instead 

were found in April, and dead bison were also found as recently as 

eagles 

documents said. According to the report, Meyer did not have 

August, 

pesticide certi cation to apply the Rozol. Meyer was given probation 

proper 

return for a timely guilty plea, $58,000 in restitution fees and a $50,000 

in 45 ne. 

you were worried, Meyer’s had no problem paying those fees. Six 

Lest 

a er he poisoned the land, Meyer sold the Cannonball Ranch to 

months 

Transfer Partners for a reported $18 million. 46 Nice ranching. And, 

Energy 

some garbage that will not be easy to clean up. 

that’s 

natural gas and brine were spilled in North Dakota and surrounding 

solids, 

according to the North Dakota Department of Health records. It’s 

areas, 

a weekly asco. Approximately 50,000 gallons of slaked lime solids 

almost 

into the Missouri River in June causing unknown impacts. 

slid 

companies are ever ned, in a North Dakota regulatory system that 

Few 

to be controlled by oil companies. According to the Bismarck 

appears 

Tribune, in early 2016, the Commission reviewed six outstanding spill cases

with nes totaling $600,000. 47 As journalist Chris Hagen writes, 

past spills are still being cleaned up around the state, such 

Additionally, 

the Tesoro Corp. spill of 2013, the Energy and the Oasis 

as 

Inc. spills of 2014 and 2015, according to Bill Suess, Spill 

Petroleum 

Program manager of North Dakota Department of 

Investigation 

Spills occur on a daily basis, Suess said, the cleanup is costly, 

Health. 

companies are rarely ned. “Not everyone gets ned,” Suess said. 

and 

“Usually we hold o as long as we can on the 

nes because it is a 

motivator to get them cleaning it up.” 48 

2015 and 2016, North Dakota Industrial Commission proposed a total 

In 

$4,525,000 in penalties, collecting a paltry $125,976. 49 So, let us talk about 


North Dakota. 

garbage 

North Dakota cheered the completion of the pipeline, the Trump 

As 

Administration buried an Interior memorandum which rea 

rmed the 

of the permit. A er all, if the pipeline was not good enough for the 

denial 

supply of Bismarck, why would it be good enough for the water supply 

water 

Standing Rock? 


things change but a lot do not. While the Water Protector clearances 

Some 

out by the Burgum administration were portrayed as being in the 

carried 

of public health, there’s something pretty egregious about destroying 

interest 

and housing in the middle of winter. LaDonna Brave Bull Allard 

food 

us of the Whitestone Massacre, where General Sully, not unlike the 

reminds 

National Guard, Morton County and 

cops, destroyed the food of a 

people. 

to historical sources, Sully ordered all the Indian property 

According 

abandoned in the camp to be burned. 

is included 300 tipis and 400,000 to 

pounds of dried bu alo meat, the winter supplies of the Indians and 

500,000 

product of 1,000 butchered bu alo. 50 Some things don’t change much. 


can’t say it’s water under the bridge, at this point. I can say that North 

I 

Governor Burgum has a lot of work cut out for him to clean up the 

Dakota 

of the state. Not only the toxins of an oil industry, unregulated, but 

garbage 

toxins of human rights violations. is will be a challenge. 


think North Dakota has violated the covenant with the Creator, and 

I 

of Nature. Filth is everywhere. It is time to come clean. 

Rights

Art of Indigenous 


Resistance 

the machines tore into sacred ground on the horizon, Dakota artist 

As 

Rencountre created a statue. Not Afraid To Look sits on a blu 

Charles 

the Missouri River, directly above the site of the Sacred Stone 

overlooking 

at the mouth of the Cannonball River. Today, the statue is the only 

Camp 

that remains — the tents, the tipis, the barracks, the schools, the 

thing 

and inipis (sweat lodges) constructed during the o resistance 

clinics 

all been bulldozed. 

have 

is a traditional pipe carver, and the statue is modeled on what 

Rencountre 

called an “e gy pipe,” a smoking pipe originally carved in the l820s. e 

is 

one of which wound up in the collection of President Andrew Jackson, 

pipe, 

a small Native gure carved into the shank and facing the attached bowl, 

has 

depicts the face of a white man. e pipe had a name: Not Afraid To 

which 

at the White Man. “How much courage does it take to sit on the earth 

Look 

no weapons looking straight ahead into the eye of the storm with no 

with 

It is much like counting coup on an enemy in the sense that one only 

fear? 

to touch the enemy, not take his life. Touching the enemy with your 

needs 

with your gaze, is the highest capacity of honor, courage and 

eyes, 

he explains. 51 

compassion,”

found Charles Rencountre and his rst Not Afraid To Look statue at the 

I 

for American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. e statue 

Institute 

large over us both, and his story was compelling — to take the gi s 

loomed 

from our ancestors and bring them into a modern medium. 

collected 

Rencountre’s great-great-great grandfather was a signatory of the 1851

of Fort Laramie, between the US government and the tribes of the 

Treaty 

Sioux Nation. As the o resistance blossomed in the late summer 

Great 

2016, he came to Standing Rock to build another Not Afraid To Look, this 


on Ladonna Allard’s land overlooking the river. 

time 

Afraid To Look begins as a symbol from my Plains ancestors, who 

Not 

me that although we have faced genocide — we continue to 

remind 

in many good and surprising ways. We are here. And we are here 

thrive 

outsiders who tried to kill or erase us all. We are also changing. 

despite 

the human people face today is similar to what my ancestors 

What 

in the 19th century. Not Afraid To Look comes out of a living 

faced 

and worldview. It may remind human people to use the 

cosmology 

instilled within us to endure and face what seems 

power 

insurmountable. 

e piece symbolizes our relationship when we human 

connect with the earth because that is the lineage it comes from. 

people 

the earth has faced many forces evoked by fear, anger, delusion, 

ough 

denial by the human people, the earth endures and will endure. 

and 

people can do this too. ere is truth that when we listen we 

Human 

face things that look like hell realms and still nd ways that are 

can 

and valuable to us … we, as human beings, have the 

meaningful 

to overcome historical di erences, wounds and antipathies, to 

capacity 

together for what is sacred and what is our right to respect, to 

work 

protect, and to live, as part of its life. 52 

will be more of these statues elsewhere, I assume. Rencountre and 

ere 

wife, Alicia Rencountre-Da Silva, want to build one here on the shores of 

his 

(Lake Superior), in New York and Washington DC, and in the 

Gitchigami 

alley” of Louisiana. 

“cancer 

artists, my wife and I have visions to place Not Afraid To Look in 

As 

that are in need … places where humanity is avoiding 

places 

to look at what is happening … Art creates a response 


builds community; that re ects and gives voice to those in need of 

that 

truths — and it is our way to move forward. We see art as a 

its 

and a gesture within and from a community that begins a 

relationship 

process for healing of that which has been unheard and denied. 53 

e o resistance at Standing Rock brought together some of the best

and brightest Native artists and compelled them to create. 

e result was no 

than a renaissance of Indigenous resistance art in a multitude of 

less 

erent media, from tattoos to poetry and everything in between. New t- 

di 

banners and murals abounded in the camp, with new artists 

shirts, 

silk screens on site, in a time of wearable art everywhere. And 

producing 

er the siege had ended, the ood of creativity and expression that began at 

a 

Rock spread across the continent, breathing life into other 

Standing 

and struggles while processing the emotions and trauma, the 

campaigns 

and defeats, of the history that had just been made on river’s edge. 

victories 

Standing Rock it grows. 

From 

could, of course, never name them all — but here is a short sample of 

I 

of the incredible work inspired and ampli ed by the movement: the 

some 

Rock underbird Tattoo by Stephanie Big Eagle; poster art by 

Standing 

Moon; murals and music by Annie Humphrey; the roo op mural at 

Jackie 

Indian Community Housing Organization in Duluth, Minnesota, 

American 

Votan; hip hop from Nataani Means, Immortal Technique, Yaz Like Jaws, 

by 

and others; clothing line Obsidian, recently featured in Vogue 

Tufawon 

visual art from Isaac Murdoch and Christi Belcourt of the 

magazine; 

Collective; It Ain’t Over Until We’re Smoking on the Drill Pad, a 

Onaman 

of poetry by Mark Tilsen; Standing Strong, a book of photography of 

book 

o movement by Josue Rivas; Akicita: e Battle of Standing Rock, a 


directed by Cody Lucich. Honor the Earth has also sponsored two years 

lm 

an exhibit called the Art of Indigenous Resistance, curated by Dine artist 


Smith. It includes primarily paintings, giclees and fabric pieces, as 

Kimberly 

as mounted wheat paste murals. Smith explains the thinking that 

well 

guided the creation of the exhibit: 

reservation areas where high rates of addiction, poverty, and loss of 

In 

threaten our way of life, we have to create ways to engage and 

culture 

our communities. Our mission is to create awareness for, and 

upli 

social and environmental issues, and to showcase empowering 

support 

indigenous art from across the country. 

rough this indigenous lens, 

want to show that indigenous self-expression is deeply embedded in 

we 

tradition and culture. Song, dance, storytelling, and prayer 

indigenous 

all done to honor Mother Earth and to heal. Our connections to 

are 

Earth through cultural practices have sustained us for 

Mother

Art has power. Art has the ability to wake up the people. 

millennia. 

it, we can evoke emotion, tell stories, inspire and motivate, and 

rough 

channeled as a vehicle for issues of consciousness, it can become a 

when 

for meaningful change. People are working hard to make a shi 

catalyst 

and socially, and we must take this opportunity to show 

politically 

and remind our communities of how resilient we are. With a 

solidarity 

of art, music, and activism, we are taking this opportunity as 

blending 

people to step up, be innovative, support one another, and grow 

young 

into our roles. 54 

too must be not afraid to look at the enemy or at our own weaknesses. 

We 

the beauty of art should be in the darkest and brightest of times both. 

And

How The Dust Settles 

January 18, 2017, the Standing Rock Tribal Council voted unanimously 

On 

close the camps and serve eviction notices. 55 ey had been telling people 

to 

go home ever since the Army Corps delayed the key river crossing permit 

to 

early December, but hundreds had ignored that request and persevered 

in 

a harsh winter. With blockage of the highway strangling the tribe 

through 

they nally canceled plans for a separate winter camp and 

economically, 

they would bring in law enforcement and equipment to clear the 

announced 

at the end of the month. eir repeated instructions to have faith in the 

area 

and the legal process were curious; for the past six weeks, 

had been 

taking control of the federal government. 

literally 

days a er the Army Corps’ decision in early December, former Texas 

Just 

Rick Perry resigned from the board of directors of Energy 

Governor 

Partners, parent company, and was named Trump’s rst 

Transfer 

for Secretary of Energy. 56 Trump also tapped three other friends of 

choice 

join his cabinet: Rex Tillerson, the of Exxon, one of the main 

to 

shippers of oil through 

, as secretary of state; Wilbur Ross, the majority 

shareholder of Navigator, 

’s major export partner, as secretary of 

commerce; and Gary Cohn, 

of Goldman Sachs, a major nancer of 

as director of the National Economic Council and chief economic 

, 

to the president. 57 On January 20, two days a er the tribe’s decision, 

advisor 

became the 45th president of the United States. Four days a er that, 

Trump 

signed an executive order directing the Army Corps to scrap the 

he 

Impact Statement and issue the permit to drill under the 

Environmental 

immediately. 58 

river 

Protectors made their last stand on top of a hill just outside of camp, 


the Backwater Bridge, on unceded treaty land owned by . 

overlooking 

Child Camp was created in honor of Crazy Horse, who had founded 

Last 

warrior society of the same name. On February 1, a highly militarized 


force once again raided the camp, tearing down tipis, disrupting 

police 

and arresting 76 people. e Standing Rock Tribal Council sided 

ceremonies

law enforcement and North Dakota’s corporate media in dismissing 

with 

arrested as “rogue protestors” acting outside the “original intent of the 

those 

Protectors.” 59 A week later, the Army Corps issued the nal permit. 


free to drill under the river. 

was 

North Dakota governor Doug Burgum issued an evacuation 

Incoming 

cra ing a tall tale about trash in the camps and saying, with painful 

order, 

that evacuation was necessary “to avoid an ecological disaster to the 

irony, 

River” in the spring. 60 e Standing Rock Tribal Council issued its 

Missouri 

trespass notice to Ladonna Allard, evicting the entire Sacred Stone 

own 

from her land on the reservation. Ladonna was shocked. Not only 

Camp 

the tribe supported the founding of the camp with a formal resolution, 

had 

also, she was unaware that some of her siblings had sold their portions 

but 

the family land back to the tribe many years ago, giving the tribe a 


ownership of the parcel. On February 21 and 22, the Oceti Sakowin 

majority 

Camp was raided by 

teams, riot cops, helicopters and tanks, arresting 

50 people. Several structures were burned to the ground before they 

nearly 

be seized, and one Water Protector was trapped inside a burning 

could 

su ering third degree burns across her head and face. A few days 

tarpie, 

the entire Sacred Stone Camp was bulldozed to the ground. Along with 

later, 

straw bale school, the kitchen, greenhouses, composting toilets, tipis and 


went countless memories and visions for a permanent cultural 

wigwams, 

where young people could come to live close to the land and learn 

camp 

language and history. is was not the ending that anyone had 


Water Protectors were forced to remove, as thousands of our 

imagined. 

before. In less than a month, had nished construction on 

ancestors 

the entire pipeline and lled it with oil. 

Searching for Justice 

all was said and done, how did the dust settle from this historic event? 

When 

battle continues to this day in courtrooms across the country. Of the 

e 

of legal cases that came out of it, did anyone get justice? 

hundreds 

July 11, 2017, Water Protector Red Fawn Fallis was sentenced to 57 

On 

in federal prison, followed by three years of probation. 61 Originally 

months 

with the attempted murder of a police o cer, she ended up 

charged 

guilty to “civil disorder” and “possession of a rearm by a convicted 

pleading 

e feds dropped the main charge, “discharge of a rearm in a felony 

felon.“

of violence.” 

crime 

the day before, President Trump had pardoned two Oregon cattlemen, 

Just 

and Steven Hammond, both convicted in 2012 of arson for the 

Dwight 

of destroying federal property. A good friend of Vice President 

purposes 

Mike Pence even gave them a ride home in his private jet. 62 

e Hammonds’ 

had been the inspiration for Aamon and Ryan Bundy and their rightwing 

case 

militia’s armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 

in 2016, for which the Bundys were later tried and acquitted of all 

Oregon 

e system works di erently for Native people. 

charges. 

that “civil disorder” charge, for example. It’s a vague statute that is 

Take 

rarely used; in fact it is used almost exclusively to repress social 

very 

It was created in the late 1960s at the height of the Black Power, 

movements. 

Power and anti-war movements. It was used against members 

Red 

involved in the occupation of Wounded Knee. 

is is not a coincidence. As 

Baldwin said, “History is not past. It is the present.” Indigenous 

James 

movements in this country have a clear lineage, as does the 

resistance 

of those movements by the US government. In Red Fawn’s case, 

repression 

attorneys alleged that she red a gun while being arrested on October 27, 

US 

during the raid of the 1851 Treaty Camp. e gun was later revealed to 

2016, 

belonged to her boyfriend, Heath Harmon, from the Fort Berthold 

have 

who she met in the camps but turned out to be a paid 

Reservation, 

informant. He never revealed this fact to her, continuing his 

undercover 

even during visits to see her in jail — the truth came out only through 

lies 

investigative journalism of e Intercept. 63 Harmon’s uncle had been a 


cer that fought alongside the , against , during the occupation 

o 

Wounded Knee, and then with the ’s Special Operations unit was 


to every major Native con ict that happened in the US.” 64 Not 

“detailed 

that one of Harmon’s roles in the o camps was to con rm 

surprising 

the the presence of speci c members. Red Fawn, who he clearly 

for 

grew up in the American Indian Movement; her mother had 

targeted, 

start the Colorado chapter in the early 1970s. Red Fawn and her 

helped 

maintained her innocence, stating that she was forced to accept 

supporters 

plea deal because she could not receive a fair trial due to bias in the 


Dakota jury pool and the prosecution’s withholding of evidence. 

North 

addition to Red Fawn, six other Water Protectors were charged at the 

In 

level, all of them Indigenous. Five were charged with “civil disorder” 

federal

“use of re to commit a felony,” for their alleged role in the burning of 

and 

during the raid of the Treaty Camp: Michael Markus (Rattler), 

barricades 

White (Angry Bird), Michael Giron (Little Feather), Dion Ortiz and 

James 

Miller-Castillo. All of them accepted plea deals except Miller- 

Brandon 

who still has not been arraigned. Red Fawn and Rattler remain in 

Castillo, 

Little Feather, Dion Ortiz and Angry Bird are still under mandatory 

prison. 

supervision. 

federal 

Nastacio was one of the Water Protectors who stopped Kyle 

Brennan 

the private security worker who was chased into the river while 

ompson, 

an assault ri e at people during the raid of the Treaty Camp. 

pointing 

Nastacio likely saved lives, he was charged with federal-level 

Although 

terrorism charges. 65 ompson himself was never charged with a 

felony 

(neither was the man who pulled a gun on Water Protectors during a 

crime 

at the Mandan rail yard). Nastacio’s charges were eventually 

demonstration 

dropped a er 

ompson himself did an interview expressing regret for his 

and saying “It was just a miscommunication on both sides.” Two 

actions 

Water Protectors, Mike Fasig and Israel Hernandez, were charged with 


level felonies for their role in de-escalating ompson. ey agreed to 

state 

diversions and, a er paying nes and doing community service, 

pretrial 

had their charges dismissed. 66 

eventually 

Reznicek and Ruby Montoya, two young women from the 

Jessica 

Stand” o camp in Iowa, were indicted in late 2019 on 

“Mississippi 

federal felony charges, a er publicly claiming responsibility for 

multiple 

the pipeline with acetylene torches and re, causing millions of 

sabotaging 

of damage. eir trial is scheduled for June 2020, and they each face 

dollars 

to 110 years in prison. 67 

up 

the state level, over 750 people were arrested, producing more than 800 

At 

criminal cases, with charges ranging from misdemeanor trespassing to 

total 

rioting. 68 Nearly 400 of those cases were thrown out, mostly for lack 

felony 

evidence. Only about 170 resulted in convictions, most of those through 


agreements. Nearly 200 cases were resolved through pretrial diversion, 

plea 

the case is postponed and the charges eventually dismissed if the 

where 

meets certain conditions. Forty-two were acquitted at trial, 

defendant 

the judges’ refusal to move trials to a di erent part of the state that 

despite 

not been as saturated with biased media. A survey by the National Jury 

had 

Project found that about 80% of the potential jury pool in Mandan and

had already prejudged the Water Protector defendants as guilty, 

Bismarck 

it impossible to get a fair trial. 

making 

A Purple Heart for Sophia 

then there is the case of Sophia Wilansky. Long a er the camps at 

And 

Rock were cleared and oil was already owing through the 

Standing 

I found myself on the Fourth of July at the Sisseton Dakota Pow 

pipeline, 

where everything that is important to me was popping … dancing, 

Wow, 

moccasin games and thousands of beautiful Native people. As is 

rodeo, 

at the opening, veterans and patriotism are honored. at is 

customary, 

I found Sophia Wilansky, being honored at the Sisseton Powwow, for 

where 

sacri ces she made protecting Mni Sose, the Missouri River. I would like 


give her a purple heart. 

to 

Sophia Wilansky is someone that North Dakota would like to 

Frankly, 

A er all, when 21-year-old New Yorker Wilansky’s arm was blown 

forget. 

by a concussion grenade during the Battle of Backwater Bridge, 

apart 

County Sheri Kirchmeier suggested that the Water Protectors were 

Morton 

perpetrators. Her father, attorney Wayne Wilansky, di ered, “ e police 


not do this by accident — it was an intentional act of throwing it directly 

did 

her.” As Wilansky’s father’s statement went viral, subsequent police reports 

at 

Wilansky’s arm was injured when a propane canister she was 

stated 

to throw exploded. 

attempting 

the hospital, police took her clothing and the shred of shrapnel removed 

In 

her arm. ey then convened a secretive grand jury and attempted to 

from 

the Water Protector that had driven her to the hospital. He 

subpoena 

that subpoena and refused to testify. Wilansky and her attorneys 

resisted 

for almost two years to get the evidence back, but the federal 

tried 

has refused, saying it is “needed for the ongoing investigation.” 

government 

November 2018, Wilansky sued Morton County for millions of dollars for 

In 

force, assault, negligence, emotional distress and defamation. 69 To 

excessive 

day, the government refuses to give up the evidence, and no one has 

this 

arrested or indicted in relation to her injury. 70 

been 

I saw Sophia at the pow wow, she had a big support system for her 

When 

and looked frail, but resolved. I gave her a small hug, introduced myself 

arm 

gave her a kiss on the forehead. I thanked her for her courage, and I 

and 

in awe and wonder at the Sisseton Dakota Powwow, full of 

walked

joy and honor. I am always in awe of the Dakota people, perhaps 

celebration, 

of the most persecuted Native people in this country. ey received 

some 

wrath of General Sibley, were massacred by the Army, forced into prison 


hung in the largest mass hanging in US history and expelled from 

camps, 

homelands with bounties on their heads. But there they were, honoring 


Wilansky, fellow patriot to the land. 

Sophia 

long list of other civil lawsuits were led a er the camps at Standing 

A 

nally cleared. Two more were led against law enforcement for their 

Rock 

that same night during the Battle of Backwater Bridge, one by a 

brutality 

of nine Water Protectors who su ered injuries at the hands of police, 71 

group 

the other by Marcus Mitchell, a young Dine (Navajo) Water Protector 

and 

was shot in the eye by a beanbag round. Mitchell permanently lost 

who 

in his le eye and all other senses in parts of his face. His cervical 

vision 

was injured during a brutal arrest, and police later concealed his 

spine 

from family for days while they shackled him to a hospital 

whereabouts 

and interrogated him incessantly. 72 Both those cases are still pending. 

gurney 

members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and a reservation priest 

Two 

law enforcement and state o cials over the prolonged shutdown of the 

sued 

claiming it violated tribal members’ constitutional rights to travel, 

highway, 

pray and express themselves. ey also claim the highway closure 

assemble, 

a form of extortion against the tribe and an attempt to manipulate 

was 

coverage of the Water Protector camps. 73 at case is still pending. 

media 

Transfer Partners sued Greenpeace and other environmental 

Energy 

for racketeering and defamation, seeking $300 million in damages 

groups 

claiming that the entire o movement was concocted by “a 

and 

of putative not-for-pro ts and rogue eco-terrorist groups who 

network 

patterns of criminal activity and campaigns of misinformation to 

employ 

legitimate companies and industries with fabricated environmental 

target 

claims.” 74 

at case, which was clearly nothing more than an intimidation 

was thrown out in February 2019. 75 

tactic, 

mentioned previously, a North Dakota rancher named David Meyer 

As 

guilty to federal charges for killing six bald eagles through improper 

pled 

of a poison called Rozol. 76 Meyer was the owner of the Cannonball 

use 

the private land adjacent to the Oceti Sakowin camp, on which the 

Ranch, 

Treaty Camp was established and raided. In early 2016, just as the 

1851 

Sacred Stone Camp was rst being founded, Meyer spread over 40,000

of Rozol across 5400 acres of his ranch. Dead bu alo, bald eagles, 

pounds 

other wildlife were found on his ranch and on the reservation nearby. In 

and 

2016, Meyer sold the entire 7000 acre ranch to Energy Transfer 

September 

It turns out that Meyer did not have the required license to use the 

Partners. 

poison, and he failed to follow 

guidelines for applying it — instead of 

it underground in the prairie dog burrows, he just spread it all over 

putting 

surface. He also failed to dispose of the dead prairie dogs correctly. 77 


his federal conviction, Meyer was let o with probation and some 

Despite 

nes. Many Water Protectors feel the Rozol might be responsible for 

small 

“ cough,” the horrible respiratory infections and ailments that 


of people su ered from in the camps. 

hundreds 

Symptoms of the 

cough include coughing accompanied by severe 

deep lung congestion and discomfort. Not cured by antibiotics, 

fatigue, 

o en lasts from two to 16 weeks. Some report bloody noses and brain 

it 

Others report coughing up blood. Some say the cough is a simple 

fog. 

to the weather and the rough winter living conditions at camp 

response 

a possible reaction to repeated exposure to chemicals sprayed by the 

or 

at the front line. Others blame low- ying crop-dusting planes 

police 

that might be dropping chemicals on the camps late at night. 78 

investigation into the chemical spraying of Water Protectors is 

e 

In March of 2020, Indigenous Life Movement posted the following 

ongoing. 

to Facebook, 

WHO WERE IN STANDING ROCK OCTOBER 

INDIVIDUALS 

NOVEMBER 2016 

THROUGH 

you were in Standing Rock the months of Oct to Nov 2016, you 

If 

intentionally poisoned by the Governor of North Dakota Jack 

were 

Kyle Kirchmeier of Morton County Sheri s Department 

Dalrymple, 

the pilot who knowingly sprayed poisonous chemicals over the 

and 

Rock Oceti Sakowin and Sacred Stone Camps. 

Standing 

this time, the Morton County Sheri s Department directed a 

During 

operation where they sprayed an aerosol called Chlorophacinone, 

secret 

known as (a poison used to kill prairie dogs). e poisoning 

also 

human life took place during the overnight hours nearly 7 weeks by 


agricultural aircra . 

an

who were at the camps were poisoned by the State of 

Individuals 

Dakota and may have developed severe memory loss (short and 

North 

term), behavioral changes (anxiety, paranoia, delusions), 

long 

and various forms of cancers (brain, breast and lungs) 

depression 

their time at the Standing Rock camps. 

following 

to be released show the agricultural aircra spraying chemicals 

Photos 

the “Oceti Sakowin” camps. 

over 

individuals who were at the camps during these months contact us 

All 

you noticed a change in your health following the Standing Rock 

if 

Please help us make the connections between changes in your 

Protest. 

health following November 2016 and the 

spraying. 

Please message 

through the message section on our page. 

you ank 

of you are familiar with the severe cough that followed the 

Many 

in Standing Rock and many who were attending have developed 

protest 

brain tumors, various forms of cancers and other severe health 

rare 

issues. 79 

North Dakota attorney general is suing the federal government to 

e 

money the state spent policing the protests. 80 State law enforcement 

recoup 

emergency management agencies spent $43 million policing the 

and 

funded by loans from the state-owned Bank of North 

demonstrations, 

Dakota. 

ey were reimbursed $15 million from pipeline owner Energy 

Partners and $10 million from the federal government 81 and are 

Transfer 

suing the feds for the remainder. 82,83 

now 

North Dakota Private Investigation and Security Board led a civil 

e 

against TigerSwan, the private security company that led the multi- 

lawsuit 

agency intelligence operation. 

e lawsuit stated that the security company 

its founder worked illegally in North Dakota. 84 e had noti ed 

and 

in September 2016 that it was illegally providing security services 

TigerSwan 

North Dakota. TigerSwan then applied for licensure twice and was 

in 

both times. But according to the lawsuit, TigerSwan’s mercenaries, 

rejected 

with semiautomatic ri es and sidearms, continued security services 

armed 

during and a er its license application was rejected. TigerSwan 

before, 

that within North Dakota’s borders it provided only consulting 

maintains 

e case against them was dismissed in May 2018, 85 and the ND 

services.

Court upheld the decision in August 2019. 86 

Supreme 

Transfer Partners themselves faced 83 counts of permit violations 

Energy 

during construction of the pipeline. 

e North Dakota Public Service 

let them o with zero nes, just promises to plant some trees. 87 

Commission 

how about the pipeline itself? Standing Rock and three other tribes 

And 

suing Energy Transfer Partners and the federal government over the 

are 

of the Dakota Access Ppipeline itself, hoping to get it shut down. 

approval 

As that case proceeds, 

has proposed to double the capacity of the line. In 

March 2020, just as this book went into publication, a US District Court 

late 

ordered the US Army Corps of Engineers to go back and conduct a 

Judge 

environmental impact statement, ruling that they had not met the 

full 

of the National Environmental Policy Act. e judge has asked for 

standards 

legal brie ngs from both sides about whether to shut the pipeline 

further 

in the interim. 

down

Spreading the Sacred Fire 

the future, our descendants will be sitting around a re in their lodges 

In 

this story of when the two legged tried to destroy the earth. We are 

telling 

doubt in a sacred legend that will be told for thousands of years. For 

no 

reasons, we have been speci cally placed here on earth to 

whatever 

in this incredibly sacred time. We need to believe in what our 

participate 

tells us and to nd the strength to follow it. is sacred story needs 

heart 

and we are the chosen ones. Rise strong and never stop believing in 

heroes 

great power of this earth. We are completely surrounded by our 


ancestors. 

—Isaac Murdoch, Anishinaabe artist 

the sacred res of the o camps at Standing Rock were nally 

When 

they spread across the continent. Water Protectors had given 

extinguished, 

everything to be there, formed new connections and gained new skills, 

up 

gotten the world’s attention. We had tasted the power that comes from 

and 

land, our ancestors, our prophecies and our coming together to face our 


and stand for Mother Earth. e ght against zuzeca sapa, the black 

enemies 

continues. 

snake, 

Protectors headed east to resist the Mountain Valley pipeline in 


and the network of Enbridge pipelines in the Great Lakes, 

Appalachia 

a proposed new tar sands pipeline called Line 3 right here in our 

including 

Anishinaabe communities of Northern Minnesota. 

ey headed south to 

the other portions of Dakota Access in Iowa, Illinois and the swamps 

battle 

Louisiana, where Cherri Foylin and the folks at L’eau Et La Vie Camp 


months of delay in the line’s completion. In Florida, the Seminole 

caused 

led massive opposition to Enbridge’s Sable pipeline. In Texas, the Two 

youth 

Camp and Society of Native Nations led direct action campaigns 

Rivers 

the Trans-Pecos pipeline, another project. In Tennessee, Osage 

against 

Muskogee youth leaders blockaded the entrance to the Valero re nery, 

and 

of the proposed Diamond Pipeline. In New Mexico, the Diné 

endpoint 

(Navajo) and their allies successfully stopped the Piñon Pipeline proposed

Chaco Canyon, a World Heritage Site. And, in Oregon the battle against 

for 

Pembina Pipeline Company, another Calgary-based black snake, 


continues to rage. 

e state has opposed the pipeline, landowners and tribal 

have stood in its way, and, in the time of the Trump regime, new 

people 

attempt to tear jurisdiction from state hands. In February 2020, 

regulations 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission postponed a critical decision, 


more insecurity for investors and some reprieve for Water 

leaving 

Protectors. 

the north, Indigenous-led resistance continues to this day against the 


Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion and the Coastal Gas Link 

proposed 

which threatens the unceded territories of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, 

pipeline, 

encampments supported by the hereditary Chiefs of all ve clans have 

where 

blocking construction for years. e Lakota and Dakota are now 

been 

the proposed expansion of Dakota Access, which would double its 

battling 

and have also turned their attention to new proposals for uranium 

capacity, 

in the Black Hills, as well as the Keystone XL pipeline, resurrected by 

mining 

a er a successful seven-year campaign had killed it during the 

Trump 

era. And of course, our relatives in Hawaii continue the ght to 

Obama 

their sacred mountain, Mauna Kea. 

protect 

about these battles is new — Indigenous Peoples have been 

Nothing 

their water, sacred sites and territories for thousands of years, 

protecting 

against the threats of extractive industry. But Standing Rock 

especially 

two things. First, it breathed new life into these struggles. More 

changed 

once in the months following the siege on the Missouri River I was 

than 

in my writing by a string of young grandchildren tumbling 

disturbed 

my kitchen on Round Lake, all carrying shields and wearing 

through 

and gas masks and bandanas. 

helmets 

I write this, Enbridge is trying to gure out how to reroute its old Line 5 

As 

around the Bad River Reservation in Northern Wisconsin, a er the 

pipeline 

refused many millions to renew their easement and has sued the 

tribe 

demanding removal of the line. e mid-term elections of 2018 

company, 

a record number of Native American candidates, and Deb Haaland 

saw 

Pueblo) and Sharice Davids (Ho-Chunk) became the rst two 

(Laguna 

American women elected to Congress. 88 In North Dakota, Ruth Anna 

Native 

alo, from the Fort Berthold Reservation, won a state house seat by 

Bu 

ousting the author of the racist Voter ID bill that would disenfranchise

voters, which passed just before the mid-terms. 89,90 Water Protectors 

Native 

everywhere. 

are 

the struggle at Standing Rock shed new light on Native people and 

Second, 

struggles. It has done more for Native visibility than any other event in 

our 

memory. Many had forgotten, but in fact we are still here. 

recent 

has in turn changed the conversation around fossil fuels in this 

is 

by humanizing the abstract debates around carbon emissions and 

country, 

front-line communities slowly towards the center of the discussion 

moving 

the climate crisis and the urgent need to transform our energy system. 

about 

Rock put legs on recent proposals for a Green New Deal and 

Standing 

people to infuse those proposals with a consideration of “climate 

forced 

Indeed, the plan’s architect, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, was also at 

justice.” 

Rock. She talks about feeling like a magnet, driving to Standing 

Standing 

and the watershed moment it was for her individually and our 

Rock, 

movement. Lakota People’s Law Project lead counsel Chase Iron Eyes said, 

so encouraging to see Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez say that the 

It’s 

for her historic run for Congress was what happened at 

impetus 

Rock: the Grand Awakening, the spiritual awakening of all of 

Standing 

people who nd themselves in our hemisphere, who nd a home in 

our 

Green New Deal movement, we’ve always had a home for you…. 


we nd ourselves in this struggle together. Every aspect of the 

Now, 

New Deal must be implemented now. We have to take this 

Green 

… hit the streets with it, hit every dusty road with it, and go 

initiative 

right into the halls of Congress. 91 

the Indigenous Just Transition movement is growing nationally and 


recognizing that 80% of the world’s biodiversity is in 

internationally, 

territories and that First Nations have a long history of 

Indigenous 

ese proposals include work to move away from fossil fuels, 

sustainability. 

agriculture, create the next economy with hemp and ensure justice 

restore 

Mother Earth as well as people. 

for 

communities continue to lead the transition to renewable 

Indigenous 

In fact, the rst solar farm in North Dakota went up this year, the 

energy. 

Community Solar Farm on the Standing Rock Reservation. 

Cannonball 

from the ashes of the Dakota Access Pipeline battle, the project shows 

Born 

us all what the future looks like. It has added 300 kilowatts into the grid,

the Cannonball Youth Center and the Veterans Memorial 

powering 

Building. 

some of the largest coal mines and coal power plants are being closed 

As 

on the Navajo Nation, the largest tribe in the country is 

permanently 

renewable energy to market on the same power lines that carried 

moving 

generation for 50 years. In 2017, the Kayenta Solar Facility came online 

coal 

27 megawatts of power, a wholly owned Navajo project and the rst 

with 

solar project within the Navajo Nation. Dozens of solar and 

utility-scale 

projects are popping up all over Indian Country. Native people are 

wind 

the way. 

leading 

fact, Indigenous Peoples carry the answers to many of the political, 

In 

ecological and social crises of our time. We have lived in balance 

economic, 

Mother Earth, honoring our covenants with the Creator, for many 

with 

of years. It is a question of relationships. Standing Rock forced all 

thousands 

us to question our relationships with the water and the land and with all 


beings, with one another as Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. 

living 

the Lakota are not free, we are not free. If the river is not free, we are not 

If 

free. 

Rock is an unpredicted history lesson for all of us. More than any 

Standing 

I recall since Wounded Knee, the Vietnam War or the time of 

moment 

Luther King, it stands as a crossroads in the battle for social justice. It 

Martin 

about economic system transformation and profoundly a question of 

was 

future of this land. Standing Rock rekindled a memory of a people, not 


a free people, but a people who faced their fears, knowing that the 

only 

of the Wasicu is a powerful force, but it is not as powerful as the 

economy 

we know. 

world 

Rock is not only a place, it is a state of mind, and it is action. In a 

Standing 

when the rights of corporations override the rights of humans, stay 

time 

and remember that the law must be changed. For civil society is 

human 

as democracy is made, by the hands of people, courageous people, 

made, 

is not a spectator sport. While at one time slavery was legal, it is no 

and 

and soon we must free our Mother Earth from her slavery to an 

longer, 

economy and ensure her rights. Absent any legal protections and 

exploitive 

a regulatory system hijacked by oil interests and a federal government 

with 

crisis, the people and the river remain the only clear and sentient beings. 

in 

is the time of the seventh generation, rising up to save Mother Earth. 

is

your responsibility for this moment. I understand mine. As I 

Understand 

my brothers and sisters in every direction continue to ght for the 

watch 

and water, I am awed, inspired, and I remember that I am one of them. 

land 

this moment, be present. Your descendants would appreciate your voice, 

In 

and action. 

words 

LaDonna Bravebull Allard reminds us, 

As 

want to destroy this movement because it is too powerful because 

ey 

stand in prayer. ey don’t know that this is just the beginning. 

we 

we will be stronger in prayer. Remember how history will 

Tomorrow 

you as the people who stood up to save the water and the world 

record 

the people who betrayed the world. You all have a name in history. 

or 

are you in this time and place? e world is watching. 92 

Where 

corporations are some of the most powerful in the world. And the 

ese 

systems are set up to protect them, not the water and de nitely 

regulatory 

us. In other words, our ght continues. So we must continue to devote 

not 

full selves, and all our power, towards protecting our water and our 

our 

Earth, from all that which would destroy us. 


at the same time, we must create the future we want. In our 

And 

prophecies we are told of a time when we would have a choice 

Anishinaabe 

two paths… one path is well-worn but scorched, and the other path 

between 

is green. 

is is known as the prophecy of the seventh re. And that is where 

are today. Now is the time to choose the green path over the scorched 

we 

e stakes are raised daily: Fires burn to the north, west, south and 

path. 

and we all feel the grief of our Mother Earth, for we are her children. It 

east, 

time to be a Water Protector. It is time to be a Black Snake Killa. It is time 

is 

be a Wiindigoo Slayer — that is, it is time to stop the monsters and 

to 

that plague our villages. It’s time for this generation to summon up 

cannibals 

our courage, vision and prayers. 

ey have the money, but we have the 

We also have a vision for life in the future. 

people. 

are not just ghting against something, but clearly and decidedly 

We 

walking with open eyes and hearts down the path that is green. 

is is the 

we belong to, and we will continue to protect it, as our ancestors did 

land 

us. is is our covenant with the Creator and with Mother Earth. Let 

before 

take time to be grateful for all we have accomplished. Let us celebrate the 

us 

and commitment it took. And let us keep moving forward. 

courage

Part 4 

The Last Tar Sands Pipeline

A Pipeline Runs Through It 

It’s a moment in time. Standing with one- 

h of the world’s water are the 

the people of the manoomin and sturgeon. And they are 

Anishinaabeg, 

three million barrels a day of tar sands oil. Regulatory systems 

facing 

to serve “the public” have been compromised for the sake of 

intended 

corporations, many of them Canadian-born. An epidemic of 

multinational 

a 

uenza has caused confusion. 

is late stage Wiindigoo Capitalism. Wiindigoos are cannibals in 

It 

knowledge, and that’s what this is. at’s when the economics 

Anishinaabe 

extraction are brutal, or as the United Nations has explained, “because 


are for the rst time in human history shi ing to energy sources 

economies 

that are less energy e 

cient, production of usable energy (exergy) will 

more, not less, e ort on the part of societies to power both basic and 

require 

human activities.” 1 at’s extreme extraction, the bottom of the 

non-basic 

so to speak, from tar sands to copper mining. 

barrel 

fact is that the United Nations itself, and many leading scientists, have 

e 

out that the economic models of extreme extraction and late stage 

pointed 

must go: “It can be safely said that no widely applicable economic 

capitalism 

have been developed speci cally for the upcoming era. Here we 

models 

underutilized tenets of existing economic-theoretical thinking that 

highlight 

assist governments in channeling economies toward activity that causes 

can 

radically lighter burden on natural ecosystems and simultaneously ensures 

a 

equal opportunities for good human life. Our focus is on the transition 

more 

the next few decades.” 2 

period, 

is is a story about the infrastructure we build in North America. 

is is 

story about what the Anishinaabeg refer to as the time of the Seventh Fire, 

a 

time when it is said that we will have a choice between two paths — one 

a 

well worn and one scorched. 

is is, from Calgary-based Enbridge’s 

a story about their biggest proposed project — Line 3 

perspective, 

a $7.5 billion proposal to build an entirely new pipeline in a 

Replacement, 

new route through the heart of pristine lakes and wild rice territories in

Anishinaabeg 


invisible colonial line crosses through the heartland of Anishinaabe 

An 

or Anishinaabe Territory, and this is a story about the people 

Minnesota, 

oppose that line and why they oppose it. 

who 

the land to which the people belong. Today, Anishinaabe People are 

Akiing, 

three Canadian provinces and ve American states. We remain. Seven 

in 

remain in the north of Minnesota: Leech Lake, Fond du Lac, 

reservations 

Earth, Red Lake, Grand Portage, Mille Lacs and Bois Forte 

White 

Reservations. 

ere are around 50,000 Anishinaabeg in Minnesota, and 

territory spans about three million acres, with additional tribal 

tribal 

in the 1837, 1854 and 1855 Treaty Territories. Manoomin, or 

jurisdiction 

rice, is a centerpiece of both the ecosystem and economy of the 

wild 

— providing food for not only the belly, but the soul, as well as 

territory 

for the family. Manoomin is the most sacred food of the 

income 

and is explicitly protected under treaty. 

Anishinaabeg 

Anishinaabeg are numerous. Not as numerous as we once were, but 

e 

there are over 50,000 Anishinaabeg in Minnesota, most from the 

certainly 

reservations in the north. 

is is important because Enbridge’s history of 

is largely with smaller First Nations in Canada. 

“negotiations” 

is di erent. We have large reservation lands, and politically the 

Minnesota 

exercise more jurisdiction in the state than in Canada, and arguably 

bands 

more political power. ere’s a history written on the land. 

exercise 

dam projects and big mines came rst — the copper boulders 

Clearcutting, 

the big pines. Seventy- ve million acres of forest were clear cut in 

and 

Territory, most of the Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota 

Anishinaabe 

laid to waste over the course of 50 years of exploitation. at built 

forests 

empires, like Weyerhauser, one of the largest lumber companies in the 

some 

at also brought on an apocalypse of the Wiindigoo. As Elaine 

world. 

