inquisitivetree:

inquisitivetree:

Here is the link they gave.

Follow Resist Line 3 on Twitter.

[Image description: a Twitter thread by account Resist Line 3 @ResistLine3 saying:

#Line3 would be a disaster for life on our planet, all the way from the pipeline’s source to its destination. Here’s why.

At the source of Line 3 is the tar sands extraction industry in Alberta, Canada. Here, Canadian oil workers clear-cut ancient forests to get at the oil tar beneath. These forests are one of the best carbon sinks on the planet - but when they’re gone, they’re gone.

Once the trees are gone, all of the life-sustaining topsoil is then scraped off of the ground. Without it, nothing will grow here again. Beneath that soil is bitumen, what @Enbridge wants - the most impure form of oil on this Earth.

Bitumen is so impure that it needs to be mixed with many toxic chemicals to even get the tar out of it, thus creating massive pools of toxic liquids called tailing ponds. The ponds are so toxic that strobe lights and sound cannons need to be used to keep birds away.

Leaving the destroyed earth of northern Alberta behind, the diluted bitumen is sent through the Line 3 oil pipeline that goes south into North Dakota, crosses Minnesota, and eventually arrives in Superior, Wisconsin. But the journey is far from painless.

Since 2002, @Enbridge has reported 307 hazardous liquid incidents in its operations. On average, that’s one toxic spill every 20 days, totaling 66,059 barrels of hazardous liquids. How many more spills can the land take before it’s irreparably poisoned?

As a matter of fact, the old Line 3 was responsible for the largest inland oil spill in US history, back in 1991 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. The existing #Line3 has already caused dozens of oil spills on treaty land. A bigger pipeline will just spill more.

And when construction is finished on the new Line 3, @Enbridge wants to abandon the old Line 3 to corrode away in the ground. Contaminants from the pipe will likely make their way into the soil, the water, and eventually all life in the surrounding area.

This tar, marked by ecocide at every point of its journey, eventually arrives in Superior, Wisconsin. From here, some of it will be shipped south towards Chicago, and some will go east towards Michigan. The Michigan-bound oil will eventually travel through the Great Lakes.

And if the pipeline in the Great Lakes ruptures (which pipelines always do eventually - especially old and corroded pipelines such as that one), it will contaminate the source of 84% of the fresh water on this continent. That’s water we depend on to drink. /end ID]

@allthecanadianpolitics @politijohn