00:00:04.689 --> 00:00:08.106
(light orchestral music)

00:00:26.603 --> 00:00:30.270
(speaking foreign language)

00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:33.970
- My name is Tara Houska.

00:00:33.970 --> 00:00:36.160
I'm Bear Clan from
Couchiching First Nation.

00:00:36.160 --> 00:00:38.653
I was born and raised in
International Falls, Minnesota.

00:00:40.730 --> 00:00:43.442
Minnesota and what's now Minnesota,

00:00:43.442 --> 00:00:46.130
I mean, my, my people's territory is full

00:00:46.130 --> 00:00:48.330
of all these interconnected
bodies of water.

00:00:50.690 --> 00:00:52.840
You look at something
like that and you think,

00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:57.240
how could you possibly think
to put something as dangerous

00:00:57.240 --> 00:01:01.143
as tar sands oil into something like that?

00:01:07.440 --> 00:01:10.040
The Enbridge Corporation
has several lines here

00:01:10.040 --> 00:01:12.100
in the state of Minnesota.

00:01:12.100 --> 00:01:14.953
It is the largest pipeline
company in the world.

00:01:15.930 --> 00:01:18.900
It solely exists to expand the
fossil fuel industry through

00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:20.663
transport of the product.

00:01:21.520 --> 00:01:24.483
So it needs to build
pipelines, no matter what.

00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:42.450
As you can see, this is
a clear cutting site.

00:01:42.450 --> 00:01:46.200
In this area that's
essentially like a green zone,

00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:48.300
where there is not any existing pipelines.

00:01:49.140 --> 00:01:52.030
Enbridge has been basically
clear-cutting where it can,

00:01:52.030 --> 00:01:55.180
places that people can't
see, down roads like this,

00:01:55.180 --> 00:01:56.820
because I know that the
level of resistance here

00:01:56.820 --> 00:01:58.033
is very significant.

00:01:59.662 --> 00:02:01.810
(light orchestral music)

00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:04.360
Tar sands is the dirtiest
fossil fuel in the world.

00:02:05.310 --> 00:02:07.710
It's essentially a mixture of
clay and oil that they have to

00:02:07.710 --> 00:02:09.007
pull out of the grand.

00:02:10.380 --> 00:02:11.780
They douse it with all
these really, really,

00:02:11.780 --> 00:02:13.450
really toxic carcinogenic chemicals,

00:02:13.450 --> 00:02:17.350
because they can't push
that clay through pipes

00:02:17.350 --> 00:02:22.350
to refineries, and it creates
this sludge that they then use

00:02:22.720 --> 00:02:25.390
massive amounts of power to
force through the line when

00:02:25.390 --> 00:02:27.900
there's a break in the pipe,
because it's incredible amount

00:02:27.900 --> 00:02:28.733
of pressure too.

00:02:28.733 --> 00:02:30.810
Tar sands needs more pressure
than the average oil,

00:02:30.810 --> 00:02:31.883
because it's sludge.

00:02:33.270 --> 00:02:35.960
So when that breaks, it
doesn't float on the surface,

00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:36.793
it sinks.

00:02:37.760 --> 00:02:40.530
Line three would be a
infrastructure project

00:02:40.530 --> 00:02:42.220
sending tar sands from Alberta,

00:02:42.220 --> 00:02:44.720
what's now Canada, through North Dakota,

00:02:44.720 --> 00:02:47.643
into Minnesota, terminating
in Superior, Wisconsin.

00:02:48.480 --> 00:02:52.160
It is a line that would be
almost a million barrels a day

00:02:52.160 --> 00:02:54.523
of tar sands passing
through these territories.

00:02:57.340 --> 00:03:01.427
- And then that pipeline coming
from the tar sands, think of

00:03:01.427 --> 00:03:02.260
that as a river.

00:03:02.260 --> 00:03:05.170
Another river is coming from
the Bakken in North Dakota,

00:03:05.170 --> 00:03:08.190
and 10 miles from here in the Clearbrook,

00:03:08.190 --> 00:03:09.873
those two pipelines are joined.

00:03:11.690 --> 00:03:13.520
When those two pipelines come together

00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:15.970
into a single pipeline,
the oil that's flowing

00:03:15.970 --> 00:03:19.050
in that pipeline is
flowing at the same speed

00:03:19.050 --> 00:03:20.520
that they want it to,
at the right pressure

00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:21.840
that they want it to.

00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:24.053
Maybe 1000 pounds per square inch.

00:03:26.780 --> 00:03:30.500
They have to constantly
be monitoring for leaks

00:03:30.500 --> 00:03:31.603
in the pipeline.

00:03:33.210 --> 00:03:37.940
One only has to Google pipeline
safety to see the number

00:03:37.940 --> 00:03:40.980
of pipelines which have ruptured.

00:03:40.980 --> 00:03:44.540
But suppose there was an
absolutely perfect pipeline system

00:03:44.540 --> 00:03:46.370
in the United States that had no faults

00:03:46.370 --> 00:03:47.860
and could never fail.

00:03:47.860 --> 00:03:48.910
Is that a good thing?

00:03:50.150 --> 00:03:51.440
No.

00:03:51.440 --> 00:03:55.780
Because what we're supposed
to be doing on a global scale

00:03:55.780 --> 00:04:00.593
is decreasing the supply
of and the demand for oil.

00:04:03.005 --> 00:04:06.422
(light orchestral music)

00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:29.160
- The Lake Superior Basin,
this is where we come from.

00:04:31.610 --> 00:04:36.610
The whole Minnesota Chippewa
Tribe, the Lake Superior Band

00:04:37.850 --> 00:04:42.463
of Ojibwe, this is us.

00:04:46.920 --> 00:04:51.920
They want to put this pipeline
in the middle of all of this.

00:04:54.980 --> 00:04:57.973
The Tribal Council was
faced with a decision.

00:04:59.730 --> 00:05:02.790
We have to decide which
wild rice lakes we are going

00:05:02.790 --> 00:05:06.333
to sacrifice, if there is a leak.

00:05:18.930 --> 00:05:23.930
The First Ojibwe Treaty in
Minnesota was here in 1826.

00:05:33.467 --> 00:05:35.860
"Fish in this section
of the St. Louis River

00:05:35.860 --> 00:05:37.470
are contaminated.

00:05:37.470 --> 00:05:41.090
Minnesota Department of Health
recommends limiting meals

00:05:41.090 --> 00:05:42.500
of these fish.

00:05:42.500 --> 00:05:44.290
Call the Minnesota Department of Health

00:05:44.290 --> 00:05:46.111
for more information."

00:05:46.111 --> 00:05:48.694
(line ringing)

00:05:50.341 --> 00:05:51.594
(tones beeping)

00:05:51.594 --> 00:05:53.930
- [Automated Voice] We're
sorry, you have reached a number

00:05:53.930 --> 00:05:57.285
that has been disconnected
or is no longer in service.

00:05:57.285 --> 00:05:59.640
If you feel you have reached
this recording in error,

00:05:59.640 --> 00:06:02.013
please check the number
and try your call again.

00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:07.210
- I want to know exactly
what that message is saying

00:06:07.210 --> 00:06:09.283
to them right there.

00:06:13.650 --> 00:06:17.908
Who is telling them that the fish

00:06:17.908 --> 00:06:21.500
in this river are contaminated?

00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:22.743
Who's telling them that?

00:06:26.378 --> 00:06:29.580
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:06:29.580 --> 00:06:31.460
- I spent six months on
the front lines of fighting

00:06:31.460 --> 00:06:33.660
the Dakota Access
Pipeline in North Dakota.

00:06:33.660 --> 00:06:36.560
And I'm now back in my home
territory to fight line three.

00:06:37.970 --> 00:06:40.140
In Standing Rock fighting
the Dakota Access Pipeline,

00:06:40.140 --> 00:06:44.170
it was extreme police brutality
that quickly militarized

00:06:44.170 --> 00:06:45.910
against unarmed people who were trying

00:06:45.910 --> 00:06:47.510
to protect their drinking water.

00:06:48.530 --> 00:06:50.290
The Dakota Access Pipeline
was originally supposed to go

00:06:50.290 --> 00:06:51.800
through Bismarck, North Dakota,

00:06:51.800 --> 00:06:54.010
like through the watershed right there.

00:06:54.010 --> 00:06:55.500
Because of concerns to the drinking water,

00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:57.600
they rerouted it right
next to the reservation.

00:06:57.600 --> 00:06:59.810
So Bismarck's water mattered,

00:06:59.810 --> 00:07:01.530
but the reservation's water did not.

00:07:01.530 --> 00:07:04.810
Environmental racism doesn't
get any clearer than that.

00:07:04.810 --> 00:07:09.810
- Standing Rock was an awakening,
a prayer that was sent.

00:07:10.190 --> 00:07:11.630
It manifested.

00:07:11.630 --> 00:07:14.030
- When I got here back in
August, I was one little tent

00:07:14.030 --> 00:07:16.930
over in that field, and
now it's grown to thousands

00:07:16.930 --> 00:07:18.290
of people recognizing that we need

00:07:18.290 --> 00:07:20.350
to change the relationship
of people to fossil fuels.

00:07:20.350 --> 00:07:21.920
These projects happen in our communities.

00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:23.930
They impact us first and worst.

00:07:23.930 --> 00:07:25.663
We are not sacrifice zones.

00:07:27.560 --> 00:07:30.960
- If you want to look at it
from the indigenous perspective,

00:07:30.960 --> 00:07:34.160
you're gonna have to see the trauma

00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:36.210
as a whole that we've been going through.

00:07:37.200 --> 00:07:41.550
Our parents' parents were
taken to boarding schools

00:07:41.550 --> 00:07:45.170
and told they're not
allowed to be who they are,

00:07:45.170 --> 00:07:46.560
that they have to cut their hair,

00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:48.050
that they can't speak their language,

00:07:48.050 --> 00:07:49.300
that they can't do their prayers,

00:07:49.300 --> 00:07:50.763
they can't sing their songs.

00:07:52.120 --> 00:07:55.600
This prayer, it's the
embodiment of all the struggles

00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:58.500
of the world, all the pain
that people had to go through.

00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:01.120
And they came to this one place in hopes,

00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:04.830
in hopes that there is a
better life in the future

00:08:04.830 --> 00:08:07.423
for themselves and their children.

00:08:08.670 --> 00:08:11.773
A better world is necessary at this point.

00:08:12.880 --> 00:08:16.850
As global warming is
coming, and it's coming

00:08:16.850 --> 00:08:17.990
at an alarming rate.

00:08:17.990 --> 00:08:19.450
Look at California.

00:08:19.450 --> 00:08:22.179
It's burning, right now, today.

00:08:22.179 --> 00:08:23.910
(crowd chanting)

00:08:23.910 --> 00:08:26.520
- [Tara] I hope that people see that

00:08:26.520 --> 00:08:29.140
we are acting out of necessity,

00:08:29.140 --> 00:08:31.380
that I don't want to be arrested

00:08:31.380 --> 00:08:33.480
and put into a dog kennel in North Dakota.

00:08:35.970 --> 00:08:36.803
- [Ernesto] These things

00:08:36.803 --> 00:08:39.400
that we prayed about, they're in effect

00:08:39.400 --> 00:08:43.990
in the world right now,
which leads us to such things

00:08:43.990 --> 00:08:47.343
as stopping the Bayou Bridge
and stopping line three.