Fleming writes in several essays in Tribal College Journal, 

building the dams on the Mississippi River, which runs through our 

In 

42,000 acres of land were ooded. We are water people. 

reservation, 

villages and burial sites were next to the lakes and rivers. When the 

Our 

society built its dams to provide energy for the mills in St. Paul 

settler 

Minneapolis, and also to help oat the logs downriver to support 

and 

logging industry, the Ojibwe people were not asked how we would 


Come to the North Country 

Pipelines 

in the 1950s, a er all these dams, railroads, toxic waste dumps and 

Starting 

be a ected. 

e e ects were devastating, destroying our wild rice beds, 

bogs, villages, and ooding our gravesites. 

cranberry 

Wiindigoo killed us in many ways, taking our land and culture. 

is 

1880, dams were constructed on Leech Lake and Lake 

In 

Our reservation is currently 50% water. In Minnesota, 

Winnibigoshish. 

the third, 

h, eighth, and twel h largest lakes are on our reservation. 

lakes are now reservoirs, no longer natural. We are water people. 

e 

harvest wild rice and eat sh. We gather swamp cranberries. Our 

We 

homes and villages were next to the lakes and streams. 

ey were our 

Our gardens and graveyards were also next to the water. Water 

“roads.” 

on these lakes were raised 9 to 11 feet and ooded 42,000 acres of 

levels 

our land. 

e water destroyed our rice beds that grow best in two to 

feet of water. According to Anton Treuer, a noted Ojibwe scholar 

three 

language professor, the ooding resulted in clear cutting, poverty, 

and 

on annuities, destruction of gravesites, malnutrition and 

dependence 

illness, and death. With the completion of Winnibigoshish 

starvation, 

Dam, not only were 62 square miles of land 

ooded, but we also 

a smallpox epidemic. Wiindigoo continued to eat our 

experienced 

up.… Federal Dam was completed on Leech Lake and 78 square 

people 

of land was ooded. Today, 75% of the land within the Leech Lake 

miles 

is this Chippewa National Forest. Because of the huge 

reservation 

of white pines on our reservation, the logging industry 

stands 

our lands.… Less than 4% of the land within the reservation 

deforested 

is held by the Leech Lake Band. at’s what colonialism looks like. 3 

politicians, sociologists and more always talk about the resilience 

Scholars, 

Native people. A er all, we are still around a er all these Wiindigoos. 


because we are a strong people. Nice to be acknowledged, but most of 

at’s 

would rather just have an opportunity to live happily, not just survive and 

us 

be resilient. 

third world treatment and racism, Interprovincial Pipeline Company 


its US subsidiary, Lakehead Pipeline Company, began building crude oil 

and 

across Anishinaabe Territory. It built four crude oil pipelines, 

pipelines 

unimaginatively Lines 1, 2, 3 and 4, across northern Minnesota to 

called

Superior, Wisconsin. 

ese connected to Line 5, which transported oil to 

and Detroit via northern Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of 

Ontario 

and to Line 6, which brought Canadian crude to Chicago. 

Michigan, 

pipelines were constructed before the creation of federal 

ese 

laws like the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, and 

environmental 

chose the route through the Anishinaabe reservations, all quickly 

Lakehead 

by the Bureau of Indian A airs, and during a time when federal 

approved 

policies were underway as well as the relocation era — moving 

termination 

people to the cities. e pipes ran through many Anishinaabe 

Native 

including Red Lake, Leech Lake and Fond du Lac 

communities, 

in Minnesota, the Bad River Reservation in Wisconsin and the 

Reservations 

Odawa Territory in Michigan. 

e Anishinaabeg share treaties throughout 

territory taken by these pipelines, but the pipelines were built with 


for our Treaty Rights. During the 1980s and 90s Canadian crude 

disregard 

production grew slowly, and Lakehead responded by pushing more oil 

oil 

its existing pipelines. ese pipelines became known as the 

through 

System.” In early 1998, Interprovincial Pipeline Company 

“Mainline 

its name to “Enbridge Inc.,” which is a contraction of “energy” and 

changed 

as a public relations move that kicked o a new and more 

“bridge,” 

phase of oil extraction: tar sands and then fracked oil. As 

dangerous 

Enbridge will tell a history: 

work was pivotal in spurring the growth of Western Canadian oil 

Our 

In our rst full year of pipeline operations, we shipped 30.6 

production. 

barrels of oil. Today we transport an average of 2.8 million 

million 

of oil every day. rough the years, we’ve continued to open new 

barrels 

for Canadian crude, and played a critical role in developing 

markets 

American energy infrastructure. 

North 

Feb. 27, 2017, Enbridge Inc. and Spectra Energy Corp. nalized 

On 

terms of a de nitive merger agreement. e transaction created the 


energy infrastructure company in North America, and one of 

largest 

largest in the world — with an enterprise value of approximately 


billion (C$166 billion), a US$58 billion (C$75 billion) 

US$126 

of secured and potential capital growth projects, and 

inventory 

anticipated annual dividend growth of 10 percent through 2020. 4 

The Forgotten Oil Spills

Black Snake Grows: Tar Sands and Fracked Oil 


Pipelines 

early pipelines brought oil spills to Anishinaabe Territory for the rst 

ese 

in history, including many of the largest on-land oil spills recorded in 

time 

US. For example, just in the US, Line 3 alone spilled 1.9 million gallons 


the 1970s, when it was new, 1.8 million gallons in the 1980s and 2.8 

in 

gallons in the 1990s, for a total of 6.5 million gallons of crude oil. 

million 

leak, and they contaminate our water. For example, on March 3, 

Pipelines 

5 the Line 3 pipeline ruptured near Grand Rapids, Minnesota, spilling 

1991, 

1.7 million gallons of oil into the Prairie River, a er a negligently 

over 

delayed response by the company. 6 

e Prairie is a tributary of the 

so were it not for the 18 inches of ice on top of the river, the spill 

Mississippi, 

have poisoned the drinking water of millions downstream, and would 

could 

likely be remembered very di erently. 

ankfully, this was back in the days 

our territories were still frozen and snow-covered in March, before 

when 

change had begun to sink its teeth in. 

climate 

to sheer luck, the cleanup was relatively quick and e ective, so the 

Due 

received nowhere near as much media attention as the catastrophic 

spill 

Kalamazoo River spill of 2010. 

sands (also known as oil sands) is a low quality form of oil that 

Tar 

of bitumen mixed with sand, clay and water. Vast quantities of 

consists 

substance are found in Alberta, Canada, and in eastern Venezuela. 


deposits are known to exist in Utah, parts of Russia, Congo 

Other 

Madagascar and elsewhere, but it is currently only 

(Brazzaville), 

produced in Canada and Venezuela. 

commercially 

sands is extreme oil in every way. Its extraction is particularly 

Tar 

and water-intensive, polluting, and destructive. It is either strip 

energy 

or produced by injecting high pressure steam into the ground to 

mined 

the bitumen and get it to ow to the surface. To process it into 

melt 

fuel requires complex upgrading and re ning that is also highly 

usable 

intensive and polluting. 7 

energy 

sands oil needs a lot of special processing because it’s about the 

Tar 

of peanut butter and that won’t work out well. ere are 

consistency 

basically two ways to process the bitumen or tar sands oil. As Inside Climate

explains, “Some tar sands producers use on-site upgrading facilities to 

News 

the bitumen into synthetic crude, which is similar to conventional 

turn 

oil. Other producers dilute the bitumen using either conventional 

crude 

crude or a cocktail of natural gas liquids. e resulting diluted bitumen, 

light 

dilbit, has the consistency of conventional crude and can be pumped 

or 

pipelines.” What comprises the diluent is a trade secret, making it 

through 

even bigger challenge to clean up. One of the knowns in the cocktail is 

an 

a pretty well known carcinogen. 8 

benzene, 

sands oil is also more dangerous to transport because it’s corrosive. 

Tar 

to say, it began as sand, so has a good deal of quartz in it, causing 

at’s 

friction. More than that however the dilbit requires dilution. 

at diluting 

involves a lot more chemicals, all of which are corrosive. 

ere are all sorts 

Canadian studies which say that it’s not corrosive, but the fact is that the 


are corroding. e US is crossed by about two million miles of 

lines 

pipelines. Every year there are leaks. As Scienti c American reports, 

charge that pipelines carrying diluted bitumen, or ‘dilbit’ — a 

Critics 

oil extracted from tar sands mined in northern Alberta — pose a 

heavy 

risk because, compared with more conventional crude, they 

special 

operate at higher temperatures, which have been linked to 

must 

corrosion. ese pipelines also have to ow at higher 

increased 

that may contribute to rupture as well. Environmental group 

pressures 

Natural Resources Defense Council ( 

) notes that pipelines in the 

Midwest that routinely carry oil from tar sands have spilled 3.6 

upper 

more oil per pipeline mile than the US average.… 

times 

chemistry of the tar sands oil could contribute to corrosion as 

e 

In processing, the tar sands are boiled to separate the bitumen 

well. 

the surrounding sand and water, and then mixed with diluent — 

from 

hydrocarbons produced along with natural gas — to make the oil 

light 

viscous and able to ow. But even so, the resulting dilbit is among 

less 

lowest in hydrogen as well as the most viscous, sulfurous and acidic 


form of oil produced today. 9 

c American goes on to talk about the Pegasus Pipeline spill in 

Scienti 

e Pegasus, built in the 1940s, carries 100,000 barrels of oil per 

Arkansas. 

from Illinois to Texas. But given its age, to carry tar sands oil 

day 

had to retro t the tube to “compensate for the demands of 

ExxonMobil

3 Redo 

Line 

get old and pipes get brittle. Enbridge’s main line was built over 50 

Pipes 

tar sand oil through in the opposite direction, but the higher 

pushing 

and pressures may nonetheless have contributed to the rupture 

temperatures 

sped up preexisting corrosion.” 

or 

the while the Alberta government has been saying that tar sands oil, or 

All 

is no worse for pipelines than conventional oil. A study found that 

dilbit, 

is not corrosive at pipeline temperatures, though it is highly corrosive 

dilbit 

re nery temperatures, suggesting that the higher temperatures might even 

at 

bene cial, killing o bacteria that does corrode pipelines. “‘ ere is no 

be 

that dilbit causes more failure than conventional oil,’ geologist John 

evidence 

of the provincial government research rm Alberta Innovates said…. 

Zhou 

helped prepare the Canadian province’s analysis of dilbit.” In the 

Zhou 

Glen Hooks of the Sierra Club in Arkansas points out what 

meantime, 

might be obvious to some. “ 

ere is no reason to trust oil companies when 

they say pipelines are safe when there’s been spill a er spill a er spill.” 10 

ago and represents the life blood of Canadian tar sands exports. With 

years 

press a er the Kalamazoo spill and some signi cant regulatory 

bad 

proceedings, Enbridge entered what’s called a “consent decree.” 

is is part 

Enbridge’s problem. 


July 19, 2016, the US Justice Department “announced a consent decree 

On 

Calgary based Enbridge agreeing to pay $177 million and improve 

with 

safety, resolving claims from oil spills in Illinois and in Michigan in 

pipeline 

e consent decree also said Enbridge ‘shall’ replace ‘Line 3,’ a 292 

2010. 

pipeline that carries Canadian crude from Neche ND to Superior 

mile 

Wisconsin. 

e decree said Enbridge should replace the pipeline ‘as 

as practicable a er receiving required regulatory approvals 

expeditiously 

permits.’ If Line 3 isn’t replaced by December 31, 2017, Enbridge will be 

and 

with additional safety and monitoring requirements, according to 

saddled 

settlement agreement.” 11 


the Line 3 was easy to approve in Canada. A er all, if Enbridge 

Politically 

been shipping 75% of the tar sands oil, there was no way that a 

had 

government was not going to support that. Enbridge is the third 

Canadian 

corporation in Canada, and they billed it a replacement project, since 

largest 

they would be replacing a decaying pipeline. 

at reality was not the

Minnesota reality. 

e Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe refused Enbridge’s o er 

rebuild the line in place, noting that they had already the burden of the 

to 

lines and the new Alberta Clipper (2010) line. at forced 

remaining 

to look for a new corridor. Now the company had a new pipeline 

Enbridge 

doubled in capacity, and a third of the route would have to be a 

proposed: 

route. new 

2013, Enbridge began to work on the route — that is, the company 

In 

a pipeline, known as the Sandpiper, which was intended to carry 

proposed 

barrels a day of fracked oil from North Dakota’s Bakken elds to the 

640,000 

Re nery (now Husky) in Superior Wisconsin, and then on to the 

Calumet 

of the east. at project began so ening up the politics of northern 

pipelines 

looking for a new route outside the Leech Lake Reservation. 

Minnesota, 

selling pipelines is not the easiest thing, and in northern Minnesota it’s 

Now 

proven to be more di 

cult than in Canada. 

project opened awareness about the state of Enbridge’s increasingly 

e 

infrastructure, and a new multi-racial alliance was formed between 

risky 

shore owners who would be impacted by the project, Ojibwe tribes and 

lake 

rice harvesters, as well as an increasingly vocal and powerful 

wild 

environmental and climate movement. 

e Sandpiper opposition, however, 

received the national attention nor the support of major 

never 

groups, largely because it was a fracked oil pipeline and the 

environmental 

climate groups did not deem the danger to the environment to be of the 

big 

caliber as the very dirty tar sands pipelines, like the Keystone XL. 

same 

opposition was at a local level in Minnesota, largely led by Native 

Instead, 

like Honor the Earth and grassroots citizens organizations like 

organizations 

Friends of the Headwaters and Northern Water Alliance, comprised of 


owners around the Park Rapids and Brainerd areas, a prime resort 

lakeshore 

and lake home area. 

at pipeline project was defeated in 2016, as the 

moved to the Dakota Access Pipeline to insure access to the 

company 

fracked oil elds. (Just to be clear the fracked oil is also pretty 

Bakken 

and volatile.) In addition to the extreme nature of fracking, the 

dangerous, 

2013 Lac Megantic Quebec oil train disaster was fracked oil from the 

July 

Bakken. 12 

opposition to the proposed project was strong. It’s not surprising 

e 

the proposed route ran through the center of wild rice territory. All 

because 

of the Ojibwe bands are concerned, and most questioned if the Public

to Minnesota: Enbridge Returns after Standing 

Back 

and the Line 3 Regulatory Capture 

Rock 

Commission has the sole authority to grant permits over tribal 

Utilities 

within the 1855 treaty area. Six Anishinaabe governments came out 

lands 

opposing the project. In the 

rst round on the Sandpiper, cultural 

and any consultation were sorely lacking. 

assessments 

is not possible to identify — let alone to avoid — sites of historic, 

“It 

and cultural signi cance, without consulting with the Tribal 

archaeological, 

Preservation O ce. Not doing so raises serious concerns about 

Historic 

ability,” Susan Klapel, Commissioner of Natural Resources for the 

Enbridge’s 

Lacs band of Ojibwe, wrote in a letter to the Public Utilities 

Mille 

“I ask you to not grant Enbridge (Sandpiper) permits through 

Commission. 

proposed southern route,” Klapel wrote. 


pipeline would cross lakes, creeks and watersheds, including 

Enbridge’s 

where tribes have worked long and hard to restore native sturgeon 

those 

and to protect wild rice. Imagine that one day you wake up and 

populations 

out that a pipeline company wants to run a thirty-inch pipe pumping 

nd 

barrels of oil per day under high pressure through your burial 

640,000 

sacred sites, medicinal plant harvesting areas, and no more than a 

grounds, 

from your biggest wild rice harvesting areas. And, they didn’t even bother 

mile 

mention it. at is to say that the company almost entirely neglected to 

to 

wild rice in the environmental impact assessment. 

mention 

it is that Enbridge pursued the Sandpiper, and a er a three-year pitched 

So 

with tribal governments and local citizens, a lawsuit was led by non- 

battle 

organization Friends of the Headwaters. e lawsuit resulted in a 

Native 

Court ruling to require an Environmental Impact Statement, and 

Minnesota 

lost. at is, the company withdrew its application for the project 

Enbridge 

a er four years. 13 en, in August of 2016, Enbridge purchased the 

— 

Access Pipeline — well, 28% of it. e epic story of the battle at 

Dakota 

Rock is well known; what’s not so well known is that Enbridge’s 

Standing 

shored up the project, providing the security of the largest pipeline 

money 

company in North America as a backer. 

$38 million in military force and winter came to Standing Rock, 

As 

returned to northern Minnesota, prepared to create a new 

Enbridge 

dialogue on their “replacement” project, which was not exactly a

eplacement. 

December 13, 2016, Enbridge held an informational meeting in Bemidji 

In 

aimed at white landowners and county commissioners. But when 

primarily 

Barrett, aka omas X, learned of the meeting, he shared the 

omas 

widely, and Enbridge representatives found themselves in a 

information 

of 100 plus concerned landowners, many from Leech Lake, Red Lake 

room 

White Earth. 

and 

was an uncomfortable moment for the corporation. A er all, the 

It 

Energy Board of Canada had, on November 29, 2016, denied 

National 

to Enbridge’s $3.5 billion Northern Gateway Pipeline project. Nine 

approval 

earlier, at Backwater Bridge on Standing Rock, a full military assault on 

days 

Protectors had resulted in a number of injuries, including that of 


Wilensky, whose arm was brutally torn apart by a compression 

Sophia 

lobbed by security forces. 

grenade 

e Sandpiper had been cancelled on August 2, 2016. 

at’s when 

bought 28% of the Dakota Access Pipeline Project. A lot of those 

Enbridge 

who opposed the Sandpiper had become politicized by big oil 

people 

projects, and when they heard about Standing Rock, a lot of them 

pipeline 

out there. ousands of Minnesotans went to Standing Rock, including 

went 

leaders, school groups, veterans and state representatives. 

church 

meeting did not go as Enbridge had planned. at’s to say the least. 

is 

company had planned a meet-and-greet in Bemidji at the Doubletree, 

e 

a cold day in December. Everyone was crowded into a small room. e 

on 

representatives had set up tables around the perimeter of the 

Enbridge 

a set of learning stations, like a science fair. ey had some cookies to 

room, 

out. I walked into the room just to see what was going on. Magistrate 

give 

Treuer was leaning up against the wall with her oxygen tank, a couple 

Peggy 

Elders were standing there looking at things, and there were no chairs. 


seemed rather, well, inhospitable. 

at 

were a lot of Natives mulling about, far more than non-Natives. 

ere 

folks were talking earnestly to a few of the non-Indians, but they 

Enbridge 

seem very keen to talk to the Native people. 

didn’t 

I decided to ask a question. I see that omas X is there, and I say to 

So, 

someone should say something. He said, ‘You should, you know the 

him, 

about it.’ So I did, in my biggest Mom voice, I asked: “As one third 

most 

owner of the Dakota Access Pipeline project, is Enbridge responsible for the

to our people? Are you going to shoot us here for your pipeline 

injuries 

project?” 

pretty much what I asked. 

at’s 

answer from the company’s representatives who had been passing out 

No 

And, then, a lot of other people started demanding an answer, and 

cookies. 

got loud. And then the police came. at’s how it started: Round Two of 

it 

with Tanks. 

Enbridge 

began a confusion of regulatory proceedings. 

en 

Minnesota Court of Appeals had ordered an environmental impact 

e 

on the proposed Sandpiper pipeline project. Prior to that the 

statement 

Utilities Commission had thought that it could approve these mega 

Public 

without an environmental impact statement. e through the 

projects 

of Commerce did the scoping for Sandpiper and Line 3 

Department 

but then when Sandpiper was withdrawn, the did not provide 

together, 

comment process to allow consideration of Line 3 by itself. In good form, 

a 

and the Minnesota decided to hold a series of public 

Enbridge 

In the depth of winter. In hard to reach locations. With very little 

meetings. 

notice. at was the Sandpiper style. What Enbridge and the 

public 

anticipate was the depth of conviction of our people. So we all went, 

didn’t 

across those scary roads at ten below zero to Fosston, Halstad, ief 

skated 

Falls, Bagley and all sorts of small towns in a depressed agriculture 

River 

in the north. Pipelines had been presented, basically as panaceas for all 

sector 

of the economy. Have a depressed rural economy? What you need is a 

woes 

a Canadian pipeline. Enbridge started making promises it would 

pipeline, 

be able to keep. 

never 

the and Enbridge switched pipeline projects, many of us had 

When 

pretty extensive testimony on the impact of the Sandpiper on our 

prepared 

and wild rice, and now found we were in a di erent regulatory 

water 

at was pretty confusing. en add in the police force, which 

hearing. 

to show up in numbers at the public hearings. At one point, in the 

began 

town of Hackensack, citizens who wanted to testify had to walk 

small 

a gauntlet of police just to get into a public meeting, James Reents 

through 

the Northern Water Alliance told me, irritated, for sure, that the public 


being so heavily policed for a Canadian project. 

was 

process became more cumbersome and confusing. Forced into an 

e 

impact assessment project, the Public Utilities Commission 

environmental

Intervenors 


have to stand up against government agencies and corporations. 

People 

that the Department of Commerce should complete the 

insisted 

review, not the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, which, 

environmental 

700 sta and a large budget for environmental review, seemed to be an 

with 

choice. Administrative Law Judge Ann O’Rielly presided over the 

obvious 

e 22 “public information” meetings during the process and 

hearings. 

/ process were in June 2017. e public hearings (the ones 

early 

over by ALJ O’Reilly) were in September and October 2017 just 

presided 

the Line 3 evidentiary hearing in early November 2017. 

before 

these hearings hundreds of people would stand there to talk. Or sign up. 

At 

times, getting to talk was, well, sort of like winning the lottery. We 

Many 

each given three minutes to ask questions and present our views. We, 

were 

people, would cry, explain ecosystems, our culture, our wild rice, 


treaties, climate change and scienti c data. 

those people are from di erent walks of life, but they all agree on 

Sometimes 

point, in this case, that no one wanted an oil company to put a new 

one 

through our collective watersheds and into our collective future. To 

pipeline 

the regulatory process which had been created, a set of citizens, 

address 

and corporations became intervenors in the Public Utilities 

tribes 

process — that is, weighing in on either the side of the water or 

Commission 

oil. the 

intervenors included the tribal governments of Leech Lake, Fond du 

e 

Mille Lacs, Red Lake and White Earth. It also included grassroots 

Lac, 

organizations like the Northern Water Alliance (represented by Jim 

citizens 

and Mary Ackerman), Friends of the Headwaters (Richard Smith, 

Reents 

legal counsel Scott Strand from Minnesota Center for Environmental 

with 

and Youth Climate Intervenors, a group of high school and 

Advocacy) 

students who, like others nationally and internationally, had come to 

college 

for future generations and against climate change practices 

speak 

also included Donovan and Anna Drydal, a farming couple 

Intervenors 

whose land would be crossed by the proposed Line 3 pipeline project. 

e 

Club also intervened in the process. On the Enbridge team were 

Sierra 

of labor and oil interests. Kevin Pranis appeared on behalf of 

representatives 

Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota (Laborers

Council). 

e rest of the interests were largely represented by attorneys. 

Anna Friedlander, O’Donoghue & O’Donoghue, 

and Sam Jackson, 

& Cummins, appeared on behalf of the United Association of 

Cummins 

and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of 

Journeymen 

United States and Canada, - (United Association). Michael 


Dorsey & Whitney, , appeared on behalf of Shippers for Secure, 

Ahern, 

and Economical Petroleum Transportation (Shippers). 

Reliable 

while the administrative law judge was listening to our comments, all 

But 

of them, against the pipeline, Enbridge was busy lobbying the Public 

68,000 

Commission. ey spent a total of $11 million in Minnesota 

Utilities 

when all was told. 14 And, that’s how a democracy gets bought by a 

lobbying, 

corporation. ey focused on the Public Utilities Commission, 

Canadian 

there, they only had to move ve people. And those people were not 

because 

they were appointed. And, the Public Utilities Commission 

elected, 

appeared to believe they were above the law. 

generally 

tribes became more frustrated with their exclusion from the process, 

e 

that the pipelines not only crossed tribal lands, but also crossed the 

noting 

Treaty Territory, where the Anishinaabeg harvest signi cant wild rice. 

1855 

mid-March 2017, Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission rejected a 

In 

appeal by White Earth and other tribal nations to consider a survey of 

joint 

cultural properties in the nal decision to approve or reject the new 

tribal 

3. 15 Fond du Lac, like Leech Lake Reservation, had already been 

Line 

by the Enbridge Main Line and was not only facing the Enbridge 

crossed 

but also proposals for new mining in their watershed — two giant 

expansion 

which threated their nation. Fond du Lac’s position on Enbridge 

projects 

with negotiations and money over time, and the tribe began 

weakened 

with Enbridge and the state to complete a review of 65 miles of the 

working 

For public relations purposes, it appeared that a division was forming 

line. 

the tribes in the north, each faced with more threats to their 

between 

daily. 

livelihood 

e ’s message sticks to that old story: yeah, we get it, Native culture is 

“ 

so we’ll support a survey … but it doesn’t matter enough to 

important 

factor into our nal decision to deny Enbridge’s new project or send 

actually 

new tar sands line through tribal treaty lands and Minnesota’s wetlands,” 

a 

Houska, then National Campaigns Director for Honor the Earth, said. 

Tara 

comparison, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights also weighed 

In

saying the completion of the cultural survey prior to the nal decision is 

in, 

least the can do, and, as Houska notes, “pointedly reminding the 


the resistance at Standing Rock and the need to move past historical 

of 16 injustices.” 

at the Republican-controlled Minnesota legislature, pipeline 

Meanwhile, 

began pushing bills which would eliminate entirely a regulatory 

proponents 

on the pipeline. Later bills would appear which would limit civil 

process 

and the rights of assembly and freedom of speech to those who 

liberties 

pipelines as well as most protests, from those against gun violence to 

oppose 

brutality. 17 ose bills continue to be introduced in Minnesota and 

police 

nationally. 

opposition to these bills continued to grow. Packed hearing 

Fortunately, 

included people from all walks of life. Dawn Goodwin testi ed at the 

rooms 

hearing on behalf of White Earth Elders and talked about Rice Lake 

3759 

eloquently, on perhaps her hundredth time making the trek to a 

Village, 

“I can have $1000 in my pocket, but if I don’t have wild rice, 

hearing. 

tea and maple syrup I’m poor.” 

blueberries, 

although exhausted from driving all over the state, we prepared for 

Next, 

Hearings in St. Paul. ere we heard from Enbridge, and more 

Evidentiary 

Enbridge, and did not even hear our sacred wild rice mentioned. 

e 

law judge then held more hearings, about 60 of them. In total 

administrative 

72,000 people testi ed at hearings involving Enbridge’s Line 3. Of that 

about 

68,000 people testi ed against the project.

Ticking Time Bomb? 

Which 

3 is now over 50 years old, well past its intended lifespan. Enbridge’s 

Line 

Corridor has six pipelines in it — the old Lakehead Lines 1, 2, 3 

Mainline 

4, plus the new Alberta Clipper and its diluent companion, Line 13. 

and 

governmental reports refer to Lines 3 and 4 as a single unit, because of 

Many 

complicated ways they work in tandem. Together, they are responsible 


not only the 1991 Grand Rapids spill, but also the catastrophic 2002 spill 

for 

Cohasset, MN; the 2007 explosion in Clearbrook, MN, that killed two 

near 

a serious spill in Regina, Saskatchewan, in December 2014; and 

workers; 

other ruptures and spills. 18 Enbridge reports that since 1990, Line 

countless 

has had at least 15 large spills (more than 50 barrels each), but the number 

3 

small spills and leaks is anybody’s guess. At one point, the number was 


Greenpeace reports that, “over the past decade, hazardous liquid 

800. 

spills in the US have led to 20 fatalities, 35 injuries, $2.6 billion in 

pipeline 

and over 800,000 total barrels spilled (34 million gallons, or more than 

costs, 

gallons every day.” 19 at’s some oil. 

9,000 

3 is crumbling. According to Enbridge’s own data, it has 10 times as 

Line 

corrosion anomalies per mile than any other pipeline in their 

many 

Mainline System. 

ey estimate over half a million structural anomalies in 

3, or about 1 every 10 feet. Enbridge Integrity Supervisor Laura 

Line 

has testi ed, “I consider Line 3 to be in the deterioration stage … as 

Kennett 

external corrosion growth is increasing in an exponential fashion.” 

e 

has reduced the pressure to the bare minimum and spends billions 

company 

dollars digging up and xing pieces of it (they anticipate needing at least 


integrity digs in the next decade just for maintenance). In other 

12,000 

Line 3 is a ticking time bomb. e position that Water Protectors, 

words, 

and citizens had is that Line 3 should be closed down; it’s dangerous. 

tribes 

vigils, letters to the governor and every recourse of civil society was 

Prayer 

as people called on the Public Utilities Commission to deny the 

followed 

permits for a route and a certi cate of need, both essential for the 

Enbridge 

to move ahead. A er all the hearings and testimony, Administrative 

project 

Judge O’Reilly recommended against the route, and the Department of 

Law 

could not nd a reason to approve a certi cate of need. In other 

Commerce 

there was no overriding bene t for the state of Minnesota from this 

words, 

project. e scienti c evidence was on the side of the people. at’s to say,

Capture 

Regulatory 

capture is a corruption of authority that occurs when a 

Regulatory 

is no ecological justi cation for putting a tar sands pipeline through a 


corridor of Minnesota lakes, where there is no pipe. ere was huge 

new 

and tribal opposition to the pipeline and the economics of late state 

civil 

and tar sands oil was about to falter. 

capitalism 

entity, policy maker or regulatory agency is co-opted to serve the 

political 

ideological or political interests of a minor constituency, such 

commercial, 

as a particular geographic area, industry, profession, or ideological group. 

— Wikipedia 

capture is an economic theory that says regulatory agencies 

Regulatory 

come to be dominated by the industries or interests they are charged 

may 

with regulating. 

e result is that an agency charged with acting in the 

interest, instead acts in ways that bene t the industry it is supposed 

public 

be regulating. 

to 

— Investopedia 

Line 3 is a textbook case of regulatory capture. 

ere is no legal or 

reason to approve a project. In fact, all agencies of note have 

regulatory 

opposed the project publicly. But, since the Public Utilities 

essentially 

has succumbed to what’s known as regulatory capture, the 

Commission 

works di erently. 

system 

is is how it works. 

ere’s a date when they are going to announce their 

And, so we are told that we have to sign up, despite the fact that for 

decision. 

or ve years a whole bunch of people have been there day in and day 

four 

trying to stand up for the water. So, we go to the hearing in St. Paul, 

out, 

the Public Utilities Commission is going to announce their decision, 

where 

and nd that the room is lled. 

at’s to say that the room is already packed, 

with Enbridge employees. No more façade of Public Utilities 

mostly 

Here we’ve got a full-on Corporate Utilities Commission. 

Commission. 

it was. On June 28, 2018, the Public Utilities Commission issued a 

ere 

cate of need for Line 3, and a provisional route permit. 20 It gave the 

certi 

du Lac Band a couple of months to determine which lakes it wanted to 

Fond 

ce and make a deal with Enbridge to support the project. at’s it. 

sacri 

at’s when the lawsuits began.

for Line 3 — Creating Fake 

Minnesotans 

and Fake News 

Organizations 

needed to appear like it was a company that had friends and 

Enbridge 

and wasn’t actually a Canadian multinational corporation. e 

support 

set about creating a citizens’ organization, which would make it 

company 

like there was a groundswell of people who really wanted a new tar 

appear 

sands pipeline. 

at group appeared at every hearing, in larger and larger 

It turns out that Minnesotan’s for Line 3 is actually the Enbridge 

numbers. 

Let me explain. e group participated in the regulatory 

Corporation. 

as a grassroots organization and continues to run an aggressive propipeline 

process 

media campaign. 

In 2019, Minnesotans for Line 3 boasted the 

of Enbridge, Al Monaco, 

on its board. 

at’s along with other board members — Cynthia Hansen and 

John Whelen, both senior executives at Enbridge. 

e only Minnesotan on 

board was deceased Bob Schoenberger. To be clear, there are people 

that 

want this pipeline in Minnesota, but not nearly as many. A June 6, 

who 

report released by DeSmog, an investigative journalist project, found 

2019, 

“Minnesotans for Line 3 presents itself as a grassroots organization 

that 

of ‘thousands of members.’” 21 But, behind the scenes, Enbridge 

consisting 

provided the group with funding, public relations and a variety of 

has 

tactics. 

advocacy 

to DeSmog, Minnesotans for Line 3 spent a chunk on 

According 

to portray Al Monaco’s grassroots organization as a legitimate 

advertising 

group. All told, Minnesotans for Line 3 was the tenth largest digital 

interest 

purchaser among interest groups between November 2018 and April 

ad 

“And it allegedly engaged in more stealthy tactics as well: Dozens of 

2019. 

people wearing Minnesotans for Line 3 shirts occupied spots in a line 

young 

a state Public Utilities Commission ( ) hearing on the project at the 

at 

of the project’s opponents — only to disappear shortly 22 a er 

expense 

the tickets.” For many tribal people who traveled from low income 

receiving 

to participate in the hearing process, this became pretty 

communities 

Literally hundreds of people who are actually impacted by this 

discouraging. 

were not allowed to speak at hearings because of Enbridge’s 

proposal 

manipulations. 

e Federal Communications Commission, the 

, requires a disclosure

the advertisements placed on networks, including Fox and Minnesota 


Radio. at disclosure found that Minnesotans for Line 3 listed Bob 

Public 

Schoneberger, Al Monaco (Enbridge 

), Cynthia Hansen and John 

as their board members. Yard signs for Minnesotans for Line 3 

Whelan 

appearing in the north, along the pipeline route, telephone 

started 

and lobbying came to the north, with callers identifying 

solicitations 

as local citizens, concerned about pipeline safety. 

themselves 

pro le and strategy of Minnesotans for Line 3 was largely created by 

e 

relations rm Velocity, which notes the “invaluable” grassroots work 

public 

provided Enbridge on the Line 3 project through a service it calls 

it 

Elevator.” 

“Advocacy 

garner favorable decisions by government agencies that would 


the fate of the project, Enbridge needed an exceptional and 

decide 

show of statewide public support,” the now-deleted page says. 

sustained 

tapped the Advocacy Elevator’s power to develop uniquely 

“Enbridge 

sets of data that were the foundation to better de ne and 

comprehensive 

a universe of people more likely to support the project and 

understand 

take action.” 

to 

erwards, the description continues, “Velocity used a variety of 

A 

including a phone program, direct-mail, digital and content 

tactics, 

and canvassing to create grassroots support. All of this was 

engagement, 

on the objective of further identifying the strongest group of 

focused 

supporters and then getting them to ‘walk the walk’ by taking 

likely 

that would create an impact with speci c audiences that would, 

actions 

turn, support approval of the line.” 23 

in 

For Line 3 is not the rst Enbridge front group involved in 

Minnesotans 

battle over the pipeline replacement project, which was rst proposed in 


2014. 

In 2017, the Consumer Energy Alliance ( 

), an Enbridge-funded arm 

the lobbying rm Resources, created a campaign titled 


America.” ran two TV ads in Minnesota in support 

“Modernizing 

the pipeline. 


group pushed out a University of Minnesota Duluth ( 

at 

) study 

that concluded the project will create 8,600 jobs. But as the watchdog

Public Accountability Initiative revealed, Enbridge provided the 

group 

inputs for the study and funded the entity that commissioned it 

data 

from . 24 

at study cast some major shadows on 

’s academic credibility, but of 

course, the University of Minnesota at Duluth, is not the 

rst academic 

institution to be compromised by corporate money.

2013 

Enbridge led its Certi cate of Need ( ) and Route Permit ( ) 

• 

2014 

Procedural wrangling about alternatives and how to coordinate the 

• 

and dockets took the rst 10 months of the year. On 

Sandpiper 

7, the Public Untilities Commission ( ) decided to conduct 

October 

and dockets sequentially, with the docket going rst. e 


to prepare an environmental impact statement ( ) for the 

refused 

instead insisted on preparing only a comparative environmental 

and 

( ), but that would only be done in the docket. is meant 

analysis 

process and that the planned to prepare no environmental 


before voting on the . 

review 

In October, parties started to le testimony in Sandpiper. 

• 

In October, Enbridge began the Line 3 permitting process. 

• 

for an , but the Environmental Quality Board ( ) 

substitute 

the use of a only for the process and not for the 

authorized 

process. 

In December, Friends of the Headwaters/Minnesota Center for 

• 

Advocacy ( / ) led an appeal to the District 

Environmental 

on the failure to prepare an for the Sandpiper process. 

Court 

2015 

In January, / led an appeal of the ’s failure to prepare an 

• 

Sandpiper Timeline 

applications for Sandpiper. 

that the 

planned to complete its environmental review at the end of 

• In December, theDeparment of Commerce ( 

) issued a comparative 

environmental analysis. 

is document is a part of the legally allowed 

for the Sandpiper 

in the Court of Appeals (it led in both the

Court and Court of Appeals to cover its procedural bases). 

District 

e rst half of the year in the Sandpiper dockets including ling of 

• 

the evidentiary hearing and brie ng. e met on June 3 

testimony, 

5 to decide on the Sandpiper , which it granted, but petitions for 

and 

3. August 

On April 24, Enbridge led the Line 3 and applications. e 

• 

these complete on July 1 and started a scoping comment process 

found 

September 30. 

through 

In August, the ’s Energy Environmental Review and Analysis ( - 

• 

sta held 14 Line 3 scoping meetings. 

) 

Later in August, the ordered the Administrative Law Judge ( ) to 

• 

the process for Sandpiper. 

start 

e for the Line 3 dockets scheduled a rst prehearing conference for 

• 

Line 3 and dockets on September 15. 


e for the Sandpiper docket scheduled a rst prehearing conference 

• 

start the docket on September 18. 

to 

e Court of Appeals issued its Sandpiper decision on September 14, 

• 

this voided the ’s decision for Sandpiper and required that the 

and 

nitely suspended further action in the Sandpiper and Line 3 

inde 

dockets. 

Court declined to consider this appeal, making the Court of 

Supreme 

decision nal. 

Appeals 

In November, the - issued dra scoping documents for 

• 

and Line 3. 

Sandpiper 

reconsideration meant that the nal 

order was not issued until 

re-start the Sandpiper 

process. 

• In response to this court decision, the Sandpiper and Line 3 

s 

• In October, the 

and Enbridge appealed the Court of Appeals 

Sandpiper decision to the 

Supreme Court, but on December 15 the 

• A er the Supreme Court decision, the 

met on December 17 to start 

to gure out how to proceed in both the Sandpiper and Line 3 dockets. 

2016

e spent January guring out how to proceed and on Feb 2 ordered 

• 

to prepare an for Sandpiper and Line 3 and transferred the 

- 

and dockets back to the O ce of Administrative Hearings 

various 

) for assignment to an . 

( 

On April 12, the - issued dra scoping documents for 

• 

and Line 3, and parties led scoping comments on May 26 

Sandpiper 

June 10. 

and 

e rest of June and July were taken up with various procedural actions 

• 

both Line 3 and Sandpiper. 

in 

On August 3, Enbridge and Marathon announced that they were 

• 

their Sandpiper Joint Venture Agreement, and this created 

terminating 

uncertainty about the future of the Sandpiper project. 

much 

On September 1, Enbridge led a petition to withdraw its applications 

• 

the Sandpiper project. e stated cause was that its customers no 

for 

in North Dakota had been dropping due to low oil prices. 

production 

On September 23, the - led its Line 3 scoping report, and on 

• 

In September and October, the parties asked the to restart the Line 3 

• 

process due to the termination of the Sandpiper project, but the 

scoping 

refused. 

In November, the 

• 

processes for Sandpiper, and also issued a decision selecting 

permitting 

for consideration in the Line 3 . 

alternatives 

In December, the - issued its nal scoping decision and issued a 

• 

preparation notice for Line 3. 

formal 

(only Line 3 hereafter) 

2017 

In December, Enbridge led its direct testimony. 

• 

In the rst four months the - prepared a dra . 

• 

On May 15 - issued a . 

• 

longer saw a commercial need for Sandpiper. 

e probable reason for 

this was the fact that 

had started construction in April 2016 and oil 

September 27 the Line 3 

established a Line 3 hearing schedule. 

issued an order formally terminating the 

• From June 6 to June 22 the - held 22 public information

meetings. 

In May, June and July a number of additional parties intervened 

• 

the Earth [ ], Friends of the Headwaters [ ], the Sierra 

(Honor 

and had intervened earlier). Other individuals were denied the 

Club 

to intervene as parties. 

right 

On July 10 parties led 

• 

On August 17, the - published the and started a comment 

• 

ending on October 2. 

period 

On September 11, parties led direct written testimony by experts. 

• 

From September 25 through October 26, the held public comment 

• 

meetings. 

In October, parties led comments on the 

• 

written testimony by experts. 

surrebuttal 

In November, the conducted a three-week evidentiary hearing in St. 

• 

for the purpose of cross examining witnesses. 

Paul 

On December 14, the found the inadequate. 

• 

2018 

In January and February, the parties led formal legal briefs. 

• 

In February, the - published a dra revised ( ), and 

• 

and citizens commented on this later the same month. 

parties 

in-trench replacement because the costs to society of 

recommended 

a new pipeline in a new right-of-way outweighed its bene ts. 

building 

On May 1, the found the adequate. 

• 

On June 18, 19, 26 and 27 the met to deliberate on the and 

• 

granted both of them, but ordered the development of additional 

and 

that meant approval of the and were not nal. 

conditions 

In August, , the Tribes and led appeals on the adequacy of the 

• 

. 

including Red Lake, Leech Lake, Fond du Lac ( 

) Bands, Youth 

Climate Intervenors ( 

), Northern Water Alliance and the Dyrdals 

comments. 

and rebuttal and 

• On April 24, the 

issued her report and recommendation, which 

• On July 9, the 

was published in the eqb Monitor.

On September 5 the approved the , but required more work on 

• 

and as a result this order was not the nal approval. 

conditions, 

On October 26, the approved the . 

• 

e rest of the year included consideration of petitions for 

• 

In December, , , , the Tribes and all led appeals of the 

• 

in the Court of Appeals. 

decision 

2019 

In January, parties led reply briefs in the 

• 

conditions were resolved. 


In February, , and led an appeal of the order in the Court 

• 

Appeals. of 

In April, the parties re led appeals of the 

• 

Appeals. 

On June 3, the Court of Appeals held that the 

• 

to analyze an oil spill into the Lake Superior watershed. 

failing 

In July, the , Enbridge and appealed the June 3 decision to the 

• 

Court, and in August the Supreme Court declined to review 

Supreme 

decision. 

this 

In October, the started the process of supplementing the . 

• 

In October, the Court of Appeals dismissed the outstanding and 

• 

without prejudice, because the June 3 decision rendered the 

appeals 

and orders void. 

underlying 

On December 9, the - published a dra second revised 

• 

). (2 

2020 

In January, the parties and public led comments on the 2 and 

• 

• On August 31, Enbridge and 

led an agreement on route alternatives 

that approved construction of Line 3 through the 

reservation. 

reconsideration and initial brie ng in the Court of Appeals 

case. 

appeal and the 

issued its nal 

order on conditions. 

• In February, the Court of Appeals dismissed the 

appeals without 

prejudice, because it held that the 

decision was not nal until all of 

decision in the Court of 

was inadequate for

On May 1, the found the 2 adequate and parties led petitions 

• 

reconsideration of this order. 

for 

and that the parties will le appeals of the adequacy of the 2 , 

July 

in the Court of Appeals in August. 

and 

and 

reissuance. 

