{"id":2143,"date":"2020-12-14T17:45:27","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T17:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=139179"},"modified":"2020-12-14T17:45:27","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T17:45:27","slug":"8-mn-legislators-speak-out-against-line-3-during-sunday-visit-to-construction-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/14\/8-mn-legislators-speak-out-against-line-3-during-sunday-visit-to-construction-site\/","title":{"rendered":"8 MN Legislators Speak Out Against Line 3 During Sunday Visit to Construction Site"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WASHINGTON – Newly elected legislators from Rochester, Duluth and Moorhead were among eight Minnesota lawmakers who spoke in opposition to the Line 3 tar sands pipeline Sunday near Palisade, where its construction would cross the Mississippi river. Winona LaDuke of Honor the Earth led the group, along with 50 water protectors and activists, around the site, stopping at a prayer lodge she and other Indigenous leaders built recently in the line of construction. LaDuke and the legislators discussed the catastrophic climate impacts of the pipeline, the health risks of bringing in out of state pipeline workers during a pandemic, and the need to respect Native American culture and treaty rights.
 
\u201cThe historic preservation officers are told that they can look at things which are dead. I said \u2018We\u2019re not dead.\u2019 The Anishinaabe people are a living culture,\u201d LaDuke said. \u201cThe state says they want to respect Indigenous knowledge. It would be good if they actually respected it. I told them, \u2018You all are looking for pot shards, but we\u2019re still here.\u2019 \u201d 
 
Legislators emphasized a duty to future generations. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about what we do right now. It\u2019s affecting the next generations,\u201d said Representative-elect Heather Keeler of District 4A in Moorhead. \u201cI believe that when we leave it\u2019s our responsibility to hand down Mother Earth in the best form that we found her if not better.\u201d
 
Sen. John Marty of District 66 in Roseville said, \u201cWe have an obligation to our kids and grandkids and to our tribal neighbors, and their kids, and grandkids.\u201d
 
\u201cWe have a moral imperative to do our part of mitigating the damage of the climate crisis,\u201d said Senator-elect Jen McEwen from District 7 in Duluth, \u201cIf this happens right now while we are at the helm of these decisions, history will not look kindly on us.\u201d
 
Others urged Gov. Walz to heed the advice of climate scientists and health experts. Rep. Sydney Jordan from District 60A in Minneapolis spoke of her own relatives who were sick with COVID-19 but turned away from overflowing hospitals and about the health costs of fossil fuel emissions. \u201cGov. Walz has tried hard to make good decisions for people\u2019s health. I\u2019m hoping Gov. Walz can be a real health leader and make the decision to stop this pipeline.\u201d 
 
Senator-elect Erin Murphy of District 64 in St. Paul said, \u201cWe must invest as swiftly as possible in green energy and the technologies that will protect our climate and create skilled union jobs for Minnesotans. It\u2019s a fresh path that includes all of us.\u201d
 
Legislators also discussed that the majority of Line 3 jobs were going to out of state pipeline workers. \u201cI think often people believe that if we\u2019re going to protect Mother Earth that means we don\u2019t care about jobs. The reality is we still very much care about jobs, just not jobs that are affecting us so negatively,\u201d said Senator-elect Mary Kunesh of District 41 in New Brighton. 
 
Finally they emphasized the importance of their visit to the site. \u201cI came up here to see the construction for myself, to bring that back to the Legislature and to fight for justice and protect the environment. It\u2019s about justice and fairness,\u201d Representative-elect Liz Boldon of District 25B in Rochester said. Senator-elect Lindsey Port of District 56 in Burnsville agreed: \u201cIt\u2019s our job to amplify the voices of you all here and take that back to St. Paul.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2013 Newly elected legislators from Rochester, Duluth and Moorhead were among eight Minnesota lawmakers who spoke in opposition to the Line 3 tar sands pipeline Sunday near\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2144,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2143\/revisions\/2144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}