Treehugger: Wild Rice Sues Minnesota in 'Rights of Nature' Case to Stop Pipeline

December 17th, 2021

“A lawsuit could allow the White Earth Band to reclaim sovereignty over its ancestral lands. “

Eduardo Garcia opens up this Treehugger article with a concise understanding of the current work being done with the rights of nature within tribal courts. CDER’s Senior Counsel Thomas Linzey was interviewed for this article as an advisor to the plaintiffs, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, part of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. Thomas explains that “Chippewa tribal members have a right of sovereignty and self-determination to actually adopt the laws that they've adopted. And those rights cannot be infringed or violated by governments, or business entities like Enbridge”.

The lawsuit, Manoomin, et.al., v. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, et.al. is on the move through the tribal and federal court systems. As more news about this important legal work comes out, larger portions of our global society will be willing to codify the right to “exist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve” to manoomin (wild rice) and other natural resources. To read this article in full, please visit here.