• It is anticipated that the 

will deny the petitions for reconsideration in

Not Minnesota Nice 

is called Minnesota Nice, but it’s not so nice. It remains, in some places, 

It 

Deep North. And, in 2019, more riot gear and non-lethal assault 


arrived in the north country. Much of that is intended for use on 

equipment 

people, on Water Protectors of all colors, and most of that will be 

Native 

for by the Enbridge company. At least that’s the plan. 

paid 

December of 2019, Menahga Police Chief Gunderson reported to the 

In 

Council that they were “not sure what to expect but needed riot gear 

City 

helmets. Masks shields and less lethal munitions … such as tasers 

including 

modern stuns” (December 4, 2019, Menahga Messenger). Menagha is a 

and 

of about 1300 people. Poor by economic standards, rich in Finlanders. 

town 

a lot of people around this area have had a pretty good quality of 

Actually, 

as small to medium scale farmers. Well, in any case, it seemed a bit 

life 

of this little town to need a bunch of riot gear. 

excessive 

the town to the north of Menagha, Park Rapids (approximately 

Meanwhile, 

people) is also gearing up for the Line 3 battle. At the Hubbard County 

3700 

meeting, the report came in. “Enbridge is going to start 

Commissioner’s 

3, hopefully, in 2020, and I know we’ve budgeted overtime,” Kay Rave, 

Line 

County Auditor, explained at the meeting. “ e sheri ’s 

Hubbard 

has been training for that. Doing our best to prepare for the 

department 

that come with the building of Line 3.” All this for a Canadian 

unknowns 

project. 

pipeline 

year and a half before, the Hubbard County sheri ’s department had 

A 

been a lead in a huge drug bust. “ 

e bust was 30 people. Agents identi ed 

numerous drug tra 

ckers in the Hubbard County area and seized large 

of methamphetamine, prescription opiates, butane hash oil, high 

amounts 

marijuana, rearms and proceeds from drug sales,” according to the 

grade 

’s news release. More drug busts continue; Park Rapids is an epicenter 

sheri 

northern hard drugs. Seems like Park Rapids and Hubbard County had 


of problems before Enbridge. 

plenty 

then there’s Duluth. e rst big wave of riot gear came to Duluth in 

And

Hundred Years of Prison 

A 

reality is that Native people have been treated poorly by the state of 

e 

about $140,000 worth of it. Now, honestly, there hasn’t been a riot in 

2019, 

since the 1920 lynching of three black men, Elias Clayton, Elmer 

Duluth 

and Isaac McGhie, by a white mob. Crowd estimates were between 

Jackson 

and 10,000 people (apparently sort of bad at counting in those days). 

1000 

at was the last riot in Duluth. 

at’s why it seemed rather excessive for the 

Police Department to need all that riot gear. Who are they protecting 

Duluth 

from what? 

and 

is is a military build-up aimed at repressing Water Protectors. 

is is a 

crisis in civil society. 

at’s to say that when the people who want clean 

water are being faced with arrest and riot gear, what has happened to 

drinking 

society? Why is it a criminal activity to want clean water, and not a 

our 

activity to threaten that water? 

criminal 

story doesn’t start here. It has deep origins. 

is 

and remain prisoners of discriminatory legal, political, economic 

Minnesota 

social policies. Native people have the highest rates of incarceration, 

and 

times higher than non-Natives, representing 7% of the prison 

seven 

but only 1% of the population. We spend a lot of time in prison. 

population, 

also end up at the hands of excessive force. Minnesota State Attorney 

We 

Keith Ellison held some mid-December 2019 meetings in Bemidji 

General 

ways to reduce deadly force encounters between law enforcement and 

on 

residents. 

local 

pointed out that a large number of the deadly force encounters 

Ellison 

in greater Minnesota. More than one has occurred in Beltrami 

occur 

County, where, in 2018, a Bemidji police o 

cer and a Beltrami County 

’s deputy shot and killed 34-year-old Vernon May of Red Lake during 

sheri 

tra c stop. Beltrami County Attorney David Hanson declined to charge 

a 

the o 

cer, Bidal Duran, and the deputy, Brandon Newhouse, for the death 

Vernon May, since the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension had cleared the 


cer. o 

the Ellison meeting, White Earth tribal member Nicole Buckanaga 

At 

about the Beltrami County Jail, which is facing two wrongful-death 

talked 

both concerning Native men. It seemed clear that there were very 

lawsuits, 

people who trusted the police. “ ere’s no trust to be regained; there’s 

few

Round Two, with Tanks 

Enbridge 

June 28 2018, the Public Utilities Commission approved the permits for 

On 

none to be restored. 

ere wasn’t any in the beginning,” Renee Gurneau, a 

Lake tribal mother said. “Just because things happened 200 years ago 

Red 

not mean they didn’t a ect us two minutes ago,” Buckanaga said. “We’re 

does 

to discuss the brutal encounters that we have with police. But we 

here 

ignore the brutal encounters that we have with the system itself 

cannot 

those police get us to those judges. Well, those judges are throwing 

because 

books at us; they’re keeping us in jail. ey’re putting barrier upon 


in front of us.” 

barrier 

the mass hanging of the Dakota 38, Native people have had a pretty 

Since 

experience with law enforcement in Minnesota. Indeed, historic 

poor 

is continuing trauma. e prison industrial complex has absorbed 

trauma 

too many Native people. Europeans have locked up Native people in 

far 

forts, missions, reservations, boarding schools and today, 

military 

in state and federal prisons. For American Indians, 

increasingly, 

is an extension of the history and violent mechanisms of 

incarceration 

Here’s an example of counties near the White Earth, Red Lake 

colonization. 

Leech Lake and Fond du Lac Reservations, and what appears to be 

and 

pro ling. 

racial 

February 20, 2020,we surveyed the jail rosters of counties near and on 

On 

reservations in the north. Of the Cass, Beltrami, Carleton, Becker and 


Hubbard and Tri County areas, tribal arrests represented 

Clearwater 

24% and 54% of total arrests, indicating that tribal members were 

between 

to seven times more likely to be in jail than non-tribal members. 

up 

wounds are fresh. Let’s say that. So when Enbridge agrees to pay for 

e 

police force it anticipates will be required to militarize the north and 


a pipeline project that is heavily opposed in Minnesota, particularly 

protect 

Native people, it’s not a surprise that the community is concerned. 

by 

the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline. 

at room was pretty much on lockdown and 

lled wall to wall with Enbridge employees and supporters. 

e Minnesota 

general public had not been seated. 

e June 28 approval was a rogue 

as the Administrative Law Judge had not recommended this 

decision, 

project. at was a er 68,000-plus people testi ed against Line 3. 

pipeline 

ere has never been in history a time when the 

ndings of the

and Wiindigoo Economics 

Settler 

the Anishinaabeg lived pretty well up here. A er all, you could 

Minwenzha, 

Law Judge were not followed by the Public Utilities 

Administrative 

at’s the money of Enbridge. In that approval was an explicit 

Commission. 

by Commissioner Touma to insure that Enbridge would pay for the 

request 

and military costs associated with this pipeline project. Financed by 

police 

riot gear and all. 

Enbridge, 

began early. By the fall of 2018, the Fond du Lac tribe was hosting 

It 

workshops, the rst on sex tra cking and the impact of 

educational 

on Native women and others facing tra cking, the second 

pipelines 

on all you need to know about Native people in Minnesota. Much 

workshop 

it will be helpful for law enforcement, over half of the attendees are 


s from North Dakota and Minnesota. (Morton County will likely be 

sheri 

in the Deep North, sort of a lateral transfer.) And then there’s a 

represented 

called, “Law Enforcement Active Di usion Strategies Plus Tactical 

workshop 

L.E.A.D.S. + T.” … basically a classroom-based combat- 

Options 

confrontation avoidance course. 

at’s about managing Water Protectors. So 

we have here, again, is the criminalization of and preparation to 

what 

people who are trying to protect clean water. 

brutalize 

of this militarization makes a situation which is toxic to the North 

All 

And that toxicity meets some more toxicity in northern 

Country. 

aka, the Deep North, which has some deep historic roots. To be 

Minnesota, 

it’s been the Deep North for a while, long before the three black men 

clear, 

were lynched in Duluth. 

sugar from a tree and food from the water. Really a pretty good world. 

get 

coming of the Wiindigoo of colonization broke through our 

e 

laying to waste our villages. 

communities, 

rich land of maple forests and majestic pines became a land of stumps as 

A 

million acres of forest were clear cut, the heart of our nation. Copper was 

75 

by thieves, the foundation of some of the world’s largest mining 

stolen 

here Kennecott and Anaconda all pillaged from the 

corporations; 

Territory. at was like the rst and second apocalypse. Some 

Anishinaabe 

rich and some get poor, or as Eduardo Galeano says in Open Veins of 

get 

America, “In the colonial to neocolonial poverty gold changes to scrap 

Latin 

metal and food to poison. We have become intimately aware of what nature

estows, and imperialism appropriates.” 

at’s the global Wiindigoo 

At that same time, the battles over the bu alo, beaver, sturgeon 

economy. 

life itself united peoples. e Métis Nation emerged in the region, 

and 

fur traders and Anishinaabe People who represented a multi-racial 

French 

in a multi-racial democracy. at was then. 

time 

treaties signed — the miners’ treaties to the 1867 treaty, which 

With 

the White Earth Reservation — the Canadian and US governments 

created 

systematically destroying the political leadership of the Anishinaabeg. 

began 

1868, Bagone-giizhig, or Hole in the Day, one of the most politically 

In 

and renowned Ojibwe leaders, was assassinated, and many chiefs 

colorful 

moved to White Earth with promises of peace and prosperity. 

had 

the lumber companies and fur companies had mounted a last 

Regionally, 

on the beaver, the forests and the sturgeon, meeting with continued 

assault 

from Ojibwe and Métis Nations. Not content to parlay with our 

opposition 

the Canadian government pushed harder into our territories, with 

people, 

Riel eventually becoming a martyr for what could have been the rst 

Louis 

democracy. Louis Riel, a leader of the Métis Nation in Canada 

multi-racial 

member of the provisional Manitoba government, was a part of the 

and 

Resistance. By 1885, Riel had been hanged for treason in Regina, 

Métis 

Saskatchewan. 

e intent was to quell any Indigenous resistance. Canada’s 

brutal policies of starve or move and the highly publicized 

shooting of 

patriot Almighty Voice over a cow in Batoche made it clear that 

Cree 

genocide was well underway. e United States mirrored the 

Canadian 

with the massacres at Wounded Knee in 1890, intended to stop any 

policies, 

resistance. 

was then that the dam projects came to the north — from Leech Lake to 

It 

River in Canada. Later dam projects would ood Lakota Territories. 

Rainy 

ey ooded our history. 

en they drove us from our lands. 

the Leech Lake Reservation the hydro dams ooded the blueberries, 

On 

wild rice, the villages, graves and maple sugar bush wealth of the 


In total, over 178,000 acres of the Leech Lake Reservation 

Anishinaabeg. 

ooded, damaging villages, gardens, cemeteries and wild rice. But it 

was 

stop there. Detroit Lakes was known for “ eecing the Indians,” and 

didn’t 

the 1930s, Native people were burned out of their houses as land was 

until 

by the counties and by white landowners who moved into the region. 

taken 

laws and the creation of the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, 

Hunting

Time of the Sixth Fire — The Court Cases 


day, in the time of the Sixth Fire prophecy, the Anishinaabeg wake up. 

One 

National Forest and Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge 

Chippewa 

the Anishinaabeg of more lands and our ability to care for our 

dispossessed 

lakes and land. 

e US Fish and Wildlife Service burned houses out of 

People in the Tamarac Wildlife Refuge in the 1930s and did the 

Anishinaabe 

thing at the Rice Lake Refuge to the Rice Lake band of Anishinaabeg. 

same 

As the June 20, 1901, Princeton Gazette reported, “ 

e Indians were given 

May to move, but they disregarded the order and on May 26, the Sheri 

till 

and a er giving the Indians a day in which to move their e ects, 

appeared 

re to the buildings. It is said that 50 bark houses and log shacks were 

set 

by the sheri .” 

burned 

came the laws, the laws of the white man on the Indians that 

en 

the shing, the hunting and the wild ricing. at was the 

outlawed 

of state game and harvesting regulations on the Anishinaabeg. 

enforcement 

Anishinaabeg are a harvesting people, and those regulations 

e 

criminalized people for feeding their families. 

at’s how you starve a 

people, make it illegal for them to feed themselves. “ 

ose were brutal times 

our people,” Frank Bibeau, a treaty rights attorney, would remind me. 

for 

e takings and arrests took food o the table of many Anishinaabeg, and 

“ 

the men from the families.” 

when they wake up they sue the state of Minnesota for their lands, they 

And 

the American Indian Movement, they start Indigenous Survival 

start 

they get grounded in Minneapolis, among other transitions. One of 

Schools, 

rst cases to recover land was in Clearwater County, Minnesota. 


County is emblematic in many ways of the Deep North. In this 

Clearwater 

the county wants to take land through a quit claim deed from Zay Zah, 

case, 

or George Aubid. 

at was the Zay Zah case. Clearwater County is in the 

portion of the White Earth Reservation. In fact, eight townships 

northwest 

Clearwater County are carved out of the White Earth Reservation, four of 


were virtually annexed from the reservation. 


Aubid, or ZayZah, is one of the Ojibwes whose land was taken by 

Charles 

County illegally, it turns out. It’s just that justice is hard to come 

Clearwater 

if you are a Native person. Most of Clearwater County’s land takings on 

by 

the White Earth Reservation, were, in fact illegal. On October 21, 1977, the

Supreme Court ruled in favor of defendant George Aubid, Sr., 

Minnesota 

sole heir of defendant Zay Zah. e court ruling found that in 1940, 


County had illegally executed a tax forfeiture on a tribal trust 

Clearwater 

owned by ZayZah, taking that land. ey returned the land to the 

allotment 

family. 

Aubid 

on the Zay Zah case, federal investigators commenced something 

Based 

the 2415 Land Claims research project, lasting until then President 

called 

Bush eliminated the program. at research found that vast land 

George 

in Minnesota, and nationally, had been taken illegally from Native 

tracts 

by states, counties and private citizens. e White Earth and Leech 

people 

Reservations were a couple of the worst cases of land alienation. A er a 

Lake 

battle in Congress, pitting non-Indian landholders with bad title 

three-year 

tribal members whose land had been stolen, the White Earth Land 

against 

Act was passed in 1986. e highly controversial bill, passed 

Settlement 

a suspension of the rules in Congress, was said to bring justice for the 

under 

of approximately 750,000 acres of land from the White Earth 


Instead of justice, which would have been the return of land, 

Anishinaabeg. 

White Earth Anishinaabeg got $20 million, 10,000 acres of land returned 


and a casino. 

at was one of the rst northern tribal casinos in Minnesota. 

casinos would follow, feeding a jealousy and a growing dislike by 

More 

settlers of Native people. Not far from the white vigilantes who 

some 

our communities a hundred years ago, these people would 

terrorized 

organized into anti-Indian organizations and movements like the 

become 

Congress for American Rights and Responsibilities, Protect 

Interstate 

Rights and Resources and others. e tensions in the north 

American 

country were high all throughout the 80s. 

ere’s quite a bit of historical 

on what came to be known as the Walleye Wars, most notably, a 

writing 

of that name by Walter Bresette and Rick Whaley, but what became the 

book 

charged and violent times had origins in long-term practices of 

politically 

like Wisconsin. “ e people are not the problem,” 

governments 

and Whaley would write. “ ey’re a symptom of the problem. e 

Bresette 

is the state of Wisconsin as leaders of the citizenry. ey’re the 

problem 

leading anti-treaty organization in the state of Wisconsin. 

ey have 

and consistently attacked the credibility of the tribes and the 

deliberately 

of the treaties. Until that changes, we will continue to have a ght 

validity 

with our families in northern Minnesota.” 25

en came the 1983 Voight Decision in Wisconsin. 

is decision, 

from the Lac Courte Oreilles vs. Wisconsin case, was foundational 

emerging 

the recognition and restoration of treaty rights by the American courts. 

to 

January 25, 1983 the US Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit agreed 

On 

the Lake Superior Ojibwe that hunting, shing and gathering 

with 

were reserved and protected in a series of treaties between the 

rights 

and the United States government. is case is known as the 

Ojibwe 

Voigt decision, or, as 

. It is especially important for its depth of 

into the substance and interpretation of the 19th Century 

review 

Speci cally, the three circuit court judges ruled that the 

treaties. 

rights were not withdrawn by the 1950 Removal Order 

usufructuary 

the order was invalid. ey also concluded that the 1854 treaty 

because 

did not speci cally revoke those rights either. 26 

1999, the Mille Lacs decision came from the US Supreme Court. 

In 

the precedent of the Voight decision, the United States Supreme 

Following 

decision in the Minnesota v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians case 

Court 

the usufructuary rights of the Ojibwe to lands that had been ceded to 

upheld 

the federal government in the 1837 treaty. 

e Court ruled that the Ojibwe 

certain hunting, shing and gathering rights on the ceded land. 27 

retained 

Mille Lacs decision and the Voight decision both rea rmed the treaty 

e 

rights of the Anishinaabeg in the 1837 Treaty Territory. 

at meant that the 

have a right to hunt, sh and harvest in that treaty territory. 

Anishinaabeg 

about a third of northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. A similar 

at’s 

decision, the Boldt decision, in Washington state, also a 

rmed the rights of 

people to feed ourselves. Some people really hated that. 

Native 

when the so-called Fishing Wars started. 

at’s 

times of perceived scarcities, sometimes people lash out more. Non- 

In 

shers charged that tribal members were harvesting too many sh, 

Indian 

studies by the Great Lakes Intertribal Fish Commission found that 

although 

members harvested between 18,500 and 30,558 sh for the period of 

tribal 

representing a very small portion of sh harvested in 

2006–2019, 28 

Wisconsin. 

2010, following a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources 

In 

called Operation Squarehook, several White Earth and Leech 

investigation 

Lake tribal members were charged with poaching sh and selling them to

Psychosis of Indian Hating and the Financing of 


Hate 

for below market prices. As the court case dragged on, attorney 

non-Natives 

Bibeau argued that, “It is apparent the state was more interested in 

Frank 

3 years and $100,000s prosecuting Native people for exercising 

spending 

rights by taking sh by gillnet and then selling the sh, than working 

treaty 

Anishinaabe in protecting the watershed of those sh in the long run.” 

with 

this to the e orts to stop the Sandpiper pipeline, he added, “Our 

Extending 

-reservation treaty harvesting rights include a natural, preemptive right to 

o 

our environment because we plan on our future generations living 

protect 

as we always have, forever.” 29 

here, 

ve years a er Operation Squarehook began, in February of 2015, 

Almost 

the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals found, “ 

e United States suggests no 

reason why the right to net and sell 

sh would not be part of the 

rights reserved by the establishment of the Leech Lake 

usufructuary 

in the 1855 treaty. e context of the 1855 treaty establishing 

Reservation 

Leech Lake Reservation indicates that this ‘general rule’ applies.” 30 


then the courts began to rule on other treaty rights cases, and 

And 

across the northlands slowly began to harvest food in peace. 

Anishinaabeg 

here we are in the early years of the 21st century. Most of the rivers 

So, 

been dammed, most of the iron ore is running out in the Iron Range, 

have 

of the big trees have been turned into houses in Minneapolis, and the 

most 

is over. More than 10,000 mine workers had lost their jobs in the Iron 

party 

by the 1990s. 31 In May of 2020 the US Steel Mine at Iron Mountain 

Range 

plans to lay o 260 workers in the Iron Range. As the demand 

announced 

steel plummets, fueled by the pandemic, “expected layo s will 

for 

roughly 1,760 workers. at includes 470 at Cleveland-Cli s’ 

total 

Mining in Babbitt and Silver Bay; 375 at US Steel’s Keetac in 

Northshore 

and 650 at Arcelor-Mittal’s Hibbing Taconite in Hibbing. It’s more 

Keewatin; 

one-third of the approximately 4,000 total jobs on the Iron Range’s six 

than 

mines.” 32 

no more to pillage, and the Wiindigoo has run out of things to 

ere’s 

consume. 

er careful study of the (anti Indian) protestors; ltering through the 

A 

and overt, listening to the emotions and feelings it became clear 

blatant

most of those at the landings really did believe that the Chippewa 

that 

the problem. Despite the legal, economic, and biological facts, 

were 

were ready to strike out at their neighbors like inner-city looters 

protesters 

down their own stores and neighborhoods, exasperated and 

burning 

angry with no answers. 

e Chippewa became the northern scapegoat of 

ing economic and environmental realities…. But it was not the 

shi 

who posed the threat. European Americans were victims of 

Chippewa 

failed or non existent economic and environmental policies 

ey were 

of educational institutions that le them socially and historically 

victims 

And they were victims of new interests nding their way into the 

illiterate. 

northland. 

— Walt Bresette, Walleye Warriors 33 

is where the complex relationship between settler and Native can either 

is 

bad or go good. is is where everyone realizes that we all drink the same 

go 

and breathe the same air, and we live in the same place. 

water 

the counties and other jurisdictions which have carved themselves out 

So, 

of the Ojibwe Treaty Territory are not doing so well it seems. 

e farming 

has been ransacked by the Dairy Termination Program of the 

community 

farms are now absent of farm animals, and life is dwindling. In 

mid-1980s, 

meantime, infrastructure needs continue to build in the north, and a tax 


dwindles with increasing poverty. at’s when the big money rolls into 

base 

town. 

has made a lot of contributions to small towns, particularly as the 

Enbridge 

mount against the Enbridge pipeline expansions. Enbridge 

challenges 

to re departments, local community events and more are helpful. 

donations 

A er all, emergency services are needed. 

rough support of an 

called Minnesotans for Line 3, Enbridge has been engaged in a 

organization 

robust promotion and a media campaign. Enbridge has, through this 

very 

also created a number of Partner Communities. 

largesse, 

psychosis of Indian hating is one born of the self loathing of your role in 

e 

destroying another person, the and destruction of a people. 

at’s what 

people have in the north. 

ey know that what has happened to Native people 

wrong, but it’s uncomfortable to deal with what justice looks like, or perhaps 

is 

come to terms that we all drink the same water, so the crazy Indian hating 

to 

behavior continues. 

at’s the Deep North.

Stockholm Syndrome 


our story unfolds, the Minnesota Tax Court determined that thirteen 

As 

(mostly poor) counties owe Enbridge back taxes. And it’s a lot. 


is to say, some of the same countries that carved themselves out of 

is 

Country, like for instance, Clearwater County, really seems to dislike 

Indian 

and now owes Enbridge a lot of money. at’s not going to be 

Ojibwes 

“It’s scary for us,” Allen Paulson, Clearwater County’s auditor, told the 

pretty. 

Tribune. “If Enbridge wins its appeal, the [tab for the county] will be 

Star 

million, and our levy is $6.8 million.” 34 

$7.2 

means that Enbridge is the county’s largest tax payer. It’s not however, 

is 

largest employer. Clearwater County faces the biggest hit because it’s 


not only to pipelines, but an Enbridge tank farm and terminal in the 

home 

town of Clearbrook. 

ere were 15 people employed at the Tank Facility in 

although that number may have increased in recent years, as the 

2017, 

builds out infrastructure. In comparison, Enbridge’s pro ts are, 

company 

to the company records, at about $650 million for the pipeline 

according 

here. 

operations 

from that, Clearbrook is a weird vortex of political con ict with the 

Aside 

community. For one, Gourmet House, the single largest purveyor of 

Native 

wild rice in Minnesota, is there, and Gourmet House has long been 

paddy 

in squashing the Native manoomin industry, as well as 

instrumental 

genetically modi ed wild rice. All of that was entirely 

supporting 

to the Ojibwe. In other words, paddy rice kings and the single 

oppositional 

Canadian pipeline infrastructure are sitting right there, right on the 

largest 

of the Red Lake Reservation. 

edge 

Red Lake County, with 4000 people, also faces some 

nancial losses. 

to the Star Tribune, “Enbridge is its largest taxpayer, and the 

According 

had a total levy last year of $2.6 million. County Auditor Bob 

county 

says that if Enbridge prevails, the county could be on the hook to 

Schmitz 

for $3.5 million. ‘How do we possibly get the money to pay them 

Enbridge 

35 back?’” 

10, 2019: Native youth, women and Elders ride through the 

October 

Tank Farm in Clearbrook Minnesota. Cars swerve towards the 

Enbridge 

For those of us who rode horse along the line, that’s seven years of 

horses. 

riding the proposed Enbridge pipeline routes; it’s a spiritual ride. 

at ride

Cronyism Works 

How 

a dearth of principled leadership in northern Minnesota. Sometimes 

ere’s 

ten or so youth from the White Earth and Red Lake Reservations as 

includes 

move through Bagley, from Rice Lake to Clearwater and Red Lake. e 

we 

and their parents and Elders stay at the Clearwater County 

youth 

A er all, the Boys and Girls Club from Red Lake has 

Fairgrounds. 

us. And, so we pray each morning, care for our horses at night 

sponsored 

ride, pray and laugh. at didn’t go so well with the Clearwater County 

and 

Board, which found it essential to shame us for challenging 

Fairgrounds 

“To the residents of Clearwater County, you need to know that we 

Enbridge: 

NEVER knowingly allow any organization to use our grounds that 

would 

not support and honor one of the county’s largest Taxpayers and who 

does 

been nothing but good neighbors to you all. 

have 

on you Winona and the Honor the Earth followers for the devious 

“Shame 

they gained access to our grounds. Let’s hope that they never use the 

way 

name of the Boys and Girls Clubs of White Earth and Mahnomen 

good 

in such a manner.” 36 Sort of a classic case of Stockholm Syndrome. 

again 

13, 2019: A hundred Water Protectors walk the public road 

October 

the Enbridge Tank Farm in Clearbrook. A white truck follows, 

through 

pictures of license plates. “As we le from the rally meeting at the 

taking 

Minnesotans for Line 3 folks were all parked in the tiny town streets, 

park, 

and gas stations etc. with their signs cheering on the dangerous 

businesses 

tracker while shouting “go home, go back to the reservation,” Sarah 

driving 

Red Feather would report, and Angel Stevens would post some 

Little 

on her Facebook page. New and bigger Line 3 signs appear across 

pictures 

the Honor the Earth o ce. Intimidation is an intent. 

from 

generations start moving away from their homeland, leaving some of 

when 

white privileged settler relatives alone in the north country, they want 


act like big shots from the cities. So, they get corrupt, and some of them 

to 

running big things in northern Minnesota, like the rural electric 

start 

All of those cooperatives feed Enbridge, which by the turn of 

cooperatives. 

century had become one of Minnesota’s largest energy consumers. And 


also should serve rural households and tribes. 


the case of Crow Wing Power. In 2017, it had more than $68 million 

Take 

in revenue, serving 38,000 mostly residential customers in Cass, Crow Wing

Morrison Counties — the heart of lake country. It’s one of the state’s 

and 

electricity co-ops, which are owned by their “members,” their 

many 

in other words. Two of those counties are to be crossed by the 

customers 

new Enbridge pipeline corridor. It turns out that certain rules 

proposed 

the practices of rural electric cooperatives, but it is not clear that 

govern 

Wing Power’s board of directors understands that. 

Crow 

So here is how it goes. 

e board of directors of Crow Wing Power buys a 

company called Hunt Utilities, which had invented a way to remotely 

cool 

rural electric meters without visiting the meters monthly. at 

read 

wanted to sell this equipment to the electric cooperative. Instead, 

company 

Wing Power purchased the company, and then sold the product which 

Crow 

been made by Hunt Utilities to all of the members. 

had 

any case, Crow Wing buys Hunt Utilities and then sells it for a pretty 

In 

pro t. And then the board of directors of Crow Wing Power decides it’s 

large 

to buy a mining corporation. And that mining corporation is going to 

going 

a big deposit of manganese, in fact North America’s most valuable 

mine 

deposit, near Emily, Minnesota. is was all discovered by a 

manganese 

from the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 2019, a few years a er this all 

reporter 

started. 

it becomes more clear. As the Brainerd Dispatch would report in 

en, 

“Crow Wing Power’s con icts largely came to light with the revelation 

2019, 

a royalty agreement signed Nov. 20, 2008, that stipulated three executives 


Crow Wing Power — Bruce Kraemer, former Chief Operating 

from 

cer Doug Harren and former Chief Financial O cer Don Nelson — 

O 

royalty interests to a manganese deposit by Emily.” 

retained 

later suggested that the 2008 agreement was defunct a er e orts 

Kraemer 

mine were unsuccessful, but a fellow board member disagreed, suggesting 

to 

Kraemer was not being honest and that, “If developed, the deposit has 

that 

potential to garner executives millions over the course of the mine’s 


lifespan.” 

became clear, thanks to the Star Tribune investigations, was that the 

What 

million sale of Hunt Technologies was used to develop the Emily 

$23 

e public scrutiny of the Emily mine also led to questions about 

deposit. 

$490,000 in bonuses doled out to seven board members, as well as 


Kraemer received $1.9 million with the sale of Hunt in 2006. All 

revelations 

of this was undisclosed to members until mid-2019. 37 

at’s what cronyism

like in the north country. And there’s more of it yet. It’s what happens 

looks 

the Deep North, when the watchdogs are not looking. 

in 

all of this is important is because it’s about power, literally energy and 

Why 

It’s about who controls infrastructure. It’s about who controls the 

electricity. 

power. 

ere are seven Anishinaabe reservations in northern Minnesota, 

of them served by these same rural electric cooperatives, of which 

most 

Wing is one. (Much of the power which feeds into these grids comes 

Crow 

takings in dam projects of Indigenous Peoples.) Most of these electric 

from 

seem to have more disconnects in the reservation communities 

cooperatives 

non-reservation communities, in what may be discriminatory 

than 

practices. 

basic infrastructure for renewable energy is sidelined for projects of 

And 

to large customers like Enbridge and industrial agriculture. In 

importance 

words, electrical substations and infrastructure meet large industrial 


mines and pipelines drive more energy infrastructure, and the 

loads; 

intention of rural cooperatives and serving communities is sidelined. 

at’s 

systemic oppression looks like. To their credit, some Crow Wing Power 

what 

members are also incensed about the cronyism, forming a group 

cooperative 

called the Crow Wing Power Accountability Group. 

e group seeks to 

the board of directors’ behavior and nullify agreements made, as 

address 

as challenge the distribution of the cooperative assets to the board 

well 

38 members. 

most of all, it’s a question of infrastructure on the ground. 

And, 

at’s to 

Enbridge pipelines are the single largest energy consumer in Minnesota; 

say, 

the pipes use the equivalent of two nuclear power plants. What that 

all 

is that they have hijacked essential infrastructure, coupled with more 

means 

and caused more climate change, chaos and inequity in our lands. 

cronyism 

Enbridge. 

at’s 

and equity are not usually compatible. It’s probably time for the 

Cronyism 

tribes to start their own rural electric cooperatives and put some e 

ciency 

the generation and distribution and some renewable energy online. And, 

in 

we should quit producing power for destructive energy and 

basically 

projects. 

industrial 

here we are. Emboldened by President Trump and 

So 

nanced by 

Enbridge, there’s some tension in the north country. 

ese questions come 

to mind: What do you want Minnesota? War or Peace, Hatred or Love,

Rise of the Water Protectors 


told of the time of the Sixth Fire for Anishinaabe people. 

Prophets 

Water or Oil? 

at was 

time when our people would awaken and nd things which they had put 

a 

were lost or taken. ey would also nd allies, and many of those 

aside, 

remain today. Across the northlands, alliances have been forming for 

allies 

past y years, as people have stood to protect their water. Most of these 


battles have been over mining projects in Wisconsin, where groups like 

epic 

Midwest Treaty Alliance and others joined with the Anishinaabeg. ey 


rst to respect the treaty rights of the Anishinaabeg, as recognized in 

came 

Voight and later Mille Lacs decisions. ese allies, non-Native people, 


Native people from assaults by angry mobs of Wisconsin residents 

protected 

did not want to respect the treaties. Much of that is chronicled in 

who 

Warriors. 

Walleye 

same coalition helped stop the Crandon mine, a proposed copper 

at 

mine (companies ranging from Rio Tinto Zinc to Billiton and Exxon 

zinc 

attempted that mine). e mine was beneath Mole Lake, the 

unsuccessfully 

at the center of the Mole Lake Skokagan Chippewa Reservation. In the 

lake 

the Forest County Potowatami and the Mole Lake Chippewa bought 

end, 

mineral rights to their reservation, their own land, for $20 million. 


Chair Gus Frank said, “ is purchase provides additional 

Potawatomi 

for the groundwater, the wetlands and the Wolf River. It protects 

protection 

natural resources of the Northwoods that our cultural traditions, as well 


the tourism economy, depend on.” 

as 

Chair Sandra Rachal echoed this, saying, “It is an honor to 

Sokaogon 

the lands where our ancestors lived and fought to protect. We are 

preserve 

the land, the water and the air for future generations, just as our 

protecting 

did.” 39 

ancestors 

will say it again: at the low, low cost of $20 million, they bought their own 

I 

found on their own reservation. 

minerals 

the Dakotas, there have been alliances between Cowboys and Indians. 

In 

rst was the Black Hills Alliance in the late 1970s; a successful coalition 

e 

defeat some 26 uranium companies who had come a er deposits in the 

to 

Black Hills of South Dakota. 

at too would have destroyed the water of the 

Black Hills, the recharge area of the northern plains. Defeated once, the

uranium remains, and today Canadian multinationals once again vie 

same 

the water and uranium of the Lakota people. And still allies oppose. 

for 

alliances have continued, illustrated by the Cowboy and Indian 

ese 

which continues to challenge the proposed Pipeline, and more 

Alliance, 

the Water Protectors of Standing Rock; they come in all colors. An 

recently 

book on this subject is Zoltán Grossman’s Unlikely Alliances: Native 

excellent 

and White Communities Join to Defend Rural Lands. 40 

Nations 

is opportunity, that’s for sure. e fact is that change is inevitable; it’s 

Crisis 

a question of who controls the change. If the answer to tensions in 

just 

Minnesota is to bring in more pipes and more guns and some 


term jobs, well, that’s one scenario. If the answer is to make good jobs, 

short 

jobs and continue shing from the lakes, that’s another path. at’s 

clean 

what they say we have at this point, those prophets of the Anishinaabeg. 

e 

said that we would have a choice between two paths. Many would 

prophets 

to take the green path — those people who have come to love the land 

like 

and waters of Anishinaabe Akiing.

Palisade: Let’s Be Good Neighbors 

We aren’t’ going to trade our future for a barrel of oil. 

— Lynn Mizner, Palisade 

deep in the woods, there are people who have come to live 

Nopeming, 

and seem to not be so interested in the visions that big planners, 

simply 

and even pipeline companies have for their land. Some of those people 

cities 

in Palisade, a small town of 112 people in the last census. And some of 

live 

those people, and many others, 

nd themselves allied with the 

Anishinaabeg. 

Mizner is an organic farmer in Palisade, growing a pretty wide array 

Lynn 

vegetables for the farmers’ market and raising black sheep. In a previous 


she worked for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as a 

life, 

ecologist. Her farm was on one of the proposed routes for the 

forest 

Corporation’s Sandpiper, the rst oil pipeline proposed to go 

Enbridge 

through the Northwoods. 

at was until Lynn said no, and really meant it. 

came to my land and said that they would like to survey for the 

“Enbridge 

Sandpiper. I told them no,” Lynn explained. “ en one day I look 

proposed 

there, and there they are, with their survey truck on my land. I told them 

out 

again. I told that to the sheri . I asked him if I was in my rights to shoot a 

no 

and warn o the trespassers. He said yes.” 

gun 

north is a place that big projects go to be born and to die. 

e 

e north 

always been a frightening but beloved place to those from the pastoral 

has 

world. It’s not as comfortable as the city, that’s for sure, the place to get 

urban 

the place to retreat. It’s delightful and protected by some, but for 

away, 

it seems to be the dumping grounds for the things they don’t want in 

others, 

urban areas. Environmental racism and classism at its best. 


series of bizarre proposals for the small towns in the heart of the 1855 

A 

Territory and the Sandy Lake Ojibwe lands have threatened the peace 

Treaty 

our woods since the 1960s. ose have included a proposal for an 

in 

city near Palisade. Another proposal for a nearby town was a 

experimental 

waste dump, and another proposal was for a plasma gas incinerator 

nuclear

urning toxins from the Twin Cities. 

e point is that the Enbridge pipeline 

is not the rst nor likely the last “dump your bad idea in other lands” 

project 

e point is that people stand up to these projects and defeat them. 

project. 

Bizarre Idea Number One: The Experimental City 

of the futurist visions of Atelstan Spilhaus, a dean at the University of 

Born 

in the 60s, and backed by a good deal of state and university 

Minnesota 

the experimental city was to be a domed city big enough to house 

money, 

people, built in the north country. 

250,000 

a time of economic prosperity but also growing awareness of pollution, 

At 

vision for this noiseless, fumeless, self-sustaining city included 

“Spilhaus’ 

infrastructure for transporting and recycling waste; a mass 

underground 

system that would slide cars onto tracks, negating the need for a 

transit 

and computer terminals in every home that would connect people to 

driver; 

vision of the Internet — a remarkable prediction, given that computers 

his 

the era occupied entire rooms and no one was sending email. Spilhaus 


the city holding a population of 250,000 and costing $10 billion 

envisioned 

dollars, with 80 percent private funding and 20 percent public.” 41 

1967 

several years in the late 60s and early 70s, there was a lot of support for 

For 

project, and it seemed that the city would be built. Even a er the defeat 


the Democrats in the 1968 election, resulting in the federal government 


the project as property of the Democrats and withdrawing, the 

branding 

stepped in, creating the Minnesota Experimental City Authority. e 

state 

was tasked with nding a site for the city by 1973. 

authority 

er some months of searching, the authority recommended that the city 

A 

built on a large piece of undeveloped land near the small village of 

be 

in Aiken County, about 105 miles north of Minneapolis. However, it 

Swatara 

that the residents of the county were not enthusiastic about having 

seemed 

experimental city built in their backyards. ey felt that, no matter the 


intentions, a large urban center will bring with it signi cant pollution. 

is 

and the dwindling interest of the state, led to the demise of the 

resistance, 

in late 1973, when it disappeared without a trace. e memory of 

project 

city was revived in 2017 with the release of a documentary lm called 

this 

Experimental City, which tells the story of a domed city that almost 

e 

42 was. 

idea of the terrain, the lakes, the people, just an idea with a lot of 

No

money. 

e idea died but the notion of doing things to the north did not. In 

the 1980s, the federal government came up with the 

, or the Monitored 

Storage of Nuclear Waste proposal, which aimed to deal with the 

Retrievable 

waste from 109 aging nuclear plants by sending it … somewhere. In 

nuclear 

shining example of environmental racism, 16 of the 20 proposed sites were 

a 

Indian Country. One of the proposed locations was in the Hill City area, 

in 

Palisade. 

near 

came the next plan. 

en 

Bizarre Idea Number Two: The Plasma Arc Gasification 

Endeavor 

early January 2010, Palisade City Council approved the creation of a 

In 

the Palisade Plasma Arc Gasi cation Endeavor ( ) advisory 

committee, 

tasked with exploring the possibility of bringing plasma 

committee, 

cation to Palisade. 43 Plasma gasi cation is a method of waste treatment 

gasi 

which plasma is used to convert organic matter into gas. It’s largely touted 

in 

a way to reduce the need for land lls and is particularly e ective for 

as 

waste. In a report written to answer questions from Palisade 

hazardous 

prepared by one of the promoters, Dove Tail Inc., on June 7, 2010, 

residents, 

note that plasma gasi cation di ers from incineration because it 


a di erent end result. Where incinerators produce ash, gasi cation 

produces 

the waste into synthesis gas and inert slag, which can then be used 

converts 

make fuel, energy and chemical products. 

to 

an April 2010 meeting, the committee said that Aiken County produces 

In 

100 tons of waste every day, the majority of which ends up in a nearby 

about 

land ll. 

ey also noted that about 275 tons of waste is being burned or 

in people’s backyards every year. 44 

buried 

a letter to the editor of the local paper, Aiken Age, on July 13, 2010, a 

In 

member argued in favor of gasi cation, saying, “Ultimately 

community 

would be no need for a garbage dump, and the electrical energy 


from a plasma gasi cation facility would be four times more than 

obtained 

be obtained from an incinerator. e residue from a plasma operation 

could 

a hard, non-leaching marble-like material that can be used for roadbed 

is 

is method, if wisely pursued, would be the answer to our 

construction. 

garbage problem. 

erefore, we should seriously look at plasma gasi cation 

as the method for handling our ongoing problem of municipal waste.” 45

successful operations internationally, project proponents sought to 

Citing 

the people of Palisade to support new economic development and jobs. 

woo 

someone has a better idea for getting jobs here, let me know,’ facilitator 

“‘If 

Kullhem said”at the March 30 meeting. 46 

JoLynn 

problem was that not many people in Palisade thought this was a good 

e 

Local citizens turned out to community and state meetings, mounting 

idea. 

again some sti opposition to the city people who had ideas. 

once 

an earlier op-ed in the Aitkin Age, posted on June 30, an energy and 

In 

consultant spoke at length about the issues raised by a 

environmental 

cation plant, 

gasi 

happens all over the world: Promoters of undesirable waste disposal 

It 

target economically stressed communities that, they hope, are 

facilities 

and willing to grasp at straws. It could be a dump (“sanitary 

naive 

ll”), incinerator (“green power plants…”) or an incinerator in 

land 

(“plasma arc conversion facility…”). In every case these 

disguise 

if built, would bring with them road dust and cancer-causing 

proposals, 

pollution, wear and tear on roads, health-damaging air pollution, 

diesel 

pollution, and solid wastes needing to be dumped somewhere, 

water 

eventually causing groundwater pollution. 

e promoters operate, if 

they are clever, with a community face. 

ey hope to get support before 

crucial hard questions have been asked and answered. 

ey o en have 

support of construction unions, bond counsel, bankers, and others 


will pro t regardless of the success of the facility or the long- 

who 

impacts on the host community. 

ey very o en have the support of 

“economic development” o 

cials, who, frankly, tend to support almost 

anything. 

consultant went on to ask who would want to bring up children in a 

e 

full of air pollution and heavy trucks bringing garbage from all over. 

town 

chemistry and thermodynamics tell us that everything going into the 

“Basic 

would have to come out in some form. None of it would disappear, 

facility 

be ‘converted into energy.’… Since garbage contains many thousands of 

or 

— the American Chemical Society has a list of over 53 million 

chemicals 

-— the results of burning or ‘gasifying’ it are impossible to fully 

chemicals 47 predict.” 

Ultimately, the promoters, 

and Dovetail Partnership, found their

proposal had few supporters, and even those dwindled away eventually. 

e 

plasma arc gasi cation endeavor, like the experimental city, disappeared. 

