American Press: Minnesota asks federal court to block Line 3 tribal lawsuit

Image: MPRNews

August 20th, 2021

The White Earth Band's tribal court has ruled that a rights of nature enforcement case regarding manoomin, the Ojibwe word for wild rice, can go forward. This is the first enforcement case of its kind within tribal court history. Manoomin is the lead plaintiff in this case. This is only the second rights of nature enforcement case to be filed within the U.S. federal system. The Associated Press posted a story regarding these latest events and can be found here.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has gone to the federal courts to seek a dismissal over the lawsuit against Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 pipeline project. There has been public objection to this project due to the risk of oil spills that would harm not only the manoomin that this so important to the White Earth tribal members community, but also the natural environment and climate needs of the community members at large. This construction project would also require 5 billion gallons of groundwater in the middle of a drought. The next court hearing takes place on August 25th.