00:08:50.260 --> 00:08:52.460
- [Man] DAPL has been denied the permit!

00:08:56.090 --> 00:08:57.890
- In the case of the
treaties that were signed

00:08:57.890 --> 00:09:00.460
with Minnesota Tribes
and, you know, what's,

00:09:00.460 --> 00:09:02.810
what are now Minnesota Tribes
in the U.S. government,

00:09:02.810 --> 00:09:05.350
you know, there are certain
definitions of hunting

00:09:05.350 --> 00:09:07.620
and fishing grounds and also wild rice.

00:09:07.620 --> 00:09:09.620
Also wants to pass
through dozens and dozens

00:09:09.620 --> 00:09:12.070
of wild rice beds, pass
through the wild rice beds

00:09:12.070 --> 00:09:14.330
of the Anishinaabe People.

00:09:14.330 --> 00:09:16.500
If this pipeline leaks,
when this pipeline leaks,

00:09:16.500 --> 00:09:18.175
because they all leak,

00:09:18.175 --> 00:09:21.340
this would destroy an
entire community of people.

00:09:21.340 --> 00:09:24.363
This would destroy the most
sacred piece of our identities.

00:09:27.020 --> 00:09:30.310
So wild rice is written into the treaties

00:09:30.310 --> 00:09:34.300
with the Ojibwe people
because of the importance

00:09:34.300 --> 00:09:36.413
of that to our people.

00:09:37.704 --> 00:09:39.920
It is the only grain that
is mentioned in a treaty

00:09:39.920 --> 00:09:41.520
with the United States anywhere.

00:09:47.270 --> 00:09:50.510
Federal Indian law is,
like any area of law

00:09:50.510 --> 00:09:52.230
it's a specialty, so in my case

00:09:52.230 --> 00:09:54.640
I chose to do a program after law school

00:09:54.640 --> 00:09:56.990
that was specific to
tribal governance in law,

00:09:56.990 --> 00:09:58.840
because I actually focused
no intellectual property

00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:00.160
when I was in law school.

00:10:00.160 --> 00:10:01.780
I was gonna be a patent attorney,

00:10:01.780 --> 00:10:04.450
because I have a hard science background,

00:10:04.450 --> 00:10:06.410
but then I worked in Indian Tribal Affair

00:10:06.410 --> 00:10:10.020
and saw the state of
affairs with tribal nations,

00:10:10.020 --> 00:10:12.570
and couldn't do patent
law knowing that my people

00:10:12.570 --> 00:10:13.720
were in that situation.

00:10:14.590 --> 00:10:16.970
As an attorney, it's very frustrating,

00:10:16.970 --> 00:10:21.150
because the treaties are
so regularly violated

00:10:21.150 --> 00:10:22.900
that it's not even a
second thought for people

00:10:22.900 --> 00:10:24.823
that they hear something
like treaty rights and, like,

00:10:24.823 --> 00:10:26.480
that their minds just go, "Oh, well this

00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:28.970
is just a Native person that's upset.

00:10:28.970 --> 00:10:31.810
You know, treaties are so long ago.

00:10:31.810 --> 00:10:33.480
That was, like, forever ago, you know."

00:10:33.480 --> 00:10:34.857
And I look at them and I say things like,

00:10:34.857 --> 00:10:38.470
"Well, if you're gonna talk
about old law, the U.S.

00:10:38.470 --> 00:10:40.700
Constitution is a really
old document too, right?

00:10:40.700 --> 00:10:42.840
But we see First Amendment
cases in the Supreme Court

00:10:42.840 --> 00:10:44.157
all the time."

00:10:45.490 --> 00:10:48.690
Tomorrow I'm gonna be
flying out to New York City.

00:10:48.690 --> 00:10:51.150
I'm gonna meet with one of
the credit rating agencies

00:10:51.150 --> 00:10:54.170
that assigns Enbridge
Inc its credit score.

00:10:54.170 --> 00:10:55.710
Currently it holds A rating.

00:10:55.710 --> 00:10:59.072
So I'm gonna talk about their
bankability as a company.

00:10:59.072 --> 00:11:02.480
I'll talk about how they are
now trying to put forward

00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:04.850
a project that violates the
treaty rights of my people,

00:11:04.850 --> 00:11:05.750
and they're constantly

00:11:05.750 --> 00:11:07.130
saying they have these great
relationships with tribes,

00:11:07.130 --> 00:11:07.963
when they don't.

00:11:09.460 --> 00:11:10.750
The tar sands industry as a whole

00:11:10.750 --> 00:11:12.910
has not been doing very
well, because the cost

00:11:12.910 --> 00:11:14.733
of extracting tar sands is so high.

00:11:15.760 --> 00:11:18.127
With the credit rating agency,
I'm gonna say something like,

00:11:18.127 --> 00:11:20.852
"You're giving a rating
to an entire industry,

00:11:20.852 --> 00:11:24.557
and in particular these
investments are not very stable."

00:11:26.416 --> 00:11:30.249
(light acoustic guitar music)

00:11:34.870 --> 00:11:39.870
The proposed pipeline will
go over the Mississippi River

00:11:42.810 --> 00:11:47.810
twice, all over the region
where they were building

00:11:48.060 --> 00:11:50.090
last year along the pipeline

00:11:50.090 --> 00:11:55.090
at the Wisconsin-Minnesota
border, Water Protectors

00:11:55.150 --> 00:11:57.743
chained themselves to the equipment.

00:12:02.620 --> 00:12:03.453
Thank you.

00:12:03.453 --> 00:12:06.500
This is one of the pipelines that runs

00:12:06.500 --> 00:12:09.060
through Fond du Lac Reservation.

00:12:09.060 --> 00:12:13.523
I can feel the warmth
through it on my moccasins,

00:12:14.410 --> 00:12:17.393
so yeah, there's stuff
flowing through it here.

00:12:18.930 --> 00:12:23.930
Enbridge would like to
replace this line three

00:12:25.660 --> 00:12:27.103
project with a new one.

00:12:28.520 --> 00:12:32.360
If this were to leak, these waters flow

00:12:32.360 --> 00:12:35.820
into our wild rice lakes.

00:12:35.820 --> 00:12:38.950
That is what we are sacrificing.

00:12:38.950 --> 00:12:41.033
And how do you pay for that, Enbridge?

00:12:42.690 --> 00:12:45.290
How do you put money signs on that

00:12:46.160 --> 00:12:49.357
for the next seven generations?

00:12:49.357 --> 00:12:53.024
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:12:54.500 --> 00:12:55.620
- [Dan] I'm Dan Crocker.

00:12:55.620 --> 00:12:58.490
I'm a reporter for
Minnesota Public Radio News.

00:12:58.490 --> 00:13:01.010
And this past winter, a little over a year

00:13:01.010 --> 00:13:03.610
after Standing Rock, I
was sitting in my office

00:13:03.610 --> 00:13:06.420
in Duluth, Minnesota,
when I noticed police

00:13:06.420 --> 00:13:08.663
and firetrucks on the street outside.

00:13:10.880 --> 00:13:12.870
A bunch of people were
gathered in a hallway

00:13:12.870 --> 00:13:15.670
outside the entrance to
a bank that's investing

00:13:15.670 --> 00:13:16.940
in pipeline companies.

00:13:16.940 --> 00:13:18.580
- Climate change is real.

00:13:18.580 --> 00:13:19.500
- [Dan] First I saw a guy

00:13:19.500 --> 00:13:21.840
with one of those bike U-locks cinched

00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:24.480
around his neck, locked
to the gate of the bank.

00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:27.460
- [Man] We may look dramatic,
but we are the sane ones here.

00:13:27.460 --> 00:13:29.290
- [All] Stop line three!

00:13:29.290 --> 00:13:31.300
Stop line three!

00:13:31.300 --> 00:13:33.153
Stop line three!

00:13:33.153 --> 00:13:34.949
Stop line three!

00:13:34.949 --> 00:13:35.782
Stop line three!

00:13:35.782 --> 00:13:36.640
- It was just a couple

00:13:36.640 --> 00:13:40.310
of lock downs that happened in
Wisconsin right before this.

00:13:40.310 --> 00:13:42.430
They were moving over to Minnesota,

00:13:42.430 --> 00:13:44.680
and so we had to stop line three there.

00:13:44.680 --> 00:13:49.520
So the idea of a lockdown
in Duluth was presented.

00:13:49.520 --> 00:13:53.970
The key is for Enbridge to go away.

00:13:53.970 --> 00:13:55.073
That's the key!

00:13:56.567 --> 00:13:57.817
That's the key.

00:13:59.340 --> 00:14:03.530
- The necessity defense is,
uh, if you see an emergency

00:14:03.530 --> 00:14:06.500
going on, you have to act right now,

00:14:06.500 --> 00:14:08.770
you can break the law to do it.

00:14:08.770 --> 00:14:11.287
- The necessity defense is saying simply,

00:14:11.287 --> 00:14:13.110
"Hey, we got a problem here.

00:14:13.110 --> 00:14:14.420
The earth is dying.

00:14:14.420 --> 00:14:18.470
Your children, they're
not gonna be able to live

00:14:18.470 --> 00:14:21.090
on this earth the way you
did, and they're not gonna

00:14:21.090 --> 00:14:23.500
be able to enjoy the things you did,

00:14:23.500 --> 00:14:26.690
because we're killing it off from them."

00:14:26.690 --> 00:14:28.010
That's the necessity defense.

00:14:28.010 --> 00:14:29.660
You're trying to save the planet.

00:14:30.590 --> 00:14:31.430
- [Man] All right.

00:14:31.430 --> 00:14:32.290
It's your prerogative.

00:14:32.290 --> 00:14:34.300
If you don't want to hurt
nobody, you don't have to.

00:14:34.300 --> 00:14:35.180
- Well, we're not gonna hurt anyone.

00:14:35.180 --> 00:14:36.310
That's exactly right.

00:14:36.310 --> 00:14:37.580
That's why I'm asking is there some way-

00:14:37.580 --> 00:14:38.830
- [Man] It's already hurting.

00:14:38.830 --> 00:14:40.320
That's the point.

00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:41.220
- I get it.

00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:44.040
- The Native people in this area have

00:14:45.020 --> 00:14:46.660
too many arrests already.

00:14:46.660 --> 00:14:51.660
We got together with the people
from the camp up in Carlton.

00:14:52.730 --> 00:14:56.384
They've had people who
have had many arrests.

00:14:56.384 --> 00:14:59.053
It wasn't an option for them.

00:15:00.930 --> 00:15:03.490
- And then we started
looking at maybe we could

00:15:03.490 --> 00:15:05.570
do something with the necessity defense.

00:15:05.570 --> 00:15:08.410
I had tried it before when
I was arrested over at

00:15:08.410 --> 00:15:10.310
the Enbridge office.

00:15:10.310 --> 00:15:11.740
We never ended up having a lawyer,

00:15:11.740 --> 00:15:15.330
and so it was harder to make
our case, uh, before the judge.

00:15:15.330 --> 00:15:16.580
This time we do have a couple lawyers,

00:15:16.580 --> 00:15:19.230
and so that helps a lot, so
we can be more strategic.

00:15:21.260 --> 00:15:24.132
- Well, Duluth is a small
big town, so when something

00:15:24.132 --> 00:15:26.307
like a bank lockdown happens,

00:15:26.307 --> 00:15:27.650
you find out about that pretty quickly.

