{"id":46632,"date":"2019-06-13T16:52:41","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T21:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=46632"},"modified":"2019-06-13T16:52:44","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T21:52:44","slug":"exclusive-enbridge-is-behind-this-front-group-pushing-the-companys-line-3-oil-pipeline-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=46632","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Enbridge Is Behind This Front Group Pushing the Company\u2019s Line 3 Oil Pipeline Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Exclusive: Enbridge Is Behind This Front Group Pushing the Company\u2019s Line 3 Oil Pipeline Project<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Enbridge<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Minnesotans for Line 3, a group established last year to advocate for an Enbridge oil pipeline project, presents itself as a grassroots organization consisting of \u201cthousands of members.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a DeSmog investigation has found that behind the scenes, the Calgary-based energy giant is pulling the strings. Enbridge has provided the group with funding, public relations, and a variety of advocacy tactics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The investigation has also found that a public relations firm behind the operation recently tried to erase its ties to Enbridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facebook Splurge and Secret\u00a0Tactics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minnesotans for Line 3 first appeared in the battle over Enbridge\u2019s Line 3 Replacement Project<\/a> early last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opponents, who this week employed direct action tactics<\/a> to block initial work on the project and delivered<\/a> a petition to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, include several Native communities \u2014 among them the White Earth and Mille Lacs Bands of Ojibwe and the Red Lake Band of Chippewa. Of their main concerns, these groups cite violation of Indigenous rights, risks associated with oil spills, and climate change impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through a series of TV ads and op-eds, along with a social media campaign and a petition delivered to state authorities, Minnesotans for Line 3 called for approving Enbridge\u2019s multi-billion dollar plan to replace and reroute its aging pipeline that transports Canadian tar sands oil through North Dakota and Minnesota to Superior, Wisconsin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Facebook<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The group spent\u00a0considerable funds<\/a>\u00a0on Facebook advertising, making it the tenth largest digital ad purchaser among interest groups between November 2018 and April 2019. And it allegedly engaged in more stealthy tactics as well: Dozens of young people wearing Minnesotans for Line 3 shirts occupied spots in a line at a state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) hearing on the project at the expense of the project\u2019s opponents \u2013\u00a0only to disappear shortly<\/a>\u00a0after receiving the tickets.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: Enbridge Is Behind This Front Group Pushing the Company\u2019s Line 3 Oil Pipeline Project Minnesotans for Line 3, a group established last year to advocate for an Enbridge oil pipeline project, presents itself as a grassroots organization consisting of \u201cthousands of members.\u201d But a DeSmog investigation has found that behind the scenes, the Calgary-based energy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[5317,1283,13632,11577,1476],"class_list":["post-46632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-energy-2","category-environment","tag-desmog-blog","tag-enbridge","tag-enbridge-line-3","tag-itai-vardi","tag-pipelines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46632"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46633,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46632\/revisions\/46633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}