Bizarre Idea Number Three: The Enbridge Pipelines 

targeted Swatera and Palisade for geographic and economic 

Enbridge 

e Minnesota Pollution Control Agency pointed to the 

reasons. 

racism and classism at play in deciding the route of the 

environmental 

noting that the preferred route “will have disproportionate and 

pipeline, 

impacts on environmental justice communities, including lowincome 

adverse 

and minority populations.… [Enbridge’s preferred route] crosses 

miles of areas of concern for environmental justice, or 46 percent of the 

155 

a ecting 24,909 low-income people.” 48 Poor people o en are asked to 

route, 

host infrastructure projects for rich people. 

at’s how it works. 

People of Courage 

Enbridge had not counted on was the multi-racial Water Protector 

What 

which had formed in Minnesota. A er all, in the land of 10,000 

alliance 

there are bound to be some people who want to protect the water. 

lakes, 

a look at the long history of non-violent civil disobedience in 

Take 

Groups like the General Assembly to Stop the Powerline fought 

Minnesota. 

a powerline across farm lands from a coal generator in the 1980s, and 

o 

organized against the expansion of a nuclear waste facility at 

Minnesotans 

Island in that same time period, losing that speci c battle, but forcing 

Prairie 

a big utility, 

Power (which owns the Prairie Island and Monticello 

power plants), into a renewable energy mandate. And then there was 

nuclear 

Honeywell Project. Led by Marv Davido , the project took aim at 


Minnesota’s largest military contractor — Honeywell. 

e project was a part 

the anti-war movement and involved non-violent civil disobedience 


on Honeywell. e company made cluster bomb units, or “globes of 

focused 

like projectiles that would spread over a large area when the globe 

BB 

tearing human beings to pieces but not harming property.” About 

impacted, 

million were dropped on Laos alone. e bombs were likely responsible 

90 

the death and maiming of many non-combatants. Marv Davido , a 

for 

activist and freedom rider in the civil rights movement, used direct 

seasoned 

and shareholder activism to pressure the company to abandon the 

action 

cluster bombs in a struggle which lasted between the Vietnam War into the

wars. “From 1982–1989, about 2200 people had been arrested at these 

next 

(St. Louis Park Historical Society) with the project nally 

protests” 

in 1991. Davido had been arrested 25 times. In short, the 

disbanding 

of non-violent civil disobedience and of direct action in Minnesota 

history 

long and deep. 

is 

individuals had already come together as citizens organizations like 

ose 

of the Headwaters, the Sierra Club, the Northern Water Alliance and 

Friends 

for Pipeline Cleanup, a group of landowners who already had 

Minnesotans 

pipes on their land and did not want them either abandoned nor 

Enbridge 

they want a new pipe. e courage of individuals like James Reents and 

did 

Johnson as landowners whose land and water would be impacted by 

David 

represented some of the decency and pluckiness of the north. 

Enbridge 

are courageous and committed people who stood o en against the 

ese 

of their neighbors who might proudly sport Minnesotans for Line 3 

ridicule 

and literature. 

placards 

years at the Public Utilities Commission, consistent tribal 

Seven 

opposition, thousands of hours of testimony and some 

government 

landowners changed the geography of the pipeline. e project 

courageous 

forced into a new corridor. On January 30, 2020, the Enbridge company 

was 

into Aitken in a big truck full of pipes, in a kind of Old Pipe New Pipe 

rolled 

show. 

e idea was to show the ne people of Aitken and beyond how their 

pipes compare to the old ones. No one wanted to talk about the “No 

new 

option; that’s what Lynn Mizner remembers. e pipe show missed 

Pipe” 

Palisade. 

anks to Lynn Mizner and the Sandy Lake band of Ojibwe’s 

to the pipeline project, there was no line going through Palisade, 

opposition 

Lynn Mizner’s farm. e nal route was proposed to be north of 

nor 

Palisade. 

story of northern Minnesota is not yet written. We are still writing. 

e 

are thousands of people who have come to northern Minnesota to 

ere 

the water. And indeed, millions of people come from the southern 

protect 

of the state, from the entire country, to enjoy the water of the Deep 

part 

at’s why they come. e best lakes in the country are here — in 

North. 

fact some of the cleanest water in the world. 

is is Giiwedinong, the place 

the north, and it does not have to be the racially, economically and 


Deep North; it can, instead by Mino Akiing, the Good Land. 

politically 

Giiwedinong. 

e Northland.

The Necessity Defense 

am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the 

I 

I cannot accept. 

things, 

— Angela Davis 

do Water Protectors face arrest and imprisonment? Portrayed as 

Why 

Water Protectors know that their actions are necessary and call on a 

reckless, 

long history of civil and human rights movements. 

e world actually thinks 

our actions are necessary, as scientists, church leaders and social 

that 

increasingly face down violent state governments as the people 

movements 

try to protect water and future generations. 

ere will be blood, and there 

will be arrests. 

ere already are. 

a legal term known as the necessity defense, “a defense that permits 

ere’s 

person to act in a criminal manner when an emergency situation, not of 

a 

person’s own creation compels the person to act in a criminal manner to 


greater harm from occurring.” Extraordinary times require 

avoid 

actions. 

extraordinary 

change is an extraordinary time; destruction of billions of animals, 

Climate 

itself, by fossil fuel interests, is an extraordinary crime. Species are going 

life 

our relatives are without water, and corporations believe they have a 

extinct, 

right to make more money. 

at’s when people face down governments for 

the rest of the planet. 

ose people, from the Society of Fearless 

to the Unistoten, the Innu and Jane Fonda, are getting 

Grandmothers, 

is movement of Water Protectors, like the 800 plus who were 

arrested. 

at Standing Rock, those arrested in the Bayou Pipeline battle, those 

arrested 

in Black Lives Matters, immigration and other actions, nds we are 

arrested 

facing serious charges and possibly brutal police and court systems. Why 

all 

this happening? at’s because the system does not work. If it worked, we 

is 

be getting arrested. Or as Ralph Nader tells me, “If the people truly 

wouldn’t 

power, there is no need for civil disobedience.” is is the conundrum: 

have 

is it that if I want clean drinking water, I am called an activist. And if a 

Why 

corporation is going to contaminate my water, that corporation 

multinational

is not a terrorist? 

at’s because the system is not working. 

the country, principled people are being charged for opposing 

Across 

Native people have years of experience in resistance. For Native 

pipelines. 

it’s not non-violent civil disobedience, it’s our future generations, 

peoples, 

land, our water, our ancestors — everything. A er all, this is what we 

our 

le and we know it. Americans seem to think by and large, they can 

have 

move on, close an eye, and nd some greener pastures. Nothing is taken 

just 

too seriously, by way too many people. 

at’s part of the illness known as 

a 

uenza. 

people are awake however. People talked about Standing Rock as a 

More 

when we awoke. e Selma Moment, is what I refer to it as. at’s 

moment 

moment when you realize who you are, what is going down, and are sure 


you will stand for your ancestors and your descendants to remember 

where 

you. 

at’s when you stand and that’s o en, in this day and age, when you 

arrested. get 

er all, well over 800 were charged at Standing Rock. Some of those 

A 

are sitting in federal prisons, and the state’s actions are becoming 

people 

punitive. Still, there’s more courage in people than in authorities. Take 

more 

case of 98-year-old Frances Crowe, in Massachusetts. She explained in 


“I care a lot about my grandchildren, and all grandchildren in the 

court, 

I had exhausted my administrative remedies when I went to the 

world. 

to put my body there to say ‘no.’” 

pipeline 

2016, Water Protectors Annette Klapstein and Emily Johnston turned 

In 

emergency shut o valve closing down the Enbridge pipelines in 


Minnesota. Most of the oil which comes into the US from the 

Clearbrook, 

sands is in an Enbridge pipe. e action was coordinated by Climate 

tar 

Direct Action activists who shut down 

ve Canadian tar sands crude 

in Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana and Washington state. A 

pipelines 

of 11 activists were charged in the four states. Facing felony charges, 

total 

sought to use the “necessity defense” during their trials, but the case 


actually dismissed in Clearwater County in October of 2018. 

was 

eir attorney Timothy Phillips wrote, “ 

eir actions were motivated by 

need to mitigate catastrophic climate change and its e ects on public 


and the natural environment…. e economic power of oil, gas, and 

health 

companies, exacerbated by corruption and the evisceration of public 

coal 

in policymaking, have blocked government action on climate 

participation

the Lands, the People Rise 

Across 

late December of 2019, I joined American actresses Jane Fonda and Sally 

In 

leaving no reasonable legal alternative for individuals seeking to 

change, 

its ongoing harms.” 

avert 

we look at “rioting bills,” we see more repression coming our way, and 

As 

also see that Enbridge, a Canadian corporation, has successfully secured 

we 

a number of concessions in Wisconsin, an American state. 

e Milwaukee 

tells the story of Wisconsin’s regulatory agencies being swept aside 

Journal 

Enbridge. “ is should be where state government comes in to ensure 

for 

the pipelines are safe and appropriately regulated. Instead, Enbridge 

that 

lobbied the Wisconsin Legislature in 2015 to quietly adjust a 

successfully 

law so that private property adjacent to the rm’s 80-foot easement can 

state 

more easily condemned under eminent domain — a move that opens the 

be 

to expanding the easement’s width through the state, with or without 

door 

owners’ consent.” A landowner group known as 80 Feet Is Enough 

property 

challenging Enbridge’s eminent domain. 

is 

also secured legislation which bars counties from seeking 

Enbridge 

to protect farm land from oil spills. As the Sentinel reports, “An 

insurance 

by Dane County to require Enbridge to carry $25 million in 

attempt 

to clean up spills was thwarted a er the Legislature added a lastminute 

insurance 

provision in the state budget, also stripped counties’ ability to 

such insurance. Dane County Supervisor Patrick Miles called the 

demand 

“an act of political cowardice.” at’s how they roll. Sometimes I 

move 

if we said, Enbridge, a Saudi corporation, if people might be more 

wonder 

about the threat to our democracy. 

concerned 

in Washington DC. For the tenth straight week, Fonda had been 

Field 

Fire Drill Fridays to push American political leadership to address 

leading 

change. Oscar and Emmy award winning actress Sally Fields got 

climate 

“I am a mother, I am a grandmother,” Field said. “ e time is now. 

arrested. 

cannot sit back in our comfort zones, on our couches, and wonder, 

We 

can we do?’” 

‘What 

as climate change begins to transform our world, billions feel the 

Indeed, 

of drought, oods, hurricanes and forest res. e world is on 

devastation 

re. 

like your world is on re, because it is,” Greta 

“Act 

unberg tells us, as

of students walk out of school and challenge the establishment at 

millions 

international climate meetings in Spain. “We are unstoppable, another 


is possible,” is what the youth delegation said as they stormed the 

world 

at the world conference on climate change, or . e governments 

stage 

failing their people and the land upon which they live. Corporate 

are 

have whispered in the ears of too many governments, and as the 

interests 

Nations has stated, this is the time to make the changes; yet 

United 

forums continue to fail to take political action. It is almost as if 

international 

are seen as gods, instead of as creations of humans; certainly 

governments 

is a crisis in democracies. at’s the necessity. 


don’t take this arrest stu lightly. Most of us actually don’t want to get 

People 

Not on the “To Do” list. America was born from this, however. e 

arrested. 

long history of civil disobedience includes the Boston Tea Party, 

country’s 

women’s su rage movement, the civil rights movement, the anti-war 


and now the Water Protector and environmental movements. 

movement, 

disobedience has made this country a much better place. Without it most 

Civil 

us wouldn’t have the right to vote. 


part of what this is about. We all live in the same world, and most 

at’s 

in fact, most people, do not want to see our Mother Earth, or 

Americans, 

destroyed and want to move from fossil fuels. at’s in the most 

planet, 

studies out there. But, it doesn’t matter how many studies; it really 

recent 

matters if you can drink the water and breathe the air. e reality is that 

just 

time for fossil fuel mega projects is over, it is long past. It is time for a 


and regenerative life-giving economy. To get there, we have to 

restorative 

from fossil fuels, reforest, plant and go organic, move to renewable 

move 

and get more local. We have to live more lightly. at’s the world we 

energy 

all live and breathe in.

lands and resources to which they apply. 

traditional 

Indigenous Peoples Policy 49 

—Enbridge 

Dirty Secrets: 

Whispering 

and That Indigenous 

Enbridge 

Peoples Policy 

commit to working with Indigenous communities in a manner that 

We 

and respects those legal and constitutional rights and the 

recognizes 

has a long history with Indigenous Peoples, indeed. To give them 

Enbridge 

there’s a semblance of civility; that’s an Indigenous Peoples Policy. It 

credit, 

the company appear to be respectful, listening and collaborative. It’s 

makes 

than shooting Native people, for sure. Enbridge even has liaisons with 

better 

Peoples. We call them Indian Whisperers. Filmmaker Keri Pickett 

Indigenous 

a short lm on it, called Desperately Seeking Indian Whisperer. 50 

did 

problem is the relationship. Enbridge is a multinational Canadian 

e 

interested in pro ts. It’s not really interested in the well-being of 

corporation 

Peoples. Enbridge is interested in Enbridge. It’s also a structural 

Indigenous 

that’s the problem of Wiindigoo economics. “Sitting down and 

problem; 

with the Canadian government is like making small talk with a 

talking 

You can make as much small talk as you want, but in the end you 

cannibal. 

exactly what he’s thinking,” a NuChalnuth Chief said to me around 

know 

He could have been talking about Enbridge. 

1990. 

It’s the same problem here. 

e company is interested in a relationship 

based on consuming the lifeblood of a community. 

at’s really a problem in 

relationship, sort of like dating a vampire. It turns out, having a 

a 

policy” is also the law in Canada — at least, to be clear, both 

“consultation 

Northern Gateway Pipeline and the TransMountain pipelines were 


by the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal, based on a lack of 

rejected 

with Indigenous Peoples. In other words, to get a pipeline 

consultation 

moving in Canada, you have to make it look like the Native people 

project

approve. 51 

at’s why you get a policy like that in place if you’re a big pipeline 

Adopt a policy so that it looks like you really care about the wellbeing 

company. 

of communities. And, make sure that you provide some paltry support to 

tribal community which is in deep crisis. Enbridge talks about good 

a 

with Indigenous Peoples in each report and update, o en using 

relationships 

partners to parlay with other Native people, writing letters and such to 


Nations which have no interest in the parlay. One of these letters was 


to Minnesota and Wisconsin Native Nations in 2019: “We have 

circulated 

support for the project from our communities along the route, 

strong 

Indigenous communities. Since the project began in 2014, we have 

including 

the largest engagement program in our history, including 

undertaken 

with 150 Indigenous communities from as far away as 300 

engaging 

from the right of way.” at’s kind and generous of the 

kilometres 

one would think. 

corporation, 

Canada has been particularly interested in making things look 

Basically, 

good with the Native people, so long as the Native people go along. 

at’s 

way it works. It’s an abusive relationship to say the least, and it’s long 


and complicated, more so each year. (In the US, it’s quite a bit 

standing 

erent, particularly with the Trump Administration, which has only 

di 

to override Native Nations.) Tragically, pipeline projects are not a 

sought 

for xing colonialism; in fact, they worsen it, creating a clientele 

panacea 

in the Indigenous Nations, and ultimately contaminating the life of 

class 

water and land. Poverty, and the old tactic of starving people to 

nations, 

agreements, continues today in the world of Enbridge. at’s to say, 

secure 

of the First Nations are today more insecure in terms of food, life and 

most 

than we were 200 years ago; that’s what colonialism does to nations. 

future 

to x that, rather than decolonize and liberate ourselves and become 

And, 

some First Nation representatives (along with Canada and the 

self-reliant, 

seek to secure some crumbs from the table of the pipeline companies. 

US) 

of those crumbs are some big cookies. Enbridge (and every other 

Some 

talks about community partners and equity positions in 

corporation) 

projects. (See separate section ere Can Only Be One.) To get 

pipeline 

Line 3 ran through two “Indian Whisperers” from Enbridge: RJ 

there, 

and Cindy Ellis, both intended to speak nicely to tribal 

Brankaw 

and help Enbridge move ahead. Enbridge had underestimated 

governments 

Anishinaabe commitment to land and water. en in 2019, the company 


Earth 

White 

White Earth Anishinaabeg have opposed Enbridge’s Line 3 since day 

e 

White Earth’s former secretary treasurer Robert Durant as the latest 

hired 

liaison for Enbridge. Durant actually ran for tribal chair with 

tribal 

backing, but those parlays did not result in the tribe backing 

Enbridge’s 

from opposing Line 3. In fact, it’s fair to say that the tribe has dug in 

down 

more. 

follows other tribal liaisons, aka Indian Whisperers, who had 

Durant 

success in discussions with tribes. He also followed some prominent 

limited 

Indigenous political leaders, like Phil Fontaine (he le as Grand 

Canadian 

of the Assembly of First Nations and went to work for TransCanada), 

Chief 

decided to dine with the Wiindigoos. Fontaine’s Indian whispering did 

who 

get the Energy East Pipeline approved, either. 

not 

the old days, we would call them traitors or scouts. In the least, 

In 

and more recently the Trudeau administration in its 

Enbridge, 

Pipeline Project, have clearly used Indigenous Peoples to gain 

Reconciliation 

social legitimacy for egregious projects. Enbridge tells us, 

Gateway also represented an unprecedented partnership with 

Northern 

people. e 31 Indigenous communities who had a one- 

Indigenous 

ownership in Northern Gateway stood to realize $2 billion in 

third 

ts to their communities and would have played an important 

bene 

role in the project. In advancing Northern Gateway, we 

stewardship 

on a process that saw the Federal Government approve the 

relied 

project. 

e Federal Court of Appeal then found that the Federal 

failed to properly consult Indigenous communities, but 

Government 

rmed our engagement on the project. 52 

a 

that translates in the Line 3 Project is both a promise of spending 

How 

million in Aboriginal communities in the US, employing Native people 

$100 

dividing, to the best the company can, the nations. And, then there’s all 

and 

negotiations. It’s all good until a tribe says no. 

these 

one. 

at’s because White Earth, the largest Ojibwe tribe in Minnesota, has 

members and values wild rice more than oil. Aside from expending 

20,000 

of thousands of hours and dollars, witnessing hundreds of tribal 

hundreds 

members testify, at great expense, at ongoing Enbridge hearings, Enbridge

to weasel its way into White Earth via Matt Gordon, of Gordon 

decided 

who continues to pro t from Enbridge’s largesse. 

Construction, 

doesn’t mean that either the White Earth Tribal Council, or the 

at 

like Enbridge. So, it was a surprise to the tribe when Enbridge 

Anishinaabeg, 

opened an o 

ce on the reservation, in downtown Mahnomen, and even 

of a surprise when Enbridge decided to hold some trainings on the 

more 

e trainings were an expedited archeological class intended to 

reservation. 

tribal members for eldwork paid for by Enbridge. 

certify 

tribe responded, and on October 8, 2019, White Earth tribal legal 

e 

and police issued a cease-and-desist order against Enbridge for 

counsel 

an illegal training within the borders of the White Earth 

conducting 

Tribal resolutions have barred Enbridge from conducting 

Reservation. 

on the northwestern Minnesota reservation without approval of the 

business 

Historic Preservation O cer and tribal o cials. 

Tribal 

had hoped for a swi archeological assessment. 

Enbridge 

at would make 

tidy. To accommodate that review, a part of the environmental 

things 

Enbridge needs to have eld archeologists and a cultural 

requirements, 

Between October 7 and October 11, Enbridge undertook a “Para 

review. 

Certi cation Training for Cultural Monitors” in Mahnomen, 

Archeology 

which would create that eld team. 

at was in direct violation of tribal 

(Making sure that some of that Enbridge good-will money is 

regulations. 

in the Native community, a number of consulting rms have been 

spent 

created to absorb the largesse.) 

e “Para Archeology Certi cation” was 

by Enbridge and 7 Bison Cultural Consulting, without tribal 

conducted 

approval. 

October 8, tribal attorney Veronica Newcomer issued a cease-anddesist 

On 

letter to Enbridge, noting that the White Earth Nation had adopted 

the White Earth Nation Research Code and had a 

rmed that any 

activities would have to be approved by the White Earth Tribal 

archeological 

Preservation O cer. “You are hereby ordered to cease-and-desist 

Historic 

Enbridge Tribal Cultural Monitor and Survey Technician Training on or 


the White Earth reservation,” Newcomer wrote in the formal letter 

around 

to Enbridge’s attorneys. 

e training, however, continued, and was 

and those quickly certi ed individuals are ready for more work 

completed, 

the eld for the corporation. 

in

River Bad 

is enough. Our waterways are the lifeblood of the tribe. 

Enough 

ey 

our ancestors and our past and they represent all of our hopes 

represent 

dreams for the future. We are done playing games in dealing with this 

and 

perpetual dance with danger. 

—Mike Wiggins, Tribal Chair, Bad River Reservation 53 

came the Bad River lawsuit. To be clear, the Bad River Reservation is 

en 

on the south shore of Lake Superior. At the center of the reservation 

located 

the Kakagan Sloughs, a unique, wealthy-with-wild-rice ecosystem which 

lies 

much food and life to the Anishinaabeg. e Sloughs need clean 

provides 

water. 

e Bad River Ojibwe have successfully opposed two mining projects 

came into their territory — the White Pine Mine (that’s a mining 

which 

in northern Michigan which sought to move sulfuric acid across the 

project 

reservation) and the Gogebic, or 

Mine, a seven-year battle about a 

mine located upstream from the reservation and entirely within the 

taconite 

of the Bad River. 

watershed 

er three years of negotiations and study time with Enbridge, Bad River 

A 

Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline. at’s the pipeline which is fed by Line 3. 

rejected 

pipeline, at 60 years old, like most of Enbridge’s lines, is in a state of 

at 

A er all, that’s the pipe that burst in Kalamazoo in 2010 

deterioration. 

a million gallons of oil. Bad River, with a commitment to protecting 

spilling 

watershed, discussed the options with Enbridge for several years and 


rejected the company’s request to continue operating the aging pipeline 


the Bad River Reservation. 

within 

Bad River Band of Lake Superior of 2019 claiming that Enbridge’s Line 

e 

pipeline is “a grave public nuisance” that poses an ever-worsening oil spill 

5 

to the tribe’s northern Wisconsin reservation. e band noted that 11 

threat 

the 15 easements crossing the reservation had expired in 2013 and that 


was operating without an easement. 54,55 

Enbridge 

er the Federal Court ling, Enbridge stated that it would work with the 

A 

and respect tribal sovereignty. Subsequently, meetings outside of 

tribe 

towns, where the pipeline could possibly nd a new home, were 

reservation 

with opposition and hostility, particularly in the city of Mellen, 

met 

ere, the company was initially told not to return, as the 

Wisconsin. 

citizens of Mellen were opposed to the pipeline. Enbridge returned with a

ailout for the ailing town, and secured a right of way and some 

nancial 

However, Enbridge is more interested in keeping its line on the 

acreage. 

Hence, rather than respect tribal sovereignty and keep with a 

reservation. 

lauded Indigenous Peoples Policy, Enbridge responded by asking the 

much 

to force the tribe to comply with a 1992 agreement that the company 

courts 

requires the tribe to allow Line 5 to stay in operation until 2043 

contends 

any reservation land in which the band has an interest” and requires the 

“on 

“to provide assistance in obtaining easements across any non-band- 

tribe 

owned land as well.” 56 

e agreement “certainly did not and does not permit 

the band to 

le this litigation seeking to remove the Line from the 

reservation prior to 2043,” the company argued. 57 

Bad River Band claimed in its counter-complaint that Enbridge is now 

e 

operating the pipeline across the tribe’s Bad River Reservation, as 

illegally 

easements have indeed expired. 

e tribe alleged that Enbridge sends as 

as 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas through Line 5 across the 

much 

reservation. 

increasing climate change impacts, the region is at risk for more 

With 

weather and ooding as the planet warms. Indeed, huge storms 

extreme

laid bare large segments of the pipeline on the Bad River Reservation. 

have 

Bad River is a force unto itself and, not surprisingly, meanders wherever 

e 

it wants. 

at’s dangerous for pipelines. 

climate projections show a modest increase in precipitation across 

While 

of the state, they also include an increase in the magnitude and 

most 

of intense rainfall. More heavy downpours would increase the 

frequency 

of ooding, which can damage or destroy habitats both in and 

likelihood 

of oodplains, essentially reestablishing oodplain boundaries. Soil 

outside 

the presence or absence of frost on the ground and land use 

conditions, 

ect the degree to which rainfall runs o or is absorbed into the soil, 

a 

the extent of ooding. 

determining 

er an intense rainfall event, streams and rivers o en ood, saturating 

A 

in the oodplain. Trees that grow in these areas, such as river-bottom 

soils 

trees, including river birch and ash, cannot tolerate the saturated 

hardwood 

that come with prolonged ooding, and invasive plants such as reed 

soils 

grass grow in their place. Flooding also adds sediment, which covers 

canary 

tree seedlings that cannot compete with the hardy canary grass. 

struggling 

are structural problems for pipelines. Take the Yellowstone River in 

Rivers 

for example, where exposed pipelines ruptured, leaking a total of 

Montana, 

93,000 gallons of oil. 58 Citing seven similar ruptures across the 

about 

in the past three years, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety 

country 

the federal regulator responsible for the safe operation of 

Administration, 

country’s energy pipelines, issued an advisory bulletin 59 to pipeline 


in early 2019 urging them to enact various safeguards. Enbridge has 

owners 

put those safeguards into place on Bad River. 

not 

Bad River Band’s suit could force the shutdown of the entire pipeline, 

e 

the tribe’s sovereign immunity limits any recovery of damages by 

but 

Enbridge to $800,000, and “that amount would be wholly insu 

cient to 

the substantial harm that Enbridge Energy would su er if it were 

remedy 

to remove Line 5 from the Reservation and reroute it,” Enbridge 

required 

attorneys state. 60 

Kakagan Sloughs wild rice harvest was lower in 2019, largely due to 

e 

rains. “No amount of compensation is worth risking Wenji- 

torrential 

— an Ojibwe word that literally means “From where we get 

Bimaadiziyaang 

It’s time to end the imminent threat the company is presenting to our 

life.” 

people, our rivers, and Gichi-Gami (Lake Superior),” Chair Mike Wiggins Jr.

61 Bad River turned down a $24 million o er from Enbridge in October 

said. 62 It appears that if a tribe takes money (i.e., says yes in consultation) 

2019. 

will bestow gi s. If “consultation” means “no,” Enbridge will sue 

Enbridge 

tribe. the 

Consultation is not the same as consent. 

e United Nations Declaration 

Indigenous Peoples, signed by the US and Canada, calls for “free, prior 

on 

informed consent.” Simply stated, “no” means “no.” Consent is the 

and 

of this millennium. 

standard 

May of 2020, citizens and environmental groups challenged Enbridge’s 

In 

Line 5 expansion at the Public Service Company of Wisconsin. 

e coalition 

the application for a permit for a foreign corporation, Enbridge, 

challenged 

use the Wisconsin Public Service Commission’s power to condemn and 

to 

rights and easements to privately owned citizen lands in Ashland 

acquire 

Iron Counties of Wisconsin for their new Enbridge Line 5 corridor 

and 

through the watershed of the Bad River.

Violence, 

Sexual 

Fuels and Enbridge 

Fossil 

Enbridge 

Helping 

Allen was in St. Paul to help Enbridge. Enbridge was pushing for 

Mike 

“On or about July 15, 2013,” according to Court records 

Michael Trent Allen, the defendant herein, called the undercover o 

cer 

response to her advertisement and asked to schedule an 

in 

At the defendant’s request, the o cer explained the 

appointment. 

costs, the amount of time, and the numbers of available 

various 

At approximately 8 p.m., the defendant arrived at the motel, 

women.… 

the o cer again, and went to her room. e defendant agreed to 

called 

$200.00 in exchange for sexual intercourse with two women for one 

pay 

hour while wearing a condom. 

e defendant placed the cash on the 

and began to undress. e undercover o cer gave a 

counter 

bust signal, whereupon other o cers entered the room 

predetermined 

and placed the defendant under arrest. 63 

County charged Mike Allen with agreeing to hire to engage in 

Ramsey 

in a public place. Mike Allen is a Canadian and, at that time, an 

prostitution 

an elected member of the Alberta Legislature. Allen represented Fort 

, 

Bu alo, the Tar Sands Capital of the Petro State of 

McMurray-Wood 

Canada. Legal documents say Allen contacted an undercover o 

cer posing 

a prostitute on July 15, took a limo to her address and agreed to pay $200 

as 

sex. for 

at’s the way it goes in Fort McMurray. Sex tra 

cking, down to the size 

six-inch leopard pump shoe le at my hotel, one time when I was visiting 

10, 

area. at was a er the Enbridge folks checked out. I o en think of Fort 


as Bidzen, the small town next to the Auschwitz Concentration 

McMurray 

e tars sands are the Ecological Auschwitz. Always a good time in 

Camp. 

Fort McMurray, just like it was in Bidzen. Just let those trains go on by.

and Missing and 

Alberta 

Indigenous Women 

Murdered 

last big tar sands pipeline, the Alberta Clipper, which allowed Enbridge to 

its 

800,000 barrels a day of oil across the waters and land of northern 

ship 

Minnesota. 

at pipe was laid up with those other Enbridge pipelines, the 

old ones. 

e Minnesota Public Utilities Commission would approve that 

too, no problem. 

pipeline 

just how it’s done. Business as Usual. Oil, sex, corruption and male 

at’s 

privilege. Not this time. Not anymore. Not ever. 

Fort McMurray, “the phone book features 10 pages of escorts, including 

In 

lovers promising cut-rate service within 20 minutes,” 64 that’s the 

low-cost 

I didn’t actually notice that on my visit; what I noticed was the size 10 

word. 

pump with six-inch heels. Sort of surreal. But that’s what they do in 

leopard 

Fort McMurray, just ask 

Anderson. 

With almost 1,200 missing and murdered Indigenous women ( 

) in 

searching for a way to feel safe is a daily, and o en elusive, reality 

Canada, 

many Indigenous women. In response to activist demands, the Canadian 

for 

government launched a national inquiry. 

e nal report on the inquiry was 

in 2019 — and it was damning. 

released 

to be fair, the Canadian oil elds is not the only place to get murdered. 

Just 

recent report found that Canadian mining corporations operating 

A 

in Latin America are targeting Indigenous activists. e Canada 

primarily 

report found incidents involving 28 Canadian companies, including 

Brand 

deaths, 30 of which were classi ed as targeted. e report also found 403 

44 

of which 363 occurred during protests. e report spanned 13 

injuries, 65 Polymet is a Canadian corporation. So is Enbridge. Canada’s 

countries. 

rights record is not what it touts. Either at home or down south. I 

human 

we need a wall to the north. 

swear 

Brunner, former program specialist for the National Indigenous 

Lisa 

Resource Center, argued that extractive industries “treat Mother 

Women’s 

Earth like they treat women.… 

ey think they can own us, buy us, sell us, 

us, rent us, poison us, rape us, destroy us, use us as entertainment, and 

trade 

us.” According to a 2016 National Institute of Justice Report, 56% of 

kill 

women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime, and 

Indigenous 

were unable to receive any type of victim services. 66 

38%

doesn’t do so well in the protection of Native women. We can 

Minnesota 

stick up our noses at states like South Dakota and North Dakota, where 

all 

governors can get elected to o 

ce having been charged with raping an 

woman (former governor William Janklow was disbarred from 

Indian 

Tribal Court for the rape of Jancita Eagle Deer), and yet Savana 

Rosebud 

body is found in the Red River, brutally murdered in North 

Greywind’s 

one of many. At least Minnesota isn’t the Dakotas. 

Dakota, 

it is, and it’s about to get worse, if Enbridge and the Public Utilities 

Well, 

of Minnesota get their way. e Urban Indian Health Institute 

Commission 

5,712 cases of murdered or missing Indigenous women or girls in 

recorded 

only 116 of which were logged in a Department of Justice database. 

2016, 

the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Urban Indian 

Citing 

Institute said murder is the third-leading cause of death among 

Health 

Indian and Alaskan Native women, 67 who are murdered at a rate 

American 

times the national average. With a slow response time and general 

10 

on the part of law enforcement to pursue cases, these women’s 

reluctance 

too o en remain unreported and overlooked. 68 

deaths 

ough several bills related to 

have come before the US Senate and 

to date none of them have received the president’s signature, due 

legislature, 

“shameless political bickering.” 69 However, the states are stepping up, and 

to 

date, seven states have passed legislation that sets aside funds for a task 

to 

or specialist. 

force 

has the ninth-most murdered or missing Indigenous women or 

Minnesota 

cases, the institute said in a report held up by Rep. Mary Kunesh- 

girls 

Podein, 

-New Brighton, at the hearings about her proposed bills. 

Kunesh-Podein introduced two bills — 

111 and SF 2711 — that would 

a task force to examine the causes of that violence, determine ways 

establish 

collect data on it and address how to prevent the violence and lessen the 

to 

it causes. 70 Mary Kunesh-Podein is from the Standing Rock Lakota. 

damage 

hundred years we’ve been waiting for this,” said Mysti Babineau, a 

“Five 

Lake Nation member who said she was raped for the rst time when she 

Red 

nine years old, watched her grandmother’s murder at 12 and, at 20, 

was 

a kidnapping. “My sisters, my people, have gone missing since 

escaped 

settlers set (foot) on Turtle Island. It’s time for justice. It’s time for 

European 

71 healing.” 

Dakota passed similar legislation ahead of Minnesota. North 

North

Thousand Miles of Man Camps 

A 

encampments built to house extraction workers from around the 

Temporary 

legislation, introduced by rst year North Dakota Representative 

Dakota’s 

Anna Bu alo, creates a database to track missing and murdered 

Ruth 

not just Native people. 72 Representative Bu alo is Mandan and 

persons, 

Hidatsa. 

right, North Dakota did it rst. No time like the present to catch up. 

at’s 

how about actually addressing the problem instead of just the outcome? 

But, 

even better. In the meantime, the national bill, the Violence Against 

at’s 

Act, or , was reauthorized by the US House of Representatives 

Women 

April 2019. One notable Democrat voted against the bill: Minnesota’s own 

in 

Peterson. Apparently he was more concerned about gun rights than 

Collin 

the protection of women. 73 

and the world — otherwise known as “man camps” because they 

country 

men almost exclusively — are known to be dangerous places for 

house 

With this extreme concentration of men, money and isolation 

women. 

signi cantly increased levels of sexualized violence. e combination 

comes 

patriarchal and colonial attitudes and the rural locations (i.e., near 


communities) of the camps means that these man camps are 

Indigenous 

dangerous for Indigenous women. Indeed, the Canadian federal 

particularly 

report noted that man camps are “hot beds of violence,” and 

inquiry 

called on industry and government to address this problem. 74 

it 

always the same with boom towns and oil though. is is known. A 

It’s 

thousand miles of Man Camps. 

ink of it that way. Maybe just for a 

A pipeline looks like a thousand miles of man camps. Straight out 

moment. 

Fort McMurray. It looks like that to the predator, and it looks like that to the 


It’s daunting. 

prey. 

are an estimated 30,000 men living in 109 man camps within 50 

ere 

kilometers of Fort McMurray. 75 

ey do shi s of about 10 weeks and then 

turned loose for a bit. Sometimes they blow their money in Fort 

get 

and sometimes they go home. e Fort McMurray-Wood 

McMurray, 

alo City Council recently voted in favor of a ban on man camps within a 

Bu 

kilometer radius of Fort McMurray. But, just to be clear, it’s not because 

75 

concerned about the women — it’s about economics. 76 

they’re 

not just the man camps, the consistently actualized violence against 

It’s

women that occurs at the hands of the fossil fuels industry, but it’s 

Native 

the metaphor. 

also 

“Let me shove this pipeline down your throat.” 

at’s basically what the 

and Minnesota Public Utilities Commission just said to Native 

governments 

with the approval of the permits for Enbridge’s Line 3. at’s what 

people, 

million worth of lobbying will buy you in Minnesota. e rape of the 

$11 

and the rape of Native women. How much more graphic, than “let me 

north 

this down your throat” do I have to be. 

shove 

is consent. Consent is about sex and consent is about pipelines 

Consent 

megaprojects. Now, in the old days, the company men and their 

and 

used to just rape and pillage. at was how it went. Not 

governments 

to be those days now. 

supposed 

fact, the Trans Mountain Pipeline in Canada was, brie y, stopped dead 

In 

its tracks in 2019 because the company and the Canadian government 

in 

not engaged in consultation with First Nations. 77 e standard for 

had 

is pretty low in Canada, frankly, but the government and pipeline 

consent 

couldn’t even meet that. Imagine if the international standard of 

company 

the United Nations was applied: free, prior and informed consent. 

at 

not coerced consent and not rape. 

means 

Mother Earth is still rape. Without getting too tangential, there’s an 

Raping 

legal theory that was just applied in an appalling case in Hawaii 

emergent 

the next phallic telescope on Mauna Kea — . e judge in this 

regarding 

case created a new, unprecedented legal 

ction, which they call “the 

degradation principle.” 

e basic argument is that the National 

Policy Act protection does not apply because the 

Environmental 

has already been degraded. 78 Sort of like saying you can’t rape 

environment 

wife. Or maybe, if a woman has been gang raped, it’s ok to rape her 

your 

again? 

a task force to examine the causes of that violence, ways to 

Kunesh-Podein’s 

data on it, and how to prevent it and lessen the damage it causes. I’m all 

collect 

about preventing the next predators and the next 

s from Alberta.

There Can Only Be One 

There can only be one. 

at’s the story of Highlander, the great movie series 

Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery. Not as sexy for sure, but it’s 

with 

much the story of pipelines. ere can only be one. is is a story about 

pretty 

for the oil industry, things we all use, but we don’t see. 


isn’t sexy like architecture, Trump Tower, the Sydney Opera 

Infrastructure 

and all. It’s boring, but it’s the stu that makes a lot of the world we’ve 

House 

run. We don’t usually pay much attention to this boring stu , so it 

created 

get out of hand. 

can 

the problem at hand. Billions of dollars of new oil infrastructure that 

at’s 

don’t need is being proposed by Canadian and American corporations. 

we 

too many pipelines for oil companies and not enough pipelines for 

Basically, 

But more than that, the Canadian corporations vying to get the tar 

people. 

to some market — any market — either China or the Gulf of Mexico, 

sands 

won’t all make it. 

ere simply isn’t going to be the tar sands production to 

this to work out. Hence, there can only be one. 

allow 

day I found myself in Blackfeet or Pikani Territory, Calgary. 

One 

at is, at 

Enbridge shareholders meeting, right outside in downtown Calgary, on 


8, 2019. at day there was a warm wind blowing into Calgary, pleasant 

May 

spring, a breeze and fresh. 

e next day it was expected to be warm, the rest 

the week warmer. From my calculations, all of this weather would be in 


in about three days. at’s how long the blizzard took to get from 

Minnesota 

Calgary to Minnesota. 

at’s also about how long it will take a barrel of oil 

get to Minnesota from Alberta, the Houston of the North. e May 8, 

to 

blizzard set a record in Minnesota for the largest snowfall in May, 79 

2019, 

did the same in Calgary three days earlier. With climate change, that’s a 

and 

it will be cold, it will be hot, and it will be unpredictable. 

certain; 

I stood with my friend Charlotte Yellowhorn McCleod. We are a 

ere 

vintage of plucky women, I’ll say that. I have arranged to meet 

cool 

near the Enbridge shareholders meeting. I see her walking 

Charlotte 

on the street, holding a banner. I see that she’s talking to a police 

tentatively

Pipelines 

Overbuilding 

here’s the scenario: Simply stated, 

So, 

o 

cer. And, of course, I react by running full throttle down the street in a 

jingle dress, just to make sure she’s alright. e Calgary police o cer is a 

red 

soul and is explaining to, now the both of us, that we can stand 

gentle 

we want and that in fact, despite how it looks, Enbridge does not 

anywhere 

the street. 

own 

the street, about 30 tar sands workers were screaming “Build that 

Across 

We crossed the street with the police o cer and stood on the island 

Pipe.” 

them. A er all, we’d just been told that Enbridge did not own the island 

with 

the street. ey screamed loud and we just stood there with our signs 

nor 

that said Water is Life, and our skirts and jingle dresses. 

at’s really all we 

and they screamed and screamed. And, then they went away. We just 

did, 

there. e fact is that we are not their problem. e fact is that Canada 

stood 

has no good plan; the plan is mine, dig and colonize. 

at’s not a plan, that’s 

insanity. 

in the end it turns into economics. ere’s two basic realities. e rst 

And, 

that there are a set of Canadian corporations and the Canadian 

is 

who just want a pipeline, any pipeline to get their oil to market. 

government 

er all, there’s been a 10% drop in tar sands production, and that’s 

A 

to a loss in investment (see separate section When the Party’s 

attributed 

and a lack of pipeline capacity. Second, renewable energy is kicking 

Over) 

in North America. Well, everywhere but Calgary. 

ass 

nancial analysts have noted that 

Trump and Justin Trudeau are overbuilding pipeline capacity by a 

Donald 

large margin. e Toronto Globe and Mail noted Canada is 

pretty 

the verge of moving from a pipeline shortage to a pipeline surplus.… 

on 

capacity of the projects approved by the federal government (Trans 

e 

Enbridge Line 3 and Keystone XL) and under review 

Mountain, 

East) is 2.9 million barrel per day (bpd). ese projects would 

(Energy 

Canadian export pipeline capacity to 7.1 million bpd. If current 

expand 

capacity is included, total capacity would be almost 7.9 million bpd. 

rail 

suggests that there will be a surplus pipeline capacity of 2.4 million 

Data 

by 2025. 80 at projection was in 2017. en the bloodletting began and 

bpd 

some pipeline projects perished. Two of the proposals died on the vine —

Expensive Addiction — Why This Really Doesn’t 

An 

Part 17 

Work, 

National Energy Board did not approve them, but only a er 

Canada’s 

of people stood up and a lot of math was done. Besides that, it 

thousands 

that the Canadian water-rich provinces of the east, and cities like 

seemed 

had no interest in a big tar sands pipeline. 

Montreal, 

Canada’s Energy East and Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline 

Trans 

on the vine of Canadian regulations. at was unfortunate for both 

withered 

Trans Canada (now TC Energy, proponent of the 

) and Enbridge, who 

abandoned plans to build the Sandpiper in 2016, illustrating that 

also 

a pipeline project is a tremendously risky dream. 

building 

le three pipelines: the Keystone, TransMountain and Line 3, and it 

at 

out that only one of those projects is going to be nancially viable — 

turns 

that’s largely because of divestment in the tar sands. 

is is a big concern to 

the pipeline executives and a challenge for Line 3 in terms of time. In 

all 

words, whoever gets a pipe built rst is probably the only one who will 


have a viable pipeline. 

ere can only be one. 

Even Enbridge’s 

Al Monaco is a bit worried, which is why the 

makes lots of pronouncements about a promising future. Monaco, 

company 

should be worried. e International Energy Agency’s ( ) 

however, 

2016 forecast shows little oil sands production growth a er 2020 

November 

to climate change policies and the high costs of Canadian oil 

due 

production, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail. 81 

e Canadian petrostate 

Alberta has lost some 20,000 jobs, the most in any industry. 

at’s why 

guys were screaming outside of the Enbridge shareholders meeting; they 

those 

no jobs. had 

sands is some expensive stu . Toxic as can be, it’s also super expensive to 

Tar 

at’s because it’s extreme extraction, the bottom of the barrel. 

produce. 

And then there’s this: tar sands oil is at $85 a barrel to extract.82 

at’s not 

getting it to the pump or to the US; that’s just the costs of extreme 

even 

Sort of like a crack deal. 

extraction. 

basics are this, it’s some costly stu , and you gotta get it out of the 

e 

and then to market. e tar sands is land-locked. And it’s hard to get 

ground 

of the ground and turn into something you can put in a pipe. Here’s the 

out 

tar sands (also known as oil sands) is a low quality form of oil that 

basics:

of bitumen mixed with sand, clay and water. It is either strip mined 

consists 

produced by injecting high pressure steam into the ground to melt the 

or 

bitumen and get it to ow to the surface. 

at’s a lot of money and energy. 

means making this happen requires a lot of Canadian subsidies. In 

at 

words, the federal and provincial governments pour billions into these 


and then, of course, the Native people pay for it. In fact, 

industries, 

they make it look like Native people are bene tting through 

sometimes, 

subsidies, etc., but in the end, it’s all subsidies to Canadian oil 

employment 

Of course things changed for oil with the -19 pandemic. By 

sands. 

2020, the price of Canadian oil had fallen further in the markets, 

March 

it actually cost more to buy a Barrel of Monkeys (that’s a game) than a 

until 

barrel of oil. Western Canadian Select ( 

) was selling for $6.45 US a 

down considerably from the $36.82 US a barrel in January. As the 

barrel, 

“To put that into perspective, a barrel of Alberta oil in March 

notes, 

was worth $9.08 Cdn, which is less than a Barrel of Monkeys Game, a 

2020 

of Petrelli Extra Virgin Olive Oil or a 30-gram tube of Polysporin, each 

litre 

at London Drugs.” 83 

$9.99 

falling prices could have encouraged us to abandon this 

ese 

disastrous search for more and more sources of oil. But of 

environmentally 

Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau decided instead to bailout the 

course 

Why not just give them more money? In late March 2020, a letter 

industry. 

by Canadian academics and institutions implored Trudeau to 

signed 

his plan to bailout the oil and gas industry to the tune of $15 

abandon 

e letter notes that “the proposed bailout package has been 

billion. 

negotiated secretly with the United Conservative Party ( 

) government of 

and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers ( ), 

Alberta 

have a right to be concerned that its contents may represent only 

Canadians 

a narrow set of perspectives and interests.” 

ey also urge “the government 

channel public revenues both to the immediate health crisis, and toward 

to 

planning that will provide long-term bene ts for Canadian 

economic 

workers and families, our ecosystems and the climate.” 84 

e bailout went 

as planned. 

ahead 

no di erent in the US. Fossil fuel industries receive billions in subsidies, 

It’s 

renewable energy, the stu that we can live with, literally has received 

while 

amounts. 

paltry

Surviving Pipelines: Keystone XL Pipeline 


pipeline project (actually with a couple of parts) has been proposed 

is 

since 2008, originally by TransCanada, with its partner Conoco Oil. 

e 

project met with sti resistance from the Lakota Nation, and 

pipeline 

Nebraska ranchers, who rankled at the idea of not only more 

particularly 

fuels, but also the idea that their American private property would be 

fossil 

by eminent domain. And the bene ciary of that taking would be a 

taken 

Canadian multinational. Lawsuits were 

led in the South Dakota and 

courts. 85 Despite this, the pipeline has been built in pieces, yet is 

Nebraska 

actualized in full capacity. 

not 

2015, a er a huge amount of public pressure, President Obama denied 

In 

cross border permits for the pipeline. 86 e Keystone became an 

essential 

issue, and Trump promised to approve the project if elected. In 

election 

of 2017, Trump signed a presidential memorandum, clearing the 

January 

for the federal government to reconsider Keystone XL. Trump also 

way 

that the United States intended to renegotiate the terms of the 

suggested 

87 He also signed an order requiring American pipelines to be built 

project. 

US steel. 88 at was unlikely to happen, as the pipes had already been 

with 

delivered. 

came the next round of lawsuits. 

en 

ose were led in the Montana 

On September 10, 2018, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Lakota 

Courts. 

the Fort Belknap Indian Community (Assiniboine Nakoda) and 

Oyate), 

Ventre (Aaniiih Tribes) in coordination with their counsel, the Native 

Gros 

Rights Fund, sued the Trump administration for numerous 

American 

violations of the law in the Keystone XL pipeline permitting process. 

e 

are asking the court to rescind the illegal issuance of the Keystone XL 

tribes 

presidential permit. e United States District Court for the 

pipeline 

of Montana, Great Falls Division, heard arguments in Rosebud Sioux 

District 

v. Trump. 

Tribe 

to the Native American Rights Fund, the legal counsel for the 

According 

the US government argued that the treaties that the United States 

tribes, 

signed with tribal nations are not relevant to the Keystone pipeline. 

e 

argued the opposite. 

tribes 

the Tribes negotiated their treaties, they gave millions of acres of 

“When 

land to the United States — including, ironically, the land on which the

now stands. In return, they asked that the United States to 

courthouse 

their lands from trespass and their resources from destruction. 

protect 

the Presidents of Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Fort Belknap Indian 


were in federal court to invoke their sacred inheritance from 

Community 

these treaties — because the 

pipeline is exactly the kind of depredation 

the Tribes sought to prevent,” 

sta attorney Natalie Landreth explained 

er the hearings. 89 

a 

November 9, 2018, the Federal Court in Montana blocked further 

On 

construction on the Keystone XL Pipeline, in a separate case. 

e decision 

was in response to a lawsuit 

led by the Bemidji-based Indigenous 

Network and the Billings-based Northern Plains Resource 

Environmental 

Council. 

the Washington Post reported, “Judge Brian Morris of the US District 

As 

in Montana, said the State Department ignored crucial issues of 

Court 

change to further the president’s goal of letting the pipeline be built. 

climate 

doing so, the administration ran afoul of the Administrative Procedure 

In 

which requires ‘reasoned’ explanations for government decisions, 

Act, 

when they represent reversals of well-studied actions.” 90 

particularly 

, Morris determined that the Trump administration disregarded facts … 

In 

“climate-related impacts” from Keystone XL. e Trump 

about 

claimed, with no supporting information, that those impacts 

administration 

prove inconsequential,” Morris wrote. e State Department “simply 

“would 

discarded prior factual 

ndings related to climate change to support its 

reversal.” 91 

course 

key part of the climate change analysis centers on the fact that the 

A 

Pipeline project is not the only pending tar sands pipeline project. 

Keystone 

secured a presidential permit for the Alberta Clipper, an 800,000 

Enbridge 

per day pipeline in 2010, 92 adding another million tons of carbon to 

barrel 

atmosphere. Enbridge’s proposed Line 3 will add another 170 million 


tons of carbon to the air annually. at is the equivalent of adding 50 

metric 

coal- red power plants. 93 

more 

s also argued that spill assessments were not adequate in the State 

Plainti 

Environmental Impact Statement, noting that “the 2014 

Department’s 

no more than 1.1 spills from Keystone every ten years, relying on 

predicts 

from 2002 to 2014 to reach conclusions.” 94 e pipeline, at half 

data 

complete, has already had spills in phase one. Plainti s cite eight major spills

have occurred between 2014 and 2017, including a major spill on 

that 

I. is included a 230,000 gallon spill in November of 2017. Tom 

Keystone 

executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network, 

Goldtooth, 

President Donald Trump for administration lawlessness, “ is 

challenged 

vindicates what we have been saying all along: Trump’s approval of 

decision 

pipeline was illegal, violated environmental laws and was based upon 

this 

facts,” he said. 95 

fake 

2019, TransCanada changed its name to TC Energy. 

In 

at was sort of a 

makeover, common in energy companies. Bloomberg’s business 

corporate 

would write, “Not that TransCanada Corp., the pipeline company still 

news 

away at getting Keystone XL up and running, is ashamed of its 

slogging 

you understand. It just wants to change its name to the stateless TC 

heritage, 

to better re ect its ‘continental growth into an enterprise with 

Energy 

assets and employees in Canada, the United States and Mexico.’” 96 

critical 

November of 2019, the Keystone Pipeline spilled more than 383,000 

In 

of oil — half of an of Olympic swimming pool — into North Dakota 

gallons 

wetlands. 

e spill a ected 200,000 square feet of wetlands, which could 

take years to recover — if it ever does. 97 

e spill was “so small” it did not 

the emergency response needed to stop the spill. 

trigger 

on December 20, 2019, the Federal Court in Montana again ruled 

And, 

against President Trump. 

e case, Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Trump, was 

decided against the Pipeline. 98 

Sta Attorney Natalie Landreth praised the decision, “ 

e court’s 

means that ALL of the tribes’ claims on the current permits 

decision 

proceed. e only claims dismissed are the ones that the Tribes 

will 

should be dismissed because they were based on an old 

conceded 

So this is a complete win for the tribes on the motions to 

permit. 

We look forward to holding the Trump Administration and 

dismiss. 

accountable to the tribes and the applicable laws that must 

TransCanada 

followed.” 

be 

Attorney Matthew Campbell also reacted to the news, “Of 

Sta 

the treaties were agreed to by the president of the United States 

course, 

rati ed by the Senate, so the treaties clearly apply. e court rightly 

and 

found that today.” 99 

Resistance to this pipeline continues, and it grows. In an attempt to sti e

TC Energy helped coordinate passage of bills targeting Water 

resistance, 

In particular, South Dakota’s Riot Boosting Law, is about 

Protectors. 

“My pipeline bills make clear that we will not let rioters control 

Keystone. 

economic development,” 100 South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem told 

our 

reporters. 

e bill was written with the help of the Canadian corporation, 

a new name change. It’s a bit like lipstick on a pig. 

with 

course, 2020 brought new challenges for TC Energy. Facing a waiting 

Of 

the dropping price of oil, TC Energy’s Keystone pipeline was still in a 

game, 

nancial mess. On March 31, the province of Alberta agreed to provide 

hot 

support for the TC pipeline, investing “about US$1.1 billion (C$1.5 

more 

as equity in the project, thus substantially covering planned 

billion) 

costs through the end of 2020.” 101 

construction 

all of this investment available to them, in April 2020, TC Energy was 

With 

to move ahead with the construction of the pipeline, amidst the 

preparing 

pandemic. Tribal leaders like Faith Spotted Eagle called up the 

-19 

of man camps of up to 1000 workers proposed for rural South Dakota 

alarm 

the midst of the pandemic. “When TC Energy brings those men in, it’s 

in 

bringing smallpox blankets in,” Spotted Eagle said. “It’s no di erent. It’s 

like 

the same action, and it’s sanctioned by the government.” e Lakota 

exactly 

led a restraining order to stop pipeline construction based on the 

tribes 

threats of -19 transmission. 102 According to the Christian 

health 

Monitor, “as many as 11 construction camps, some housing up to 

Science 

people, were initially planned for the project. TC Energy says the 

1,000 

are under review amid the pandemic and would not be needed until 

camps 

in the summer.” 103 

later 

South Dakota had not made any provisions for 

-19, deciding to not 

a “shelter in place” like adjoining state Minnesota, and by late April, 

order 

Falls, South Dakota, was the nation’s hot spot for the virus. With 200 

Sioux 

cases of 

in a meat plant, 104 SD Governor Kristi Neom continued to 

the pipeline, passing another riot boosting law to protect TC Energy. 

pursue 

April 15, however, US Federal Judge Brian Morris canceled a key water 

On 

quality permit for the 

Pipeline, saying “the US Army Corps of 

failed to adequately consider e ects on endangered species such 

Engineers 

pallid sturgeon, a massive, dinosaur-like sh that lives in rivers the 

as 

would cross.” 105 And so the fate of TC Energy’s Keystone Pipeline 

pipeline 

a question. 

remains

Strange Story of TransMountain, or the 


Pipeline 


Business 

Risky 

forward to January of 2019, when the value of the pipeline, now dubbed 

Fast 

only other somewhat “viable” tar sands pipeline project is called 

e 

and that’s a special piece of work. 

Transmountain, 

can’t make this stu up. At the end of the fossil fuel era, the plan is to 

You 

the liability to Native people. And it’s not going to work. Dressed up 

transfer 

“equity positions” or “reconciliation” across the continent, corporations 

as 

governments are trying to pawn o bad projects on Native people. 

and 

not just pipelines; it’s also coal strip mines and coal generators, some 

It’s 

dirty stu . Just take the case of the Navajo Nation with a 50-year-old 


generating plant — Navajo Generating Station. at’s a er Billiton, 

coal 

largest mining corporation in the world dumped a 50-year-old coal strip 


with all sorts of environmental and health liabilities, on the tribe. 

mine, 

good to get rid of liabilities on some poor people you’ve taken 

Always 

of for 50 years or so. It didn’t work, the Navajo Nation rejected the 

advantage 

er. 106 o 

here’s a new one — a really good one in Canada. Here’s the skinny: 

Now 

Trans Mountain Kinder Morgan project would “twin” another pipeline, 

e 

making this a 700 mile pipeline with a 800,000 barrel a day capacity. 

at 

pipeline is currently Canada’s only way to get oil to Chinese markets. 

at 

was originally purchased for $4.5 billion in August of 2018 from 

pipeline 

Morgan, who faced sti opposition in the courts and in the streets. 

Kinder 

Trudeau purchased that pipeline 107 for the people of Canada, and 

Premier 

next day the Court of British Columbia ruled that all permits were null 


void on the pipeline, as Indigenous Peoples had not been consulted and 

and 

to give consent. So, there you have it, Prime Minister Trudeau had a 

had 

pipeline and no permit, and that’s expensive. 

” (just call it Trudeau West) has dropped about $700 million in value. 

“ 

pipeline without approvals is a risky thing, getting riskier by the day. 

A 

payments on a pipeline project are also pretty he y: Robyn Allan, an 

Interest 

economist critical of an expanded Trans Mountain pipeline, 

independent 

says nancial statements show the existing pipeline su ered a C$58 million

Reconciliation Pipeline 

Enter 

for sure in the political spin. “Let’s make it the Reconciliation pipeline. 

Clever, 

Money on the Line 

Big 

o ers are big, and the numbers a bit perplexing. Project Reconciliation 

e 

in the rst four months that the government owned it.” Economists 

loss 

on the interest payments on just pipeline debt — it’s somewhere 

disagree 

$149 and $249 million annually, 108 and that’s a chunk of change. 

between 

a scal nightmare. No time better to send that debt over to the First 

at’s 

A er all, most of the Canadian First Nations have poverty rates 

Nations. 

times the national average, a lack of potable water 109 and inadequate 

four 

It makes perfect sense that a First Nation, or coalition of First 

infrastructure. 

should assume Canada’s debt and liability on a mega project that 

Nations, 

will wreak environmental and economic havoc. 

majority Indigenous ownership, it can improve Indigenous lives 

rough 

the West. How? By returning pro ts made from shipping 

throughout 

to market to the traditional owners of the land from which those 

resources 

came,” their website explains. 

resources 

Reconciliation wants Indigenous peoples to use capital markets to 

“Project 

a majority ownership stake in Trans Mountain. It also wants to create a 

take 

Wealth Fund to create intergenerational wealth to improve 

Sovereign 

lives across the West by investing in infrastructure and 

Indigenous 

energy projects.” 110 

renewable 

one bid for the risky pipeline. Two more “competing” First Nations 

at’s 

coalitions allegedly seek to buy the pipeline. 

e Iron Coalition from 

has invited 47 First Nations and about 60 Métis organizations in the 

Alberta 

to sign up for the e ort, which was endorsed by the Alberta-based 

province 

of Treaty Chiefs last fall. 111 And then there’s a third — the Western 

Assembly 

Pipeline Group, comprised of First Nations already along the 

Indigenous 

route, impacted by the present 300,000 barrel a day tar sands 

infrastructure’s 

to be “twinned” should a miracle occur in nancing. 112 at’s three 

pipeline, 

all preparing a bidding war for a pipeline project which faces 

coalitions 

opposition. Rueben George, of the Tsleil-wauluth First Nation, calls 

massive 

new development “a new smallpox blanket.” Economically, he’s probably 

this 

right.

plans a $6.8 billion bid for a 51% stake in the pipeline. 

e other two 

initiatives are also bidding for an equity stake. Just to make sure 

Indigenous 

more money is pilfered o First Nations, Project Reconciliation plans to 

that 

raise $7.6 billion in bonds. 

at’s more debt and more people making money 

the First Nations. 

o 

math is not the best. But, let’s just note that the pipeline was purchased 

My 

for $4.5 billion by Canada less than a year ago. ( 

at gave a 637% return to 

Kinder Morgan, who dumped a liability). 

en the resale value of the 

dropped in January. And, as, Global News notes, “Expanding the 

pipeline 

as Kinder Morgan had initially proposed doing before abandoning 

pipeline, 

project, has been forecast to cost roughly $9 billion in addition to the 


price of the existing pipeline and associated assets. at meant the 

purchase 

cost to taxpayers would be roughly $14 billion.” 113 

total 

some First Nations are looking to buy a 51% stake for $6.8 billion. On a 

Now, 

pipeline with no known 

nal price tag. A er all, the existing pipeline is 

and the new one doesn’t exist. Nice work Trudeau. Let me ask who 

decrepit 

going to make the interest payments for these First Nations? ose are 

is 

to be at least $20 million a month. 

going 

need to get to a place where Indigenous peoples in Canada are in control 

“We 

their own destiny, making their own decisions about their future.” — Prime 


Justin Trudeau 114 

Minister 

how Trudeau is justifying this, and it won’t work. Indigenous Peoples 

at’s 

best in control of our destiny when we control our land and water. is 

are 

pipeline project is an exorbitant smallpox blanket, really. 

e Trudeau West 

(formerly known as Trans Mountain) will add about 162,536 

Pipeline 

metric tons of carbon to the air annually. at’s what 800,000 barrels 

million 

a day of tar sands oil gets you. 

at carbon is supposed to stay in the ground, 

not the air; a basic biology class will tell you that. 

e cost of removing the 

carbon from the air is about $400 a metric ton. 115 

at liability is for 

to pay, most likely the pipeline owner. Let alone the cost and 

someone 

of spills, and costs to our First Nations and democracies for the 

liability 

of militarization, criminalization and repression which will have to 

brutality 

to put in these pipelines. 

occur 

is no way that the “Sovereign Wealth and Reconciliation Fund” 

ere 

of by the First Nations will have any money. Take it from me: by the 

dreamed 

time you all are done paying the interest and your nancing, you’ll be deep

intergenerational debt servitude. “If Canada is truly committed to 

into 

it is time to walk away from this risky project,” Eugene Kung, 

reconciliation, 

for West Coast Environmental Law Firm, suggested. “Canada 

attorney 

overpaid for this risky project, and now its value is even lower — it’s 

already 

to cut our losses and move forward on a di erent pathway for Canada’s 

time 

energy future.” 116 

clean 

underscore the absurdity of the Reconciliation Pipeline Project, the Yes 


combined with Native comedians Tito Ibarra and Gitz Crazy Boy, 

Men, 

a mock of the Reconciliation Pipeline Project. 117 What’s particularly 

created 

is that, when the team was creating the lm outline, the idea of a 

ironic, 

set of “sell outs” coming up with their own pipeline project seemed 

tribal 

Pretty ironic that it happened, for sure. e Indigenous 

preposterous. 

Pipeline Council spoof was met with disdain by Enbridge, who the 

had 

was supportive of the shared corridor. A er all, Enbridge didn’t need 

stated 

more confusion, because, there can only be one. 

any 

it’s time to move on. You’re the sunniest province in Canada. 

Alberta, 

and justice don’t mean saddling more liability on First 


Reconciliation would have been to pay those First Nations a royalty 

Nations. 

all the oil that has passed through their territories over the past decades. 

for 

would mean infrastructure for people, not for oil companies 


like potable water, renewable energy and peace. 

— 

er all, when the Navajo Nation rejected purchase of the aging Navajo 

A 

Station in 2019, they put up the 27 megawatt Kayenta Solar 

Generating 

Project. 118 

at’s the future.

the Party’s Over: Starving 

When 

Wiindigoo 


when the last tree is cut, the last river is dammed, will you 

Only 

that you cannot eat money. 

understand 

— Cree prophecy 

basically the state of the world. Even the United Nations has 

at’s 

the recklessness of late stage, or Wiindigoo, capitalism. at’s 

recognized 

you commit cannibalism and start eating all of your relatives and your 

when 

at’s the time of the Wiindigoo, and it’s time to starve the 

mother. 

Wiindigoo before he eats us all. 

at’s the basics. 

independent team of researchers appointed by the United Nations 

An 

that “dominant economic theories” and conceptions of modern 

argued 

are inadequate because they falsely assume societies will have 

capitalism 

access to cheap energy, like fossil fuels. Also, these theories 

continued 

don’t factor in sink costs — meaning costs that can’t be recovered 

generally 

like climate change, and they fail to account for the potential 

— 

consequences that could result from continued unchecked 

sociopolitical 

and growth. 119 “Because economies are for the rst time in 

consumption 

human history shi ing to energy sources that are less energy e 

cient, 

of usable energy (exergy) will require more, not less, e ort on 

production 

part of societies to power both basic and non-basic human activities,” 


scientists wrote. 120 


team called for societies to start thinking about new models of 

e 

and economics. “It can be safely said that no widely applicable 

governance 

models have been developed speci cally for the upcoming era,” 

economic 

wrote, suggesting that the global economy is approaching a new era. 


focus is on the transition period, the next few decades.” 121 

“Our 

time to transition is now, the path is obvious and the obstacles many. 

e 

of those obstacles are corporations and the corporate control over 

Most 

national, state and sometimes Indigenous governments. 

e battle rages on.

One: No Energy Companies in the S&P Top Ten 

Scene 

2019, Exxon/Mobil dropped out of the top ten of the Standard and Poors 

In 

Divestment is how we starve the Wiindigoo. 

at is to say, large mega 

and landscape transformations of this world undertaken by 

projects 

require huge outlays of capital, originating from banks and 

corporations 

Born in the anti-apartheid era, the divestment movement 

investors. 

South Africa’s apartheid government of what it needed, money, 

deprived 

the South African rand. When Nelson Mandela came to the 

devaluing 

States a er his long imprisonment at Robben Island, he thanked the 

United 

students who powered the divestment movement. 

at’s this time. And, as 

crash around us, the fossil fuels Wiindigoo is on its last leg. It’s 

ecosystems 

epic and bitter battle. And, here’s how, in three dramatic scenes, we know 

an 

it’s raging and we are slowly bleeding the Wiindigoo. 

500 (S&P) for the rst time in nine decades. For 90 years, the S&P has 

Index 

corporations by their saliency in stock value. In 2019, for the rst 

ranked 

time in nine decades, there were no energy companies in the top ten. 

e 

economy is moving from them as the corporations engage in more 

market 

more risky projects. is is the era of extreme extraction, where fossil 

and 

fuels are more di 

cult to get. No longer are we in the Oklahoma Oil Rush; 

are in sludge, tar sands sludge. As such, the projects are risky because 

we 

are at the bottom of the barrel: expensive and of low quality. Take the 


of tar sands oil, now costing $85 a barrel to remove from the 

example 

basin. More than that, the ecological impacts of more excessive 

Athabasca 

(extreme extraction) increase planetary risk. In the spring of 

extraction 

driven by Saudi-Russia oil price wars and , the price of tar sands 

2020, 

dropped further. First, it was cheaper to buy a barrel of tar sands oil than 

oil 

game Barrel of Monkeys ($6.45 a barrel by late March 2020). 122 en in 


the price of oil dropped to negative $37 a barrel. Hardly a pro table 

April, 123 proposal. 

top ranking corporations in the S&P are now in a virtual world: 

Todays’ 

, Apple, Amazon and Facebook. In 1982, the top four were energy 

Microso 

and the 400 richest people in the world included 89 who made 

companies, 

money from oil. Today the top 59 are dominated by technology 


Six of the ten richest people in the world are tech heads. How does 

tycoons. 

translate? First, in a world which is heating up, fossil fuels are 

that

Two: The Koch Brothers Choke 

Scene 

of August 2019, “Wichita, Kansas-based conglomerate Koch Industries 

As 

a liability, not an asset. And second, the innovation of the tech 

increasingly 

is transforming our world and the economics we know. ese tech 

industry 

are nurturing the return of renewable energy. 124 

companies 

announced it will be carbon neutral in 2040, with 80% of 

Amazon 

power coming from renewables by 2024. Bloomberg found 

company 

global corporations have purchased enough clean energy in the past 12 

that 

to eclipse the entire energy capacity of countries such as Vietnam or 

years 

ey just announced the purchase of 100,000 electric vehicles. 125 

Poland. 

is following suit, along with Daimler Engines (which basically 

Google 

us the gasoline engine), which has announced it will move entirely 

brought 

electric engine work. 126 Toyota has just brought the Toyota Mirai, a fully 

to 

powered vehicle, online — that’s zero emissions. Echoing the 

hydrogen 

Nations report, Patagonia Rose Marcario tweets, “ e plain 

United 

is that capitalism needs to evolve if humanity is to survive.” Tech rms 

truth 

almost a quarter of the renewable energy sold to global companies 

bought 

year, according to the report. 

last 

sold o its substantial position in the Canadian tar sands/oil sands, 

has 

thousands of hectares of land to Cavalier Energy Inc., a subsidiary of 

selling 

Calgary-based Paramount Resources Ltd.,” the Financial Post revealed. 

e 

item continued, “Koch, one of the world’s largest private companies 

news 

by American billionaires and Republican donors Charles and David 

owned 

has also abandoned the licenses it did not sell in the transaction with 

Koch, 

and has been allowing its leases in the play to expire.” 127 

Paramount 

the Koch Brothers, one of the largest owners of tar sands reserves, 

When 

as much as 1.1 million acres of tar sands, 128 move on, you know the 

totaling 

is over. A short time a er this decision, David Koch passed away. 

party 

said he had choked on his own greed. 

Someone 

reality is that the world is changing, economics is changing, and the 

e 

is over. e Financial Post notes that a half dozen international 

party 

companies have abandoned the tar sands/oil sands since 2017. 

at leaves 

companies like Cenovus Energy, Canadian Natural Resources and 

Canadian 

holding the fossil fuel bag. 129 e Koch Brothers, like /Mobil, 

Suncor 

don’t make decisions out of the goodness of their heart. 

ey make decisions

Three: The Money Leaves the Party — Divestment 

Scene 

a worldwide scale, Indigenous Peoples have mobilized to transform 

On 

on the waning nancial returns of their projects and the liabilities. By 

based 

spring of 2020, the pandemic, combined with the Saudi-Russian 


wars, had caused a glut of oil on the world markets. Indeed oil tankers, 

price 

about 20% of America’s domestic use, were parked o shore in 

representing 

California, with no place to go. 

e oil storage tanks were full. And then the 

tar sands companies started closing down. First the 

Mine was 

(that was in February of 2020), and by the late spring, producers 

cancelled 

closing down, and in North Dakota, oil companies were going 

were 

130 On the other hand, banks, along with the investors in these big 

bankrupt. 

are moving away from fossil fuels, as the planet bakes. 

companies, 

— challenging, as former anti-apartheid activists did, the 

investments 

of nancing or actualizing genocide in pursuit of pro ts. at 

morality 

led by committed organizers, like First Peoples Fund and Cherokee 

work, 

Rebecca Adamson, began transforming the investment world and 

economist 

part of the socially responsible investment movement, born from 

became 

anti-apartheid struggle. at struggle took several decades, beginning in 


1970s and continuing until the end of apartheid in South Africa in 1983. 


movement’s success, faced with the brutality of the South African 

e 

and massacres like those at Sharpeville and the mass imprisonment 

regime 

the African National Congress ( ) activists, was matched with a 


formidable, on the ground resistance. 

at’s what happened forty years ago, 

it’s happening today. 

and 

South African divestment movement was, in part, guided by the 

e 

Principles, written by Leon Sullivan at the University of 

Sullivan 131 In turn, Indigenous Peoples moved to have similar principles 

Minnesota. 

adopted, today included in what’s known as the Equator Principles. 

e 

principles of the Indigenous investment criteria, according to a 

basic 

architect of this movement, Rebecca Adamson of First Peoples 

primary 

Worldwide, include: 

the right to self-determination; respect land and natural 

respect 

rights and traditional homelands of indigenous communities; 

resource 

cultural heritage, ceremonial, and sacred indigenous sites; 

respect 

free and informed prior consent to operate or explore on 

obtain

Access Pipeline Struggle 

Dakota 

early 2017, Paribas, the h largest bank in the world, announced it 

In 

lands; avoid relocation of indigenous communities, except 

indigenous 

cases where there is informed prior consent, agreement on fair 

in 

and an option for return to homelands; negotiate 

compensation, 

with indigenous communities fairly and transparently with 

agreements 

observers present; avoid exacerbating any tensions 

independent 

indigenous communities and local or national governments; 

between 

and respect customary knowledge and use of natural resources; 

protect 

restitution and fair compensation to indigenous people when 

provide 

property, including intellectual property, has been taken from them; 

any 

establish a mechanism for monitoring company compliance with 

and 

codes of conduct and principles. 132 

of this is embodied in what’s now known as the Equator Principles. 

Much 

work of First Peoples Worldwide has certainly supported the on-the- 

e 

work of nations like the Gwichi’in (Arctic), the Yanomani 

ground 

Ogoni (Nigeria) and the Lakota in transforming the investing 

(Amazon), 

community. 

is work has been a core part of a movement to divest pension 

(New York, California, etc) from tobacco, arms and other exploitative 

funds 

Joined with churches and socially responsible investors, the 

industries. 

climate for nancing corporate exploitation is changing. 

at movement has 

dramatically since Standing Rock and the battle over the Dakota 

grown 

Pipeline. 

Access 

divesting from the Dakota Access Pipeline ( ). is bank joined 

was 

bank, the Netherland’s bank and other investors in 

Norway’s 

pulling out. Explaining its reasoning, 

stated: “By selling our stake, we 

to signal how important it is that the a ected indigenous population is 

wish 

and that their opinions are heard in these types of projects.” 133 

involved 

a signatory to the Equator Principles, a set of environmental and social 

is 

that require clients to — among other things — obtain “free, prior, 

policies 

informed consent from indigenous peoples.” 134 Now what does that 

and 

It means that the Indigenous Peoples, the people from that land for 

mean? 

of years, have to say yes. It’s sort of like sex … you have to have 

thousands 

ose involved should agree and respect each other. 

consent. 

Dave Archambault, then chair of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, welcomed

Parabis decision, saying, “As corporate greed continues to fuel dirty 


projects on our land, it is heartening to see that some banks 

energy 

recognize the imminent harm to our people posed by 

, and are taking 

accordingly.” 135 

actions 

Parabis decision exempli es a growing divest/invest movement 

e 

seeks to divest from inappropriate technology and invest in technology 

that 

works for tomorrow’s world. is movement is being led by the global 

that 

industry, which is losing real money on climate change related 

insurance 

ey pay for the increasing destruction caused by tornadoes, 

disasters. 

and other “natural” disasters. In 2018, the worldwide cost totaled 

oods 

billion. 136 Indeed, the rising costs of just California wild res caused 

$160 

companies to drop 350,000 homeowners by the summer of 2019. 

insurance 

and hurricanes demand more of meager budgets, and the future 

Floods 

worse. 137 Rather than view climate change politically, the insurance 

looks 

takes facts seriously, because the facts cost them real dollars. 

industry 

The Divestment Movement Grows 

fuel divestment campaigns emerged on campuses in the United 

Fossil 

in 2010 with students urging their administrations to turn 

States 

investments in the fossil fuel industry into investments in 

endowment 

energy and communities most impacted by climate change. By 

clean 

fossil fuel divestment was reportedly the fastest growing 

2015, 

movement in history. By December 2019, a total of 1,200 

divestment 

and over 58,000 individuals representing $12 trillion in 

institutions 

worldwide had been divested from fossil fuels. 138 

assets 

is increasing dramatically. 

Risk 

Carbon Tracker Initiative has helped frame the scienti c discussion 

e 

into the economics of energy nancing. 

ese are the basics: According to 

the estimated carbon footprint from burning all the fossil fuels we 

scientists, 

possibly extract is about 2795 gigatons of carbon. 139 at’s a good deal 

could 

carbon, which, it turns out, should stay in the soil. Fossil fuel companies, 


in their endless pursuit of carbon continue to undertake research 

however, 

into new extractable 

elds, buttressed by the folly of most governments, 

Canadian and American. In 2013, fossil fuel companies invested 

including 

billion in exploration of new oil and gas resources. 140 

$670

the warnings, corporations and banks continue to explore and are 

Despite 

According to a report by the London-based Guardian newspaper, 

nanced. 

e world’s largest investment banks have provided more than $700bn of 

“ 

for the fossil fuel companies most aggressively expanding in new 

nancing 

oil and gas projects since the Paris climate change agreement, gures 

coal, 

Wall Street Giant JP Morgan Chase has led the nancing, with over 

show. 

billion since the Paris Climate agreement.” 141 

$75 

the physics reality is di erent from the fantasies of oil and fossil 

However, 

companies. Indeed, in order to keep our global temperature from 

fuel 

to an insane level, we can only burn 565 gigatons of carbon by 

raising 

142 at’s like a carbon diet, but this one is about life and death for most 

2050. 

the world we know. 


problem is that corporations continue to invest in new fossil fuels, 

e 

they are forced from that path. Part of the new economic analysis of 

unless 

the corporate behavior is now referred to as “stranded assets.” 

at’s 

the value of the corporation which is claimed (i.e., reserves 

essentially 

by Suncor, Exxon or Husky) which cannot be burned if we are to 

claimed 

survive. 

assets, which are known in relation to fossil fuel companies as 

Stranded 

carbon bubble, occur when the reserves of fossil fuel companies are 


environmentally unsustainable and so unusable and so must be 

deemed 

o . Currently the price of fossil fuels companies’ shares is 

written 

under the assumption that all of the companies’ fossil fuel 

calculated 

will be consumed, and so the true costs of carbon dioxide in 

reserves 

global warming is not taken into account in a company’s 

intensifying 

market valuation. 

stock 

In 2013 a study by 

found that between 40% and 60% of the 

value of BP, Royal Dutch Shell and other European fossil fuel 

market 

could be wiped out because of stranded assets caused by 

companies 

emission regulation. 

carbon 

June 2014, the International Energy Agency released an 

In 

independent analysis on the e ect of carbon emissions controls. 

is 

that $300 billion in fossil-fuel investments would be stranded 

estimated 

2035 if cuts in carbon emissions are adopted so that the global mean 

by 

surface temperature increases by no more than 2°C.

eport by the Carbon Tracker Initiative found that between 2010 

A 

2015 the US coal sector had lost 76% of its value including the 

and 

of 200 mines. It found that Peabody Energy, the world’s largest 

closure 

coal mining company, had lost 80% of its share price over this 

private 

time. 

is was attributed to Environmental Protection Agency 

and competition from shale gas…. 

regulations 

in 2014, nancial analyst rm Kepler Cheuvreux projected 

Similarly, 

trillion in lost value for fossil fuel companies under a regulatory 

$28 

that targets 450 parts per million of atmospheric CO 2 . 143 

scenario 

adverse, and perhaps more enlightened, investors are moving at a 

Risk 

rate in divesting than new investments are moving into fossil fuels. 

faster 

many large investors, including the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, 

Overall, 

pension funds and foundations are divesting from fossil fuels. As of 

banks, 

over 700 institutions in 76 countries have divested US$5.5 trillion 

2017, 

fossil fuel investments. 144 In 2016, the divest/invest movement won the 

from 

Award for its work. Institutions like the Wallace Global 

Mandela-Machel 

have worked to mobilize institutions to move from fossil fuels. In turn, 

Trust 

volatility of fossil fuels markets has been avoided by these institutions in 


measure, buttressing their wealth. “Divest-invest members have done 

some 

by doing good, e ectively insulating themselves against the unforeseen 

well 

in the coal sector, as well as … volatility in the oil and gas industry,” 

crash 

Dorsey, executive director of Wallace Global Trust, points out in her 

Ellen 

Dorsey also notes that divestment is not enough; investment 

presentation. 

into the future is required as well: “To divest is not enough. 

e whole 

system must be rebuilt, reimagined, moved away from the monolith 

energy 

centralized power to a mix of utility scale and distributed energy systems 


by solar, wind, and water.” 145 

fueled 

mid-2019, the European Investment Bank, the lending arm of the 

In 

Union, announced a quick phase-out nancing for fossil fuels: out 

European 

2021. By 2019, more than 1140 institutions, like pension funds, have 

by 

to move $12 trillion from fossil fuel investments; that’s according to 

pledged 

Free, a project of the climate action group 350.org. 146 

Fossil 

traditionally, much of the debate about divestment has focused on 

While, 

ethics and e cacy of the practice: Is divestment the right moral choice 


for a company? It turns out that, “Fossil fuels have been a terrible investment

at least the last ve years,” said Elizabeth Levy, a partner at Boston-based 

for 

Asset Management, which has o ered fossil fuel–free investment 

Trillium 

for 20 years. 147 

options 

the case of Somervillle, Massachusetts, a city which has been trying to 

Take 

its retirement fund from fossil fuels investments for a few years. I 

move 

at length from Sarah Shemkus’s story in Energy News: 

quote 

analysis released by Massachusetts climate activists concludes the 

An 

of Somerville’s retirement fund lost out on $475,000 when state 

city 

barred it from removing fossil fuel investments from its 

authorities 

e report arrives just as the state Legislature is considering a 

portfolio. 

that would clear the way for county and municipal pension funds to 

bill 

out of fossil fuel stocks. 

pull 

ere is an opportunity cost that has been su ered by Somerville 

“ 

said Colby Cunningham, spokesperson for MassDivest, the 

pensioners,” 

that completed the analysis 148 …. 

organization 

attempts to divest its retirement fund began in 2017, 

Somerville’s 

the city retirement board decided to move about 4.5% of its 

when 

into a fund that does not include fossil fuel companies. e 

portfolio 

had been in a fund tied to the S&P 500, an index of major stocks 

money 

is widely considered one of the best economic indicators in the 

that 

United States. 

e new investment replicated the S&P 500, but removed 

any companies among the top 200 fossil fuel businesses in the world. 

began a battle of jurisdiction between the Massachusetts Public 

So 

Retirement Administration Commission ( ), the regulatory 

Employee 

body that oversees public pension systems, and the city of Somerville. 

e 

the move, contending that avoiding a whole class of 

“rejected 

on moral grounds would violate the fund’s duciary duty to 

investments 

the best nancial results for its participants.” 

achieve 

came the study. MassDivest followed a hypothetical scenario: What 

en 

have happened to the once-divested funds, had they been allowed to 

would 

in the fossil fuel-free fund. “ e analysis found that the S&P 500 had a 

stay 

rate of return between July 2017 and June 2019; the version with fossil 

19.1% 

stocks removed earned 24.1% over the same period. Looking back ve 

fuel 

money in the divested version of the fund would have returned 72.2%, 

years, 

compared to 50.1% for the S&P 500.” 

as

Continues in the Arctic 

Divestment 

late 2019, Goldman Sachs became the rst major US bank to reject 

In 

ere has never before been a real alternative to fossil fuels,’ Levy said. 

“‘ 

there is now, on both the vehicle and energy generation sides.’” 

‘But 

Levy from Trillium explained the scenario for more conservative 

Elizabeth 

i.e., those not motivated by good but by money. Noting that 

investors, 

have o en liked fossil fuels as a hedge against in ation, “‘If oil 

investors 

are increasing, then the price of everything else is also going up,’ Levy 

prices 

Levy pointed to diversi cation and reallocation as the core strategy in 

said.” 

the money of investors. Indeed, since tech stocks now dominate 

protecting 

S&P, it’s pretty clear that there are other ways to make money. 


ese nancial realities, Cunningham said, are what separate the fossil 

“ 

divestment movement from other divestment campaigns, like those 

fuel 

rearm manufacturers, companies that supported the apartheid 

against 

in South African or nuclear weapons. “You can make great and really 

regime 

moral arguments about guns, South Africa, and nuclear 

compelling 

but all of those investments remain pro table,” Colby 

weapons, 

said. “Fossil fuel divestment is actually to the nancial 

Cunningham 

advantage…. 

e fossil fuel industry is in decline — that’s a continuing 

trend.” 149 

Arctic oil drilling. Goldman Sachs won’t nance new oil drilling or 

nancing 

in the Arctic, and pledged to end investing in coal anywhere in 

exploration 

the world. 

e company had issued a new environmental policy, published 

late December, which transforms their portfolio. Goldman Sachs also 

in 

$750 billion toward “sustainable development in climate transition 

pledged 

inclusive growth nance” over the next 10 years. 

and 

Sachs follows bankers Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland 

Goldman 

is the rst US bank to make the pledge. “‘By ruling out direct nance for 

but 

oil exploration and production, Goldman has established the rst no- 

Arctic 

zone for a major US bank in the oil and gas sector,’ said Jason Opeña 

go 

, climate and energy senior campaigner at Rainforest Action 

Disterho 

( ).” 

Network 

increases, and as noted above, the high cost and enormous e ort of 

Risk 

tar sands extraction mean the tar sands make no sense. “‘ 

e risk of funding 

operations in the melting Arctic, in the middle of the climate crisis, is a very

Years at the PUC 

Seven 

like to call this one “Seven Years at the Public Utilities Commission.” It’s 

I 

di 

cult place for oil companies to operate,’ said Ben Ayli e, a senior 

at Greenpeace.” 

strategist 

than that, the move by Goldman Sachs was also a result of what 

More 

“tireless Indigenous-led resistance, including crucial advocacy by the 

called 

Steering Committee.” e group represents Indigenous 

Gwich’in 

in Alaska and Canada and has been meeting with major banks 

communities 

explain the threat of oil drilling to the Arctic refuge. 150 

to 

this investment in clean energy is happening. According to the 

Fortunately 

Information Administration, renewable energy will account for 

Energy 

one-third of new electricity generation added to the US grid over the 

about 

three years. Wind energy is leading the way with the American Wind 

next 

Association predicting that Americans will be able to get 20% of 

Energy 

electricity from wind by 2030, and 35% by 2050. ey also note that 


turbine technician is the second fastest growing job in the US, with 

wind 

114,000 people employed in wind technology. 151 e future is here. 

over 

Brad Pitt’s Seven Years in Tibet, but it is a seven-year story of people 

not 

to protecting their water from a Canadian corporation and a 

committed 

agency gone rogue. It’s a story of corporate greed playing out in 

government 

time of climate chaos. It’s the story of an agency approving a 915,000 barrel 

a 

day tar sands oil pipeline project while Australia is burning, and ruling 

a 

tens of thousands of Minnesotans who had testi ed against these 

against 

It’s the story of the 1855 Treaty Territory, a place where the wild 

projects. 

are, and the push to take that place. It’s an epic tale. 

things 

February 3, 2020 — just a er the pipes came to town — the Public 

On 

Commission ( ) again approved a certi cate of need, a route 

Utilities 

and a (court-ordered, twice reviewed) environmental impact 

permit 

on the proposed Line 3. at , written largely by Enbridge 

statement 

and the Department of Commerce, assured all that no major 

consultants 

harm will come to the world from this project. e 

environmental 

to approve all permits, though Commissioner Matt Schuerger cast 

voted 

votes. 

dissenting 

story begins in 2013, when the Enbridge Corporation rst announced 

is 

pipeline project in our neck of the woods. is particular project, called 

a

Sandpiper, would transport 640,000 barrels of fracked oil from the 


Oil Fields every day. Enbridge, the third largest corporation in 

Bakken 

wanted to run this pipeline right next to Rice Lake on the White 

Canada, 

Reservation. e Public Utilities Commission, which is an appointed 

Earth 

tasked with reviewing infrastructure projects for Minnesota, moved 

agency 

approve that project. But in good north-woods style, the hit some 

to 

A Park Rapids–based group called the Friends of the Headwaters 

resistance. 

and the was court ordered to conduct an environmental impact 

sued, 

Ultimately, the Sandpiper was shelved. Not because we’d defeated 

statement. 

but because Enbridge decided to put its money into the highly 

pipelines, 

Dakota Access Pipeline Project. 

controversial 

attempts to bring pipelines through our woods didn’t end with 

Enbridge’s 

the Sandpiper — and nor did the 

’s support for these projects. On two 

later occasions, the 

moved to approve Enbridge related projects without 

thorough review, and both times they were rebuked by the courts. First, 

a 

was the Line 3 project, which would pipe tar sands oil from Alberta 


the heart of Indian Country in Minnesota, and then came the 

through 

Nemadji Trails Energy Center ( ), a fracked natural gas power 

proposed 

proposed for the Nemadji River. 

plant 

time, Friends of the Headwaters (Legal Counsel, Minnesota Center 

Each 

Environmental Advocacy), the White Earth, Red Lake, Leech Lake, Fond 

for 

Lac and Mille Lacs Bands of Ojibwe, along with Honor the Earth, Sierra 

du 

and other citizens organizations have intervened in the Public Utilities 

Club 

process. We’ve all worked hard to protect our woods, but some 

Commission 

the most compelling and hopeful interventions have come from the 


people of Youth Climate Intervenors. One of the youth intervenors, 

young 

Murcia, talked about how over the years of ghting the , the 

Brett 

have graduated from high school, some attending college and 

intervenors 

from there as well. “We should have a promising future ahead of 

graduating 

by all counts,” Murcia said, “but we are faced with immense uncertainty 

us 

of the climate change.” For all of us, it’s been a long and winding 

because 

road. 

seven years, Anishinaabeg like Dawn Goodwin, Tania Aubid, the late 

For 

Gagnon and many more slogged thousands of miles to ask the 

Joanne 

protect the rights and interests of the Anishinaabeg and the people and 

to 

of Minnesota. It’s been like pulling teeth, painful. Each time, the 

waters

has sought to approve permits, only to be forced to reconsider 

commission 

the courts. Most recently, the Public Utilities Commission is being forced 

by 

to complete an environmental review on the 

project, which, while in 

on the Nemadji River, has signi cant environmental implications 

Wisconsin 

the whole region, including Minnesota. at project begins to illuminate 

for 

energy consumption proposed by Enbridge, which is already the largest 


consumer in the state of Minnesota. It turns out that moving sludge 

energy 

pipelines takes almost 2 nuclear power plants worth of power, or 

through 

to power Minneapolis and beyond. 

enough 

nal public hearing on February 3, 2020, about the Line 3 pipeline, 

is 

116 people who came to speak, many of them standing outside the 

included 

Senate O 

ce Building from 3:30 a.m. to ensure they could be heard. “People 

all morning and day long for their 120 seconds in front of the Public 

waited 

Commission,” Akilah Sanders-Reed, another youth intervenor, 

Utilities 

testi ed. Very few expected the 

to rule in favor of Minnesota waters or 

people, but the intervenors remain committed to opposing the 

Native 

in the courts and on the ground. “I hear people talk about wanting to 

project 

climate change for their kids and, at this point you know, I’m kind of 

ght 

around to say, you know, I want to ght climate change for my 

turning 

Because she’s going to be on this planet to watch some of the worst 

mom. 

if we don’t do anything, if we don’t take the steps that we need to. 

impacts 

I don’t want that to be her last decade on the planet — watching things 

And 

so much worse. at’s not what I want for her,” Sanders-Reed told me. 

get 

e has, unfortunately become more of a Corporate Utilities 

“ 

it seems,” one of the intervenors said. In a letter to the 

Commission 

the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency pointed to the 

commission, 

racism and classism at play in deciding the route of the 

environmental 

noting that the preferred route “will have disproportionate and 

pipeline, 

impacts on environmental justice communities, including low- 

adverse 

and minority populations.… [Enbridge’s preferred route] crosses 

income 

miles of areas of concern for environmental justice, or 46 percent of the 

155 

a ecting 24,909 low-income people.” 152 

route, 

seven years, I’ve le my home, family and farm to attend the 

For 

I have had four grandchildren born during this time, and I’ve 

meetings. 

a lot of beautiful moments in life. As I drove the 200 miles to the 

missed 

hearing I asked myself what I would say to them all. I asked the Public

Commissioners the same. Seven years for the Water. 

Utilities 

the approvals by the , several permits wait for rejection or 

With 

at state and federal agencies before Enbridge can move ahead, 

approval 

water quality permits. Enbridge expects to begin construction in 

including 

summer of 2020. e legal challenges to this decision will be led in 


months before that, but the future is unclear. White Earth Tribal 


Ray Auginaush, who represents Rice Lake District, told 

Councillor 

“We will not let them go through with this.” Indeed, thousands of 

reporters, 

have vowed to support the Anishinaabeg and others to protect the 

people 

and wild rice, not only testifying at hearings, but signing 

water 

to join in opposition. 

commitments 

returned to the White Earth Reservation late that night; it had been a 

I 

long day. I crossed the Enbridge pipelines twice on my return home. 

ere, I 

drank water from my well and ate some manoomin. I was grateful.

to the Kill Zone: The 

Welcome 

of Husky 

Shadow 

to the Kill Zone 

Welcome 

kill zone is a term coined by a California legislator in response to use of 

e 

four years, three major accidents have occurred that could have led to 

In 

hydrogen uoride releases. is exposes a shocking level of disregard 

large 

public safety. Oil companies are passing along large accident-related 

for 

to consumers while pleading poverty when asked to replace hydrogen 

costs 

uoride with processes that use safer chemicals. 

Horowitz, former managing director of the US Chemical 

—Daniel 

Board 153 

Safety 

the end of the fossil fuel era, stu crumbles and the wear and tear of 70 

At 

on infrastructure begins to show. Sometimes things blow up. On April 

years 

2018, the Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit in the Husky Re nery in 

26, 

Wisconsin, exploded, sending reballs and a plume of black smoke 

Superior, 

the sky. All of that oil is from Enbridge. 

into 

residents of Duluth and Superior were pretty lucky, because the 

e 

explosion didn’t rupture the re nery’s hydrogen uoride ( 

) tank, which 

just 150 feet from the explosion. 154 As luck would have it, a piece of 

was 

from the explosion ruptured a more distant asphalt tank, which 

shrapnel 

then caught re. 155 According to the Star Tribune, a rupture of the 

tank 

have created a “dense cold killing cloud” and put 180,000 people at 

would 

risk. 

is lethal when inhaled, 156 and on contact causes severe burns, 

uid 

in the lungs, swelling of lung tissue and more nasty stu . A potential 

buildup 

at the Husky Re nery is why Superior citizens were evacuated in 

release 

April 2018. Just like any burn, there is no “cure” for exposure to 

because 

ected esh is simply destroyed. If you are too close when a tank 

a 

and you breath in too much , you’re dead. 

ruptures

Failures 

Mitigation 

some plans at the Husky re nery, but they are pretty i y. A er the 

ere’s 

inside of a city. 

e kill zone is the area where citizens would not have 

to evacuate in under 10 minutes, which is the time it would take for a 

time 

tank of to be released into surrounding neighborhoods. 

full 

But, an 

rupture could impact a much larger area. Here’s the scenario: 

39,540 pounds of vaporized over 10 minutes in the Twin Ports. 

• Maximum Area 

reatened: 22-mile radius 

• Maximum Residential Population reatened: 180,000 

of the kill zone is a larger area called the vulnerability zone, and it 

Outside 

11 miles from the re nery. is is the area around the re nery 

extends 

where a ground-hugging vapor cloud of 

could travel, impacting 

everything that lives in the path. 

e worst-case scenario comes from the 

Management Plan, created by the re nery and submitted to the 

Risk 

Protection Agency ( ) for compliance with the Emergency 

Environmental 

Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act ( 

). It’s pretty clear that 

some risk, big time. 


you’re a local, you are not alone. A joint investigation by the Center for 

If 

Public Integrity and 

News found at least 16 million Americans, many of 

them unaware of the threat, live in the potential path of 

if it were to be 

released in an accident or a terrorist attack. 

e government maintains 

controlled non-public reports outlining worst-case scenarios 

closely 

highly hazardous chemicals. e center reviewed reports for the 

involving 

re neries that use . e reports describe the most extreme accidents 

50 

by the plants’ owners. 157 It’s not pretty. 

anticipated 

and internationally workers are, for good reason, concerned 

Nationally 

the use of hydrogen uoride, especially since there are alternatives. It’s 

about 

that those alternatives are expensive, and many companies prefer to 

just 

with the risk. e United Steelworkers Union, one of the largest 

continue 

which represent re nery workers, has strongly opposed the use of 

unions 

oil facilities due to the severe risks it poses to workers at re neries and 

at 

citizens in nearby communities. 

explosion, Husky identi ed three additional mitigation measures: 1) 

2018 

the amount of water that would be sprayed on the tank in the 

increase

the Solution? 

What’s 

says that it has no choice but to keep using 

Husky 

event of a rupture; 2) install a pump to transfer the 

to a di erent tank in 

an emergency; and 3) install a laser detection system. 

ese are pretty 

hopeful, minimal, and we should all cross our 

ngers. Unfortunately, the 

for mitigation failure was why the evacuation was ordered in 

potential 

Safety systems, such as water sprays, chemical additives and 

Superior. 

inventory dump systems, are intended to try to contain a 

emergency 

uoride release, but none of these methods have been shown to be 

hydrogen 

reliable. For example, in 2008, the Occupational Safety and 

completely 

Administration cited the re nery, then owned by Murphy Oil, for 

Health 

intentionally disabling the 

alarm system. Just because mitigation systems 

are in place doesn’t mean they will work. 

at its 38,000 bpd 

nery, because alternatives are not available. Yet, Chevron’s 55,000 bpd Salt 

re 

Re nery is in the process of installing a new technology developed by 

Lake 

Honeywell, called ionic liquids alkylation technology 

Minnesota-based 

), that safely replaces . e Salt Lake Re nery primarily 

( 

US western crude oils, but also re nes medium and heavy crude 

processes 

from Canada, as does the Superior Re nery. Honeywell successfully 

oil 

operated an 

demonstration plant for ve years, and based on this 

demonstration, Chevron decided three years ago to replace its 

unit. 

According to Chevron, 

can utilize the same feed stock and the new 

unit can be installed while the 

unit is in operation, resulting in minimal 

to re nery operations. 

disruption 

its website, all Husky will say is that 

On 

“is an unproven, 

technology and not currently suited for use at the Superior 

emerging 

nery.” Husky’s chief operating o cer said being the rst to implement 

Re 

technology was not something it was “enthusiastic” about with the risks 


in trying newer systems. From the reviews of their materials, it 

involved 

sounds like Husky thinks 

could work but doesn’t want to take the 

commercial risk. Based on the risk of the hydrogen 

uoride explosion, 

mayor and, indeed Duluth, might want to request more of the 

Superior’s 

In other words, rather than trust Husky’s self-serving judgment 

company. 

about 

, Husky could be required to request a technical feasibility 

analysis and a cost estimate from Honeywell, so that we all know its technical

and cost. Husky shouldn’t be let o the hook just because it’s too 

potential 

and backward to try a new, better technology. 

cheap 

Husky refuses to provide an objective evaluation of the 

If 

the Duluth-Superior region might consider whether the risks 

alternative, 

pollution of the Superior Re nery are worth its small output and 

and 

contribution to the region. On average, the re nery processes just 

economic 

barrels of crude oil per calendar day, making it one of the smallest 

38,000 

neries in the nation. Given that the total re ning capacity in the Midwest 

re 

4,377,000 bpd, the Superior Re nery represents less than 1% of regional 

is 

ning capacity. If the re nery disappeared, fuel and asphalt would be 

re 

to Duluth-Superior, and the impact would likely be negligible. 

shipped 

Twin Ports could be safer and cleaner — not a bad idea, really. Times 

e 

change, and so should Husky. 

Transition 

Just 

need to stop using the specter of economic decline and loss of energy- 

“We 

sector jobs as a reason for inaction. 

ese are excuses that no longer wash 

energy workers or the public. While thankful for all that the fossil-fuel 

with 

has given Canada over the years, we all see the writing on the wall. 

industry 

time to change and energy workers are ready to help,” writes Lliam 

It’s 

executive director of Canada-based Iron & Earth, comprised of 

Hildebrand 

energy sector workers. “An important aspect of the transition away 

many 

fossil fuels is that our nation’s energy-sector workers are ideally 

from 

to help build a vibrant and globally competitive clean-energy 

positioned 

is is because fossil-fuel infrastructure has a similar industrial ‘ ’ 

sector. 

sustainable-energy infrastructures, such as biofuels, biomass, geothermal, 

to 

and many other large-scale steel infrastructure projects. us, 

hydrogen 

projects require many of the same skill sets, the kind of attributes 

these 

in abundance in our oil and gas workforce.” Indeed, a 2016 survey by 

found 

& Earth of skilled trades workers primarily with experience in the 

Iron 

industry showed that 63% believed their current skill set could be 

energy 

to build and maintain a renewable energy future with some 

transferred 

and 86% expressed interest in training and development in 

training, 

Superior deserves better. And, frankly, the medical 

renewables. 

of the Twin Ports, as well as schools and churches, should 

establishment 

urge a transition by Husky. 

e time to be safe is now.

the Bat Challenged the 

When 

Wiindigoo 

A crisis is also an opportunity. 

e Chinese characters for crisis are wei ji. 

and opportunity. at’s now. ere is danger in this pandemic 

Danger 

but there is also opportunity. Opportunity to enjoy this moment, 

certainly, 

look at the night sky and see if you can spot any stars. Opportunity to 

maybe 

a breath while Mother Earth gets a breath from our closed factories. 

take 

to be better when we come out of this cluster of crises; to 

Opportunity 

each other, localize our economy, get cleaner, healthier, and grow 

appreciate 

victory gardens for this millennium. Crisis can bring out the best or 

some 

worst in communities. Or, to put it another way, fear is contagious, but 


is joy. Let’s catch hope and gratitude. Now is our time to shine in 

so 

It’s also the time of maple syruping, and in that we nd health and 

goodness. 

as we have for as long as we have existed. 

clarity, 

reality is that federal policies have failed. Start with stu from China: 

e 

an ongoing economic con ict with China, Trump set tari s on Chinese 

In 

coming into the US. But with so many products manufactured in 

goods 

industries and consumers have been hit hard by these tari s and 

China, 

that it has had “a signi cant, negative, and long-term impact on 

believe 

businesses, farmers, families, and the US economy.” 158 A 2019 

American 

/Harris poll found that 74% of people believe American 

Harvard 

were shouldering most of the burden of tari s. 159 And that was 

consumers 

the virus. In April 2020, in the midst of economic concerns due to the 

before 

Trump continues to rebu demands from consumers and 

pandemic, 

to drop the tari s. 160 

industry 

perhaps this crisis o ers us the opportunity to rethink that material 

But 

at’s to say, we don’t need most of the junk we buy from China. 

economy. 

the shrimp on your dinner plate — raised in Scotland, deveined in 

Take 

and brought to you by Walmart. at’s a ridiculous equation of 

China, 

and life. Get local. 

energy 

Trump Administration also canned the pandemic program. Maybe we 

e

won’t do that one again. As 

News reports, 

health and national security experts shake their heads when 

Public 

Donald Trump says the coronavirus “came out of nowhere” 

President 

and “blindsided the world.” 

ey’ve been warning about the next 

for years and criticized the Trump administration’s decision 

pandemic 

2018 to dismantle a National Security Council directorate at the 

in 

House charged with preparing for when, not if, another 

White 

would hit the nation. 

pandemic 

“It would be nice if the o 

ce was still there,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the 

of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at 

director 

National Institute of Health, told Congress this week. “I wouldn’t 


characterize it as a mistake (to eliminate the unit). I would 

necessarily 

we worked very well with that o ce.” 161 

say 

no easy answer to the opening of Pandora’s box, but maybe having 

ere’s 

in place to deal with an airborne, very contagious, and lethal virus 

experts 

have been a good idea. Might want to be nice to bats, those little guys, 

would 

time, too. A er all, they eat about 1200 mosquitos a day… and are nice 

next 

have around. Turns out that humans aren’t always in charge. 

to 

in all, this makes me want to stay noopeming, deep in the woods. 

All 

at’s 

it’s safe. 

where 

surprisingly, global capitalism has accelerated the growth of this 

Not 

Historically, most epidemics are spread through two common 

pandemic. 

of human movement: trade and war. ink about this: in the Middle 

forms 

it took a decade or so for the bubonic plague (Black Death) to spread 

Ages, 

China to Europe via the Silk Roads and Mongol conquests. e 1918 

from 

u, by contrast, spread in months, reaching France and Britain in 

Spanish 

summer and then the US and Canada in the fall. at pandemic 


battle lines and military movements during WWI. 

followed 

there’s -19. e coronavirus took a few days to spread from 

en 

to other Chinese cities, and then it moved along trade routes. 162 

Wuhan 

a month or two it had hit 72 countries. According to Spectre Journal, 

Within 

& Bradstreet estimates that 51,000 companies around the world have 

“Dun 

or more direct suppliers in Wuhan, while 938 of the Fortune 1000 

one 

companies have tier one or two suppliers in the Wuhan region. 

e 

emphasis for the last two or three decades on lean production, just-in-time

and, more recently, ‘time-based competition,’ along with updated 

delivery, 

and distribution infrastructure, has accelerated the speed of 

transportation 

Mapping technology used to track the spread of the virus 

transmission.” 

shows us that “this virus has moved through the circuits of capital 

clearly 

the humans that labor in them, and not solely by random ‘community’ 

and 163 

transmission.” 

there’s the oil markets, which have dealt a pretty direct blow to the 

en 

industry and the tar sands. at had to do with a price war between 

fracking 

Saudis and Russia aimed at knocking out the marginal producers in the 


sands and fracking elds. 164 But it’s not just the political maneuvering of 

tar 

foreign governments that are a ecting the oil markets. 

e tar sand 

have been folding, tens of thousands of workers laid o , as the 

themselves 

between climate change and investors moving from dirty oil 

intersection 

that the tar sands are no longer going to make money for billionaires. 

means 

the Koch brothers sold all their holdings, at a huge loss. And they were 

Even 

largest leaseholders in the Alberta tar sands. 


late February 2020, the massive mine project in Alberta was 

In 

citing economics — including the economics of successful 

abandoned, 

mounted by Indigenous Climate Action, nongovernmental 

resistance 

churches and thousands of people. In the announcement 

organizations, 

Lindsay said, “It is now evident that there is no constructive 

Don 

forward for the project. Questions about the societal implications of 

path 

development, climate change and Indigenous rights are critically 

energy 

ones for Canada, its provinces and Indigenous governments to 

important 

through.” 165 Let’s not forget, during this time of lockdown, that we won. 

work 

e wood bu alo of northern Alberta are pretty happy about that. 

at’s one 

the last herds of the magical animals. 


came Suncor. Suncor is the world’s largest producer of bitumen (that’s 

en 

sands) and owns and operates an oil sands upgrading plant near Fort 

tar 

Alberta. e company is the largest producer in Canada. In late 

McMurray, 

a er the price of tar sands oil dropped to under $5 a barrel, Suncor 

March, 

production in their just opened Fort Hills mine. ey also delayed new 

cut 

projects. ose things don’t just start and stop, and start again. e 

mining 

sands are clearly on a downward spiral, with over 10,000 people laid o , 

tar 

the largest number of homeless people in Edmonton are oil workers. 

and 

means that Canada’s poor choices in economic development and 

at

a Bat Challenged the Black Snake 

How 

fact is that a virus most likely brought to us by a bat is changing the 

e 

pig-headed approach to fossil fuels are about to cause a much larger 

frankly 

tailspin in Canada. A er all, Canada’s foreign exchange is based 

economic 

on tar sands. 

primarily 

there is downstream ripple, all a result of a perfect storm of 

en 

events, particularly for the fossil fuels industry. In Superior, 

catastrophic 

the Husky Re nery su ered a massive explosion in 2018, 

Wisconsin, 

resulting in a partial closure the plant. 

at’s when it came to light that 

Husky, another Canadian corporation, is using hydrogen 

uoride in 

processing the tar sands oil delivered by Enbridge to Husky. 

e tank of 

uoride, if it had exploded in 2018, would have killed most of the 

hydrogen 

of Duluth. As of March, Husky is holding on repairs to the plant. 

population 

spokesperson for Husky said, “Given the current safety and public health 

A 

Husky has begun a systematic and orderly suspension of major 

risks, 

activities related to the Superior rebuild project.” 166 Husky is 

construction 

joining other oil producers in cutting their spending in an e ort to keep 

also 

big tar sands producer a oat “in response to challenging global market 

the 167 Husky is reducing their expenses to the tune of $1 billion. 

conditions.” 

we could take this opportunity and not reopen that dangerous 

Maybe 

nery. re 

there’s this: pipeline companies are asking producers to cut back in oil 

en 

because the tanks are getting full. 168 In the midst of this, it’s pretty 

production, 

ironic that the Line 3 project is intended to go forward. 

e Minnesota 

Control Agency canceled the public hearings on the project and 

Pollution 

extended the timetable for one week, expecting people to testify 

generously 

for a minute and a half at three video town hall meetings in April. 169 

at 

if it goes ahead, will bring 4200 workers to northern Minnesota, 

project, 

in the midst of an oil price crash, a reduction in demand and a 

which 

pandemic, seems like a really bad idea for the state. 

the world of the Wiindigoo. We have some stories of the epic bat in 

world, 

history, and this will be a new one. Maybe our descendants will call 

Ojibwe 

“ e time the Bat killed the Black Snake.” -19 has caused 

this 

social disruption and wreaked havoc in the markets, but it 

unprecedented 

has also resulted in lower energy demand and a signi cant reduction in

greenhouse gas emissions. With this forced hiatus on travel and 

global 

we have the opportunity to rethink the way we work together 

conferences 

to build new technologies that will allow us to work more sustainably. 

and 

world as we know it is coming apart at the seams, but Helen Mountford 

e 

the World Resources Institute thinks investment in clean technology and 


could help put it back together again. “We have a great 


opportunity now to transition more quickly. 

is is a moment when we can 

measures to help boost the economy, create jobs, and build 

implement 

resilience.” 170 

climate 

opinion piece in MarketWatch, concerned with the state of 

An 

suggests that renewable energy companies will come out on top 

investments, 

as a result of this crisis: 

in these dark early days, it’s possible to make out what could be a 

Even 

lining: e crisis points to the potential of a new normal that’s 

silver 

for our climate future as investors reweight their portfolios in 

better 

of current events. e virus has already given us a sneak peek into 

light 

dependencies on energy prices and the transition to a low-carbon 

our 

a kind of stress test. e virtual freezing of air travel and 

future, 

of factories has dramatically reduced air pollution in China 

shutdowns 

Italy, and will likely result in a signi cant drop in energy demand 

and 

thus, carbon emissions, at least for a time. 

and, 

perhaps a more durable trend: Amid the wrenching market falls of 

But 

days, which were also in uenced by Saudi Arabia’s move to ood 

recent 

world with cheap oil, we’ve seen that the renewable energy sector 


other companies less reliant on fossil fuels have been relatively 

and 

by investors. 171 

favored 

the collapse in oil demand triggered by the coronavirus was no 

“While 

exceptionally steep, the level it’s reached today is about where it will 

doubt 

to return to within a decade or so to avoid dangerous warming,” Inside 

need 

News would write in April 2020. “At this point, what the industry is 

Climate 

is simple math. No matter how quickly the global economy recovers, 

facing 

back oil demand with it, the world’s thirst for oil has to diminish 

bringing 

if countries are to limit warming in line with the Paris Agreement, to 

quickly 

than 2 degrees Celsius this century above pre-industrial levels.” 172 

less 

In other words, move on.

usiness and community leaders have a chance to make a real 

Political, 

for a more secure future. Tribal leaders have the same 

transition 

Here are some suggestions: Victory gardens would be the way 

opportunity. 

go. In 1943, nearly 40% of all fruits and vegetables grown in the US were 

to 

grown in victory gardens. 

ere were gardens planted in backyards and 

lots, and schools grew gardens for their lunch programs. Even 

empty 

Roosevelt took part by planting her own victory garden at the White 

Eleanor 

in 1943. Melania Trump could demonstrate her gardening skills and 

House 

wear. Rowen White, the Seed Saver, calls them resilience gardens, or 

garden 

sovereign seed gardens. Maybe we could call them resilience and 

maybe 

gardens. Now’s a good time to start those seeds. 

hope 

could decouple our relationship to big oil and big energy. I know that 

We 

have long been wedded to that economy, but with massive layo s in the 

we 

Range and the potential for Enbridge to inundate our state with 4200 

Iron 

out-of-state workers (according to the environmental impact 

mostly 

statement; we need a better plan. 

ink of it this way: Enbridge uses more 

energy to pump that sludge than any other consumer in Minnesota. 

at’s 

absurd. 

e main line uses the equivalent of two nuclear power plants worth 

energy to move that dirty stu . Now that seems like an ass-backwards 


Minnesota. ere are over 10,000 people laid o in the tar sands. 

plan, 

of those jobs as like the Nazis running the gas chambers in World 

ink 

II; Suncor is the gas chamber. Now is the time to create a real economy 

War 

Minnesota, not an economy intended to prop up a set of Canadian 

in 

in an era of ecological and economic disasters. In fact, it’s an 

multinationals 

opportunity for Canada to birth a new economy. 

at’s an economy where 

and regeneration are at its heart. 

reconciliation 

time to not be strapped to the vagaries of the fossil fuel market. 

It’s 

Walz can be, and must be, more visionary. We need a Green New 

Governor 

in Minnesota, we need a chance at Mino Bimaatisiiwin, the good life, 

Deal 

the Anishinaabeg again. We can taste her in a spring run of sap. 


we need to work on a better future. It’s a shame that while wind 

Together, 

solar are two of the fastest growing industries, most of that production 

and 

overseas, with parts coming into the port at Duluth. It’s the same with 

is 

textiles, equipment, you name it. Time to re-localize and reindustrialize 

medicines, 

in a way that makes sense. Now would be the time for a 

massive Green New Deal, sort of like an enlightened stimulus package.

might call it the 8th Fire, or maybe the Sitting Bull Plan. Now is the 

We 

for our tribal leaders to be visionary and courageous. e stimulus 

time 

can reboot the old economy, or we can take the opportunity to move 

money 

the next economy, the green one. How about better jobs? Like the 

towards 

that don’t require foreign oil and the ones that build local economies 

ones 

manufacturing. Now, in the quiet of quarantine, is the time to dream big 

and 

and begin to plant those seeds. Let them be organic and bee friendly. 

at’s 

my hope and plan.

Part 5 

Eighth Fire

Turning on a Dime 

I once sat, jiigibiig, on the shore of the harbor in Sitka, Alaska. 

at is for 

one of my favorite haunts in the world: an island in Alaska, a peninsula, 

sure 

amazing beauty, grace and Tlingits. From the shore, I watched as eagles 


in by the dozens to sh for salmon, returning for their spawning; bears 

ew 

the mountains, coming to dine. e town is interesting and quaint, in a 

in 

of speaking, full of Tlingit, Russian Orthodox architecture and 

manner 

vessels. And then there’s the water and the land. Breathtaking. 

shing 

I watched in wonder, a very large cruise ship came into view to my le 

As 

vision. Startled, and amazed by the sheer size and how abruptly it 

peripheral 

my idyllic view, I watched that ship, riveted by its course and 

changed 

how it would maneuver. en, the miracle occurred. e ship 

wondering 

a 180-degree turn, on a dime. Or maybe on a quarter; as a er it 

completed 

was a cruise ship. e point was that the ship changed course and 

all 

reversed. 

is what we must do. Really, at some level, this predatory, extractive 

at 

must do that. And, it can be done. Ecologically is what I am 

economy 

about; it’s also essential that the national political thinking, the 

speaking 

in health care, education, compassion and ethics, also change. It’s 

trends 

the Green New Deal or Canada’s agenda. e next economy is, 

beyond 

er all, about survival, not conquest. It’s also about cooperation not 

a 

It’s restoring balance and relationships. 

competition. 

about folly, potential and promise: the North Dakota case study. It’s 

Here’s 

a Canadian case study. e northern plains is a windy, cold, sunny place 

also 

which once was full of life — tremendous biodiversity. 

at could return. 

at it this way: North Dakota is one of the windiest states in the country, 

Look 

electrical generation is tied heavily to coal. Basin Electric controls some 

yet 

aging coal generators in Beulah and pushes that coal into rural 

enormous 

cooperatives throughout the region. In the meantime, the Pick Sloan 

electric 

projects, which have devastated Lakota Mandan, Arikara, Hidatsa and 

Dam 

Territories, could “ rm” the power base for wind and solar — two 

Dakota

esources of the territory. ose are intermittent power; this is rm 

big 

when it’s behind a dam. Dams are basically a big battery and that’s 

power 

you need to even out the solar and wind combination. So, as we look 

what 

where we might go, in reverse, moving from the 50-year-old coal 

towards 

stations in Beulah to wind and solar would be revolutionary, and 

generation 

North Dakota at the lead of an energy future, not hanging on to the 

put 

of the fossil fuel age. If there was more vision North Dakota could 

remnants 

power something like the solutionary rail, the regional railroads, with 

even 

those renewables. Now that’s revolutionary. 

Shine a Little Light 

North Dakota continues to frack its way into history, the Lakota are 

While 

deals with the Creator for a better future. e rst solar farm in 

making 

Dakota went up in 2019, in Cannon Ball on the Standing Rock 

North 

Born from the ashes of the Dakota Access Pipeline Battle, 

Reservation. 

Energy Solar Farm shows us all what the future looks like. 

Indigenized 

village of Cannon Ball is where the price of electricity to tribal 

e 

is at 13 cents a kilowatt hour, the highest in the state, except for the 

members 

Mountain Reservation, which also has this dubious honor of 

Turtle 

expensive electricity. 

ree years a er the siege at Standing Rock, many 

of the siege returned, this time to celebrate a victory. Actors Mark 

veterans 

alo ( e Avengers) and Shailene Woodley (Big Little Lies) and Rep. Tulsi 

Ru 

(D-Hawaii) all came to Standing Rock, this time to join the Lakota 

Gabbard 

celebrating sovereign energy. e CannonBall Community Solar Farm 

in 

300 kilowatts into the grid. It’s estimated the solar farm will save the 

adds 

$7,000 to $10,000 annually in energy costs. is money will go 

community 

back into the community, Hayes Baynard, the 

of GivePower, explains. 

are one of the non-pro ts that is partnering on the project and invested 

ey 

in it. e farm’s total cost was $470,000. 1 at’s just the beginning 

$370,000 

energy sovereignty at Standing Rock. Cody Two Bears, of Indigenized 


and former Standing Rock tribal council member, talks about that 

Energy 

“It’s one thing to protest about it, to talk about it, but now we got to 

vision. 

about it.” be 

solar farm connected to the grid in February 2019 and went live in 

e 

powering the CannonBall Youth Center and the Veterans Memorial 

August, 

Building where thousands of veterans 2 who came as Water Protectors stayed

2016. Meanwhile, the state of North Dakota boasts no utility-scale solar 

in 

continues with immense, unrealized wind potential. Leadership comes 

and 

from Native people. 

at’s my observation North Dakota. 

Energy Security 

more than just post–fossil fuels economics. It’s about the future of 

It’s 

cation in this country. ink of it this way. In the summer of 2019, 

electri 

Paci c Gas and Electric ( 

), northern California’s largest northern utility, 

blacked out the power to over a million homes. 

at’s because of forest res. 

res, including the deadly Paradise Fire (killing 82) were caused by 

ose 

lines. As res raged, fanned by climate change and poor 

faulty 

there were still lights on at the Blue Lake Rancheria, a Wiyot, 

infrastructure, 

and Hupa village near Eureka California with a megawatt of solar and 

Yurok 

battery backup system. 

a 

a climate action plan in 2008 the tribe mobilized every resource 

Adopting 

its disposal to advance a leading-edge strategy for eliminating its carbon 

at 

while bolstering climate resiliency. To date, the tribe has reduced 

footprint 

consumption by 35% and reduced greenhouse gas emissions 40%, 

energy 

biodiesel to power public buses and aggressive energy e ciency 

utilizing 

Back in the Obama administration, Blue Lake was recognized as 

measures. 

of 16 communities designated as White House Climate Action 

one 

Champions. 3 

point was, the grid went down, and the tribe still had solar. Now, 

e 

wrong with that? at’s the covenant, the deal which is made with 

what’s 

generations, a deal with the Creator, not the Devil. Change comes; it’s 

future 

question of who controls the change. 

a 

up there in Canada, things are, frankly quite puzzling. 

Meanwhile, 

is just north of North Dakota: go to Minot and take a right, 

Saskatchewan 

that’s what I say. 

en you nd Estevan. So, in the “darndest things you see” 

Estevan, Saskatchewan is the sunniest city year round in Canada. 

category: 

that says a lot for Canada, being northern and all. Instead of a solar 

Now 

facility in Estevan, they have a big stinky old coal plant. All told, 

power 

Power (the owner) produces about 16.8 million tons of 

Saskatchewan 

gases annually from their plants. 4 And that’s a problem. 

greenhouse 

fact, Saskatchewan Power was so upset about this carbon problem — 

In 

the stu that makes climate change and 90-degree temperatures in May,

droughts and res — that they decided to install an experimental 

lightning, 

sequestration project for $1.5 billion. In the fall of 2014, the $1.5- 

carbon 

Boundary Dam power station became the rst power station in the 

billion 

to install carbon capture and storage technology on a commercial 

world 

5 It turned out the system didn’t work well — no matter — and now it’s 

scale. 

a “colossal failure.” It’s also a bit like putting lipstick on a pig. It’s 

considered 

an old coal plant. Not to state the obvious, but the way you cut your 

still 

emissions is to put up solar in a sunny place. Smarter folks are not 

carbon 

there. 

the world is changing. In the spring of 2018, New York state 

Elsewhere, 

$1.4 billion and did the opposite with it. New York put up 26 renewable 

took 

projects, mostly solar. Governor Cuomo’s o ce says the projects will 

energy 

more than 430,000 homes and reduce carbon emissions by 1.6 

power 

metric tons. 6 at’s de nitely two di erent approaches. (Just to push 

million 

a bit further, Saskatchewan only has 1.3 million people so they could have 

it 

powered almost a third of the province on that investment). 

technically 

not the sunniest place in the US, New York decided to make a move 

Albeit 

the next energy economy. My thinking is that Canada has no idea how to 

to 

spend money. 

Peace with Earth 

solutions are actually pretty simple. Waste less, be thoughtful, get local, 

e 

act like the world’s on re, because it is. It’s not only energy systems 

and 

need to be transformed, it’s materials, economic systems, agriculture, 

which 

and energy systems. And, while much has changed for the worse, 

health 

some are changing back for the better. 

slowly, 

this, 150 years ago, the northern plains was a hub of biodiversity 

Consider 

whether those 250 species of grass that once were the prairies or all those 

— 

alo wallows full of life and more diversity. en there was all the corn, 

bu 

squash and 100 plus varieties of vegetables raised by the Métis 

beans, 

of the Red River valley. at’s when America was great, I say. 

farmers 

growing more local and organic food will decrease fossil fuel 

Honestly, 

and the cancer rates that plague our communities. A er all, I 

consumption 

can’t really see how using a bunch of stu that ends with the su 

x “cide,” 

herbicide, fungicide, pesticide (having the same meaning as suicide, 

like 

and genocide) makes any sense whatsoever. 

homicide

think making these two changes — moving towards renewables and 

I 

— is doable. How do we start? 

organics 

into many local greenhouses — Menards, Fleet Farm, Ace 

Walking 

or a whole bunch of other stores — in the spring should be pretty 

Hardware 

with spring planting and all, but I am o en overwhelmed by the 

joyful, 

in the stores. I can hardly imagine how those strong chemical 

chemicals 

a ect the employees who breath them in eight hours a day. My toast: 

smells 

start by not spraying our lawns. A er all, America spends more on 

Let’s 

lawn care than the entire 

of Haiti. 7 Maybe buy plant starts that are not 

bee-killing soils (noenicitinoid) and use a few less cides in our food 

in 

And grow some hemp. Hemp bioremediates, sequesters carbon, and 

system. 

turns out is a friend of the bees. A 2019 study presented by UC student 

it 

O’Brien at an entomology conference found that 23 di erent bee 

Colton 

living in Colorado had been caught in traps placed in a hemp eld 

species 

a one-month period in August. As one journal reported, O’Brien 

during 

the project because of a simple re ection; “You walk through the 

started 

and you hear buzzing everywhere.” In his paper, “What’s with all the 

elds 

O’Brien contends that he performed his experiment at two hemp 

buzzing?” 

in northern Colorado, where hemp tends to ower between late July 

farms 

late September. 

and 

owering happens a er other species of plants have completed their 

Hemp 

cycle, which can ultimately lead to a shortage of nutritional 

blooming 

sources for bees during these months. According to the paper, 

pollination 

becomes a valuable pollen source for foraging bees, giving it the 

“hemp 

to have a strong ecological value.” O’Brien also contends that 

potential 

pesticide control policies in hemp production is vital, as much for 

increased 

quality of the hemp and related products as for preserving the health of 


bees. 8 the 

corporations see the light: Costco is one of the largest North 

Some 

big box stores, and they led the mass move towards organics. 

American 

ey eclipsed Whole Foods in scale, and then, in turn, were eclipsed by 

( 

Maybe Costco’s leadership here can transform more big stores. 

Walmart). 

market changes are only a part of the solution, the consumer 

While 

is a huge economic sector and, if transformed, can change 

economy 

economy, toxics and more. 

materials, 

Nationwide, an organization called Moms Across America began pushing

to move away from Roundup. Moms Across America founder Zen 

Costco 

mobilized the organization and pushed hard petitioning Costco 

Honeycutt 

stop selling Roundup. eir next targets: Home Depot and Lowes. eir 

to 

“We call on Home Depot and Lowe’s today to step up as Costco has 

petition: 

protect us, your customers, and stop selling Roundup (and all glyphosate 

to 

now, due to its carcinogenic e ects and lack of labeling.” 9 e 

herbicides) 

Health Organization has repeatedly called glyphosate a “probable 

World 

carcinogen.” Glyphosate has been linked to an increased risk of non- 

human 

Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma. 

e decision was also likely 

by the landmark Dewayne Johnson lawsuit in which a terminally ill 

swayed 

was awarded $289 million a er falling ill due to years of 

groundskeeper 

use. 10 Dumb stu , bad decisions, corporate fog and really time to 

Roundup 

on. Hopefully, Walmart, Lowes and Home Depot will see the writing 

move 

the wall. on 

nal thought. 

One 

ese days, I’m thinking the world looks like two kinds 

people to me: problem makers and problem solvers. I have raised many 


and this year I realized that my hope is to raise problem solvers. 

children, 

enjoy life. Let’s be self-re ective, appreciative — and take action. 

And 

put: solve problems. Or maybe I’d just say, “Let us put our minds 

Simply 

to see what kind of future we can make for our children.” Oh, that’s 

together 

Sitting Bull already said that. 

right, 

saw a cruise ship make a 180 on a quarter. I feel like North Dakota and 

I 

could be leaders, not the last of the ecological T-Rexes. We’ll 

Saskatchewan 

be right there with you, gwekegaabodaa … Let’s turn while standing.

Really Finland, Must You? 

2018, Finland was ranked the happiest country in the world, according to 

In 

UN’s World Happiness Report. 11 is ranking is added to a long list of 


-ests for the country. It has also been ranked the most stable, the safest 


best governed country in the world. 12 It is also among the least corrupt 

and 

the most socially progressive. Its police are the world’s most trusted and 

and 

banks the soundest. 13 at’s the word from the United Nations. 

its 

I am really impressed. 

Wow. 

country Denmark seems to even take note. Happiness 

Neighboring 

Research Institute director Meik Wiking of Denmark told the media, “ 

at 

Finland is the top scorer is remarkable. 

per capita in Finland is lower 

its neighboring Nordic countries and is much lower than that of the 

than 

e Finns are good at converting wealth into well-being.” 14 Money, it 

US. 

out does not buy you love … nor happiness. 

turns 

to you Finland, but drats to me. Problem is that my deputy 

Congrats 

is in Finland. And I would really like her back. 

director 

deputy director, you might ask me? at’s for Honor the Earth, the 

A 

organization that has just put up a solar thermal 

Indigenous-led 

facility on the reservation — while also ghting the biggest 

manufacturing 

oil pipeline company in the world: Enbridge. 

at’s the Canadian company 

wants eminent domain over US lands for their pipeline route while they 

that 

one of six old pipelines they already have … leaving the mess to us. 

abandon 

takes a lot of work to be the little guys who ght the big guys. And I have 

It 

deputy director. She has a couple of master’s degrees in environment and 

a 

engineering, to start. 

ink of her as a super wife, all you guys out there. She 

by me, outsmarts me, manages my little chaotic stu and helps me 

stands 

towards the vision provided to me. We’re not a “nuclear family.” We are 

work 

Protectors and we want a really nice, happy, clean and healthy world 


Northern Minnesota, Anishinaabe Akiing. at’s the land to which we 

in 

belong. 

Nicolette can’t be my wife, because she already has a wife. 

