Rep. Ilhan Omar and three members of the Squad including two from the Midwest, are in Minnesota this weekend related to the Enbridge Line 3 replacement in northern Minnesota.
Omar and Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts), Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan), and Cori Bush (D-Missouri) -- the latter two of which hailing from states along the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes -- are calling on President Joe Biden to revoke the permit for the project, similar to what he did with the Keystone Pipeline, arguing Line 3 violates treaties with native tribes and threatens the environment. Tlaib recalled the 2010 Enbridge oil pipeline burst in the Kalamazoo River that took five years to clean up.
“(The pipeline) threatens places that are put out of sight and out of mind for most Americans,” Omar said, “the prairies, the wild rice wetlands, the Mississippi River tributaries, and the treaty lands of indigenous peoples.”
In a statement, Minnesota Republican Reps. Pete Stauber, Tom Emmer and Michelle Fischbach called the push to stop the pipeline, which is 90% completed, “misguided.” The pipeline is supported by many Republicans, as well as trades unions.
“The courts, the PUC, this is the most-studied project in the history of pipelines and they’ve all looked at the science and the data to prove it and we have a small group of people who can’t accept reality,” Jason George with the Operating Engineers Union said at a Thursday press conference at the state capitol joined by Stauber and other supporters.
Omar said Stauber was disingenuous in his support of Line 3.
“They say money talks and bulls*** walks,” Omar said. “Enbridge’s donation to my colleague is working for them. He is out here advocating for (Enbridge) and not advocating for his constituents and the people of Minnesota who are going to suffer the consequences of the pollution that Enriudge is creating and has already created.”
Sixty-three elected officials, mostly from the DFL on the state and federal level, signed a letter to Biden Monday to take action, including 4th District Representative Betty McCollum. More than 60 Senate Republicans penned a letter saying they were “offended” by the Squad’s visit to northern Minnesota.