Minneapolis City Council unanimously passes resolution opposing Line 3

(Minneapolis, MN) -- Today the Minneapolis City Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing the Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline. The vote was 13-0 as every council member voted to oppose the project. Enbridge Line 3 is facing stiff resistance from Indigenous communities, climate justice groups, and everyday Minnesotans. In response to today’s action MN350 Communications Director Brett Benson said:

“Today’s action by the Minneapolis City Council is more evidence of the mounting opposition to Line 3. The pipeline is proving over and over again to be a bad deal for Minnesotans. It not only tramples on tribal sovereignty and will dump hundreds of millions of tons of climate pollution into the atmosphere but also is costing Minnesota taxpayers millions of dollars in bailouts to local governments. It’s time to put an end to this fiasco.”

Line 3 would add nearly 200 million tons of climate pollution per year, more than is generated by the entire state of Minnesota. Said Council Member Jeremy Schroder, one of the sponsors of the resolution, "It is critical that we are holding ourselves accountable to do everything we can to stop climate change."

The Line 3 construction is also disrupting Minnesota communities. Last weekend two more of its workers were caught in a sex trafficking sting -- the second set of arrests in six months -- and Enbridge is now demanding an additional 5 billion gallons of Minnesota’s water for pipeline construction. Minnesota taxpayers were also just forced to shell out $30 million to bail out Minnesota counties that in turn were forced to issue Enbridge tax refunds.