Now, 

at wife is

Finnish citizen. So, how can I convince a nice Finnish girl to move to the 

a 

A er all, we have a president here who is dodging litigation for sexual 

US? 

deporting good people who live here with their families and 

assault, 

contaminating our ground and surface water. Oh and red his 

unabashedly 

secretary of state, the former 

of Exxon, by twitter. It’s sort of like having 

bratty 13-year-old boy as president. Except it’s the US, and 7000 children 

a 

been killed by guns since the Sandy Hook School shooting in 2012. 15 

have 

those guns, including assault ri es, are still legal, with all sorts of 

And 

o cials” supporting those guns. Yikes. Incidentally, the US ranks 

“elected 

on the happiest country list. 

18th 

how am I going to do this now? Finland is putting up some pretty good 

So, 

and I wonder how I am going to get my Finnish deputy director and 

ideas 

wife back to this side of the big pond. “In the Nordic countries … we pay 

her 

of the highest taxes in the world, but there is wide public support for 

some 

because people see them as investments in quality of life for all. Free 

that 

care and university education go a long way when it comes to 

health 

In the Nordic countries, Bernie Sanders is not viewed as 

happiness. 

progressive — he is just common sense,” Meik Wikin added. 16 

e country 

voted to divest themselves of coal investments, 17 and adopted a Nordic 

also 

food manifesto that is all local, organic and great. 18 Well, good for you 

new 

Finland. 

it turns out, I just moved to the most Finnish part of Minnesota, maybe. 

As 

of Wolf Lake, and just north of the Amish, my neighbors are Niemis, 

North 

Iliniemi and such, all nice Finnish farming families. We live near 

Pijalaha, 

towns of Finnish people who adopted our place names, Menahga, 

those 

the blueberries are (Miinikaag), and Sebeka, at the river (Sibikaag). 

where 

going to try to use this location as a ploy to get the Finns to move over — 

I’m 

point out how people can get along. 

and 

me luck. And while I start pleading, we can look at getting happy over 

Wish 

We call it Mino Bimaatisiiwin. e good life. We, over here in 

here. 

Akiing, had this idea down … well a few thousand years ago or 

Anishinaabe 

I feel like being happy is a great thing, and I’m all for it. Clean water, nice 

so. 

economy, good food, treat each other well, don’t shoot children, be 

local 

and secure. Cheers to you Finland … hope your saunas and 

healthy 

are doing you well. 

salamakki 

is here in Anishinaabe Akiing, and you should come visit. We have 

Springs

which comes from trees, and you can drink the water from our 

sugar 

springs.

of Native Lands, Railroad Rights of Way and 

Takings 

Justice 

The New Iron Horse 

am a big fan of trains. I would like a train that arrives at a reasonable time, 

I 

2 a.m. or 3 a.m. On time, reliable and a real system. Like many others, I’d 

not 

thrilled to take a train to Minneapolis, Winnipeg or Bismarck from the 

be 

Earth Reservation. A er all, the Soo Line passes straight though here 

White 

Canada. I could take a train to Winnipeg for the night and come home 

to 

next day. What an idea. 


used to be a real passenger system in the north country, called the 

ere 

Goose, that delivered cottagers to their “station wagons” and then 

Galloping 

lake homes for the summer. It delivered people across the north to visit 

to 

And it was pleasant. To be honest, driving is highly overrated. 

relatives. 

Dakota and the Burlington Northern Routes need to be upgraded, 

North 

for sure. And trains are e cient; metal on metal causes less friction 

that’s 

rubber on the road. 

than 

rest of the world has trains. Really good trains. 

e 

e Orient Express, the 

of Europe, the Alps … they’re all legendary and epic. We could and 

trains 

evolve a train system which is epic. Inasmuch as the transcontinental 

should 

colonized America and destroyed the bu alo herds, we could use this 

rail 

Horse as the engine to transform the transportation economy. 

Iron 

e railroads secured many of their rights of way through tribal lands. 

General Allotment Act of 1887 led to a surge of white ownership on 

e 

that had previously been under treaties, creating a checkerboard 

lands 

pattern that persists to this day. 

rough changes in laws the Secretary 

the Interior gained increasing power to grant easements across tribal 


Railroad rights-of-way were the earliest. Laws passed in 1934 and 

lands. 

began to restore tribal rights, and now tribal permission is 

1948 

for new rights-of-way, but many older easements remain 

required 

because they were granted in perpetuity. 19

Trains 

Toxic 

the railroad caused heartache, and faulty tracks have brought us 

Building 

Rail 

Solutionary 

diesel engines, 30–35% of the energy in the fuel makes it to the wheels. 

With 

the rail lines down without consultation or concern was 

Putting 

renegotiating these right of ways is justice. 

colonization; 

more heartache, but the good thing about the train system is that it can 

even 

a lot of things very cheaply. It’s the most e cient way to move 

move 

and it’s also a multi-purpose infrastructure. In other words, 

anything, 

pretty much just move oil, whereas trains, well, they move 

pipelines 

But at some point, as we move towards a healthier society, we 

everything. 

question what we put on trains. Sadly, most of what moves on the 

should 

now seems pretty toxic. I call the coal trains coming from the Powder 

trains 

Basin to deliver coal to aging Minnesota coal plants the Climate 

River 

Express. And, there’s fracked oil, which reminds us of the Casselton 

Change 

Lac-Mégantic disasters, plus countless trains of toxins — fertilizer and 

and 

lot, including a lot of toxic stu used in industry. Take chlorine gas as an 


example: 

Greenpeace report released in 2016 found that 86 plants across the 

A 

States use chlorine gas to produce bleach and repackage it for resale 

United 

in smaller containers. Chlorine is a lethal toxin. 

e report estimated that 

in ve Americans — nearly 64 million people — live in “vulnerability 

one 

that are “in danger of a potential worst-case release of chlorine gas” 

zones” 

one of the 86 plants. It did not provide gures on the number of people 

from 

live near rail lines that carry the gas. Used for sewage treatment plants 

who 

drinking water, the stu could de nitely kill you. In one scenario, the 

and 

notes, a rail car gone wrong could kill 17,000 people and hospitalize 

report 

e point is that there are alternatives, and as we envision a 

100,000. 

future, let’s move towards e cient rails, but also a healthier freight 

healthier 

20 load. 

trains should move safe stu , and they should do so with an 

Basically, 

electric system. What I’d like is a safe electric train system. 

electricity directly from an overhead power line means 95% of the 

Supplying 

taken from the power grid is employed by the wheels. at saves 

electricity

and energy and that’s smart. No more than 5% is lost through the 

money 

transformer and overhead wires. 21 

engine 

electricity serves nearly a quarter of railroad track miles and 

“Worldwide, 

over one-third of the energy that powers trains.” 22 China has 70% of 

supplies 

country’s lines electri ed 23 ; Italy, 71%; Switzerland, 100%. 24 But in the 


under 1% of tracks are electri ed. 25 e US, according to writer James 

US, 

“has a train system which would be an embarrassment to 

Kunstler, 26 at’s a low blow. No time like the present to change that. 

Bulgaria.” 

And people are thinking about changing it. 

e people behind the 

Campaign came up with the idea of the Solutionary Rail to tackle 

Backbone 

infrastructure issues. 27 Frankly, not many people are interested in 

American 

infrastructure; it’s not as 

ashy as football, advertising or television. But 

people have to think about how stu is gonna work, now and in the 

some 

And, we need to do that with a lot less fossil fuels. 

future. 

are a unifying system; that makes sense, and railroads can lead a 

Railroads 

to a clean economy. “Unlike other heavy, long-haul transportation 

transition 

such as ships, planes, and semitrucks, trains can be easily electri ed, 

vehicles 

electricity is increasingly coming from clean sources such as sun and 

and 

wind. Rail is already the most e 

cient form of ground transportation, and it 

an unparalleled capacity to provide clean freight and passenger 

has 28 mobility.” 

the Solutionary Rail plan, electri cation would be accomplished in 

Under 

with track modernization. Solutionary Rail proposes to not 

conjunction 

electrify the rail lines, but also to put renewable energy transmission 

only 

along these same powerlines. 

access 

e proposal also includes running power transmission lines through the 

“ 

corridors. It’s not easy to get the rights-of-way needed to build new long- 

rail 

high-capacity transmission lines.” 29 Renewable energy, coming out 

distance, 

windy states like North Dakota and Montana, is stranded power right 


we need to get it on the grid. Take the Fort Berthold Reservation; 

now; 

to the 2005 Intertribal Council on Utility Policy, that tribe had up 

according 

to 17,000 times more wind energy than they could ever use. 

at’s the mark 

an export economy, one which is environmentally and economically 


over the long haul. Solutionary Rail proposes to use rail corridors to 

sound 

that power along with electric trains. In a new economy rails will be 

move 

infrastructure. Rail moves things and people. And in this case can 

essential

move energy. 

also 

to Solutionary Rail: 

According 

Netherlands rail network already draws half its energy from wind. 

e 

country has committed to 100% wind-powered rail by 2018. 

at 

runs its rail network 5% on windpower, and has covered a twomile 

Belgium 

canopy on the Amsterdam-Paris highspeed line with 16,000 solar 

that power the line. Canada is exploring a Toronto–Montreal 

panels 

line running at speeds exceeding 100mph and propelled by 

passenger 

hydropower. Renewable power for transportation will address 

Quebec 

of the greatest challenges in reducing carbon emissions, replacing 

one 

liquid transportation fuels. Transportation is the 

petroleum-based 

of 27% of US climate-altering greenhouse gas ( ) emissions. 

source 

National Academy of Sciences notes that 86% of U.S transportation 

e 

on oil-based fuels. Oil replacement is the greatest challenge in 

runs 

shi ing to a fully renewable energy supply. 30 

are important for our future, and visionary leadership will transform 

Rails 

transportation system that produces most of the carbon dioxide emissions 

a 

in the US to something more e 

cient and safe. Along the Northern 

especially in Great Plains states where barging is not an option, 

Corridor, 

rail service is essential, and Native communities that have been 

good 

by the rail system need to have access for people and for 

crisscrossed 

at’s what a visionary future looks like. We really need a train 

products. 

that serves people and the future. Working together, we can make a 

system 

energy economy in our region. In fact, a new green economy. at’s the 

new 

one that will make sense in the future.

done my rst haul in the sugar bush, and tasted my rst maple sugar of 

I’ve 

year, anishinaabe-ziinzibaakwa, Indian Sugar. e Ojibwe calendar has 


begun. 

the time when the people of the north country head noopeming, into 

It’s 

woods, and haul the magic maple sap from the trees. Today, I walked a 


bush in the midst of my homeland. is maple stand probably could 

sugar 

a thousand taps, and that is how my ancestors would work — large 

have 

families laughing, strong bodies, observant. Social times, feasts, 

extended 

witness to is a hundred years of forest management. 

am 

is the magic time in the woods. Quiet, no combustion engine, 

It 

the Hard Crusted Snow moon, the sound of my boots in 

Onaabaanigiizis, 

woods, awakening. 


slaves, no plantations, just sugar. And there were a lot of Sugar Mammas 

No 

Daddies … back then. 

and 

was then and this is now. As of 2019, the so called Quebec Maple 

at 

Cartel produces some 72% of the world’s maple syrup. at’s a strong 

Syrup 

hold. And, they have been hoarding it, making sure the price is good 

market 

their 11,300 producers. 32 Frankly, they’ve been playing hard ball against 

for 

this crack was a massive one. It was the single largest commodities 

And 

in Canadian history. In a 12-month period, in 2011–2012, barrels 

heist 

over 3000 tons of maple syrup were stolen. at was about $18.7 

containing 

worth. Richard Vallières, then in his late 30s, faced the most serious 

million 

How Sweet It Is 

dances, ceremonies and good work. 

ese ancestors watched and selectively 

cut the forest. 

ey made sure that the maple trees would ourish. What I 

people keep an ecosystem intact for ve hundred years. Not bad 

Amazing 

term planning. And it works out. In 1865 alone, the Keweenaw Bay 

long 

on Lake Superior sold 453,252 pounds of maple sugar. 31 Just imagine 

village 

e Anishinaabe sugar empire, if we are to call it that, was appreciated. 

that. 

American producers. 

e cartel, however, is facing some cracks. 

charges, the , fraud and tra cking. Étienne St-Pierre, in his 70s, was

with fraud and tra cking. Two others were charged with possession 

charged 

stolen syrup. Convicted in 2017, the men received a variety of sentences, 


Vallières facing the worst punishment: eight years in jail and a $9.4- 

with 

ne. 33 is is serious stu . 

million 

are some big guns, to be sure. One of the largest Canadian producers 

ese 

the sap from 45,000 trees, and hopes to get to 75,000 trees. Others are 

sucks 

smaller, but the business seems ironically ruthless. 

much 

Bloomberg Business News reported in 2016, “A er eight years of tightly 

As 

output to keep prices high, the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup 

limiting 

next year will boost its quota by 12 percent…. e goal is twofold: 

Producers 

the 10 percent of market share lost to the US over the last decade, 

Reclaim 

quell a rebellion by producers increasingly turning to black market sales 

and 

a er they refused to sell their surplus through the cartel (I mean, 

harvest 

instead choosing to sell directly to retailers. 35 

federation), 

Quebec, which produces 91% of Canadian maple syrup, produced 

Overall, 

million pounds of maple syrup, contributing (CA)$800 million to 

159 

. ( ink about Keewenaw Bay with 463,000 pounds of sugar!) 

Canada’s 

the new quotas, output could grow by 15 million pounds, according 

Under 

the federation. New technologies include long lines of hoses, pumps and 

to 

some plantation like trees, topped o with taps four feet o the 

even 

not sound like the harvests of our ancestors; it sounds a lot more like 

does 

as slaves. 

trees 

the White Earth Reservation and in northwestern Minnesota. 

on 

year, as I went to pick up some taps at my local Farm Fleet in Park 

is 

I was pleased to hear that they had run out of taps and have already 

Rapids, 

Brainerd’s Fleet had no equipment le . People are moving back to 

reordered. 

may not give that Canadian maple syrup a big run for its money yet, 

We 

I think that’s just ne. To me, the maple syrup harvest is — like the wild 

but 

growth.” 34 Serious stu : that black market for maple syrup. 

for 

January 2018, the Quebec police seized a young couple’s maple syrup 

In 

ground. 36 

ese are di erent times, for sure; and a maple syrup plantation 

So back to the north woods here. 

e cutting of 75 million acres of our 

Anishinaabe Territory has le little of the maple basswood forest. 

e 

remnant forest is powerful. 

e mother lode of the Minnesota forest is here 

the woods. 

at trend has continued. 

rice harvest — to be savored. And, it’s nice to know that more people are

our woods. I am going to pretend I can rest on some production 

savoring 

of those Ojibwe of old, and not push it. For me, the sweetness, 

laurels 

is not in the price, or the plantation, but in savoring the gi given 

however, 

us by the Creator. 

to 

say that the ininitag, the maple tree, is called as such because the sap 

ey 

drink is the nourishment o ered by our ancestors. We are fortunate that 

we 

they thought of us, always.

The Renaissance of Cannabis 

It’s 20 years since Alex White Plume planted his 

rst hemp crop on 

Knee Creek, here on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Spring’s come 

Wounded 

er a winter buried in epic snowstorms, and the grass is greener than ever. 

a 

time to plant. 

It’s 

2019, the Oglala Lakota revisited a plan to grow hemp. Hemp has been a 

In 

long-standing interest of the Nation. 

at’s because it’s an incredibly 

plant. It was also acknowledged in their 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. 37 

versatile 

plant is important. Today, a 1998 Tribal Council industrial hemp 

e 

remains intact, but there’s been a lot of litigation over the past 20 

ordinance 

years. 

2019, the passage of the US Farm Bill legalized hemp nationally, and the 

In 

are today reviewing a new hemp ordinance. e people are ready. 

Oglalas 

And, nationally the industry may be ready — as 

varietals, seed and ber 

ourish. What’s clear is that the Oglalas have paid ahead for their 

hemp 

in the hemp industry, and most of the world wants to see them 

place 

succeed. 

is except for South Dakota, but that’s hardly surprising, considering 

at 

amount of political, regulatory and legal work the state has undertaken 


the past century to undermine the Lakota people. In mid-March of 2019, 

for 

Governor Kristi Noem vetoed industrial hemp production in the state. 

at 

a er the bill had passed through the South Dakota legislature. As the 

was 

prepare to move ahead, it’s clear the state and the Oglala Nation will 

Oglalas 

be in con ict. 

at’s no surprise. 

the meantime, Wyoming’s governor signed the rst state-level hemp 

In 38 under the 2018 US Farm Bill. 39 Wyoming Rep. Bunky Loucks 

law 

sponsored the legislation. 

e Republican representative had a message for 

Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem: “Tell her I hope she vetoes it, because that 

South 

be good for Wyoming” 40 e bill passed the Wyoming House 60-0, 

would 

Senate 26-3-1, and then the House again 56-3-1 a er being amended in 


Senate. 41 


Be Free 


Ridge has its own time zone, economy and world. 

Pine 

mid-June of 2019, I was able to visit with the Oglala Tribal Council in a 

In 

at the under Valley Community Development Corporation. 

meeting 

fever is fragrant in the air. Individual farmers want to grow hemp — 

Spring 

a rancher with 50,000 acres on the reservation. ere is good land 

including 

hemp on the reservation and it’s clear there are many national and 

for 

businesses keen on working with the Lakota to create more 

international 

and other enterprises on the reservation. 

at’s my 

On Pine Ridge, the vast landscape, the endless sky, the horse 

observation. 

and the people remind us of freedom. You can breathe it in. 

nation 

grows well in Oglala Territory. Just ask Alex White Plume, whose 

Hemp 

was seized by the . Between 2000 and 2002, federal drug agents 

eld 

raided his farm and destroyed his ber hemp. 

at was before he could 

it for seed. e then secured a court order prohibiting him from 

harvest 

hemp. White Plume couldn’t touch the plant. 

growing 

8th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the action. e eight 

e 

charges resulted in a long and expensive court battle for the White 

federal 

family. In March of 2016, Federal Judge Je rey Viken li ed the 

Plume 

that had stopped Alex White Plume from growing hemp on his 

injunction 

by Wounded Knee Creek. Alex produced his rst crop again in 2017. 

land 

past year, the ban on White Plume’s hemp farming ended. “For 

is 

years, I’ve been on the sidelines, while people are becoming 

seventeen 

he told me. In other words, the Oglalas, who were planting 

millionaires,” 

decades ago, are watching a non-Native cannabis market grow 

two 

exponentially. 

times are changing. 

e 

with the seizure of the crop, the 

Ironically, 

essentially reseeded much 

Alex’s land with hemp seed. ey don’t call it weed for nothing. e plant 


to grow. In other words, Oglala Territory is hemp territory. 

loves 

potential of building a set of value-added businesses with hemp on the 

e 

is great; from local growers, a cooperative, to local processing of 

reservation 

hurd and ber products. at’s all a part of the original dream of Alex 

s, 

Plume. We call him the Hemperer. “ e plant takes in bad air and 

White 

breathes out fresh air. It’s mold free,” he tells me.

to Be Shared 

Lessons 

from the Oglalas is an opportunity for all of us. As Phillip White 

Learning 

e dreams of White Plume Hemp 

include a hemp industrial park full 

diversi ed local hemp businesses and processing centers for tribal 


at vision, Alex explains, includes dehulling hemp seeds (that’s for 

growers. 

hemp hearts), extraction of 

s, decorticating and value-added ber and 

production. at model is likely replicable and a rms a local, 

hurd 

economy. Rosebud White Plume, Alex’s daughter, has taken up 

regenerative 

of the hemp work for the family and, like the other young people in 

much 

second generation of this renaissance, looks forward to a much brighter 


future thanks to the hemp revolutionaries of the last decades. 42 

from Northern Cheyenne, explained to me, “the next economy is 

Man, 

cooperation, not competition.” e fact is that hemp needs to be 

about 

widely, to change the economy — whether the medical economy, the 

grown 

economy or the plastics economy — it will take a lot of growers. Let’s 

textile 

absolutely honest, we have to move past fossil fuels, including all those 

be 

Otherwise, we are going to be ghting oil pipelines for the next twenty 

plastics. 

Anything you can make out of plastic, you can make out of hemp. 

years. 

the basics: Pretty much all textiles, except linen, hemp, silk or 

Here’s 

are made from petrochemicals and are non-biodegradable. And if 

cotton, 

clothing being made of non-biodegradable petrochemicals isn’t bad 

your 

studies indicate that the bers in our clothes could be poisoning 

enough, 

waterways and food chain on a massive scale. Micro bers — tiny 

our 

shed from fabric — have been found in abundance on shorelines 

threads 

waste water is released. In a ground-breaking 2011 paper, Mark 

where 

now a senior research associate at the University of New South 

Browne, 

Australia, found that micro bers made up 85% of human-made 

Wales, 

on shorelines around the world. 43 

debris 

recently banned in the US, are a better-known variety of 

Microbeads, 

but recent studies have found micro bers to be even more 

microplastic, 

In a 2016 study, researchers at the University of California at 

pervasive. 

Barbara found that, on average, synthetic eece jackets release 1.7 

Santa 

of micro bers each wash. It also found that older jackets shed almost 

grams 

twice as many bers as new jackets. 44 

e study was funded by outdoor 

clothing manufacturer Patagonia, a certi ed B Corp that also o ers grants

for environmental work. “ 

ese micro bers then travel to your local 

treatment plant, where up to 40% of them enter rivers, lakes and 

wastewater 45 according to ndings published on the researchers’ website. 

oceans,” 

But not just in rivers and lakes. 

ose bers are also bio-accumulating in 

the sh. Sherri Mason, a researcher at 

in New York, cut open Great 

sh and found synthetic bers, everywhere. Under a microscope, they 

Lakes 

to be “weaving themselves into the gastrointestinal tract.” at’s a 

seemed 

disgusting thought. Simply stated, “I don’t want to have eaten sh for 

pretty 

years and then say, ‘Oh, whoops.’” 46 

50 

to that the problems with manufacturing. “Nylon manufacturing 

Add 

nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 310 times more potent than carbon 

creates 

Making polyester uses large amounts of water for cooling, along 

dioxide. 

lubricants which can become a source of contamination. Both 

with 

are also very energy-hungry.” Rayon, made from wood pulp, 

processes 

cool — except that it’s “treated with hazardous chemicals such as 

seems 

soda and sulfuric acid.” 47 

caustic 

Well, that would seem to be the easiest answer, except it’s drinking 

Cotton. 

up our water and getting it contaminated. 

ink about this: half the world’s 

is cotton, about 20 million tons produced annually. It can take more 

clothing 

5283 gallons of water to make a single T-shirt and pair of jeans. 

than 

percent of global cotton harvest comes from irrigated land, 

Seventy-three 

the ground water is getting contaminated. Agriculture, sadly, is the 

and 

source of pollution in most countries; 2.4% of the world’s crop land is 

largest 

with cotton and yet it accounts for 24% and 11% of the global sales 

planted 

insecticide and pesticides respectively. 48 (Minnesota and North Dakota, 


already have widespread aquifer and lake contamination from 

tragically, 

agriculture.) 

industrialized 

at’s an answer. It’s about three times the tensile strength of 

Hemp. 

is mold and UV resistant, uses very little water, pesticides or 

cotton, 

builds soil and until the 1920s was about 80% of the clothing 

fertilizers, 

in the US. 49 Minnesota itself had 11 hemp mills. 50 We can also learn 

made 

creating the next economy. Cannabis as a plant has a magical ability 

about 

only to heal but to replace most petroleum biproducts and a good deal 

not 

clearcutting for paper and lumber industries. Hemp’s tensile strength is 


times that of cotton, approximately 80,000 pounds per square inch, but 

three 

cotton, it requires little or no pesticides. Hemp is still grown for paper 

unlike

Hemp Collaborations 

Intertribal 

2019 Colorado Hemp Expo, the sixth annual, included more 

e 

and hemp paper lasts three times longer than paper made from 

production, 

and does not yellow as it ages. 51 It’s also about how we relate to the 

wood 

plant. “ 

e plant is not a slave,” that’s what our Elders would say. 

ber hemp. en there’s medicinal values and food value. e plant is, 

at’s 

the bu alo, a whole plant. ere’s much to learn. For instance, plants 

like 

females) require a di erent life than ber and seed hemp. And, since 

(all 

plants are all female, they need to live by themselves, sort of like a 

those 

village of women. I think of them as divas. 

ey love to be special. And, 

need to watch for cross contamination, or male plants. One boy can 

growers 

up the whole group. at’s not surprising. It’s a careful farming balance. 

mess 

Some tribes are looking at producing 

plants for commercial 

o ers coming in at $500 an acre, which seems especially 

producers, 

In the present bubble market of s, high quality organic 

lucrative. 

are worth much more an acre, at least 10 times that, with the right 

plants 

and the right processing. at’s part of what we can learn by 

partner 

working together. 

Indigenous hemp growers than ever. 

followed the Indigenous 

& Hemp Conference, held for the second year in a row on the 

Cannabis 

Earth Reservation. At both, delegations from Navajo, Pine Ridge, 

White 

Earth, Menominee and Colville continued to share about the 

White 

of tribal hemp policy and the plans for each nation’s hemp 

evolution 

Everyone recognizes the potential for the plant. “We will be at 

development. 

table, not on the menu,” one grower told us. 


Martinez, from Pine Ridge, talked about the “fat takers,” the 

Olowan 

at . “We don’t want this to be the same in the next economy, 

wasichu, 

hemp economy,” she explained. “We are hoping to build right 


Indeed, with large land-based tribes at the table, the 

relationships.” 

of the hemp economy, particularly the textile, insulation and 

renaissance 

industry, has great potential for Native farmers. 

construction 

of what is going to be key in the upcoming year is tribal regulation of 

Part 

e new Oglala regulations under review are conservative. ere are 

hemp. 

a lot of regulatory check-o s. 

e 40-page policy is daunting and thorough. 

e last Oglala policy was four pages. Other nations are pushing the

Renaissance of Tribal Hemp 


North America, tribal hemp is growing, and that trend will continue, 

Across 

boundaries with the help of sophisticated legal counsel. 

ere’s plenty of 

lawyers out there these days, that’s for sure, because the industry, as 

cannabis 

2018, is worth about $10 billion and has 250,000 employees. 52 Not bad for 


few years out of the cradleboard. 

a 

is here. While South Dakota sits once again on the sidelines, the rest 

Spring 

the country is moving towards hemp and the next economy. Hemperer 


White Plume is going to watch South Dakota squirm from his hilltop 

Alex 

Wounded Knee Creek. He’s planning for seven generations 

overlooking 

now. He’s planning the hemp renaissance. It’s clear the Oglalas are 

from 

ready. 

good reason. Tribal hemp growers have planted the seeds of a new 

for 

— and an innovative and holistic approach to many challenges in 

economy 

territories. And, intertribal hemp collaboratives are developing. If you 

our 

to change the materials and fossil fuel economy, we will need a lot of 

want 

cannabis. 

at’s the basics, and Native people are intent to be at the table in 

economy. 

this 

the spring of 2018, gathering rst on the White Earth Reservation and 

In 

in Colorado, tribal “hempsters” have joined an international 


of the plant which once clothed much of Europe and North 

renaissance 

America. 

new leaders in tribal hemp are young, hail from Meskwaki, Lakota, 

e 

Mandan, Hidatsa, Colville and other nations, and are taking a 

Menominee, 

at the table of the $10 billion US hemp industry — an industry which 

place 

literally transform much of the material, food and energy world. As 

can 

returns to communities as a viable part of food, clothing, housing, 

hemp 

and fuel systems, tribal hemp leaders are keen on not only being a 

medicine 

of the industry, but in transforming communities. 

part 

Wandering through the early April 2018 

Hemp Expo in Loveland, 

one can nd anything imaginable made of hemp. Literally you 

Colorado, 

slather it on, shampoo it in, eat it in chocolate or pesto sauce, fuel your 

can 

with it or wear it. An estimated crowd of 10,000 curious enthusiasts lled 

car 

convention center, and amongst them were Native people. e trade 


show was not about “bongs” and tie dyes … it featured harvesting and

equipment and the latest innovations in farming as well as 

processing 

analysis. e industry has certainly arrived in good time. 

regulatory 

Young Bear, member of the Meskwaki Tribe in Tama, Iowa, is a 

Muriel 

attendee. A University of Kansas Business graduate student, she 

second-year 

been attending hemp related conferences, networking with industry 

has 

visiting Colorado operations and working within tribal economic 

leaders, 

to become a resource for Native nations. “I was inspired by 

development 

while looking for alternatives to fossil fuels, timber, plastics and 

Hemp 

products. Initially, I started this journey a er seeing the 

cotton 

business practices our tribal communities are dealing with, 

unsustainable 

I am determined to nd an alternative. Hemp is the way to do that.” 

and 

began a social media campaign — “Education was the one piece we 

Muriel 

missing in Indian Country” — providing education sessions to her tribe, 

are 

Protector camps and Iowa senators. 


Finley has been working with the Colville Tribe in an industrial 

Dustin 

project. In 2017, the tribe grew 60 acres of hemp in Washington state, 

hemp 

largest grown by any tribe. “I want to make our communities one again.” 


like Muriel Young Bear, sees hemp as a way to rebuild a local tribal 

Finley, 

and bring people home. “I want our communities to be a place 

economy 

run to, not from,” Young Bear said. Finley shared the same 

people 

“I want a place for people to come back home. Bring your 

sentiments, 

back to your people rather than just leave it,” Finley said, 

knowledge 

to the “brain drain” and exodus many reservations face. “I have 

referring 

young sons … and I’m scared of what’s out there. Hemp can change the 

two 

world.” 

Young Bear, Dustin Finley, Rosebud White Plume, Marcus Grignon 

Muriel 

Waylon Pretends Eagle are leading forces in the launch of the Intertribal 

and 

Association, an organization intended to educate Native communities 

Hemp 

hemp and work to create collaborations for the future of the tribal 

about 

industry. For Muriel and others, hemp is about healing and social 

hemp 

— not money. “I began this journey about three years ago,” she 

change 

A student at Haskell University, she was reading books by 

explains. 

scholar Michael Yellowbird and taking food sovereignty 

Indigenous 

with Dr. Dan Wildcat on decolonizing food systems and found 

internships 

“I want to feed the warriors.” Hemp, it turns out, is an excellent 

hemp. 

of nutrition and amino acids, as well as a plant known to have 10,000 

source

An Intergenerational Commitment 

Hemp: 

Grignon, from the Menominee Tribe, is the campaign manager for 

Marcus 

uses. 

Pretends Eagle is from Mandaree, ND, on the Fort Berthold 

Waylon 

Reservation. 

at reservation is in the midst of a fracking boom: oil royalties 

paid out to some families on the reservation; tribal co ers are lled with 

are 

money. At the same time, ground water, plants and animals are su ering 

oil 

the fracking. While Pretends Eagle’s family is one example of many, 

from 

family actually bene ts nancially from fracking. I’d like to push us all 

“My 

he also sees hemp as part of his own healing. “I just want to heal 

forward,” 

by growing good medicine. I have some trauma from my childhood 

myself 

this is what I need.” Hemp is known to have ability to bioremediate 

and 

toxins (i.e., help in cleaning up) and sequester carbon; both huge parts 

some 

of the environmental challenges on the 

(Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara) 

Hemp is seen by Waylon and others as a key in healing, not 

Reservation. 

people, but also Mother Earth. 

only 

medical bene ts of hemp come from, in part, the cannabinoids 

e 

within the plant. ose healing properties are documented in a 

contained 

variety of health conditions. Cannabinoids, and the better known 

wide 

or , is one of over 100 cannabinoids found in cannabis sativa 

cannibidiol 

It is a major constituent of the plant, second to tetrahydrocannabinol 

L. 

). Compared with , cannabidiol is not psychoactive in healthy 

( 

and is considered to have a wider scope of medical applications 

individuals 

, including but not limited to treating epilepsy, multiple sclerosis 

than 

anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, nausea, 

spasms, 

and in ammation, as well as inhibiting cancer cell growth. 

convulsion 

Project Heart. Founded by legendary philosopher and writer 

Hempstead 

Trudell (Santee) and Willie Nelson in 2012, to raise awareness on the 

John 

ts of hemp for people and the planet, Trudell o ered his help and 

bene 

to Grignon so he continued the hemp work a er Trudell’s death in 

support 

Earlier that year, the Menominee hemp crop was seized by the , 

2015. 

Grignon was determined that his tribe should grow hemp once again. In 

but 

2017, Wisconsin legalized industrial hemp, and spring is coming to the 

late 

country. e plant is returning to tribal communities. 

north 

One example of the pending boom is in pharmaceutical companies

progress in developing innovative cannabinoid-based drugs. In 

continued 

US, GW Pharmaceuticals has received approval for its based 


Epidiolex, for treatment of a variety of degenerative and other 

drug, 

including tuberous sclerosis complex and infantile spasms, each of 

illnesses, 

are severe infantile-onset, drug-resistant epilepsy syndromes. Big 

which 

stands to pro t well: as of their third-quarter report in September 

Pharma 

Epidiolex had net US sales of $188 million, with 15,000 

2019, 53 

prescriptions. 

Trudell passed away several years ago, not in time to see the full 

While 

his legacy is ourishing. Trudell’s teachings, however, are about 

renaissance, 

plant as the catalyst for change, not necessarily as a cash cow which 


replace the gaming economy of Indian Country. at sentiment has 

would 

echoed by many. “A lot of people compare this with the gaming 

been 

but the energy I feel here is nothing like that,” said Nikki 

industry, 

from a tribal consulting rm, as she re ected on the 

Vandenberg, 

gathering. 

see not only money to change an economy, like gambling, but health 

Tribes 

environmental bene ts. Wealth, a er all, is not just money; it is health 

and 

and well-being. “ 

is is a way to get people o of opioids,” Lavonne Peck, 

tribal chair of La Jolla Reservation, explains, “It’s the future; hemp is 

former 

the world needs. Hemp is the way.” 

what 

more counselors are looking towards hemp as a part of a holistic 

Indeed, 

for addictions and trauma. Wearing an entirely hemp out t, 

treatment 

Holmquist, founder of Hemp Quest Ventures, also talked about 

Dionne 

inspired by Alex White Plume. With a long career as a counselor, she 

being 

says, “I wanted to do holistic healing, not treatment. 

at’s what I learned as 

addiction counselor. We were just treating people and not healing them.” 

an 

experience motivated her to do more and eventually led to her current 

Her 

leading multiple e orts in the hemp industry. Her company is based in 

role 

but she will work with tribes to move their e orts forward. 

Colorado, 

those concerned about any new regulations which would limit tribal 

For 

other national hemp markets, most industry and legal analysts are not 

and 

worried. “ 

at train has le the station,” Don Wedll, in his third year of 

growing hemp, says. “You can buy 

s at Walmart.” To further cement 

sentiment, S.2667, the Hemp Farming Act of 2018, introduced by 

Wedll’s 

Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky, was passed into law in late 

senior

2018. 

is a growing industry. People smoke it, use it medicinally, as a 

Cannabis 

and as building material. It’s also an important part of the solution to 

ber 

warming and climate change. More than cosmetics and food 

global 

products, hemp is a 

ber material and a core part of the future of 

Here’s an example: hempcrete. Cement makers are responsible 

construction. 

about 7% of the global emissions of carbon. While architects have been 

for 

concentrating (everywhere but Fargo) in building more energy e 

cient, 

passive solar, super insulated 

buildings, it’s actually about the materials 

to put these super structures in order. It’s also about reducing 

used 

the hemp can be grown organically. 54 

chemicals; 

south of the tar sands, Terry Radford, from JustBioFiber Structural 

Just 

is building hempcrete bricks in Airdrie, Alberta. Radford, a four- 

Solutions, 

commercial developer, moved into hempcrete; “It’s not about 

decade-long 

it’s about doing good for the planet.” But he’s making good money 

money, 

expanding to a $28 million production facility intended to make 

and 

like hempcrete Lego blocks. It’s a miracle answer to construction. 

something 

Hemp, a fast growing 

ber capture, absorbs carbon dioxide when it’s 

and then continues to absorb greenhouse gases as it’s mixed with 

growing 

or clay. JustBioFiber says hemp captures 287 pounds of carbon for each 

lime 

cubic meter it builds. 

at’s a solution. In France, they are building sevenstory 

buildings with the hempcrete, and more to come. 55 

at industry 

even exist in the US yet. In short, cannabis (the root for the word 

doesn’t 

is growing and needs more friends — time to sign up for the Green 

canvas) 

Deal, not armchair criticize it. Indeed, we’ve visited this juncture 

New 

that was when the oil, timber and clothing industries succeeded in 

before; 

passage of the Marijuana Prohibition Act of 1938, criminalizing 


cannabis. 

Craig Lee, a Kentucky hemp farmer, explained the moment: “ 

ere was a 

war between the hydrocarbon economy and the carbohydrate economy.” 

e 

economy, an agrarian-based economy, would have been hemp, 

carbohydrate 

it would have supplanted the fossil fuels from fuel to materials economy. 

and 

Instead, America chose the hydrocarbon economy. 

at choice has put us in 

place of social and ecological disaster. Now’s the time to bring back the 

this 

economy. 56 

carbohydrate 

It is one of the fastest growing plants and was one of the rst plants to be

spun into usable ber 10,000 years ago. 

is spring, a planting in Native 

brings more promise. With it, a new collaboration is growing 

communities 

Indigenous nations. Some tribes will grow, others will enact regulatory 

in 

and more tribes will come to the table in what promises to be an 

authority, 

which can change many facets of our lives. e plant is here to 

economy 

With large land areas and great potential, Native people will be present 

stay. 

driving the renaissance of cannabis, sometimes called hemp. 

and

June: Lyla 

you separate 

If 

People e 

the land 

from 

bodies may live 


e People 

but 

die. will 

weaves our languages together 

She 

can separate us 

You 

the land but 

from 

Lifting Hearts — Poetry and the 

UN Declaration 

ing Hearts O the Ground, a rst book of poetry by Lyla June Johnston, 

Li 

Joy DeVito, tells the story of the UN Declaration on the Rights of 

with 

Peoples in poetry. Yes, in poetry. Heartfelt, memorized stories 

Indigenous 

the beauty of the pen, the book brings to life an epic legal document, 

and 

today marks the beginning of the time when nation states and 

which 

Nations come to terms with how to survive. 

Indigenous 

it reads, on one page is the declaration, the next; her poetry, 

As 

with the writing of Joy DeVito. rough them the Declaration 

interspersed 

comes to life. 

Article 10 

undrip 

peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or 

Indigenous 

No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and 

territories. 

consent of the Indigenous peoples concerned, and a er agreement 

informed 

just, and fair compensation, and where possible, with the option of 

on 

return… 

grassy plain glottal stops and 

With 

alo breath. 

Bu

will remain In this land 

We 

e People will perish. 

or 

June: Lyla 

closer I want to drink tea 

Come 

you. I want to eat 

with 

you. I want to laugh 

with 

you. I have been working 

with 

the diamond elds all day, 

in 

formalized your family 

You’ve 

a sparkling ring. 

with 

husband and children 

Your 

eating a meal. 

are 

dinner. 

eating 

still you are not 

But 

we will have 


to speak about. 

nothing 

this moment I remember Big Mountain, the Bennett Freeze and the 

In 

Navajo Relocation Act forcing 10,000 Dine from their homes. I 

Hopi 

remember Roberta Blackgoat, and I hope for a return home. 

Article 17 

undrip 

individuals have the right to enjoy fully all rights established 

Indigenous 

applicable international law and domestic labor law. 

under 

shall, in cooperation and consultation with Indigenous peoples, take 

States 

c measures to protect Indigenous children from economic 

speci 

and from performing any work which is likely to be hazardous 

exploitation 

to interfere with the child’s education, or be harmful to the child’s health, 

or 

physical, mental, or spiritual, moral or social development, taking into 

or 

their special vulnerability and the importance of education to their 

account 

empowerment. 

and you are 8000 miles away. 

you see me? 

Can 

are with your family now, 

You 

with all your family.

closer mother. 

Come 

want to drink tea with you 

I 

June: Lyla 

so when you are ready 

And 

Together 

will plant seeds that nourish 

We 

skin is ebony, but I am still your child, mother. 

My 

London PR o ce shields me 

e 

from your view. 

want to eat with you. 

I 

want to laugh with you. 

I 

Article 28 

undrip 

peoples have the right to redress, by means that shall include 

Indigenous 

or when this is not possible, just, fair and equitable 

restitution, 

for the lands, territories and resources which they have 

compensation, 

owned or otherwise and used, or which have been con scated, 

traditionally 

taken, used or damaged, without their free, prior and informed 

occupied, 

consent…. 

step into the court of stars, 

to 

God as your advocate, 

with 

will be waiting, 

we 

the dead stumps of the 

Near 

Korean forest, we will be waiting for you. 

the future. 

e love we share, 

nourish us both, 

will 

colonized and colonizer 

liberating 

from the chains of fear and hatred… 

here I remember always my land at White Earth, 90% of it wrested 

And, 

us by the the s of lumber barons who built Duluth and Minneapolis; 

from 

we live in the poverty of those who have been robbed. Our struggle in 

today, 

1980s to have justice, forming Anishinaabe Akiing, resulted in some 


Today, I look at the one-third of the White Earth Reservation held by 

return. 

state and county governments and believe still that these lands 

federal,

should be returned to our people. 

e colonizer should return that which is 

stolen. 

are always words; words of law, words of science and words of heart. 

ere 

in this, Lyla June Johnston, a Dine writer and artist, has brought 

Somewhere 

words to life. Li ing Hearts O the Ground is published by the 

those 

Church in Canada, where the inscription says, “Printed by 

Mennonite 

in Altona Manitoba, Treaty 1 Territory and the Homeland of the 

Friesens 

Nation.” 

Métis 

us li our hearts o the ground. 

Let

from the Scorched Path 

Turning 

an Anishinaabe prophecy about the time of the Seventh Fire. It’s said 

ere’s 

One Dish One Spoon 

1701, mewinzha, a long time ago, our people, the Anishinaabeg, made an 

In 

with the Haudenosaunee Nation — or the Six Nations 

agreement 

It is referred to as the Great Peace of Montreal or the One Dish 

Confederacy. 

Spoon Treaty. Canonized as an Indigenous Law, it is an agreement for 

One 

hunting territory among two or more nations: 

sharing 

ancestors recognized all people eat out of the single dish, that is, all 

ose 

in the shared territory. One spoon signi es that all peoples sharing the 

hunting 

are expected to limit the game they take to leave enough for others, 

territory 

for the continued abundance and viability of the hunting grounds into the 

and 57 Profound. 

future. 

I recently saw a photo of the One Dish One Spoon wampum belt. 

e 

and the treaty remain both simple and elegant. Both o er a good 

wampum 

We all live here, drink the same water, breathe the same air, and eat 

teaching: 

the same bowl. We are relatives. 

from 

a time of climate change, we still have one dish and one spoon. 

