Yesterday, I marched with my peers to demand that Chase Bank dfunds Line 3, a recently completed tar sands pipeline expansion project that runs from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin. It was proposed in 2014 by Enbridge, a Canadian pipeline company responsible for the largest inland oil spill in the US.
There are many negative effects of Line 3, such as that it violates treaty rights such as the 1884/1885 territory treaty. Repeatedly in the past, the US government and large corporations have ignored these treaties, and again with Line 3 we see this happening. Additionally, there has been a direct correlation in an increase of missing and murdered indigenous women and relatives (MMIWR) near the pipeline as a result of man camps, where the workers of the pipeline temporarily live. Furthermore, Line 3 weaves through and therefore destroys manoomin (wild rice) beds, an essential and sacred crop to many native tribes in the area. Lastly, the pipeline is already threatening water resources. It's not so much IF the pipeline is going to leak, it's WHEN it is going to, and it already has in certain areas.
Chase Bank, along with many other large US banks (Citi, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, RBC) invest large amounts of money to fund fossil fuel companies such as Line 3. If we can educate people about what their banks are funding, they may consider changing banks or approaching their bank to complain about this issue.
I had the opportunity to organize this rally as part of the Sunrise Colorado Springs hub. We partnered with the Colorado College Native American Student Union and Colorado College Environment and Ecology Coalition to plan the rally, where we walked to Chase Bank in downtown Colorado Springs and listened to speakers and performers. Our action plan will continue in the upcoming future with informational workshops and a phone banking to Jamie Dimon (the owner of Chase). This was a moving rally that I had the incredible opportunity to be part of. We had a great turnout and could really feel the passion in peoples speeches and actions.