00:15:27.650 --> 00:15:29.500
- I saw it happening
in the morning I think

00:15:29.500 --> 00:15:33.970
as I was starting my day,
and then I got a text from JT

00:15:33.970 --> 00:15:35.500
later in the day that he was at the jail

00:15:35.500 --> 00:15:39.050
and asking about signing
on to jump in and help out.

00:15:39.050 --> 00:15:41.320
- Wells Fargo, stop line three!

00:15:41.320 --> 00:15:43.510
- [Man] We'll get you out, Scott.

00:15:43.510 --> 00:15:46.810
- The idea that money is to
call the shots is obscene.

00:15:46.810 --> 00:15:50.670
Wells Fargo is a shareholder in Enbridge,

00:15:50.670 --> 00:15:55.120
and it' a major funder of
fossil fuels across the nation,

00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:57.380
so we thought this was a great spot

00:15:57.380 --> 00:15:59.843
to stop doing business as usual.

00:16:01.800 --> 00:16:03.530
- We're also aware that
there are more and more

00:16:03.530 --> 00:16:05.370
of these types of cases happening,

00:16:05.370 --> 00:16:08.130
and more people asserting
the necessity defense.

00:16:08.130 --> 00:16:11.130
So we are in touch now with
the folks out East and West,

00:16:11.130 --> 00:16:13.670
and also some attorneys in Minneapolis

00:16:13.670 --> 00:16:16.483
that are preparing to, to do
this type of work as well.

00:16:18.340 --> 00:16:21.260
- If the City of Duluth
decided to reduce the charges

00:16:21.260 --> 00:16:25.000
to petty misdemeanor
charges, then that results

00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:27.510
in a couple of things,
one being that our clients

00:16:27.510 --> 00:16:30.060
are no longer entitled to a jury trial.

00:16:30.060 --> 00:16:33.033
So they're only entitled
to a trial before a judge.

00:16:34.130 --> 00:16:35.620
Our clients were disappointed about that.

00:16:35.620 --> 00:16:36.940
They really wanted to make their argument

00:16:36.940 --> 00:16:41.530
to a jury of citizens, and
instead now will be making it

00:16:41.530 --> 00:16:43.293
to a referee.

00:16:44.590 --> 00:16:46.790
The whole set of concerns that a judge

00:16:46.790 --> 00:16:50.410
will have about whether
this is proper to bring

00:16:50.410 --> 00:16:53.300
in a bunch of citizens and
have them hear this argument.

00:16:53.300 --> 00:16:55.887
And they receive a lot more criticism too,

00:16:55.887 --> 00:16:57.240
"What are you doing in this courtroom?

00:16:57.240 --> 00:16:59.740
What are you allowing to happen here?"

00:16:59.740 --> 00:17:01.850
- The jury is the public, the media.

00:17:01.850 --> 00:17:03.100
It's the courtroom reporter.

00:17:03.100 --> 00:17:05.200
It's everyone else involved
in the court setting.

00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:06.350
It's the judge.

00:17:06.350 --> 00:17:09.060
So whether or not we're,
like, directly educating nine

00:17:09.060 --> 00:17:11.560
people sitting in the benches,
I mean, that's important too,

00:17:11.560 --> 00:17:13.960
but there's a lot of other
factors at play here.

00:17:15.230 --> 00:17:16.790
Our entire economy is based

00:17:16.790 --> 00:17:18.820
on one big fundamental market failure,

00:17:18.820 --> 00:17:21.410
which is we're not capturing
the costs and externalities

00:17:21.410 --> 00:17:22.610
of burning these fossil fuels.

00:17:22.610 --> 00:17:24.210
In fact, we're subsidizing the burning

00:17:24.210 --> 00:17:25.510
of these fossil fuels.

00:17:25.510 --> 00:17:29.500
I think part of what these
activists are doing is tiny,

00:17:29.500 --> 00:17:32.730
tiny market correction on the failure

00:17:32.730 --> 00:17:37.000
to capture these costs by
imposing different costs.

00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:40.667
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:17:49.560 --> 00:17:52.220
- I mean, some of this
is very psychological.

00:17:52.220 --> 00:17:53.700
They dropped their pipes years before,

00:17:53.700 --> 00:17:55.400
because if we drop the pipes,

00:17:55.400 --> 00:17:57.630
it'll get people used to
the fact that we're here

00:17:57.630 --> 00:17:58.763
and it's inevitable.

00:17:59.850 --> 00:18:02.300
Don't fight it, because
it's gonna happen anyway.

00:18:03.431 --> 00:18:04.760
- [Man] A decision on an oil pipeline

00:18:04.760 --> 00:18:07.520
that would cross Minnesota
is expected this week.

00:18:07.520 --> 00:18:10.150
The Minnesota Public
Utilities Commissions heard

00:18:10.150 --> 00:18:11.260
more testimony today

00:18:11.260 --> 00:18:14.730
in the debate over Enbridge
Energy's line three project.

00:18:14.730 --> 00:18:17.380
- Enbridge is asking a lot
of the state of Minnesota,

00:18:17.380 --> 00:18:19.593
340 miles to be exact,

00:18:20.490 --> 00:18:23.190
but they did not meet
Minnesota's standard.

00:18:23.190 --> 00:18:24.610
The Division of Energy Resources

00:18:24.610 --> 00:18:27.590
renews its recommendation
that the commission deny

00:18:27.590 --> 00:18:29.320
Enbridge's proposed that they would need

00:18:29.320 --> 00:18:30.653
for a new line three.

00:18:32.610 --> 00:18:35.060
- [Tara] Enbridge has engaged very, very,

00:18:35.060 --> 00:18:36.720
very thoroughly with all

00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:38.210
of the Public Utilities
Commission hearings,

00:18:38.210 --> 00:18:41.330
because it's tried really
hard to paint itself

00:18:41.330 --> 00:18:44.520
as a very concerned, engaged company,

00:18:44.520 --> 00:18:46.237
while at the same time,
like, the actions are,

00:18:46.237 --> 00:18:48.670
"I don't care what you guys have to say.

00:18:48.670 --> 00:18:51.380
I'm gonna listen to thousands
and thousands of hours

00:18:51.380 --> 00:18:52.650
of testimony and then I'm gonna approve

00:18:52.650 --> 00:18:54.960
of a tar sands line
three in your backyard,

00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:56.350
through your wild rice beds and through

00:18:56.350 --> 00:18:59.260
your treaty territory, and
I'm gonna do these things

00:18:59.260 --> 00:19:01.600
while I'm listening to your
story and being really sad

00:19:01.600 --> 00:19:03.040
and sympathetic to it.

00:19:03.040 --> 00:19:05.290
So, do you want at least
something out of this, you know?

00:19:05.290 --> 00:19:07.240
We can maybe throw some jobs your way."

00:19:08.250 --> 00:19:09.950
- I notice that when I have gone

00:19:09.950 --> 00:19:13.770
to all these Public Utilities
Commission hearings,

00:19:13.770 --> 00:19:17.120
they say, "Well, does anybody
have anything to say?"

00:19:17.120 --> 00:19:19.657
Wait around, "Okay, let's move on."

00:19:20.760 --> 00:19:23.543
Wait a minute, wait a
minute, wait a minute!

00:19:24.990 --> 00:19:28.430
We still need to digest what
you just got done saying!

00:19:28.430 --> 00:19:31.595
I have been taught that I need to wait

00:19:31.595 --> 00:19:34.283
until all the elders have talked.

00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:40.690
So the elders didn't even
get a chance to say anything,

00:19:40.690 --> 00:19:44.433
which means I didn't even
get a chance to say anything.

00:19:45.637 --> 00:19:47.540
- [Tara] "We'll build the
pipeline around the state

00:19:47.540 --> 00:19:49.200
because we know that we're
gonna get our approval,"

00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:50.744
and they did.

00:19:50.744 --> 00:19:51.803
They got a unanimous approval

00:19:51.803 --> 00:19:53.310
from the Public Utility Commission.

00:19:53.310 --> 00:19:55.560
- Rob, this pipeline approved
despite a considerable

00:19:55.560 --> 00:19:56.860
amount of opposition.

00:19:56.860 --> 00:19:57.693
- Yeah.

00:19:57.693 --> 00:19:59.030
And a lot of emotion too.

00:19:59.030 --> 00:20:00.150
Not only from opponents,

00:20:00.150 --> 00:20:02.510
but from the Public Utilities
Commission themselves,

00:20:02.510 --> 00:20:04.920
who today struggled with
this decision before

00:20:04.920 --> 00:20:07.100
unanimously approving it, knowing though

00:20:07.100 --> 00:20:10.490
that this old pipeline posed,
uh, an environmental threat,

00:20:10.490 --> 00:20:13.470
but opponents saying a new
one poses just as big a threat

00:20:13.470 --> 00:20:14.303
in their view.

00:20:14.303 --> 00:20:18.150
- I've spent five years trying
to get the system to work,

00:20:18.150 --> 00:20:18.983
and the system has failed us.

00:20:18.983 --> 00:20:19.960
- [Man] Winona LaDuke,

00:20:19.960 --> 00:20:22.210
Executive Director of Honor the Earth,

00:20:22.210 --> 00:20:23.900
is distraught by the decision

00:20:23.900 --> 00:20:25.980
by the Minnesota Public
Utilities Commission

00:20:25.980 --> 00:20:28.270
to approve a new line three pipeline,

00:20:28.270 --> 00:20:30.690
but not entirely surprised by it.

00:20:30.690 --> 00:20:33.250
Plans now to assemble a
large protest encampment

00:20:33.250 --> 00:20:36.040
in northern Minnesota
along the proposed route,

00:20:36.040 --> 00:20:38.680
Minnesota's version of Standing Rock.

00:20:38.680 --> 00:20:41.160
- I'm inviting Water Protectors
to come to Minnesota,

00:20:41.160 --> 00:20:43.270
to learn what is so
beautiful, to understand

00:20:43.270 --> 00:20:45.990
why Sandy Lake is our Wounded Knee.

00:20:45.990 --> 00:20:48.457
- [Man] Protests broke out
in the hearing room today.

00:20:48.457 --> 00:20:50.520
The PUC approved the project in June,

00:20:50.520 --> 00:20:51.810
giving Enbridge the green light

00:20:51.810 --> 00:20:53.840
to replace its aging line three crude oil

00:20:53.840 --> 00:20:55.890
pipeline across Minnesota.

00:20:55.890 --> 00:20:57.660
Pipeline opponents took out a bullhorn

00:20:57.660 --> 00:20:59.789
and made speeches aimed at commissioners.

00:20:59.789 --> 00:21:01.590
Enbridge Energy issued a statement

00:21:01.590 --> 00:21:03.297
regarding today's postponement.

00:21:03.297 --> 00:21:04.535
"What happened today crossed the line.

00:21:04.535 --> 00:21:07.070
Disrupting the hearing room and attempting

00:21:07.070 --> 00:21:08.460
to intimidate the commissioners

00:21:08.460 --> 00:21:10.267
are not acceptable behaviors."

00:21:11.470 --> 00:21:14.250
- Their level of carefully
coordinated oppression

00:21:14.250 --> 00:21:15.510
is very strong, and I think they've gotten

00:21:15.510 --> 00:21:17.693
a lot stronger since Dakota Access.

00:21:18.970 --> 00:21:21.730
Unlike North Dakota,
there was a big law bill

00:21:21.730 --> 00:21:23.533
that was left there that energy transfer

00:21:23.533 --> 00:21:24.920
ended up paying back.

00:21:24.920 --> 00:21:26.440
Here in Minnesota, Enbridge has been

00:21:26.440 --> 00:21:29.400
much more forward thinking
and has openly engaged

00:21:29.400 --> 00:21:32.160
in cost-sharing agreements
with law enforcement agencies

00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:34.260
across the pipeline route.

00:21:34.260 --> 00:21:36.470
It's openly said that
any law enforcement costs

00:21:36.470 --> 00:21:38.540
brought on by the line
three protests will be paid

00:21:38.540 --> 00:21:39.393
for by Enbridge.

00:21:52.310 --> 00:21:56.050
- A modern enterprise like
Enbridge with huge exposure

00:21:56.050 --> 00:21:58.690
in its pipelines, thousands
and thousands of miles

00:21:58.690 --> 00:22:02.760
of pipelines, of course is
very much aware or Canadian

00:22:02.760 --> 00:22:05.320
and American federal,
provincial, and state laws

00:22:05.320 --> 00:22:08.563
and regulations governing the
operation of their pipelines.

00:22:09.840 --> 00:22:12.690
Most of the pipeline is underground,

00:22:12.690 --> 00:22:15.970
which is why the pipeline
monitoring system

00:22:15.970 --> 00:22:19.130
is supposed to provide the controllers

00:22:19.130 --> 00:22:22.110
with real-time visualization.

00:22:22.110 --> 00:22:25.840
And yet we have time and
again seen systems crack,

00:22:25.840 --> 00:22:27.670
fracture, rupture.

00:22:27.670 --> 00:22:30.280
If you were in that
control room in Edmonton,

00:22:30.280 --> 00:22:32.180
and I suspect there's
a duplicate of it in,

00:22:32.180 --> 00:22:34.010
in Clearbrook, what you would see all

00:22:34.010 --> 00:22:37.510
on these big computer screens is a model

00:22:37.510 --> 00:22:39.343
of the entire pipeline system.

00:22:41.640 --> 00:22:44.410
They know exactly what's
going on everywhere,

00:22:44.410 --> 00:22:48.993
but they can't control
what's going on everywhere.

00:22:59.722 --> 00:23:01.380
- [Woman] It's the last day
of the, the days of prayer

00:23:01.380 --> 00:23:03.620
and action in solidarity
with Standing Rock.

00:23:03.620 --> 00:23:06.210
We are actually inspired
by what they're doing.

00:23:09.153 --> 00:23:13.486
This is our action in
solidarity with Standing Rock.

00:23:18.820 --> 00:23:20.517
- [Benjamin] Yeah, hi, my name
is, uh, Benjamin Joldersma.

00:23:20.517 --> 00:23:23.400
I'm here with Emily Johnston
and Annette Klapstein.

00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:25.300
We're calling from Leonard, Minnesota.

00:23:26.370 --> 00:23:27.830
We're currently at the block valve site

00:23:27.830 --> 00:23:30.213
for lines four and 67.

00:23:33.499 --> 00:23:36.499
Just 10 miles southeast from
the Clearbrook pumping station.

00:23:38.180 --> 00:23:42.490
For the sake of climate
justice and to ensure a future

00:23:42.490 --> 00:23:44.900
for human civilization,
we must immediately

00:23:44.900 --> 00:23:47.840
halt the extraction and
burning of Canadian tar sands.

00:23:47.840 --> 00:23:50.943
For safety, I'm calling to inform you that

00:23:50.943 --> 00:23:53.930
when I hang up this phone,
we are closing the valves.

00:23:53.930 --> 00:23:56.150
Please shut down these two pipelines now,

00:23:56.150 --> 00:23:57.763
for safety and for our future.

00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:03.170
- [Man] Nine climate activists
were arrested Tuesday

00:24:03.170 --> 00:24:06.770
for attempting to shut
down all tar sands oil

00:24:06.770 --> 00:24:09.740
by manually turning off
pipelines in Minnesota,

00:24:09.740 --> 00:24:13.419
Montana, North Dakota,
and Washington state.

00:24:13.419 --> 00:24:15.669
(whirring)

00:24:19.818 --> 00:24:23.050
- And when it's done doing
that, we'll do this one

00:24:23.050 --> 00:24:25.530
which with any luck would
mean they can't undo it

00:24:26.930 --> 00:24:29.150
and move over there.

00:24:29.150 --> 00:24:31.420
- They posted pictures and videos online

00:24:31.420 --> 00:24:32.830
that showed them cutting chains

00:24:32.830 --> 00:24:35.040
and turning the manual safety valves

00:24:35.040 --> 00:24:38.120
to stop the flow through the pipelines.

00:24:38.120 --> 00:24:40.283
- Line 67 is shut down!

00:24:40.283 --> 00:24:41.787
- [Man] Shut down!

00:24:41.787 --> 00:24:43.270
Yeah!

00:24:43.270 --> 00:24:44.103
Woo!

00:24:47.800 --> 00:24:50.740
- [Woman] These cases are
taking place within the context

00:24:50.740 --> 00:24:53.020
of the larger climate movement.

00:24:53.020 --> 00:24:55.140
They're not isolated.

00:24:55.140 --> 00:24:57.470
The valve turner actions
were explicitly done

00:24:57.470 --> 00:25:00.140
in response to that call
for solidarity actions

00:25:00.140 --> 00:25:02.290
that came out of Standing Rock.

00:25:02.290 --> 00:25:05.220
- I'm standing on Anishinaabe
territory right now

00:25:05.220 --> 00:25:07.380
and I'm shutting down an illegal pipeline.

00:25:07.380 --> 00:25:11.540
It's part of a larger strategy
to get the judicial system

00:25:11.540 --> 00:25:14.290
to respond to climate
change in a just way.

00:25:14.290 --> 00:25:16.587
- Enbridge Energy called
the action, quote,

00:25:16.587 --> 00:25:18.837
"Reckless and dangerous," adding,

00:25:18.837 --> 00:25:21.490
"These are criminal acts
that endanger the public

00:25:21.490 --> 00:25:22.323
and the environment.

00:25:22.323 --> 00:25:23.580
We take this very seriously

00:25:23.580 --> 00:25:27.720
and will support prosecution
of all those involved."

00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:29.880
- [Woman] Three out of four have gone

00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:32.253
through the trial process already.

00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:36.280
The Minnesota trial is still pending.

00:25:36.280 --> 00:25:38.870
- A Minnesota judge has
taken the unusual step

00:25:38.870 --> 00:25:42.800
of allowing four protesters
to use a necessity defense,

00:25:42.800 --> 00:25:45.250
enabling them to present
evidence that the threat

00:25:45.250 --> 00:25:49.110
of climate change from Canadian
tar sand crude justified

00:25:49.110 --> 00:25:51.040
their attempt to shut down two

00:25:51.040 --> 00:25:53.580
Enbridge Energy pipelines last year.

00:25:53.580 --> 00:25:56.010
- That was a landmark in that

00:25:56.010 --> 00:25:57.700
it was the first written ruling

00:25:57.700 --> 00:25:59.710
that permitted a climate protester

00:25:59.710 --> 00:26:03.673
to present necessity evidence
at trial in the United States.

00:26:05.360 --> 00:26:07.610
- [Man] This is the first
time a judge has allowed

00:26:07.610 --> 00:26:11.323
a full necessity defense
on a climate change issue.

00:26:19.110 --> 00:26:22.010
- This trial's taking place
in Northwest Minnesota

00:26:22.010 --> 00:26:24.940
in a rural area, and significantly for us,

00:26:24.940 --> 00:26:28.660
it's an area where Enbridge,
the pipeline company,

00:26:28.660 --> 00:26:30.070
has a lot of power.

00:26:30.070 --> 00:26:33.320
They have a very big
presence in this county.

00:26:33.320 --> 00:26:35.100
- My experience with Enbridge
is it's always been positive.

00:26:35.100 --> 00:26:37.460
And they actually are the reason that some

00:26:37.460 --> 00:26:38.587
of our school districts exist in some

00:26:38.587 --> 00:26:41.630
of the small rural areas,
because they pay enough tax

00:26:41.630 --> 00:26:44.330
to allow the school district
to generate some funds.

00:26:44.330 --> 00:26:47.020
- I think it's part of this larger issue

00:26:47.020 --> 00:26:49.310
that people feel like
their livelihoods depend

00:26:49.310 --> 00:26:52.390
on the industry that's killing us all.

00:26:52.390 --> 00:26:54.240
Having the trials in these places

00:26:54.240 --> 00:26:56.993
is just a microcosm of
that bigger problem.

00:27:01.650 --> 00:27:04.420
- So far there hasn't
really been a unified,

00:27:04.420 --> 00:27:05.880
like, cohort of lawyers

00:27:05.880 --> 00:27:08.250
who have been supporting
climate activists.

00:27:08.250 --> 00:27:10.870
So that's why we talk
about seeing ourselves

00:27:10.870 --> 00:27:13.080
as movement lawyers.

00:27:13.080 --> 00:27:15.880
My work is to provide legal support

00:27:15.880 --> 00:27:19.420
to the climate movement,
and my organization,

00:27:19.420 --> 00:27:23.780
Climate Defense Project,
focuses on defending people

00:27:23.780 --> 00:27:27.900
who engage in civil disobedience
around climate change.

00:27:27.900 --> 00:27:31.407
One of the ways that we do this
is through political trials.

00:27:31.407 --> 00:27:32.910
- Something that activists can use to kind

00:27:32.910 --> 00:27:35.820
of describe the legal
justifications for broad campaigns?

00:27:35.820 --> 00:27:38.360
- [Woman] Alice and Ted and I all met

00:27:38.360 --> 00:27:42.540
through the fossil fuel
divestment activism at Harvard.

00:27:42.540 --> 00:27:45.590
- I need that door wide
open, as well as the stairs.

00:27:45.590 --> 00:27:47.300
- One of the issues that
we've been grappling

00:27:47.300 --> 00:27:51.290
with most as an organization
is that you get this view

00:27:51.290 --> 00:27:53.120
in terms of who's willing to take risks

00:27:53.120 --> 00:27:56.170
in the first place and who
is, you know, well represented

00:27:56.170 --> 00:27:57.520
in the climate movement.

00:27:57.520 --> 00:28:01.610
People who have the most
privilege are the most able

00:28:01.610 --> 00:28:05.330
to use this strategy and to take on going

00:28:05.330 --> 00:28:08.230
through the criminal
legal system without fear

00:28:08.230 --> 00:28:10.363
of the worst consequences.

00:28:11.310 --> 00:28:14.280
- My client testifies in
court and she explains

00:28:14.280 --> 00:28:16.650
that her act of protest was necessary

00:28:16.650 --> 00:28:18.660
because nothing else was working.

00:28:18.660 --> 00:28:21.600
She had tried testifying at hearings,

00:28:21.600 --> 00:28:24.900
talked to elected officials,
being part of lawsuits,

00:28:24.900 --> 00:28:27.560
writing letters, marching,
but none of it worked

00:28:27.560 --> 00:28:29.110
because the fossil fuel company

00:28:29.110 --> 00:28:32.230
that is building the pipeline
is so much more powerful

00:28:32.230 --> 00:28:35.083
than any group of ordinary
citizens could possibly be.

