Opponents of the new Line 3 oil pipeline across northern Minnesota have argued for years that its construction endangers dwindling stands of wild rice, a plant sacred to many Indigenous people as a gift from God.
Now the wild rice is speaking up for itself.
The water-dwelling plant is the lead plaintiff in a novel lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, or DNR, as the White Earth Band of Ojibwe asserts its sovereignty during a summer of intense anti-Line 3 demonstrations.
The complaint, filed Wednesday in White Earth Nation Tribal Court, advances a paradigm-shifting legal theory that nature itself has rights to exist and flourish, and is not just human property.
Some might call the argument extreme, others might call it ancient.
It’s the first “rights of nature” case brought in a tribal court in the U.S., according to Frank Bibeau, a lawyer for the White Earth tribe. In April, what’s regarded as the first such case in any court in the U.S. was filed in Florida.
Plaintiffs include manoomin (which means “good berry” in Ojibwe), several White Earth tribal members and Indian and non-Indian Water Protectors who have demonstrated along the 340-mile Line 3 construction route in Minnesota.
They accuse the DNR of failing to protect the state’s fresh water by allowing Calgary, Canada-based Enbridge to pump up to 5 billion gallons of groundwater from construction trenches during a damaging drought. Further, they assert the regulator has violated the rights of manoomin along with multiple treaty rights for tribal members to hunt, fish and gather wild rice outside reservations.
They want the state to stop the water pumping and for authorities to stop arresting people for trying to defend codified rights.
“We’re not protesting, we’re defending,” Bibeau said. “It’s 2021 now and a bunch of us have been to law school. We’re not going to let this happen to us. We know what our rights are.”
To date, more than 700 people have been charged for anti-Line 3 demonstrations along the construction route, according to Bibeau. Some have chained themselves to equipment or taken other actions to disrupt construction. There have been claims of police brutality.
Most of the charges are for trespassing, but some people have been charged with other crimes, such as creating a nuisance, unlawful assembly or harassment, Bibeau said. The cases are working their way through district courts in several Minnesota counties, including Aitkin, Clearwater and Hubbard.
DNR spokeswoman Gail Nosek said the agency is reviewing the lawsuit and has “no further comment at this time.”
Enbridge did not immediately respond for comment on the lawsuit.
Bibeau said he suspects the agency will say it is not interfering with or violating treaty rights. But, he added, the wild rice will have its day in court. The tribe will still hold a court hearing, Bibeau said, get a default judgment and likely take the matter to federal court.
The lawsuit is not the only legal challenge to the pipeline, which will carry tar sands oil from Canada to Superior, Wisconsin, and is now more than 70% complete.
For example, a lawsuit filed by pipeline opponents over the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ permit for Line 3 is pending in federal court in Washington, D.C. While opponents of the project continue to call on President Joe Biden to stop construction of Line 3, the Biden administration supported the permits in June court filings.
Meanwhile, Ojibwe bands and environmental groups have petitioned the Minnesota Supreme Court to consider overturning an Appeals Court decision that backed state utility regulators in their approval of the Line 3 project. The Supreme Court is expected to decide next month whether to hear the case.