Congresswoman Cori Bush Meets with Indigenous Leaders, Calls for Shutdown of Line 3
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Congresswoman Cori Bush (MO-01), member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment, released the below statement following her trip with Congresswomen Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Rashida Tlaib (MI-13) and Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) to the proposed site of Enbridge’s new Line 3 pipeline:
“The consequences of Enbridge’s pipeline are already catastrophic for our Indigenous neighbors, our community in St. Louis, and for generations to come,” said Congresswoman Bush. “This company is violating sovereign treaty rights to hunt, fish, gather and occupy — and they are polluting our Mississippi River in the process. Enbridge is brutalizing Indigenous communities who are working for a better world for us all. This summer, unarmed activists standing up for tribal sovereignty and against fossil fuel infrastructure were tear gassed, shot with rubber bullets, maced and arrested. Those bullets were paid for by Enbridge.
“This poisoned water isn’t just going to harm communities in Minnesota. St. Louis sits directly downstream on the Mississippi River — with some of our most vulnerable neighbors, mostly communities of color, living right on the bank of that water. I will not sit back and watch yet another corporation prioritize profits over Black, brown and Indigenous lives. I thank Congresswoman Omar and the Red Lake and White Earth communities for welcoming us into their home this weekend. I strongly urge the Biden administration to put an immediate stop to Line 3, and I vow to use my seat in Congress to protect Indigenous rights, the rights of protesters and our environment.”
As members of the House Committees on Oversight, Judiciary, Financial Services, and Foreign Affairs, the Congresswomen met with tribal officials from Red Lake Nation and White Earth Nation, as well as representatives from Giniw Collective, Honor the Earth, the RISE Coalition and the Indigenous Environmental Network. These tribal officials and organizers spoke extensively about the treaty abuse committed by Enbridge, the climate violence and pollution already caused by Line 3 and the brutal assaults on protesters.
The new Line 3 crosses more than 200 bodies of water, including the Mississippi River twice, along with its tributaries, and traverses 75 miles of wetlands. If completed, the proposed new Line 3 would be one of the largest crude oil pipelines in the world, carrying up to 915,000 barrels per day of one of the dirtiest fuels on earth.
The coordinated law enforcement response to Water Protectors has resulted in over 800 arrests and countless human rights violations such as pain compliance techniques, “less-lethal” weapons, and chemical weapons. Law enforcement has received over $2 million from Enbridge for policing around the pipeline’s construction.
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Congresswoman Cori Bush sits on the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees, serves as the Progressive Caucus Deputy Whip, and proudly represents St. Louis as a politivist in the halls of the United States Congress.