00:28:40.624 --> 00:28:43.374
(dramatic music)

00:28:48.080 --> 00:28:49.860
- It was in the middle of last week

00:28:49.860 --> 00:28:52.270
that we got the first order from the judge

00:28:52.270 --> 00:28:53.990
announcing that we wouldn't be able

00:28:53.990 --> 00:28:56.950
to put on the vast majority of the experts

00:28:56.950 --> 00:28:58.163
that we had prepared.

00:29:00.630 --> 00:29:03.110
The judge ruled out testimony

00:29:03.110 --> 00:29:05.320
in a few different subject areas.

00:29:05.320 --> 00:29:07.300
The first and most
important one is testimony

00:29:07.300 --> 00:29:08.790
on climate change.

00:29:08.790 --> 00:29:11.520
- [Man] So can you not say
the words climate change?

00:29:11.520 --> 00:29:13.553
- We've decided that that would be safest.

00:29:15.605 --> 00:29:19.000
I'm just pulling up the
wording in the witness list

00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:22.482
about Dr. Snyder, because we did see

00:29:22.482 --> 00:29:24.482
that he would be writing testimony about

00:29:25.380 --> 00:29:28.633
both climate change and
fossil fuel infrastructure.

00:29:30.220 --> 00:29:33.790
Typically presenting a necessity
defense involves testimony

00:29:33.790 --> 00:29:37.590
by experts to establish the
elements of the defense,

00:29:37.590 --> 00:29:40.840
which are that the protest meant

00:29:40.840 --> 00:29:44.307
to avert a harm greater than
the harm that it caused.

00:29:44.307 --> 00:29:47.810
But there were no lawful
alternatives available,

00:29:47.810 --> 00:29:50.343
other than protests to
accomplish the same result,

00:29:51.870 --> 00:29:56.440
that that harm was imminent,
and that the protests

00:29:56.440 --> 00:29:59.380
did in fact contribute
to averting the harm

00:29:59.380 --> 00:30:01.350
that it sought to avert.

00:30:01.350 --> 00:30:03.160
The whole goal of it is to get in front

00:30:03.160 --> 00:30:06.820
of a jury and say, "Yes,
I did do this thing.

00:30:06.820 --> 00:30:10.537
Here is exactly what I
did, and here's why."

00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:15.120
But it was unusual, the way
in which we had the ruling

00:30:15.120 --> 00:30:18.580
for a year, saying that we could
put on a necessity defense,

00:30:18.580 --> 00:30:20.210
and then, you know, at the last minute

00:30:20.210 --> 00:30:22.960
to get this other ruling
drastically limiting

00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:24.093
what we could do.

00:30:25.170 --> 00:30:27.890
The data on climate change
has just gotten worse

00:30:27.890 --> 00:30:30.600
and worse as we've been waiting
for this trial to start.

00:30:30.600 --> 00:30:33.974
And we intend to present
evidence that will show

00:30:33.974 --> 00:30:38.080
that there is this very
severe, imminent harm.

00:30:38.080 --> 00:30:40.750
The judge did leave the
door open just a bit,

00:30:40.750 --> 00:30:43.770
for us to try to make the
case that certain experts

00:30:43.770 --> 00:30:47.043
are permitted and would
be helpful to the jury.

00:30:53.380 --> 00:30:54.700
- I'm Dr. Bruce Snyder.

00:30:54.700 --> 00:30:55.800
I'm a physician.

00:30:55.800 --> 00:31:00.573
I've practiced medicine in
Minnesota for over 43 years.

00:31:02.210 --> 00:31:05.690
I became concerned about
climate change probably

00:31:05.690 --> 00:31:07.670
about 20 years ago.

00:31:07.670 --> 00:31:11.060
And we began to see articles
in the scientific journals

00:31:11.980 --> 00:31:15.810
relating the risk of having
a stroke or heart attack

00:31:15.810 --> 00:31:18.773
to the level of pollution
in the atmosphere.

00:31:20.990 --> 00:31:24.090
Minnesota's climate change has actually

00:31:24.090 --> 00:31:26.990
lengthened our pollen season

00:31:26.990 --> 00:31:30.823
by almost a month over the past 25 years.

00:31:32.490 --> 00:31:35.220
Winters just are not nearly
as cold as they used to be.

00:31:35.220 --> 00:31:37.380
This has a lot of implications.

00:31:37.380 --> 00:31:39.033
It has implications for insects.

00:31:40.030 --> 00:31:43.790
As the winters are
milder, insects are able

00:31:43.790 --> 00:31:47.080
to survive through the
winter in larger numbers

00:31:47.080 --> 00:31:50.583
and then multiply further in warm seasons.

00:31:52.100 --> 00:31:54.320
The black-legged tick, the deer tick

00:31:54.320 --> 00:31:56.893
which carries Lyme
disease is a good example.

00:31:58.220 --> 00:32:00.510
As the climate has changed,
the tick has been able

00:32:00.510 --> 00:32:01.820
to spread farther and farther,

00:32:01.820 --> 00:32:04.860
until now it is throughout Minnesota.

00:32:04.860 --> 00:32:07.910
And as that has happened,
the Department of Health

00:32:07.910 --> 00:32:10.690
has recorded an exponential increase

00:32:10.690 --> 00:32:13.193
in the number of reported
Lyme disease cases.

00:32:15.710 --> 00:32:19.900
Why am I here focused on
tar sands oil when there

00:32:19.900 --> 00:32:24.900
are all these other fossil
fuels, coal and natural gas?

00:32:25.410 --> 00:32:27.420
Why the tar sands?

00:32:27.420 --> 00:32:30.510
The tar sands oil operation is peculiar

00:32:30.510 --> 00:32:33.510
in how toxic it really is.

00:32:33.510 --> 00:32:38.510
This area in Alberta, Canada
is one of the largest,

00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:43.223
if not the largest source of
air pollution in North America.

00:32:44.750 --> 00:32:48.593
It spreads in a plume far from Canada.

00:32:50.290 --> 00:32:54.020
If we cannot say no to
this, then the question

00:32:54.020 --> 00:32:55.553
is what can we say no to?

00:33:04.433 --> 00:33:08.266
(singing in foreign language)

00:33:34.233 --> 00:33:37.800
- Removing the name Columbus
Day and replacing it

00:33:37.800 --> 00:33:42.800
with Indigenous Peoples
Day is a city event.

00:33:43.170 --> 00:33:44.720
I think today this is
probably the best place

00:33:44.720 --> 00:33:45.773
I could be standing.

00:33:45.773 --> 00:33:47.020
It's an honor to stand

00:33:47.020 --> 00:33:50.043
with these leaders from
our indigenous community.

00:33:50.890 --> 00:33:53.560
But today is about reconciliation.

00:33:53.560 --> 00:33:58.560
It's about a dialog between
the indigenous people

00:33:58.710 --> 00:34:01.693
and in this case the City of Duluth.

00:34:02.680 --> 00:34:07.680
So America, uh, it's like
a, a functional alcoholic.

00:34:08.600 --> 00:34:10.783
Owning up to your mistakes is one thing.

00:34:11.960 --> 00:34:14.008
Saying you're sorry, that's called

00:34:14.008 --> 00:34:16.540
taking your inventory.

00:34:16.540 --> 00:34:19.520
But the real healing and
the real progress comes

00:34:19.520 --> 00:34:21.498
when you make that amend.

00:34:21.498 --> 00:34:24.920
So I think it's gonna have
to look like some action,

00:34:24.920 --> 00:34:28.870
because I see some Water
Protectors here, uh, today.

00:34:28.870 --> 00:34:32.270
Uh, much respect to the Water
Protectors who showed up.

00:34:32.270 --> 00:34:36.760
And that is still a sign that
there are indigenous lands

00:34:36.760 --> 00:34:41.580
that are being exploited, at
the cost of indigenous lives,

00:34:41.580 --> 00:34:44.097
indigenous freedom, and health.

00:34:48.164 --> 00:34:51.997
(singing in foreign language)

00:35:09.081 --> 00:35:12.914
(light acoustic guitar music)

00:35:25.284 --> 00:35:26.890
- When an attorney and defendants

00:35:26.890 --> 00:35:31.230
are making a case for the
climate necessity defense,

00:35:31.230 --> 00:35:36.230
having the expertise of
indigenous community leaders

00:35:36.550 --> 00:35:40.440
who are being directly
impacted by climate change

00:35:40.440 --> 00:35:43.960
is a really valuable thing
to bring to the table

00:35:43.960 --> 00:35:46.530
to show the fact finder in a case.

00:35:46.530 --> 00:35:49.030
And it's up to an attorney to try

00:35:49.030 --> 00:35:51.650
to convince a court that, that they are.

00:35:51.650 --> 00:35:52.870
- Two of the elements of the case

00:35:52.870 --> 00:35:54.930
are threat of imminent harm

00:35:54.930 --> 00:35:59.910
and also lack of a reasonable
alternative solution.

00:35:59.910 --> 00:36:02.370
And I think the front line
community's indigenous-led

00:36:02.370 --> 00:36:05.450
movements are clearly
expert in those areas,

00:36:05.450 --> 00:36:07.810
not just in terms of suffering harms

00:36:07.810 --> 00:36:10.590
that have happened already,
um, but also experience

00:36:10.590 --> 00:36:12.860
with Standing Rock and other efforts,

00:36:12.860 --> 00:36:16.823
legal and extralegal means to
address the climate crisis.

00:36:23.190 --> 00:36:24.590
- I'm just gonna have to ask you guys,

00:36:24.590 --> 00:36:25.840
you can't be on our property.

00:36:25.840 --> 00:36:27.090
All this right here is ours.

00:36:27.090 --> 00:36:28.820
We're just, I'm just gonna
have to ask you to move

00:36:28.820 --> 00:36:31.040
to the other side, and if you could.

00:36:31.040 --> 00:36:33.591
- 50-foot easement from where?

00:36:33.591 --> 00:36:34.852
- Oh, there's a 50-foot.

00:36:34.852 --> 00:36:38.030
- From the beginning of
the center of the road?

00:36:38.030 --> 00:36:39.419
- Okay, all I, all I was told-

00:36:39.419 --> 00:36:40.252
- [Man] That's by the fences
way over there, right?

00:36:40.252 --> 00:36:42.420
- [Man] All I was told is that
you can't stand over there.

00:36:42.420 --> 00:36:44.160
Just gonna have to ask you
guys to move back here.

00:36:44.160 --> 00:36:45.478
- Who, by who is that?

00:36:45.478 --> 00:36:47.100
Is that a law or something?

00:36:47.100 --> 00:36:48.157
- By my supervisor.

00:36:48.157 --> 00:36:49.649
- [Man] But we were told
50 feet from the road.

00:36:49.649 --> 00:36:50.693
- That's your supervisor.

00:36:50.693 --> 00:36:52.523
Your supervisor better go look
at the rules a little bit.

00:36:52.523 --> 00:36:55.130
- All right, well I was just told that-

00:36:55.130 --> 00:36:57.200
- Or you can just let him
know that we know what the law

00:36:57.200 --> 00:36:59.773
is and we know what 50 feet is, so.

00:37:00.650 --> 00:37:01.483
- All right, thank you.

00:37:01.483 --> 00:37:02.316
- Yep, thank you.

00:37:02.316 --> 00:37:03.376
Appreciate it.