In 

weather, or Mother Earth’s response to our fossil fuels addiction, 

Dangerous 

to take a toll every year, and more will come. In 2019, a mid-April 

continues 

blizzard lled with dust picked up in Texas — possibly top soil from 

cyclone 

or fracked oil elds — hit northern Minnesota. e snow where 

glyphosate 

struck was le colored yellow and orange. 58 We are related. What happens 

it 

Texas matters in Minnesota. One dish one spoon. 

in 

we will have a choice between two paths, one well-worn and scorched, 

that 

other green. is spring, a y-year-old fossil fuel legacy is coming to its 


e Navajo Generating Station ( ) coal plant drained Navajo water 

end. 

resources and lled tribal government co ers with fossil fuel dollars for 

and 

Both the Navajo and Hopi Tribes bene ted in terms of tribal 

decades. 

from the Kayenta Mine: about 85% of the Hopi General Fund and 

revenues 

22% of the Navajo General Fund comes from fossil fuels. 59 at’s a tough act

the Sun Shine 

Let 

say that hindsight is 20/20. Fi y years of coal, oil and uranium have 

ey 

to follow. 

at mine shipped coal to the 2,250 megawatt power plant via rail 

While the mine and power plant drained lifeblood, people were forced 

line. 

dependency. at was a result of the federal government’s destruction of 

into 

crops, orchards and livestock. And more. 

Navajo 

came the mineral leases, the poor deals and the big coal plants — 

en 

coal for everywhere else on the continent. In one year, there were 

producing 

coal- red generating stations on or adjacent to the Navajo Nation. ose 

ve 

plants were supplied by four coal strip mines. Pristine water was used to 

coal 

coal in a desert to keep the lights on in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los 

slurry 

One dish. 

Angeles. 

is inevitable; it just depends who controls the change. In 2019, 

Change 

Nation showed courage and wisdom — a precious combination. 

Navajo 

Energy, which runs the Kayenta Mine, led for bankruptcy in 2016, 

Peabody 

saddled with aging coal strip mines and toxic wastes. 

e company could 

sell o the coal mines. 

not 

late February 2019, Peabody laid o 40 employees and will send its last 

In 

shipment of coal to the 

plant by the end of summer. Meanwhile, both 

Peabody and the Salt River Project, the owner of the ancient 

plant, 

to push o their known and unknown liabilities to the Navajo 

hoped 

had moved Navajo water through a series of canals to cities like 

Nation. 

and beyond for years and burned coal, which accelerated the 

Phoenix 

crisis. e companies had entered into heated negotiations with the 

climate 

Navajo Nation, whose economy remained funded by fossil fuels. ( 

e 

nation had already spent billions buying another mine from 

Navajo 

just to keep some jobs.) 

Billiton, 

en it happened. 

e dinosaurs of fossil fuels blinked. In early April, the 

Nation said ‘No” and did not buy the ancient coal- red generator or 

Navajo 

coal strip mine. Navajo Nation Council Speaker Seth Damon said 


clean energy, tourism and carbon credits can all help with the loss of jobs. 60 

a good deal of revenue to the Navajo Nation but have also destroyed 

brought 

areas of land that can never be reclaimed. ey’ve brought money and 

large 

heartache. 

e Navajo Nation, while generating power for New Mexico, 

Arizona and beyond, still did not even have power in their own

In 1978, the Navajo Nation provided enough energy to meet 

communities. 

needs of the state of New Mexico for 32 years. at same year, 85% of all 


households had no electricity. Today, some 70% of the homes in the 

Navajo 

which are unelectri ed are at Navajo. 61 at changes now. 

US 

2017, the Kayenta Solar Facility came online with 27 megawatts of 

In 

for Navajo people. is wholly owned Navajo project is the rst-of– 

power 

utility-scale solar project within the Navajo Nation. 

its-kind, 

Tribal Utility Authority General Manager Walter Haase said this 

Navajo 

“demonstrates the Navajo Nation is ready for large scale renewable 

project 

production,” calling it a “gigantic rst step toward enhancing the 

energy 

economy.” Kayenta Council Delegate Nathaniel Brown said his 

green 

“is proud of being the rst Navajo community to have a large 

community 

solar energy farm on the Navajo Nation.” 62 

scale 

is an enlightened path forward, that’s for sure. 

is 

e Kayenta Solar 

consists of 119,301 photovoltaic panels on single axis trackers which 

project 

the daily path of the Sun. e plant’s output is enough energy to 

follow 

approximately 13,000 homes over the next 25 years, during which it 

service 

generate up to 1,900 gigawatts of energy. Kayenta Solar was built in six 

will 

by Navajo people, 63 who count among them more electrical 

months 

than any other tribe. Now, they have brought power to their own 

engineers 

communities. 

ey are just beginning, the solar age is coming to the Navajo 

Nation. 

the imminent closing of coal generation on Navajo Nation, the 

With 

tribe in the country is poised to move renewable energy to market on 

largest 

same power lines that carried coal generation for 50 years. at’s how 


is made. We remember we all drink the same water. We all breathe 

change 

same air. 


One Dish One Spoon.

Reconciliation, Just 

Beyond 

Transition 

the Gitxsan Wet’suwet’en battle against the 

What 

Gaslink Pipeline Foretells about Our Future 

Coastal 

Legal Background 


was another moment not unlike this one, in the early 1980s, when the 

ere 

important historical moment is unfolding in Canada right now. A 

An 

when a new relationship, a new way of living, can be made between 

moment 

Not between corporations and peoples, but between peoples and 

peoples. 

Earth. It’s a chance for a young political leader to uphold his 


to Indigenous Peoples and provide epic leadership in a world that 

promises 

needs it. It’s an opportunity for reconciliation and peace. at’s this 

badly 

moment. It’s also a moment in late stage Wiindigoo economics. 

Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en people turned the map of Canada on its side. 

e 

are upriver people whose territory holds the headwaters of the 

Gitxsan 

River, which then runs south through Wet’suwet’en Territory. 

Skeena 

leases had encroached on the traditional lands of the upriver 

Logging 

and in their e orts to expel the loggers, the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en 

people, 

went to court and explained that this was their land, not the land of 

peoples 

— not British Columbia, but the land of those peoples. Surprisingly 

others 

the Canadian Supreme Court agreed. 

enough, 

the Supreme Court decision nally came down in 1997, 

When 

v. British Columbia challenged the very map of British 

Delgamuukw 

by recognizing Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en title to their own land. 

Columbia 

historic court case con rmed that Aboriginal title, ownership of 

e 

lands, had not been extinguished by any colonial government. 

traditional 

win “was important to Indigenous people across Canada because it 

is 

a new test to prove ownership over their traditional lands and 

provided 

It was monumental to the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en because they 

waters. 

poised to assert self-governance over their 33,000 square kilometres 

seemed

Significance of Delgamuukw 


court case began in 1984, a er the Gitxsan and the neighboring 

e 

British Columbia.” 64 

in 

the purpose of the claim, this area was divided into 133 individual 

For 

within the nations, claimed by the 71 wilp groups, or houses, as 

territories 

their traditional governance system. But Canada still wouldn’t give back 

per 

territory, the headwaters of the Skeena River, the mountains of the 


West. 

Nation became frustrated with the BC government for 

Wet’suwet’en 

clear-cut logging to take place on their territory without the 

allowing 

of the hereditary Chiefs. So, in an e ort to get British Columbia 

permission 

address their claims to land rights, the Chiefs of both nations, Delgam 

to 

(Gitxsan) and Gisday Wa (Wet’suwet’en), stated ownership and 

Uukw 

over their respective territories. While he was just one of many, 

jurisdiction 

became the named plainti for the case. His name represented 

Delgamuukw 

Chiefs and, by extension, the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en people. 


is a symbolic ancestral Chief name passed down from 

Delgamuukw 

to generation of Gitxsan people — and is also now one of the 

generation 

well-known Chief names in Canada. 

most 

Chiefs spent many years giving testimony in court, in their own 

e 

language, describing “ayook” and “adaawk” (their oral history) in detail. 

them, this oral testimony proved that the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en 


occupied their territory under a complex legal system for 

have 

of years. But to Justice Allan McEachern, it was not enough 

thousands 

prove ownership of the land. 

to 

1991, at the B.C. Supreme Court, McEachern decided in favor of 

In 

B.C. government, describing Aboriginal life as “nasty, brutish and 


He announced that Aboriginal title, the legal term for Aboriginal 

short.” 

over land, had been extinguished by the Crown in 1858. 65 

ownership 

Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en appealed, eventually taking their case all the 

e 

to Canada’s Supreme Court. On Dec. 11, 1997, the Gitxsan and 

way 

Wet’suwet’en watched as the previous ruling was overturned. 

at’s a historic 

in jurisprudence in a settler state — that’s Canada — and the ruling had 

turn 

huge in uence on subsequent Indigenous land cases, many of which have 

a

Wiindigoo Economics 

Canadian 

the meantime, Canada maintained its Wiindigoo Economy. Committed 

In 

in favor of Indigenous plainti s. 

gone 

wasn’t just for the Gitxsan. A lot of people have won their 

“Delgamuukw 

case on our case,” Earl Muldon (Delgamuukw) explained. “ 

e Delgamuukw 

set several important legal precedents that many other First 

decision 

have built upon in the courts ever since. For one thing, the Supreme 

Nations 

of Canada recognized that oral histories like the Gitxsan’s adaawk 

Court 

as valid as written evidence.” 66 is means that First Nations across 

were 

can refer to their own oral history and laws when claiming their 

Canada 

land in court. e court also made the unprecedented move of 

traditional 

that First Nations that did not sign treaties (which is the case in 

recognizing 

held a proprietary interest in their land. e court de ned this interest 

BC) 

“Aboriginal title,” a collective, proprietary, unique interest in the land. But 

as 

burden of proof was still on them to claim it. 67 


this is a good news story, and it did set an important legal precedent, 

While 

scholar and research director at the Yellowhead Institute Shiri 

Indigenous 

suggests that we have to be cautiously optimistic. It’s been more 

Pasternak 

20 years since the Delgamuukw decision, 

than 

but the issue of Indigenous land rights has yet to be resolved. 

e treaty 

has consistently been used to keep First Nations out of the 

process 

but neither is an ideal venue, she said. “Indigenous people have 

courts, 

been le between a rock and a hard place. 

ere’s no policy in place that 

their title in a meaningful way, yet litigation is an 

recognizes 

barrier,” she said. e Tsilhqot’in won a court battle in 

insurmountable 

recognizing their Aboriginal title in BC’s Interior, but it cost 

2014 

of dollars and took more than 20 years, she said. With the 

millions 

on First Nations to assert their title claims, it makes sense 

obligation 

some, like the Wet’suwet’en, are choosing to do so through direct 

that 

as they try to prevent Coastal GasLink from building its pipeline 

action 

their traditional territory. “ e onus remains on First Nations 

through 

and that cost is untenable for most people,” she said. 68 

a seemingly endless search for unobtanium, Canada has accelerated 

to 

logging and tar sands extraction as the core of their economic 

mining, 

growth, fueled by larger and larger hydro projects. 

e great north, the place

Indigenous Peoples live, has become a war zone. Mines need energy 

where 

that’s where hydro power comes in, demanding the construction of 

and 

dams, from the Site C project in British Columbia to the Muskrat Dam 

mega 

in Labrador, in the name of more extraction. 

project 

lip service to climate change action, Prime Minister Trudeau 

Despite 

hellbent on continuing Canada’s high carbon economics. at’s 

seems 

to any common sense, including that outlined in the United 

contrary 

Environment Program’s Production Gap Report. e report 

Nations 

that governments are planning to produce twice as much fossil 

concluded 

as the world can safely burn. 69 Basically, while the world needs to 

fuels 

emissions, Canada’s oil and gas industry has been busy planning a 

reduce 

expansion in Canada and around the world. 

dramatic 

2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated that to 

In 

the world a 50-50 chance at safety, oil production needs to shrink by 

give 

in the next 10 years and by 87% by 2050. Natural gas production must 

37% 

by 25% and then 74% by mid-century. 70 Despite these dire warnings, 

decline 

2020, Canada continued to move forward with the single largest mining 

in 

in their history, the Teck Frontier Mine, as well as new pipeline 

project 

projects. 

of this is some of the fantastical logic of Canadian economists, but 2020 

All 

o ering us some surprises and reality seems to be crashing on their logical 

is 

at’s to say that the reality check began with the cancellation of the 

heads. 

Mine on February 25, 2020, surprising everyone, including those who 

Teck 

been organizing against it. at was followed by the cancellation of the 

had 

Constitution Pipeline Project, a Canadian natural gas pipeline 

proposed 

that has been highly contested in the Empire state, and more delays 

project 

Pembina Pipeline’s (another Canadian corporation) Jordon Cove Project, 

in 

to go through southern Oregon. 

intended 

in all, tar sands economics is failing, if only because of the risk — not 

All 

the risk of Native opposition, but also the risk of stranded assets and 

only 

the price of climate change. 

at’s a pretty massive unknown. Yet while 

continues to bankroll this useless and destructive infrastructure 

Canada 

some of the most costly and harmful extraction processes in the 

through 

world, the tides are shi ing for some of the world’s largest banks. 

, the 

Investment Bank and the World Bank, for example, are retooling 

European 

to take into account the massive costs hidden in the 

investment

and Coastal Gaslink Pipeline Project 

TransCanada 

Coastal Gaslink Pipeline project, originally proposed in 2012, has been 

e 

externalization of the climate. 

ey have even made the commitment not to 

oil and gas expansion, particularly the oil sands, due to climate 

fund 71 concerns. 

opposed by Indigenous Peoples. As energy companies created fracking 

long 

in interior BC, the question of how to get oil to the Asian markets 

zones 

remained. 

at’s the plague of Canada’s extractive empire; it needs a way out 

land-locked provinces. at way is usually a pipeline. e Coastal Gaslink 


project, owned by TC Energy, formerly TransCanada (owner of 

pipeline 

Keystone XL), crosses through a number of Indigenous territories. 

at’s a 

problem and has been for a while. 

e Unist’ot’en, a house group of the 

Nation, have been blockading its path, insisting it will not be 


through. let 

e Unist’ot’en (C’ihlts’ehkhyu/Big Frog Clan) are the original 

“ 

Yintah Wewat Zenli distinct to the lands of the Wet’suwet’en,” 


they explain on their website. 

rough the history of the Wet’suwet’en 

other clans were developed and integrated into Wet’suwet’en 

people, 

but the Unist’ot’en are known as the toughest not only because 

Territory, 

territories were abundant, but also because the terrain was very 


In recent history, the Unist’ot’en have been taking action to 

treacherous. 

protect their lands from a variety of extraction projects. 

ey have opposed 

seven proposed pipelines, from the Tar Sands Gigaproject and 

to the 

Horn River Basin Fracturing Projects in the Peace River Region. 

ey also 

Lions Gate Metals at their Tacetsohlhen Bin Yintah, and built a 

opposed 

camp at Talbits Kwah at Gosnell Creek and Wedzin Kwah (Morice 

resistance 

which is a tributary to the Skeena and Bulkley Rivers). 72 

River, 

it’s not just the Unist’ot’en who are standing up to the pipelines. Many 

And 

First Nations are opposing pipelines on their territories. 

e] Secwepemc Nation is a particularly signi cant force, with more 

[ 

half the length of the pipeline planned to run through their 

than 

unceded territory. 

e Secwepemc Women’s Warrior Society has 

to stop any Trans Mountain development on their lands, while 

pledged 

Tiny House Warriors continue to assert jurisdiction through the 


construction of a network of little homes along the pipeline’s path. 

e

Bribery, More or Less” 

“It’s 

infrastructure of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline relies on the broader 

e 

reality is that resistance is growing. 73 

is a really big problem for Canada, which is not abiding by 

is 

to “free, prior and informed consent” presumed in this 

commitments 

nation-to-nation negotiations with First Nations. So, Canada did 

century’s 

it likes to do best: created divisions, worked on the starve-or-sell 

what 

squeezed the north and threw in some crumbs, like $5 million to be 

strategy, 

amongst some Chiefs. 

shared 

of natural gas extraction and transport. So while blockades 


being built on Unist’ot’en land to keep energy companies o , the 

were 

was busy signing deals with other communities with promises of 

company 

and revenues. 

jobs 

October 2016, two con dential documents were leaked on Facebook. 

In 

rst, called “Trustee Resolution of the Amdimxxw Trust” and dated 

e 

6, 2016, lists the names and signatures of eight of the ten wilp (house) 

Sept. 

and gives each of them a dollar amount, totaling $5.3 million. A er 

Chiefs 

document was leaked, the Chiefs con rmed that nine of the ten wilp 


whose territories would be crossed by the pipeline had given their 

Chiefs 

consent to the project. 

ey had done so without consulting all of their 

members. 

to say, in return for $5.3 million, Trans Canada can buy some Chiefs. 

at’s 

second leaked document was called the “Prince Rupert Gas 

e 

Project Natural Gas Bene ts Agreement.” Here, the BC 

Transmission 

promises to provide the Gitxsan Nation with a series of 

government 

over the various stages of construction in exchange for support for 

payments 

project. ese payments add up to almost $6 million. e agreement 


“contains a clause that prohibits any Gitxsan member from challenging 

also 

pipeline project in court.” at’s been problematic. 


Trevor Jang notes that these leaked documents “fueled divisions 

Journalist 

who can speak for the Gitxsan and how decisions are made on behalf of 

over 

Gitxsan people.” ese divisions already existed and had been growing 


since the Delgamuukw legal victory, particularly since several Chiefs 

steadily 

consented to TransCanada’s proposed Prince Rupert Gas Transmission 

had 

Project, which, in its 900 kilometer journey, would cross the territories of 10

Crisis of Infrastructure 

A 

Canada and the United States have run some long rail lines across this 

Both 

wilp groups. 

Gitxsan 

congratulated itself for buying out the traditional leadership 

TransCanada 

an email response to Jang, exclaiming, “TransCanada has a robust 

in 

policy that guides all of our interactions with Indigenous 

engagement 

As a result of those interactions, Prince Rupert Gas 

communities. 

project has been able to sign bene ts agreements with 13 First 

Transmission 

along the route. is demonstrates that our approach works.” 74 

Nations 

Diabo, a Mohawk policy analyst, argues that it isn’t as clear cut as 

Russ 

would have us believe, and points to the starve-or-sell tactics 

TransCanada 

an example. Today, many of Canada’s 617 First Nations live in third-world 

as 

which leads to uneven negotiations. As Diabo wrote during one 

conditions, 

the oppressive regimes of Canadian governance in recent years, “It seems 


negotiating First Nations are so compromised by their federal loans, and 


on the negotiations funding stream that they are unable or 

dependent 

to withdraw from the tables en masse and make real on the 

unwilling 

that the Harper government reform its Comprehensive Claims and 

demand 

policies to be consistent with the articles of the .” 75 

Self-Government 

Canadians replaced the oppressive Harper government with Liberal 

ough 

Trudeau, who made many election promises about improving the 

Justin 

conditions of Indigenous communities, remains an 

living 

document. 

aspirational 

it turns out that you can spend $5.3 million on a bunch of papers and 

But 

but that doesn’t mean that your pipeline project will go ahead. 

Chiefs, 

Nations from across Turtle Island have signed the Treaty 

Indigenous 

Against Tar Sands Expansion, with the goal of protecting lands and 

Alliance 

from all proposed pipeline, tanker and rail projects. 76 

waters 

and up and down the coasts. And some pipelines. Canada has 

continent 

pipelines to encircle the globe three times. 77 at’s to say, pipelines 

enough 

carry oil and gas, not pipelines that carry water and sewer. Canada 

that 

nitely doesn’t have enough of those. As of early 2020, over 60 First 

de 

in Canada have long-term boil water advisories. 78 For some of these 

Nations 

Nations, “long-term” means 20 years and counting. Perhaps Canada 

First 

could invest in pipelines that carry water and sewer instead of oil and gas.

kind of infrastructure investment would really mean something; it 

at 

address the vast health impacts of contaminated drinking water, 

would 

would lead to lower health-care costs — and a diminishment of 

which 

misery. 

20 years is a long time to wait for clean water, especially when so many 

But 

pipelines are coming through your territory. So, some First Nations 


decided to build blockades against these pipelines. 

e blockade on 

Territory, built to stop construction on the Coastal Gaslink 

We’tsuewet’en 

is one example. When the moved in to remove the blockade 

pipeline, 

February 2020, Indigenous Peoples and settlers across Canada reacted 

in 

with their own protests and blockades in their communities. 

immediately 

blockades, which almost brought Canada’s rail lines to a screeching halt, 

e 

unfortunately brought to their own screeching halt by -19 and 

were 

ensuing economic shutdown. But for a while there they had the 


government shaking in its boots. 

Canadian 

e 

entered We’tsuwet’en Territory to enforce the “rule of law,” that’s 

say, injunctions. Coastal Gaslink had issued an injunction against the 

to 

in January 2020. But injunctions are interesting things, aren’t they? 

blockade 

Yellowhead Institute researched injunctions and discovered that they 

e 

serious questions about fairness in the legal system. In a red paper 

raise 

“Land Back” researchers explain that they looked at about 100 cases of 

called 

and found that “76 percent of injunctions led against First 

injunctions 

by corporations were granted, while 81 percent of injunctions led 

Nations 

corporations by First Nations were denied. Perhaps most tellingly, 82 

against 

of injunctions led by First Nations against the government were 

percent 

is is true in part, suggests research director Shiri Pasternak, 

denied.” 

injunctions are more concerned about the nancial implications for 

because 

than Indigenous valuations, asking what impact the blockades 

companies 

on business interests. 79 

have 

law does not work for the Native people, really. 

e 

at’s to say, No should 

mean No, not maybe. 

at’s what consent is about. “Free, prior and 

consent” is really the standard, as set by the United Nations 

informed 

on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Canada, however has 

Declaration 

to practice old school colonial divide-and-conquer, starve-and-sell 

decided 

while making it appear that there is agreement and consent. 

tactics,

Collapse of Tar Sands Economics 


Alberta tar sands is the world’s largest industrial project. 

e 

e razing, 

mining and extraction is larger than any scaled destruction in the 

burning, 

If Alberta were a country, with its four million people, it would be the 

world. 

largest oil-producing nation in the world. A er Venezuela and Saudi 

fourth 

Alberta has the third largest proven oil reserve, at 170 billion 

Arabia, 

barrels. 80 

at was all good for Alberta until the bust. 

ere’s only so much really 

high risk, dirty-as-heck oil you can manifest out of sand. In 2016, 

expensive, 

really started going south. An article in Macleans magazine called 

things 

e Death of the Alberta Dream” explains that, “with the province’s EI rolls 

“ 

what they were a year ago, and legions getting by on severance 

double 

many unemployed Albertans will hit that wall this year. All told, 

packages, 

a result of job losses and pay cuts, the energy sector now puts $100 

as 

less into Albertans’ pockets every week compared to before the oil 

million 81 At its peak, in 2014, direct employment in the oil and gas sector 

crash.” 

around 226,500 jobs. In 2019, that number fell to 173,300, a 23% 

hovered 

over the ve-year period. 82 I don’t think 2020 is looking up for the oil 

drop 

gas industry. 

and 

are getting worse for the oil and gas economy. I stood outside an 

ings 

Shareholders meeting in 2019 amidst a crowd of screaming 

Enbridge 

tar sands workers. It is brutal. is is where a visionary prime 

unemployed 

would take bold action. 

minister 

is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, according to a 

Canada 

new government report. 

at report also warned that drastic action is the 

only way to avoid catastrophic outcomes. 83 

e prime minister seems to 

in words but not deeds. “We need to act now so our kids can have a 

respond 

planet and good jobs,” Prime Minister Trudeau wrote on Twitter on 

healthy 

4, 2019. If only Trudeau would do something commensurate with his 

April 

Canada is not likely to meet its 2020 carbon emission reduction 

tweet. 

experts warn. Nor is it likely to meet its 2030 Paris climate target — 

target, 

that’s almost entirely due to increasing emissions from the oil and gas 

and 

which are expected to reach 100 million metric tons a year by then. 84 

sector, 

study published in April in Nature Communications furthermore found 

A 

that emissions from the Canadian oil sands, measured directly from aircra ,

Buffalo Declaration 


you have made some bad choices in life, it always feels good to blame 

When 

Crisis of Reconciliation 

A 

2015, Justin Trudeau became prime minister of Canada. Following years 

In 

are about 30% higher than the gures reported by the industry. 85 

someone else. 

at’s what addicts o en do, and that’s certainly what Alberta 

doing. Albertans are not only stealing resources from Indigenous lands, 

is 

now they also want to steal Indigenous Peoples’ oppression and claim it 

but 

themselves. An entire movement is emerging that builds on decades of 

for 

alienation” that aims to translate the oppression of settler 

“western 

or perhaps center-periphery economics, into a created 

colonialism, 

for themselves. 

oppression 

In late February of 2020, four federal Conservative 

s from Alberta 

a manifesto, called the Bu alo Declaration, warning of possible 

issued 

of the petro province from the rest of Canada, as tar sands 

separation 

start to disintegrate. “Unless the perceived inequalities within 

economics 

outlined in the document are remedied,” they caution, “the 

Confederation 

between Alberta and the rest of the country will push the province to 

strain 

separation as its only recourse.” One way or another, the letter 

seek 

“Albertans will have equality … It is not our job to explain 

concludes, 

value, it is now up to Canada to show they understand Alberta and 

Alberta’s 

our value to Confederation,” asserted the four 

s: Arnold Viersen, Blake 

Glen Motz and Michelle Rempel Garner. In an amazing and 

Richards, 

transformation of oppressions, the Bu alo Declaration lists four 

magical 

distinct challenges the province faces. 

is includes the belief that Alberta 

always been an unequal member of Canada; that Alberta has a distinct 

has 

unacknowledged culture; and that “Alberta has been treated as a colony 

but 

Confederation to be exploited for the bene t of the east rather than a 

within 86 partner.” 

the oppressive Conservative regime of Steven Harper, Trudeau rode to 


on the winds of the Idle no More Movement and a young, Native and 

power 

vote. With his arrival, Trudeau promised a new 

forward-looking 

with Indigenous Peoples, “built on respect, rights and a 

relationship 

commitment to end the status quo.” He called for recognition of Aboriginal

ights. He promised funding for Indigenous cultural activities and 

land 

en he made, on behalf of Canada, a lot of commitments on the 

education. 

particularly on climate change and carbon. 

environment, 

the moment of his taking o ce, the writing was already on the wall for 

In 

Canadian tar sands; that is, the market and the industry were beginning 


dwindle. By 2015, choosing to hope for better times, or perhaps more 

to 

with keeping imaginary friends in the government, Trudeau 

preoccupied 

to support the expansion of Canada’s fossil fuel industry onto new 

continued 

an expansion that has always depended upon extracting from 

lands, 

Peoples and compromising their health and well-being for the 

Indigenous 

t of fossil fuels companies. 87 

bene 

long process of reviewing crimes against humanity, and 

Canada’s 

cally, the residential school system for Indigenous children, resulted 

speci 

the 2015 report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. at 

in 

found widespread and systemic colonial brutality in Canada’s 

commission 

which it named cultural genocide. is diagnosis was further 

history, 

ed in the more recent (2019) National Inquiry into Missing and 

forti 

Indigenous Women and Girls, which refused to qualify the 

Murdered 

genocide as merely cultural. 88,89 

e violence has continued, with the rise in 

number of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2S 


and the rise of violence more broadly against Indigenous Peoples, 

people, 

are standing up for what remains of their lands and waters. 

who 

ongoing crisis stems from the fact that the genocide hasn’t stopped. It’s 

e 

the same story: a First Nation has been pushed around for a hundred 

usually 

by Canada, land takings, children o to residential school, lack of 

years 

services which would be required by law and by treaty, and then 

adequate 

another land taking. e Wet’suwet’en con ict is not so di erent than 


Oka, Ipperwash and Caledonia con icts, except for the scale and the law. 


to say, the Court ruled that the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan legally 

at’s 

their land, making the actions by TransCanada a trespass. 

owned 

a quick recap, Canada’s history of repressing Native people and taking 

For 

land is a long one. So is the resistance. In 1990, the Kanesatake 


resisted the town of Oka’s bid to put an 18-hole golf course on their 

Mohawk 

cemetery, in a place known as the Pines. 

e 78-day stand-o stopped the 

golf course and resulted in the death of a Quebec police o 

cer. In 1994, the 

Kettle Point Anishinaabeg reclaimed land taken from them for a military

at Ipperwash Provincial Park. In 1995, Ontario Provincial Police, 

camp 

response and tactical units were called into the park, resulting in 

emergency 

death of 38-year-old Dudley George. Another land protector, Cecil 


George, su ered 28 blunt force trauma injuries, a beating so severe 

Bernard 

that an ambulance attendant could not 

nd his pulse, the Star’s Peter 

reported. 

Edwards 

Toronto Star would report that those “protecting sacred burial grounds 

e 

unarmed when o cers red on them.” Years later, a public inquiry 

were 

that police o cers were ignorant of Indigenous history and held 

concluded 

views. Charles Harnick, the Progressive Conservative attorney 

racists 

during the crisis, told the inquiry that then-premier Mike Harris had 

general 

during the occupation: “I want the f—king Indians out of the park.” 90 

said 

Wet’suwet’en battle sparked train blockades across Canada. By late 

e 

2020, Canadian rail had shut down half its network and cancelled 

February 

carrier service nationwide. at resulted in more injunctions, 

passenger 

which seemed to make the police feel, well, tentative. 

e Toronto Star 

this scene at the Kanesatake blockade, “meanwhile, the police — 

described 

since last week with a court injunction to clear the way for train 

armed 

tra 

c — were barely noticeable, parked in a few cruisers several hundred 

back from the Mohawk blockade.” When asked why provincial 

yards 

weren’t enforcing court injunctions to clear blockades, Transport 

authorities 

Marc Garneau reminded reporters, “‘Remember they have to take 

Minister 

account some history here.’ Garneau continued, ‘We’re talking about 

into 

happened at Ipperwash or Caledonia,’ he said.” So on the one hand, the 

what 

government presented itself as working to respect Indigenous rights 

Liberal 

sovereignty, the limits of this performance were very clear. Garneau and 

and 

repeatedly returned to the importance of the law in Canadian society 

others 

insist that land protectors would have to move. “But the injunctions have 

to 

be respected,” he asserted, “because we are a country of the rule of law.” 

to 

Wabano-Iahtail, a Cree cultural leader responded to Minister 

Jocelyn 

assertion about the “rule of law.” “ ese invaders are coming to us 

Garneau’s 

speaking to us about colonial rule of law. ose are your laws … ose 

and 

laws have been imposed on us.” 91 

colonial 

do not forget Idle No More. As we see the resurgence of a mass 

And 

for Mother Earth and, as the former executive secretary of the 

movement 

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, along with

Moment 

Watershed 

people tell rich people on the news to blame poor people, instead of 

Rich 

and church leaders, calls upon civil society for mass civil 

scientists 

it’s hard to see how the Trudeau strategy will work out. In 

disobedience, 

of 2019, a group of 700 scientists issued a statement at the Science 

October 

in London, England: “We believe that the continued governmental 

Museum 

over the climate and ecological crisis now justi es peaceful and 

inaction 

protest and direct action, even if this goes beyond the bounds of 

non-violent 

the current law.” 

e scientists endorsed civil disobedience aimed at forcing 

to take rapid action to tackle climate change, warning that 

governments 

could in ict “incalculable human su ering.” 92 Almost every major 

failure 

leader has said the same, and millions of children are walking out of 

church 

in “climate strikes.” It’s clear that civil society is standing for the water, 

school 

not the corporations. 

with the problems we have created. We are just going to get mired 

dealing 

more con ict for the future. 

in 

— Deborah Cowen 

for Canada because reconciliation is dead because when the 

Especially 

hits the road where do you stand. Are you interested in platitudes 

rubber 

are you actually interested in transforming our relationship to 

or 

people and the land. Yes our current version of reconciliation 

Indigenous 

dead, but we have an opportunity to begin the journey to true 

is 

reconciliation. 

— Raj Rathnavalu 

Wet’suwet’en situation has created a resurgence in our Nations. Every 

e 

has to come into their thinking. is has brought a resurgence 

generation 

this generation about how important their traditional governments are. 

to 

have governments with a treaty and those who never had a treaty 

ey 

Canada. In a country with 635 First Nations … the rest of this 

with 

forgets that. It’s a young generation and their time. 

country 

— Terrylynn Brant, Mohawk Elder and gardener 

practice of reconciliation is not just about lip service; it is about 

e 

the exploitive relationship between the Canadian government 

transforming

Indigenous Peoples, or for that matter, the Canadian multinationals and 

and 

Peoples. It’s about a better future. at future has to have justice 

Indigenous 

at the center of it, justice for the Earth and justice for Native people. 

at 

is made by people, and is formed by the natural world, moments in 

future 

and o en with the arrival of “disruptive technology.” Today, the 

time 

technology should be renewable energy systems. But as Tony 

disruptive 

insists, disruptive technologies don’t implement themselves; they must 

Serta 

be powered by people: 

Stone Age did not end because we ran out of rocks. It ended 

e 

a disruptive technology ushered in the Bronze Age. e era of 

because 

command-and-control, extraction-resource-based energy 

centralized, 

(oil, gas, coal and nuclear) will not end because we run out of 

sources 

natural gas, coal, or uranium. It will end because these 

petroleum, 

sources, the business models they employ, and the products that 

energy 

them will be disrupted by superior technologies, product 

sustain 

and business models. is is a technology-based 

architectures, 

reminiscent of how the cell phone, Internet, and personal 

disruption 

swept away industries such as landline telephony, publishing, 

computer 

mainframe computers. Just like those technology disruptions 

and 

the architecture of information and brought abundant, cheap 

ipped 

and participatory information, the clean disruption will 

ip the 

of energy and bring abundant, cheap and participatory 

architecture 

Just like those previous technology disruptions, the clean 

energy. 

disruption is inevitable and it will be swi . 93 

have been grappling with the transition from the tar sands and 

Canadians 

industry economy for years. Rachel Notley, a former premier of 

extractive 

Alberta, set up Energy E 

ciency Alberta, which is tasked with designing 

and delivering energy e 

ciency for homes and businesses. David Suzuki, 

famous environmentalist, established the Blue Dot Campaign, 

Canada’s 

seeks to add “the right to a healthy environment” to the Canadian 

which 

of Rights and Freedoms. To date over 110,000 people and 1,123 

Charter 

have signed on to the Blue Dot Campaign, including 

municipalities 

Alberta. 94 It’s a beginning, and that beginning has roots across the 

Camrose, 

continent. 

Another interesting initiative, launched by author and futurist Guy

and heat pumps. 

vehicles 

Reduces energy costs by 61%. 

• 

Reduces private costs from $17.7 trillion a year to $6.8 trillion a year. 

• 

Reduces the full social cost (private costs + health-care costs and 

• 

+ climate costs) by 91%, from $76 trillion a year to $6.8 trillion 

mortality 

year. a 

Creates 28.6 million more long-term, full-time new jobs than are lost in 

• 

transition. 


Uses just 0.65% of the available land area in the 143 countries (0.17% for 

• 

footprint of solar and wind equipment and 0.48% for the spacing 


Dauncey on the site 

e Practical Utopian, is a 26-week transition program 

Canada. 95 Described by professor and Canada Research Chair Ann Dale 

for 

a “practical, down to earth concrete step by step transition strategy for the 

as 

government to get real about the climate emergency,” the plan 

Canadian 

a 65% reduction in emissions by 2030 and 100% by 2040. is is to 

proposes 

achieved through “164 new policies and programs, nanced by $59 

be 

a year in new investments, without raising taxes or increasing public 

billion 

sector borrowing.” 

e new programs and policies would be announced, in 

ideal scenario, every Monday and usher in the transformation. 

an 

outlining his plan, Dauncey points to the work of researchers at 

In 

University who released a report which concludes that 143 

Stanford 

including Canada, could be 80% powered by wind, water and 

countries, 

solar energy by 2030, and 100% by 2050. 

analysis shows that globally, the use of renewables combined with 

eir 

electri cation of transportation and heat: 


• Reduces global energy demand by 57% due to the e 

ciencies of electric 

between wind turbines). 96 

show that this would result in a savings of $10.9 trillion a year, or 

Estimates 

of global . If we don’t make this transition, instead proceeding with 

12% 

as usual, the costs are high: $76 trillion a year or 87% of global . 

business 

Canada this situation is even worse because of the risk of stranded 

For 

which Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of Canada, 

assets, 

could be as much as 80% of coal assets and half of all developed oil 

suggests

As Dauncey argues, the transition to renewables is a necessary 

reserves. 

to the climate crisis, creates jobs and brings nancial and health 

solution 

ts to everyone. 

bene 

is time for a transition. Not only for the climate and the environment, 

It 

because meaningful reconciliation will require an actual transformation 

but 

the dysfunctional relationship between Native and settler and between 


settlers and the land. 

at’s more than words, that’s economics. Shaun 

a Canadian social entrepreneur and author, chronicles a just 

Loney, 

strategy in Canada, documenting a set of case studies in Manitoba 

transition 

beyond in his books An Army of Problem Solvers, build Prosperity and 

and 

Beautiful Bailout. His basic arguments are simple: the government can 

e 

immense amounts of money and fuel poverty and diabetes, or we can 

spend 

some of that misery by restoring local economies. In a March 2020 

avert 

interview he told me, 

are exhausted at the cost of managing problems. All the 

Governments 

converge at the same time, and that creates the disruptive 

technologies 

Social enterprises are disruptive business models; we do 

technology. 

di erently so the old model can’t compete. So what’s built in 

things 

We are hiring 100 Indigenous people with criminal records; 

Winnipeg. 

only are they painting and patching, we are hiring people who are in 

not 

constant contact with the justice system.… 

e part comes in with the 

change. We are selling build in Winnipeg we are selling a 

social 

in incarceration. Disrupt the business model, foundations, 

reduction 

then young people who are interested in doing something with 

and 

lives. A national discussion about reconciliation is here. 


an example of Shaun’s thinking. Noting that the 2009 Manitoba 

Here’s 

report found that diabetes impacts one of every ve First 

Government 

people (18.9% compared to 4.5% of the general public), Loney 

Nations 

with communities to address the root cause of diabetes. Diabetes is 

worked 

and challenges the psyche as well as the health of the 

debilitating 

It’s also a huge nancial cost. e Canadian Institute on Health 

community. 

reported that annual health-care spending in Canada has now 

Information 

$6604 per person. An Indigenous person living with diabetes will 

reached 

require additional expenses, estimated at $19,812 annually. 

at’s the 

challenge of how to spend that money — buying drugs and setting up

or solving the problems ahead of time with diet. 97 Diabetes Canada 

dialysis 

that there will be 630,000 amputations in Canada by 2020. Stuck in 

suggests 

unworkable paradigm, the government of Canada has not capitalized the 

an 

at’s to say, that “while hundreds of First Nations are actively 

solution. 

on local food ventures, government policy is actively holding them 

working 

e most egregious example … the Nutrition North Canada program 

back. 

will subsidize imported food sold by retailers that otherwise sell mostly 

that 

food, while locally grown and harvested food is ineligible for the 

unhealthy 

subsidy.” 

to government policies, First Nations are rebuilding local food 

Contrary 

northern Manitoba has 26 projects ranging from sh composting 

systems; 

greenhouses and chickens, in remote Oji Cree Nations. All of that’s part of 

to 

Northern Manitoba Food, Culture and Community Collaborative. 98 And 


more coming. Aki Foods has been operating the Meechim Project in 


Hill First Nation since 2014, and monthly o ers and sells local food 

Garden 

If that’s built to 500 food boxes, it’s an annual revenue of $1.3 million, 

boxes. 

of it could be local — and that’s just one example. 

much 

northern Manitoba another Indigenous energy project has emerged as a 

In 

model for local energy, while other First Nations are looking to o - 

regional 

systems. AkiEnergy has transformed heating in Indigenous homes. 

grid 

our rst three years of operation, Aki Energy and our partners 

Within 

River Cree Nation and Peguis First Nation installed $6 million 

Fisher 

worth of energy e 

cient geothermal energy systems in 350 homes on 

di erent First Nations in Canada. In 2015, the Fisher River Cree 

four 

and the Peguis First Nation in Manitoba signed agreements with 

Nation 

Energy and Manitoba Hydro to complete an additional $14 million 

Aki 

of geothermal systems. 99 

worth 

is coming. Indeed, the Rainy River First Nation’s 25 megawatt solar 

More 

is a classic example of transitional economics, moving the nation 

project 

dependency to producer. Nominated as a “Game Changer” for the 

from 

Solar Industries, the project cost $160 million to install, and 

Canadian 

according to band manager Dean Wilson, now generates revenue. 100 

at’s 

the beginning. 

just 

the time of the 

In 

-19 virus, the globalization of a world food and 

energy economy has created a ripple of crisis, which needs a big solution.

Next Up 

a moment in time when the world is ready for a change, and this time 

is 

Indeed, in late March of 2020, as the 

crisis expanded, Inger 

executive director of the UN Environment Program, discussed 

Andersen, 

link between the pandemic and broader issues such as climate 


and loss of biodiversity. “But our long-term response must tackle 

change 

and biodiversity loss…. Never before have so many opportunities 

habitat 

for pathogens to pass from wild and domestic animals to people.… 

existed 

continued erosion of wild spaces has brought us uncomfortably close to 

Our 

and plants that harbor diseases that can jump to humans.” 

animals 

ere are too many pressures at the same time on our natural systems and 

“ 

has to give,” she added. “We are intimately interconnected with 

something 

whether we like it or not. If we don’t take care of nature, we can’t take 

nature, 

of ourselves. And as we hurtle towards a population of 10 billion people 

care 

this planet, we need to go into this future armed with nature as our 

on 

ally.” 101 

strongest 

the coronavirus has caused unprecedented disruption in the stock 

As 

Helen Mountford, vice president for climate and economics at the 

markets, 

Resources Institute, thinks investment in clean technology and 

World 

could help put it back together again. She believes that “these 


projects that create jobs, attract investment and will lead to economies 

are 

that are much more e 

cient and less polluting.” Speci cally addressing the 

of infrastructure, Mountford explains how “in the past infrastructure 

future 

meant building roads. Now we can do things like investing in 

investment 

infrastructure to mitigate climate change.” 

natural 

also points to the Green Deal as a way forward. “I think the EU 

Mountford 

Deal — and more broadly taking an approach which brings together 

Green 

low-carbon economy, a resilient economy and ways to protect and 


social development — is exactly what we need to get out of this 

support 

she says. “I would hope in Europe this will be seen as an opportunity 

crisis,” 

seize what the EU has started to lay out as a plan and use it as a basis to 

to 

economic growth and move forward more rapidly than it might 

boost 

otherwise have happened.” 102 

not come again. Climate crises, combined with pandemics, economic 

will 

political crises, are met with social movements which demand justice 

and

and have a plan for a better world. 

at’s the Just Transition, the Green New 

the LEAP Manifesto, or perhaps the 8th Fire; it’s a transformation and 

Deal, 

of a way of life at peace. It’s our time to make that world. Let’s do 

restoration 

it together.

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To Be a Water Protector: The Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers

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