Congresswomen urge Biden to stop pipeline in Minnesota visit

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and her progressive congressional allies urged President Joe Biden on Friday to stop construction on Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 replacement, even as the project nears completion and the options to stop it dwindle. Ahead of a planned weekend trip to northern Minnesota, where the pipeline is being upgraded, Omar and her allies echoed the arguments of Indigenous and environmental activists that the pipeline project would worsen climate change, violate Native American treaty rights, and risk spills in waters where Indigenous people hunt, fish and gather wild rice. “We encourage legislators to learn the facts about Line 3, tour a worksite and meet some of the tribal monitors and the thousands of union workers building Line 3.” As Line 3 opponents continue organizing despite dwindling options for stopping the project — including a major rally last week when more than 1,000 protesters descended on the Capitol — the replacement pipeline is nearly finished. Earlier on Friday, Indigenous activists hosted a conference call to publicize a letter from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination asking the U.S. to respond to allegations of human rights abuses against Anishinaabe people in northern Minnesota due to Line 3’s construction.