00:37:03.376 --> 00:37:07.043
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:37:08.420 --> 00:37:11.300
- It's insane to me, you
know, um, to think about that,

00:37:11.300 --> 00:37:16.080
that a court of law made by
the United States of America,

00:37:16.080 --> 00:37:18.810
which is a new government
that came to this place,

00:37:18.810 --> 00:37:22.420
is charging the original people
of this place with trespass.

00:37:22.420 --> 00:37:27.193
Um, yeah, we have a long way to go.

00:37:30.240 --> 00:37:34.300
- The fossil fuel industry
has been pushing anti-protest

00:37:34.300 --> 00:37:38.340
legislation through state
governments across the country.

00:37:38.340 --> 00:37:40.810
They're also called critical
energy infrastructure bills.

00:37:40.810 --> 00:37:43.290
But they basically take what
would normally be, like,

00:37:43.290 --> 00:37:46.230
a regular misdemeanor or
trespass or something,

00:37:46.230 --> 00:37:48.940
something you would think you'd
get for a protest like that,

00:37:48.940 --> 00:37:51.840
and bump it up to felony level charges.

00:37:51.840 --> 00:37:53.990
It's part of kind of a
general crackdown on protests

00:37:53.990 --> 00:37:54.890
that we're seeing.

00:37:58.650 --> 00:38:01.980
No judge wants their
courtroom to just be used

00:38:01.980 --> 00:38:06.250
as a stage for theater,
but there's also a long

00:38:06.250 --> 00:38:08.270
and distinguished tradition in the law

00:38:08.270 --> 00:38:11.890
of using courtrooms and legal
advocacy in sort of more

00:38:11.890 --> 00:38:13.940
of a First Amendment tradition.

00:38:13.940 --> 00:38:15.070
- [Narrator] In 1925,

00:38:15.070 --> 00:38:18.100
biology teacher John
Scopes spiraled to fame

00:38:18.100 --> 00:38:21.440
in the legal battle that became
known as the monkey trial.

00:38:21.440 --> 00:38:24.000
Calico and coveralls packed the courtroom

00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:26.850
to find out this new
evolution was all about.

00:38:26.850 --> 00:38:28.550
- Courtrooms can be viewed

00:38:28.550 --> 00:38:32.190
as forums for really engaging point

00:38:32.190 --> 00:38:34.680
by point with the other
side's arguments on some

00:38:34.680 --> 00:38:38.150
of the most pressing issues
that are facing a community.

00:38:38.150 --> 00:38:43.150
There is a long tradition of
people using civil disobedience

00:38:43.570 --> 00:38:47.860
effectively to create change
as part of social movements.

00:38:47.860 --> 00:38:51.030
And juries have found that,
yes, civil disobedience

00:38:51.030 --> 00:38:52.003
is effective.

00:38:55.430 --> 00:38:58.430
Examples include the
women's suffrage movement,

00:38:58.430 --> 00:39:01.320
the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

00:39:01.320 --> 00:39:04.130
- [Man] Created in Minneapolis
by young urban Indians fed up

00:39:04.130 --> 00:39:06.820
with police harassment, the
American Indian movement

00:39:06.820 --> 00:39:09.340
had shown a knack for
generating publicity.

00:39:09.340 --> 00:39:12.050
Members had seized high-profile symbols.

00:39:12.050 --> 00:39:15.150
And in November 1972, the group occupied

00:39:15.150 --> 00:39:18.040
the Washington Headquarters of
the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

00:39:18.040 --> 00:39:20.068
- We'll have experts discuss times

00:39:20.068 --> 00:39:22.323
where this tactic did work.

00:39:31.850 --> 00:39:33.970
- [Man] Climate change
activists around the country

00:39:33.970 --> 00:39:35.780
will have their eyes on Clearwater County,

00:39:35.780 --> 00:39:37.300
Minnesota this week.

00:39:37.300 --> 00:39:40.340
That's where the trial of
protesters who briefly shut down

00:39:40.340 --> 00:39:43.980
a pair of oil pipelines two
years ago is beginning today.

00:39:43.980 --> 00:39:47.230
The defendants are going to
be arguing a rare defense.

00:39:47.230 --> 00:39:49.010
They will tell a jury their actions

00:39:49.010 --> 00:39:52.163
were justified because climate
change is an urgent threat.

00:39:55.290 --> 00:39:57.760
- [Woman] During jury selection
today, we did our best

00:39:57.760 --> 00:39:59.510
to get a sense of the jury pool

00:39:59.510 --> 00:40:01.423
and ask the questions that we could.

00:40:02.700 --> 00:40:05.880
Some people voiced concerns
about what they had heard

00:40:05.880 --> 00:40:07.870
about the protest action,
and we're wondering

00:40:07.870 --> 00:40:09.320
if it was unsafe.

00:40:09.320 --> 00:40:12.700
- In the context of the necessity defense,

00:40:12.700 --> 00:40:17.550
my testimony was to
address, uh, two aspects.

00:40:17.550 --> 00:40:22.550
One, whether the harm
alleged is indeed greater

00:40:23.280 --> 00:40:25.430
than the crime that was committed,

00:40:25.430 --> 00:40:30.430
and two, whether the harm
that was alleged was imminent.

00:40:32.150 --> 00:40:36.000
What Annette and Emily did
is what in the industry

00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:37.047
is called an SVA.

00:40:38.380 --> 00:40:39.740
That's an acronym.

00:40:39.740 --> 00:40:43.633
It stands for Security
Validation Assessment.

00:40:44.900 --> 00:40:46.050
- I'm an engineer.

00:40:46.050 --> 00:40:47.920
I work on energy pipelines.

00:40:47.920 --> 00:40:49.570
My job is making them safe.

00:40:49.570 --> 00:40:51.400
My job is about safety.

00:40:51.400 --> 00:40:52.680
- The first thing you learn-

00:40:52.680 --> 00:40:54.040
- Keep the pipe safe.

00:40:54.040 --> 00:40:55.980
- [Woman] We monitor the
pipe from the control center.

00:40:55.980 --> 00:40:57.060
- [Woman] Always monitoring.

00:40:57.060 --> 00:40:58.070
Always looking.

00:40:58.070 --> 00:40:59.300
- [Woman] Protecting people.

00:40:59.300 --> 00:41:00.550
- [Woman] I know my family's safe.

00:41:00.550 --> 00:41:01.880
- [Woman] And the environment.

00:41:01.880 --> 00:41:04.730
- And if we think something's
not right, we shut it down.

00:41:05.729 --> 00:41:06.610
- And what does that mean?

00:41:06.610 --> 00:41:08.920
It means what they did was the same thing

00:41:08.920 --> 00:41:13.600
that a pipeline inspector would
do, by picking up the phone,

00:41:13.600 --> 00:41:15.527
calling Enbridge, and saying,

00:41:15.527 --> 00:41:18.440
"I'm driving out to that site by Beverly

00:41:18.440 --> 00:41:20.580
and I'm gonna make sure that,

00:41:20.580 --> 00:41:23.390
I'm gonna use some more
acronyms here, your SCADA system

00:41:23.390 --> 00:41:27.357
is working and your CPM is working."

00:41:28.220 --> 00:41:29.380
And it was announced.

00:41:29.380 --> 00:41:30.430
It was announced two ways.

00:41:30.430 --> 00:41:33.250
They called on the phone
and they live casted

00:41:33.250 --> 00:41:36.340
for anybody to see, including Enbridge.

00:41:36.340 --> 00:41:37.173
- [Man] Goes live.

00:41:37.173 --> 00:41:38.006
- Boom.

00:41:38.006 --> 00:41:38.950
We're live on Facebook.

00:41:38.950 --> 00:41:42.379
- Yeah, so I was taken aback

00:41:42.379 --> 00:41:47.379
when these poor women were
accused of endangering the public

00:41:47.380 --> 00:41:50.120
by doing something that
inherently was not dangerous,

00:41:50.120 --> 00:41:53.657
when the pipeline itself
is inherently dangerous.

00:41:53.657 --> 00:41:57.890
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:41:57.890 --> 00:42:02.643
- So here we are in Superior, Wisconsin.

00:42:03.860 --> 00:42:07.560
This is Husky Refinery, Oil Refinery.

00:42:07.560 --> 00:42:12.560
And there was a huge explosion
here April 26th, 2018,

00:42:14.800 --> 00:42:17.650
just this past couple months ago.

00:42:17.650 --> 00:42:22.410
They have hydrogen fluoride
that if it would've caught

00:42:22.410 --> 00:42:27.410
on fire, it would've obliterated
all of Superior and Duluth.

00:42:31.780 --> 00:42:33.723
Yep, this was the explosion.

00:42:38.671 --> 00:42:40.088
Oh, look at that.

00:42:43.300 --> 00:42:45.300
I live across the bay from the refinery.

00:42:46.180 --> 00:42:48.710
There was a giant plume of tar sand smoke

00:42:48.710 --> 00:42:50.560
that was in the air.

00:42:50.560 --> 00:42:51.840
I didn't realize what it was at the time.

00:42:51.840 --> 00:42:55.493
I just knew it was this really
giant acrid cloud of smoke.

00:42:56.850 --> 00:42:59.140
There was a massive fire
because of lack of maintenance

00:42:59.140 --> 00:43:02.090
and oversight and a hydrofluoric acid tank

00:43:02.090 --> 00:43:04.350
almost blew, which
would've killed a radius

00:43:04.350 --> 00:43:06.980
of almost quarter of a million people

00:43:06.980 --> 00:43:08.763
in a matter of minutes.

00:43:11.140 --> 00:43:13.097
We were given evacuation
warnings about like,

00:43:13.097 --> 00:43:15.470
"Yeah, the air quality
might be really poor."

00:43:15.470 --> 00:43:17.330
As, like, all the local hospitals are full

00:43:17.330 --> 00:43:19.670
of people with burning
eyes and burning chests.

00:43:19.670 --> 00:43:23.210
And we weren't even told
about the possibility

00:43:23.210 --> 00:43:24.793
that that tank would explode.

00:43:31.160 --> 00:43:34.450
A crazy part of that narrative is there

00:43:34.450 --> 00:43:37.200
were Water Protectors that
were supposed to be in court

00:43:37.200 --> 00:43:39.480
in Superior for lockdowns

00:43:39.480 --> 00:43:41.740
at the line three build over in Superior

00:43:41.740 --> 00:43:43.323
that happened last fall.

00:43:46.790 --> 00:43:49.870
The court informed them that their trial

00:43:49.870 --> 00:43:52.410
might be moved back because the city

00:43:52.410 --> 00:43:55.183
was being evacuated because
the refinery had exploded.

00:43:56.580 --> 00:43:59.330
Those Water Protectors went
through the court process, and

00:43:59.330 --> 00:44:01.730
one of my good friends, she
had a misdemeanor, you know,

00:44:01.730 --> 00:44:03.190
a jail sentence of, like, a few days,

00:44:03.190 --> 00:44:05.100
but then the judge independently decided

00:44:05.100 --> 00:44:09.320
that he was gonna force
this Anishinaabe person

00:44:09.320 --> 00:44:14.220
to pay restitution to the
Enbridge Corporation for a,

00:44:14.220 --> 00:44:16.090
for a missed day of work.

00:44:16.090 --> 00:44:18.780
And so they had Enbridge
come in and testify about

00:44:18.780 --> 00:44:20.830
how much it cost them
to be out of a whole day

00:44:20.830 --> 00:44:22.400
of working on the site.

