Editor’s Note: This letter was written in response to the Duluth News Tribune Editorial “ Accept, respect Line 3 process, its legitimate result ,” which was published on Page D5 of the Saturday, Dec. 5 edition of the Duluth News Tribune, a newspaper also owned by Forum Communications Co.
I am a local here in Bemidji who comes from two farming families. Married into a farming family within miles from Enbridge’s Line 3 and my relatives farms in the Red River Valley where I was born and raised. I would like to push back on the narrative portrayed by the Duluth News Tribune Editorial Board’s opinion in their editorial Accept, respect Line 3 process, its legitimate result on Dec. 5.
Just as the Trump legal cases are normal in American politics, so are these the types of legal cases typical in regards to the Line 3 opposition. Deeming either as trivial is disregarding and demeaning the rural communities of Minnesota where both Trump’s fake populism and Line 3 opposition are table top issues for those mixed communities. Russiagate went on for four years and still there are democrats that think Russia did it.
In regards to the Dakota Access pipeline altercations. It was also shameful of Gov. Burgum who facilitated the North Dakotan public law enforcement officers to assist a foreign company to steal his constituent's lands without allowing those citizens to exhaust every route of legal recourse that we give to our citizens in the judicial system. It is shameful that our rural Minnesota officers engage in this tyranny on behalf of a Canadian company.
Economic benefits of 4,200 jobs across 13 counties is a beautiful picture painted. Those jobs are only temporary. As I know growing up in the Red River Valley near the Keystone pipeline, for three months one summer those out-of-state pipeliners were in and out leaving a spike in local crimes, with a small impact on the overall fiscal quarter for local businesses. No more than your average fishing opening with tourists coming into the area.
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Do we really want more folks coming into our rural areas during the COVID-19 epidemic, if they cause a super spreader that could close down our communities and local economies?
We in Bemidji know what it means for chemicals to contaminate our aquifers and wells. Safe means nothing when you have the money/insurance to pay out in legal fees. Safety doesn’t help the farmer whose family’s generational wealth is passed through lands that may be miles from a pipeline, yet through water contamination have to settle in court for a payout. All for a quick temporary boost in local revenue.
