The Wild Rice Sulfate Standard was adopted in Minnesota rules in 1973 to protect our water and our cultural resources. Manoomin no longer grows in many waters, as a result of sulfate pollution and other development. The Standard has not been enforced, and making it more complicated now will have a detrimental impact.

The MPCA is proposing to eliminate and replace the Wild Rice Sulfate Standard. Up until now, the standard has maintained that sulfate should not enter wild rice waters in higher quantities than 10 parts per million. The new proposed rule would make a different standard for every lake and wetland with wild rice – an unbelievably complicated and costly rule to implement.

Come to Protect Our Manoomin!

Attend one of these meetings to make your voice heard:

St. Paul: October 23, 2017 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
Harold E. Stassen Building (Skjestadt Room): 600 North Robert St., St. Paul, MN 55101 

Virginia: October 24, 2017 (4 p.m. to 9 p.m.)
Mesabi Range Community College (Theater F100): 1001 Chestnut St., Virginia, MN 55792

Bemidji: October 25, 2017 (4 p.m. to 9 p.m.)
Bemidji State University (Beaux Arts Ballroom): 1500 Birchmont Dr. NE, Bemidji, MN 56601

For Immediate Release: BNP Paribas Bank stops funding tar sands, fracking -- Enbridge to lose $1.24B in corporate lending 

On October 11, BNP Paribas, the 2nd largest bank in France and 4th largest corporate lender to Enbridge LLC, announced it will cease all funding of companies whose primary business is tar sands, fracking, or Arctic drilling. The news comes on the tail of several other banks divesting from the project level financing of Energy Transfer Partnership, the company behind the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.

Five Ojibwe bands in Minnesota announced their own environmental review process for Line 3, largely in response to the profound shortcomings in the State of Minnesota’s review.  Tribal governments are standing up to assert their rights of self-determination and to protect the lands, waters, and resources critical to the survival of the Anishinaabeg.  

The Anishinaabeg Cumulative Impact Assessment (ACIA) is a working model for environmental review utilizing Indigenous Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. The document is being reviewed and refined by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, the White Earth Nation, the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. These Bands are also intervening in the State of Minnesota's regulatory process for the Line 3 project and will continue to oppose this project.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 21, 2017

Contact:
Tara Houska, Honor the Earth (612) 226-9404
Ruth Breech, Rainforest Action Network (415) 238-1766

Indigenous Groups Lead Movement to Call on Banks to Drop
Enbridge’s Controversial Line 3 Pipeline
Tribal Nations based in Minnesota oppose the project and the Minnesota Department of Commerce has condemned it

Minneapolis, MN -- Today, a coalition of Indigenous, national and international groups join a growing movement placing pressure on financial institutions to drop financially and socially risky projects, delivering a group letter to the 36 banks providing corporate finance to fossil fuel infrastructure giant Enbridge. The groups are calling on the banks to cut business ties with Enbridge Inc. until it stops expanding tar sands operations, one of the most destructive fossil fuels on the planet. Enbridge is the company behind the Line 3 “Replacement” Pipeline project, a controversial project that would cause Indigenous rights abuses and continued contributions towards climate change.

Last week, the Minnesota Department of Commerce shocked us all with its formal testimony in opposition to Line 3:  

“Oil market analysis indicates that Enbridge has not established a need for the proposed project; the pipeline would primarily benefit areas outside Minnesota; and serious environmental and socioeconomic risks and effects outweigh limited benefits.”

“Minnesota would be better off if Enbridge proposed to cease operations of the existing Line 3, without any new pipeline being built.”

We are excited to share this the "Sacred" music video featuring Porangui and Kayt Pearl written by conscious Hip Hop artist J Brave dropped on Thursday, Sept. 21st with a some help from Unify!! The artists will be giving away 100% of the Bandcamp single proceeds to Honor The Earth supporting the preservation of sacred sites, Native environmental issues, and the protection of indigenous culture. 

This Sunday morning, a great one moved on.  Bob Gough served as an Honor the Earth board member for many years, and we miss him already.  Bob was a leader in the development and advancement of renewable energy on tribal lands. 

Bob was a brilliant and generous man, relentless in his advocacy for sustainability and his efforts to apply "indigenuity" as a solution to some of the world’s most wicked problems.  We are very grateful for his service, his wisdom, his leadership, and his friendship.  

Winona LaDuke, Honor the Earth Executive Director, was very close to Gough.  “Bob was a true mentor to me, and he encouraged all of my thinking.  He was my climate change, resilience, and adaptation guru, and he prodded us all along with a great humbleness.  In all of his work he was a beacon, a star of navigation in unknown territory.”

Read more...

Originally Published by Duluth News Tribune
by By Lisa Kaczke

With only a few details left to paint on Friday afternoon, a jingle dress dancer looked out onto West Second Street in downtown Duluth from a mural painted on a wall high above.

The mural has been taking shape during the past month on an exterior wall of the American Indian Community Housing Organization's building in downtown Duluth.

We are changing the world.  Water protectors have carried the sacred fire from Standing Rock on to other fights.  Tribes are standing up.  Oil companies are withdrawing from the tar sands.  Major cities and banks are divesting.  

We offer this Summer Newsletter​ as a brief update on our work to protect the sacred and lead the transition to a future with clean water and respect for human rights and Mother Earth.

Read more....

On May 15, the State of Minnesota released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Enbridge's proposed new Line 3 pipeline.  You can view or download the entire DEIS here.  This 5000+ page document is an attempt to analyze the potential impacts of the project on Minnesota's environment, public health, tribal resources, climate, etc, and to compare Enbridge's proposed route to several alternatives.  The MN Public Utilities Commission is supposed to use it to decide whether or not to grant Enbridge permits for the project.  

The State of MN will hold 22 public meetings in June 2017, all over Minnesota, to gather public comment on the DEIS.  In theory, they will use the public comments to make improvements before issuing the Final EIS later this year.   Click here for the detailed schedule with times and venue addresses.

Read more for background info, instructions on how to submit written comments, guidelines for writing strong comments, and a few suggested talking points based on our initial read of the document.