00:44:22.400 --> 00:44:25.540
And so this Anishinaabe
person has now been ordered

00:44:25.540 --> 00:44:29.333
to pay Enbridge $48,000 to
destroy his peoples' territory.

00:44:32.540 --> 00:44:35.180
Look at where they want to
send it, and it's the wetlands.

00:44:35.180 --> 00:44:40.180
It's places that are so rich
with life and with water

00:44:42.260 --> 00:44:44.810
that they can't even actually
get their equipment in

00:44:45.680 --> 00:44:46.740
until the ground is frozen.

00:44:46.740 --> 00:44:48.580
The ground has to freeze for
them to bring their stuff out

00:44:48.580 --> 00:44:49.920
to start clear cutting.

00:44:49.920 --> 00:44:51.710
The machines would sink into the ground

00:44:51.710 --> 00:44:53.233
because it's so wet and rich.

00:44:57.650 --> 00:45:00.290
I would hope that the
people are becoming more

00:45:00.290 --> 00:45:02.700
and more aware, and also
rather than being jaded

00:45:02.700 --> 00:45:05.540
and apathetic, actually really wanting

00:45:05.540 --> 00:45:07.923
to exercise their power.

00:45:09.155 --> 00:45:12.822
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:45:13.670 --> 00:45:16.000
- So this is what they put down

00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:20.823
so that all of their equipment
can go through the wetlands.

00:45:23.920 --> 00:45:26.113
How safe is it for this to come through?

00:45:28.370 --> 00:45:31.270
I guess we'll be finding
out today, this week, huh,

00:45:31.270 --> 00:45:35.533
what the judge says,
for the valve turners.

00:45:38.706 --> 00:45:40.956
(laughing)

00:45:44.235 --> 00:45:46.430
"Core values.

00:45:46.430 --> 00:45:50.330
Sustainability, here for
generations to come."

00:45:50.330 --> 00:45:52.900
That's kind of what I'm afraid
of, that we're gonna have

00:45:52.900 --> 00:45:56.553
to deal with them for generations to come.

00:46:06.910 --> 00:46:10.060
- [Man] How do we as white people

00:46:10.060 --> 00:46:11.623
become allies in the situation

00:46:11.623 --> 00:46:13.206
in this experience?

00:46:14.051 --> 00:46:15.310
- I mean, it's really hard

00:46:15.310 --> 00:46:18.070
to see the trauma of people

00:46:18.070 --> 00:46:21.300
as they stand against a corporation

00:46:21.300 --> 00:46:23.720
and see what happens to those people,

00:46:23.720 --> 00:46:27.630
but in that sorrow is also so much beauty

00:46:27.630 --> 00:46:30.460
that you have purpose and you are really

00:46:30.460 --> 00:46:33.600
out there standing for so many things.

00:46:33.600 --> 00:46:36.100
You're asking for a change in narrative,

00:46:36.100 --> 00:46:38.250
of recognizing that indigenous
people are still here.

00:46:38.250 --> 00:46:39.083
We didn't die.

00:46:39.083 --> 00:46:39.990
We're still here.

00:46:39.990 --> 00:46:41.800
There is beauty in struggle.

00:46:41.800 --> 00:46:43.160
And then the second part of your question

00:46:43.160 --> 00:46:45.493
was becoming a good ally, right?

00:46:46.557 --> 00:46:48.420
I think one of the best things that allies

00:46:48.420 --> 00:46:50.750
can do is just listen.

00:46:50.750 --> 00:46:53.463
The trauma of being an
indigenous person, I mean,

00:46:53.463 --> 00:46:55.850
when you go past that houseless encampment

00:46:55.850 --> 00:46:58.548
on Franklin Avenue, indigenous
people who are houseless

00:46:58.548 --> 00:46:59.953
in their own territory.

00:46:59.953 --> 00:47:01.940
Have you seen the people dispossessed?

00:47:01.940 --> 00:47:04.690
Right, but we can change
that by standing with us,

00:47:04.690 --> 00:47:06.988
listening to our leadership,
listening to, like,

00:47:06.988 --> 00:47:08.900
what we have to say, and getting us real,

00:47:08.900 --> 00:47:10.210
actual places at the table.

00:47:10.210 --> 00:47:12.233
Just sitting at the table is not enough.

00:47:12.233 --> 00:47:14.510
Sitting there is not
enough when we actually

00:47:14.510 --> 00:47:17.460
have to be respected,
right, like, real respect

00:47:17.460 --> 00:47:18.707
and real acknowledgement of,

00:47:18.707 --> 00:47:20.630
"I don't know where you're coming from,

00:47:20.630 --> 00:47:22.746
but I want to understand."

00:47:22.746 --> 00:47:25.913
(audience applauding)

00:47:36.320 --> 00:47:38.530
If there is a non-indigenous
person who's willing

00:47:38.530 --> 00:47:41.528
to take an arrest and stand
with our people like that,

00:47:41.528 --> 00:47:45.740
that is always a contribution
that is highly appreciated

00:47:45.740 --> 00:47:49.300
and also recognizes that when
we are in the court system,

00:47:49.300 --> 00:47:50.830
it's a very different experience

00:47:50.830 --> 00:47:52.800
than when they are in the court system.

00:47:52.800 --> 00:47:55.300
I mean, when I was in my dog kennel

00:47:55.300 --> 00:47:56.940
with all these other
women, there were, like,

00:47:56.940 --> 00:47:58.253
maybe 20 of us in there.

00:47:59.230 --> 00:48:01.140
There was me and one other woman of color.

00:48:01.140 --> 00:48:03.860
And everyone else was white
and they were middle-aged.

00:48:03.860 --> 00:48:06.150
You know, they didn't really
recognize the danger level, and

00:48:06.150 --> 00:48:07.410
so they were singing and they were, like,

00:48:07.410 --> 00:48:09.883
having this great, like,
kumbaya moment for them.

00:48:11.260 --> 00:48:13.110
And they, like, you know, kept asking us

00:48:13.110 --> 00:48:15.485
to engage with them, and,
you know, I was like, "No.

00:48:15.485 --> 00:48:17.490
Like, I'm not," I, I didn't even say no.

00:48:17.490 --> 00:48:19.090
I just turned my back, you know.

00:48:21.397 --> 00:48:23.330
When the process really
began, they all got loaded

00:48:23.330 --> 00:48:25.700
onto a bus, brought to
a different facility,

00:48:25.700 --> 00:48:27.580
and myself and the other woman of color

00:48:27.580 --> 00:48:29.580
got put into a different kennel.

00:48:29.580 --> 00:48:31.307
And when that happened they
kind of like were like,

00:48:31.307 --> 00:48:32.870
"Well, wait, wait a second.

00:48:32.870 --> 00:48:35.170
Like, why aren't they coming with us?"

00:48:35.170 --> 00:48:36.810
And then we looked at them
and they looked at us,

00:48:36.810 --> 00:48:38.650
and I was like, "This is why we don't sing

00:48:38.650 --> 00:48:41.400
and why we are not, you know,
we know that this system

00:48:41.400 --> 00:48:43.117
is gonna be very different
to us than it is to you."

00:48:43.117 --> 00:48:45.580
And it doesn't, it doesn't
matter that I'm an attorney.

00:48:45.580 --> 00:48:47.720
It doesn't matter that,
you know, I have education

00:48:47.720 --> 00:48:48.810
and understand what's happening.

00:48:48.810 --> 00:48:50.313
Like, it doesn't matter.

00:48:52.660 --> 00:48:56.420
It would've been more
insightful to realize, you know,

00:48:56.420 --> 00:48:58.240
that the reason that we're not singing is

00:48:58.240 --> 00:49:02.590
because we're actually in
danger, that in North Dakota,

00:49:02.590 --> 00:49:07.590
Natives go missing and
killed and suddenly dead

00:49:07.770 --> 00:49:09.190
in jails all of the time.

00:49:09.190 --> 00:49:12.950
Like, that happens all of
the time, that North Dakota

00:49:12.950 --> 00:49:15.270
is a very scary place to
be a Native person in,

00:49:15.270 --> 00:49:17.100
in any way, shape or form engaging

00:49:17.100 --> 00:49:20.283
with law enforcement or
with the, the population.

00:49:24.010 --> 00:49:26.800
Those women that I was arrested with, uh,

00:49:26.800 --> 00:49:28.150
refuse to let me be.

00:49:28.150 --> 00:49:29.210
They tried really hard.

00:49:29.210 --> 00:49:32.212
They tried to separate me and
the other indigenous person,

00:49:32.212 --> 00:49:34.370
from the other defendants,

00:49:34.370 --> 00:49:35.700
rather than try us as a group.

00:49:35.700 --> 00:49:38.770
They specifically wanted
us separately tried.

00:49:38.770 --> 00:49:40.200
And they refused to do that.

00:49:40.200 --> 00:49:41.033
They were like,

00:49:41.033 --> 00:49:41.920
"No, these people are
getting tried with us."

00:49:41.920 --> 00:49:44.013
And so we got the same deal that they got.

00:49:45.000 --> 00:49:46.680
If we had been separated
I'm sure we would've

00:49:46.680 --> 00:49:48.880
gotten a very different
deal, quote unquote.

00:49:49.870 --> 00:49:51.020
Defendant solidarity is huge.

00:49:51.020 --> 00:49:52.120
It's really important.

00:49:53.280 --> 00:49:56.520
I think, um, the valve turners
taking that kind of step

00:49:56.520 --> 00:50:01.374
as the people that they are
is deeply in solidarity with,

00:50:01.374 --> 00:50:04.210
one, the protection of the
earth and showing climate

00:50:04.210 --> 00:50:06.860
change is, is happening and we have to act

00:50:06.860 --> 00:50:11.750
in a really extreme way to
answer a really extreme problem,

00:50:11.750 --> 00:50:16.750
but also just like, that sitting idle and,

00:50:17.110 --> 00:50:20.420
or making signs and doing
marches is not enough.

00:50:20.420 --> 00:50:22.170
It's not gonna stop climate change.

00:50:23.290 --> 00:50:25.440
I'm appreciate the
valve turners, big time.

00:50:32.322 --> 00:50:35.989
(dramatic orchestral music)

00:50:37.430 --> 00:50:39.550
- One thing that we'll be
able to do through this trial

00:50:39.550 --> 00:50:42.240
is really get the true story out there,

00:50:42.240 --> 00:50:45.280
because I don't know that
people necessarily understand

00:50:45.280 --> 00:50:48.230
that what the defendants
did was perfectly safe.

00:50:48.230 --> 00:50:52.890
It also was powerful because
it models what the U.S.

00:50:52.890 --> 00:50:56.480
actually has to do in order to get serious

00:50:56.480 --> 00:50:58.280
about climate change.

00:50:58.280 --> 00:51:01.250
They took that action that
was frankly more effective

00:51:01.250 --> 00:51:04.290
than anything people in
government have done.

00:51:04.290 --> 00:51:07.730
For us as lawyers in this larger movement,

00:51:07.730 --> 00:51:10.470
it would be very powerful and important

00:51:10.470 --> 00:51:14.010
to win a case based on a
climate necessity defense,

00:51:14.010 --> 00:51:16.703
because it means that the
jury accepts the argument.

00:51:18.371 --> 00:51:20.100
- [Man] A Minnesota
judge threw out charges

00:51:20.100 --> 00:51:22.210
against the so-called valve-turners

00:51:22.210 --> 00:51:24.992
who shut down the Enbridge pipeline.

