November 16, 2020

Re: EJAG Letter of Resignation

Commissioner Laura Bishop,

In light of your recent decision to approve the Line 3 401 water crossings permit, several
members of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) Environmental Justice Advisory
Group (EJAG) are submitting our collective and public resignation. After much discussion, we
cannot continue to legitimize and provide cover for the MPCA’s war on black and brown people.

The Line 3 pipeline will cross over 200 bodies of water, inevitably poisoning rivers, wetlands,
and wild rice beds. It will emit as many greenhouse gases as running 50 new coal plants 24
hours a day. If we were to get every other sector in our state to carbon neutral, we wouldn’t be
able to offset the added emissions this pipeline will bring. This pipeline threatens further spread
of COVID-19 when we are experiencing peak cases and hospitalizations in our state.

Line 3 will mean violated treaty rights, heightened risk of sexual trafficking and sexual violence,
and an insult to the three tribal nations that strongly oppose its construction. Any perceived
economic benefits are extremely short-term. When Michigan’s Governor is cancelling
Enbridge’s Line 5, and oil and gas prices are dropping while the cost of carbon emissions is
*quickly rising, it is obvious that Line 3 is a poor economic choice for Minnesota’s working and
middle classes.

The decision to approve the permit sends a clear message that the Walz Administration and
the MPCA hold no regard for the well-being of Minnesotans or our relatives around the world,
who depend on us to dramatically, rapidly, and justly transition our economies away from fossil
fuels.

This is the final straw after increasing disappointment in the MPCA’s failure to build on the hard
work of dedicated EJAG members over the years. The transition to a new commissioner has set
back the EJAG’s work, and the EJAG has since been excluded from important decisions that
affect how the group is managed. EJAG members were not consulted on the hiring of an
outside facilitator, nor on the divvying of group members into work groups. EJAG members have
also experienced dismissal, being discouraged from sharing honest thoughts and opinions. This
is not how an advisory group should be engaged to appropriately respect the wisdom being
sought.

When discussing the Line 3 decision, Commissioner Bishop told an EJAG member to not make
something “personal,” when Line 3 is personal in every way imaginable. How can precious
water, indigenous dignity, and children’s futures not be personal? We are disappointed in the
failure to honor the time that we all contribute. While we have seen small actions taken internally
to improve understanding, measures, and culture in the agency, our communities demand
action and this agency cannot claim to promote justice without results that improve our lives.
 We demand that Commissioner Bishop and the Walz Administration reflect on the choices that
were made. Your decision to side with a Canadian corporation over your own people is
reprehensible and devastating. We ask that you do everything in your power to repair the
damage you have done and seek a healing path to justice with the communities you have
harmed.

Signed in Unity:

Maryan Abdinur
Erica Chung
Anita Urvina Davis
Lea Foushee
Charles Frempong-Longdon
Dania Marin Gavilan
Sarah Goodspeed
Magdalena Kaluza
Winona LaDuke
Zeke McKinney
Shirley Nordrum
Kaleigh Swift

* “Stranded Assets” Risk Rising with Climate Action and $40 Oil, bloomberg.com/Bloomberg Green