Palisade, MN – A contingent of anti-war organizations including Woman Against Military Madness (WAMM) and the Climate Justice Committee (CJC) visited the Line 3 encampment on the edge of the Mississippi River in Palisade, on January 10.

The encampment is an 80-acre land trust from Akiing Purchases (Akiing translates to “the land to which we belong to”) that runs parallel to an Enbridge Line 3 drill pad construction. The tar sands oil pipeline is currently proposed to cross under the Mississippi River.

The mood around camp was calm. An action of 300-plus water protesters took place the day before, where a total of nine water protectors were arrested.

During the visit, the contingent received a tour of the grounds and bore witness to the pipeline construction that is currently underway.

Among some of the recent projects that had been completed at the camp were a full compost waste system, in addition to more permanent structures such as yurts. The beginnings of a second camp is starting to be built along the Mississippi.

Water protectors have come from across the country – New York, across the Midwest and New Mexico – to resist the pipeline construction.

Just two months ago on November 12, the last key permits for Enbridge's Line 3 were approved by state environmental regulators.

This encampment is one of several encampments throughout northern Minnesota.

The main message the water protectors wanted to leave the anti-war contingent with was to urge spreading the word, as more water protectors are needed to slow down and halt pipeline construction by way of direct action. One water protector told us, “This is such a beautiful country and our water is so important to us. We must do everything possible to stop this pipeline.”

#PalisadeMN #IndigenousPeoples #WaterProtectors #AkiingPurchases #WomanAgainstMilitaryMadnessWAMM