00:51:24.992 --> 00:51:27.616
- [Man] That they charged all these people

00:51:27.616 --> 00:51:28.998
and gathered everybody here

00:51:28.998 --> 00:51:30.100
and then just immediately decided

00:51:30.100 --> 00:51:31.720
that they were gonna
dismiss the whole thing

00:51:31.720 --> 00:51:34.230
on the grounds of insufficient evidence.

00:51:34.230 --> 00:51:36.610
- We turn to Minnesota, where a court has

00:51:36.610 --> 00:51:39.320
acquitted three anti-pipeline
activists who broke

00:51:39.320 --> 00:51:41.750
into an oil pipeline facility, intending

00:51:41.750 --> 00:51:44.220
to cut off the flow of
tar sands oil coming

00:51:44.220 --> 00:51:45.970
into the United States from Canada.

00:51:46.890 --> 00:51:49.960
- Today, quite unexpectedly,

00:51:49.960 --> 00:51:54.330
the prosecution presented
their case, and there was

00:51:54.330 --> 00:51:58.410
a motion from the defense team to acquit,

00:51:58.410 --> 00:52:02.513
and that motion was granted,
which was surprising.

00:52:03.920 --> 00:52:05.427
- Now I just need you to sign, one of you.

00:52:05.427 --> 00:52:07.024
- All right.

00:52:07.024 --> 00:52:10.107
- I just need you to sign
right, just right on this here.

00:52:11.211 --> 00:52:14.491
- All right, put your fist up, woo hoo!

00:52:14.491 --> 00:52:17.470
- Kelsey Skaggs, you're an
attorney for the valve turners.

00:52:17.470 --> 00:52:19.830
Were you surprised by what transpired?

00:52:19.830 --> 00:52:21.660
- Yes, Amy, I was surprised.

00:52:21.660 --> 00:52:24.780
This judge's decision to acquit early on

00:52:24.780 --> 00:52:28.640
in the case meant that it
didn't even go to the jury.

00:52:28.640 --> 00:52:30.950
- I am disappointed that
we did not get to put on

00:52:30.950 --> 00:52:32.590
the trial that we hoped for.

00:52:32.590 --> 00:52:35.207
We very much wanted, uh,
everyone to be able to hear,

00:52:35.207 --> 00:52:38.250
for our jurors to be able to
hear from our expert witnesses.

00:52:38.250 --> 00:52:40.180
- I was disappointed
because I really did want

00:52:40.180 --> 00:52:43.270
to participate with all of
the other expert witnesses

00:52:43.270 --> 00:52:47.160
and all of the defendants in moving the

00:52:47.160 --> 00:52:50.483
necessity defense farther
into the mainstream.

00:52:51.320 --> 00:52:53.430
- There were some signs of it.

00:52:53.430 --> 00:52:56.003
I think if we had been looking for them,

00:52:57.120 --> 00:53:00.260
the prosecutor had reduced the charges

00:53:00.260 --> 00:53:03.120
to just a single charge
for each defendant.

00:53:03.120 --> 00:53:06.080
He didn't seem to be overly concerned

00:53:06.080 --> 00:53:09.090
about making the strongest
presentation possible.

00:53:09.090 --> 00:53:12.753
- So we are obviously relieved
that the criminal charges

00:53:12.753 --> 00:53:17.670
have now been dismissed,
but there is a lot of work

00:53:17.670 --> 00:53:19.900
to do with regard to climate change

00:53:19.900 --> 00:53:21.990
and the underlying issues.

00:53:21.990 --> 00:53:24.520
- That's one of the things
about this victory that makes

00:53:24.520 --> 00:53:26.340
it a little bittersweet.

00:53:26.340 --> 00:53:29.883
It was a victory in the
sense that the industry

00:53:29.883 --> 00:53:33.510
and the prosecutor acting
on the industry's behalf,

00:53:33.510 --> 00:53:36.610
they weren't able to punish
our clients for doing

00:53:36.610 --> 00:53:37.620
what they did.

00:53:37.620 --> 00:53:41.960
And I think from their
standpoint this was a loss,

00:53:41.960 --> 00:53:45.830
that because the jury didn't
acquit them on the basis

00:53:45.830 --> 00:53:48.740
of what they believed
to be right or wrong,

00:53:48.740 --> 00:53:50.800
it's hard to read this as a moral victory

00:53:50.800 --> 00:53:54.830
or an indication of how people
feel about what happened.

00:53:54.830 --> 00:53:57.940
- We did this action almost
two years ago to the day.

00:53:57.940 --> 00:54:00.270
Thursday will be the second anniversary.

00:54:00.270 --> 00:54:02.950
Because the problem of
climate change is so urgent

00:54:02.950 --> 00:54:04.700
that we have to start shutting

00:54:04.700 --> 00:54:06.823
tar sands pipelines down now.

00:54:08.140 --> 00:54:09.570
- [Woman] What the
argument centered around

00:54:09.570 --> 00:54:11.730
was the definition of the statute

00:54:11.730 --> 00:54:14.250
that they were charged under,
which is criminal damage

00:54:14.250 --> 00:54:16.500
to the property of a pipeline.

00:54:16.500 --> 00:54:17.333
- [Woman] They were charged

00:54:17.333 --> 00:54:19.920
under one of these laws that provides

00:54:19.920 --> 00:54:22.730
for very severe consequences
for anything having

00:54:22.730 --> 00:54:24.353
to do with a pipeline.

00:54:25.523 --> 00:54:27.470
And we're like, "They didn't
cause damage to a pipeline.

00:54:27.470 --> 00:54:30.480
They cut a lock that you
could buy at a hardware store

00:54:30.480 --> 00:54:33.150
and some chain like you would
use to lock up your bike

00:54:33.150 --> 00:54:35.840
to get into the facility to turn a valve

00:54:35.840 --> 00:54:38.300
that was functional the whole time."

00:54:38.300 --> 00:54:40.177
We didn't necessarily think
that argument would work,

00:54:40.177 --> 00:54:42.127
but we made the motion,
and the judge was like,

00:54:42.127 --> 00:54:44.124
"Yeah, they didn't damage a pipeline.

00:54:44.124 --> 00:54:44.957
There's not enough evidence.

00:54:44.957 --> 00:54:46.050
State failed to prove it."

00:54:46.050 --> 00:54:48.700
- The way that pipeline
is defined in that statute

00:54:48.700 --> 00:54:51.930
is just not capacious
enough to encompass the lock

00:54:51.930 --> 00:54:54.450
and chain that the defendants broke

00:54:54.450 --> 00:54:56.563
when they entered the enclosed area.

00:54:58.170 --> 00:55:01.490
- Defense attorneys always make
that motion, and that motion

00:55:01.490 --> 00:55:04.040
is never granted, but
in this case the judge

00:55:04.040 --> 00:55:06.070
granted the motion, and
everybody was shocked.

00:55:06.070 --> 00:55:07.040
Our clients were shocked.

00:55:07.040 --> 00:55:08.280
The whole packed courtroom was shocked.

00:55:08.280 --> 00:55:09.660
We were like, "What is going on?

00:55:09.660 --> 00:55:11.527
This is so rare procedurally."

00:55:15.080 --> 00:55:18.240
- From my perspective it was,
on the part of the prosecution

00:55:18.240 --> 00:55:22.093
and those who control the
prosecution, a strategic loss.

00:55:25.070 --> 00:55:28.220
They didn't want to have a
trial about climate change here,

00:55:28.220 --> 00:55:31.850
now, especially given the
headlines that everybody

00:55:31.850 --> 00:55:33.540
saw in the newspaper this morning.

00:55:33.540 --> 00:55:34.650
- [Woman] The trial came

00:55:34.650 --> 00:55:36.970
just as the United Nations Climate Panel

00:55:36.970 --> 00:55:39.090
warned in a landmark report that humanity

00:55:39.090 --> 00:55:41.450
has only a dozen years to
mitigate climate change

00:55:41.450 --> 00:55:43.403
or face global catastrophe.

00:55:44.470 --> 00:55:49.010
- 44-point font print, "Dire
consequences of client change

00:55:49.010 --> 00:55:51.987
announced by the latest IPCC report."

00:56:00.450 --> 00:56:02.003
- I'm done being invisible.

00:56:03.340 --> 00:56:04.173
I'm done.

00:56:05.610 --> 00:56:07.653
You will hear me and you will see me.

00:56:10.340 --> 00:56:13.370
- Sometimes life makes you make a decision

00:56:13.370 --> 00:56:16.020
on where you're gonna stand, you know.

00:56:16.020 --> 00:56:19.080
And it's up to each person
on how they want to deal with

00:56:19.080 --> 00:56:22.080
that situation when that moment
in time comes in their life.

00:56:23.770 --> 00:56:26.922
- We say no over and over
again to these companies,

00:56:26.922 --> 00:56:29.013
but we've said no and we mean it.

00:56:29.950 --> 00:56:31.010
We're willing to stand out here

00:56:31.010 --> 00:56:32.813
and actually face what's coming.

00:57:05.837 --> 00:57:08.635
(knocking on door)

00:57:08.635 --> 00:57:09.468
- Lady!

00:57:10.544 --> 00:57:11.830
Hey!

00:57:11.830 --> 00:57:13.130
We have a letter!

00:57:13.130 --> 00:57:14.193
There's a letter!

00:57:18.408 --> 00:57:19.768
Ma'am!

00:57:19.768 --> 00:57:21.320
Ma'am!

00:57:21.320 --> 00:57:22.270
Ma'am!

00:57:22.270 --> 00:57:23.740
Yeah, here it is!

00:57:23.740 --> 00:57:24.823
Here's a letter!

00:57:25.803 --> 00:57:28.720
Oh, ma'am, ma'am, we have a letter.

00:57:32.248 --> 00:57:33.931
Why, why do I not have the right?

00:57:33.931 --> 00:57:36.400
- The space is secured and
they do not want anybody

00:57:36.400 --> 00:57:37.681
in there, period.

00:57:37.681 --> 00:57:39.101
- Well, send somebody out.

00:57:39.101 --> 00:57:40.051
- No, they don't want to.

00:57:40.051 --> 00:57:41.272
- [Woman] Send somebody out.

00:57:41.272 --> 00:57:42.360
- Send somebody out.

00:57:42.360 --> 00:57:43.340
- You guys can leave now

00:57:43.340 --> 00:57:45.459
or you can go to jail
with the rest of them.

00:57:45.459 --> 00:57:47.876
(vocalizing)

00:58:10.113 --> 00:58:15.113
♪ When I think I'm sad and lonely ♪

00:58:16.316 --> 00:58:21.316
♪ And I begin too early ♪

00:58:21.415 --> 00:58:26.415
♪ And I know you're out there ♪

00:58:26.775 --> 00:58:31.372
♪ Thinking of me somewhere ♪

00:58:31.372 --> 00:58:33.705
♪ Somewhere ♪

00:58:35.095 --> 00:58:37.512
(vocalizing)

00:59:05.306 --> 00:59:10.122
♪ When you think you're sad and blue ♪

00:59:10.122 --> 00:59:15.012
♪ And don't know what to do ♪

00:59:15.012 --> 00:59:19.525
♪ Don't worry, you will see ♪

00:59:19.525 --> 00:59:24.525
♪ How much you really mean to me ♪

00:59:24.645 --> 00:59:27.062
♪ Mean to me ♪

00:59:28.010 --> 00:59:30.427
(vocalizing)