Waadookawaad Amikwag, Ojibwe for ‘Those Who Help Beaver’, is a multicultural volunteer community group made up of water protectors, credentialed scientists, licensed drone pilots, field monitors, and grassroots organizers mindful of the traditional homelands of the Anishinaabeg people and traditional ecological and Indigenous knowledge.
Since 2021, we have been monitoring the damage caused by construction of the Line 3/93 pipeline in northern Minnesota.
Our team gathers and interprets evidence of the environmental disturbances caused by the Line 3/93 construction. We’re working to communicate our findings to the public and relevant agencies to advocate on behalf of wetlands, waterways, and manoomin.
Waadookawaad Amikwag
“Those Who Help Beaver”
During their reckless construction of the Line 3/93 pipeline through Anishinaabe lands, Enbridge and their contractors caused extensive and permanent ecological damage by disrupting groundwater and wetlands all along the route.
Minnesota regulatory agencies have publicly identified only four major aquifer breaches on the Line 3/93 corridor. However, Waadookawaad Amikwag has identified over 40 sites of probable hydrologic disturbance.
Enbridge permanently damaged many sensitive wetland ecosystems along the pipeline route. These critical carbon sequestering peat wetlands cannot be restored by any human methods. They may take thousands of years to heal.
Aquifer breaches and other hydrologic disturbances could change the chemistry of nearby water bodies and wetlands. These changes might threaten sensitive manoomin (wild rice), a traditional cultural food source held sacred by Anishinaabe people.
Not only did Enbridge cause extensive ecological damage while building Line 3/93, but the state regulators are relying on Enbridge and its contractors to decide the appropriate fix. Their “remediation” plan is failing.
When Waadookawaad Amikwag scientists and field volunteers return to these sites we observe that Enbridge is not “fixing” everything. Instead, their work causes further damage to already sensitive and disrupted ecosystems.
For months our ask to state regulatory agencies and elected officials has been consistent:
