The second Great Lakes Collaborative meeting began with the showing of the movie, of Bad River: A Story of Defiance. The movie not only detailed the incredible strength and resilience of the Bad River Tribe throughout a history of colonialism, intentional division, violence, injustice, and intergenerational trauma.
Climate activist and writer for Sojourners, Bill McKibben, references the movie as “a powerful chronicle . . . and a hopeful picture of the emerging possibilities for power.”
Particularly as we look for local ways that we might challenge the fossil fuel industry, Bad River calls into question the Line 5 pipeline which enters the United States through Wisconsin and exits back into Canada through Michigan, crossing the Mackinac Straits, what the Abishinaabe refer to as the belly-button of the world.
To learn more about Line 5, please read the Line 5 Fact Sheet, provided by For the Love of Water (FLOW) found here or one of their many webinars found here.
Groundwork is another great climate justice group working on Line 5. To learn more more about Line 5 go to the groundwork FAQ page found here. Below that FAQ page are sample letters to Michigan Senators, another Fact Sheet, and sample Letters to the Editor and Op-Eds.
Sign-on Letters
There are sign-on letters that can be the beginning of our action on Line 5.
President Biden: It’s time for President Biden to revoke the presidential pipeline permit and shut down the Enbridge Line 5 crude oil pipeline. An oil spill from this unnecessary pipeline in the Great Lakes threatens the drinking water of 40 million people.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has ultimate authority over oil pipeline safety. He and his family live in northern Michigan near the Great Lakes. Secretary Buttigieg knows and loves his home and our waters and has it within his power to protect them. The Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is under his jurisdiction and can shut down Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac. It’s past time for Secretary Buttigieg to end the Line 5 threat to the Great Lakes.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE): Line 5 threatens Tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, the Great Lakes and everything that depends on them, the climate, and so much more. Take action now to stop the proposed Bad River reroute. Ask the USACE to conduct a Full Environmental Impact Statement, delay the process until state permitting and tribal consultations are complete, consider practical alternatives, ensure detailed public consultation, and mitigate environmental impacts.