This week on Minnesota Native News we get the latest on legal maneuvers to stop the Line 3 oil pipeline replacement and Sharon Day remembers the beloved Grandma Josephine Mandamin [men DAH mIn] who led the first water walk on Turtle Island.
Transcript
STORY #1 — PUC
Deliberations over the Enbridge Line 3 oil pipeline replacement are inching forward.
Ojibwe tribes and environmental groups recently filed a petition arguing the state Public Utilities Commission or PUC needs to reverse its course.
Melissa Townsend has the details.
The petition comes from the Red Lake Nation, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, Honor the Earth and the Sierra Club.
They say PUC Commissioners made legal errors when they granted Enbridge Energy Company the Certificate of Need to build the Line 3 replacement pipeline.
They argue the commissioners should have ordered a survey of culturally significant sites along each of the possible pipeline routes.
That way everyone would know which route is least disruptive to the culturally significant areas.
That didn’t happen.
They also argue PUC Commissioners did not follow Minnesota laws regarding documenting the need for more crude oil.
According to Minnesota statute, Enbridge management must demonstrate that future demand for crude oil will increase —which would be why we need a new, larger oil pipeline.
The company did not do that.
Instead, Enbridge lawyers provided an analysis of future supply.
Meaning, they forecasted how much crude oil they could be able to pull out fo the ground, but that’s not the same as how much consumers will need.
The tribes and environmental groups say they’ve seen the consumer forecasts and those reports indicate consumers will demand less crude oil —
which makes the case against a new bigger oil pipeline from Canada.
The PUC Commissioners will rule on all these arguments in the coming weeks.
STORY #2 -Josephine Mandamin Walks On (3:00)
In 2003 a small group of women walked around the whole of Lake Superior in prayer for healing the water.
That very first water walk was led by elder Josephine Mandamin.
She went on to lead over a dozen water walks and inspire countless others to do the same.
On Friday February 22 Josephine Mandamin passed away.
Melissa Townsend talked about Josephine with her friend Sharon Day.
In 1998, Sharon and Josephine were part of the same Mde lodge near Bad River Wisconsin.
SHARON: And the chief of our lodge Bawdwayadun - he said to us, what will you do for the water. (:04)
That spurred Josephine to make a plan to walk around Lake Superior in prayer.
The idea is that each step you walk is a prayer of gratitude and healing for the water.
SHARON: The walks are never to oppose anything. They are always to move forward with love for the water. (:07)
Sharon Day was inspired by Josephine Mandamin and has led a dozen of her own Nibi walks.
SHARON: You know she has impacted my life in so many ways… (:03)
Josephine Mandamin’s last water walk in 2017 retraced the Ojibwe migration from east coast to the midwest.
It was nearly 2000 miles and it lasted 97 days.
Right around the day that walk ended, Sharon began her own walk following the Missouri River. She started out west in Montana.
SHARON: So here we are, we’d been out for 4 or 5 days and that morning a car pulled up behind us and I got out to greet them. And I could not believe it. It was Josephine and this young man Edward. I was so overwhelmed by seeing her because they had just finished this 97 day walk. And here they were you know like, in Montana. And I said to her - like you know, what are you doing here? And she looked at me and smiled and she said - I came to support you. And you know — that - is - love. … yea. (:49)
Now that she’s gone, many will feel the loss but Sharon says they will continue with their work for the water.
For more information about Josephine Mandamin you can find videos on youtube by film maker Jeff Bear.
And there’s a children’s book about her called The Water Walker written by Joanne Robertson.
For Minnesota Native News, I’m Melissa Townsend.