Text of Letter (PDF)

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) joined Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (MN-05) and over three dozen Members of Congress and Minnesota state lawmakers on a letter urging President Biden to intervene to protect Indigenous sovereignty amidst the construction of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota. The letter comes after concerning violations of treaty rights by public agencies and private actors, ongoing violence against Indigenous women, and the catastrophic environmental impacts of the pipeline. 

“When considering the extent of environmental, cultural, and social impacts on Indigenous people associated with Line 3 construction and its long-term climate impacts, we believe the federal government has a responsibility to uphold treaties and engage with Tribal nations on a government-to-government level,” wrote the lawmakers. “We look forward to receiving your response as soon as possible.”

Line 3 is a tar sands pipeline project that extends 340 miles through Tribal lands and untouched wetlands. Recently, state agencies and local law enforcement entities have taken steps that appear to be clear violations of Tribal rights including financial conflicts of interest. When completing reviews of the pipeline construction sites, Enbridge failed to include key stakeholders in the Tribal Cultural Resource Management survey team.

The letter was signed by U.S. Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Jamaal Bowman Ed.D., Steve Cohen, Adriano Espaillat, Jesús G. “Chuy” García, Jared Huffman, Mondaire Jones, Ro Khanna, Barbara Lee, Teresa Leger Fernandez, Alan Lowenthal, Betty McCollum, Jerrold Nadler, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib. 

The letter was also signed by Minnesota Elected Officials Jim Carlson, Scott Dibble, Chris Eaton, Omar Fateh, Mary Kunesh, Jennifer McEwen, John Marty, Lindsey Port, Ann Rest, Patricia Torres Ray, Charles Wiger, Patty Acomb, Esther Agbaje, Jamie Becker-Finn, Kaela Jo Berg, Liz Boldon, Jim Davnie, Heather Edelson, Sandra Feist, and Cedrick Frazier, Mike Freiberg, Aisha Gomez, Rick Hansen, Jess Hanson, Hodan Hassan, Athena Hollins, Michael Howard, Frank Hornstein, Sydney Jordann, Fue Lee, Tina Liebling, Leon Lillie, Todd Lippert, Jamie Long, Sandra Masin, Carlos Mariani, Rena Moran, Kelly Morrison, Dave Pinto, Liz Reyer, Mohamud Noor, Samantha Vang, Jay Xiong, Ami Wazlawik, and Tou Xiong. 

The full text of the letter is available here.

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