Indigenous Peoples Rights Enbridge's Line 3 pipeline threatens the cultural survival of the Ojibwe Indigenous People. The route would pierce the heart of the 1855 Treaty territory, where the members of Ojibwe bands retain their rights to hunt, fish, harvest wild rice, conduct religious ceremonies and travel. Wild rice lies at the core of Ojibwe identity and culture. Because of its key cultural role, wild rice harvesting is explicitly defined as a right in the treaties of several bands of Ojibwe with the U.S. Government. The Line 3 pipeline would send nearly one million barrels of tar sands per day through wild rice beds. The Mille Lacs, Red Lake and White Earth Nations bands have not given their Free, Prior and Informed Consent to the Line 3 Pipeline project (for more information see here).

Canada’s far North is experiencing rapid climate change. Rising temperatures will cause severe sea level rise, jeopardising seaside communities. Scientists predict that extreme weather events will become more frequent, causing both droughts and floods across the country. 

Enbridge maintains the longest oil pipeline network in the world, which stretches across North America. The company transports more than 30% of the crude oil produced in North America and manages up to 40% of all crude imported to the United States. According to the company’s 2021 sustainability report, the gas Enbridge sells to consumers adds up to almost 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. 

Enbridge’s scope 3 emissions make up almost 70% of the company’s entire carbon footprint. To reduce its exposure to crude oil, Enbridge began investing in gas, hydrogen, and carbon capture and storage technologies - none of which adequately reduce its emissions. Enbridge’s renewable energy portfolio makes up less than five percent of its annual earnings, and the company has no plans to make renewables a central part of its strategy going forward.

Tar sands Tar sands are a type of highly polluting unconventional fossil fuel. Most of the world’s proven tar sands reserves are in the province of Alberta, Canada. Surface mining of tar sands involves clearing large sections of boreal forest. The tar sands extraction and refining process also puts a heavy burden on fresh water supplies, consuming about six units of water for each unit of tar sands gasoline produced. The resulting waste water is highly toxic and often ends up stored in dangerous ‘tailings ponds’. Due to these unconventional extraction and refining methods, Canadian tar sands emit about 31% more greenhouse gases over their entire life cycle than average North American crude. The extraction of tar sands, and its transport by pipelines, is also linked to many other environmental and human rights issues such as water pollution, increased rates of cancer, disruption of habitat, air pollution and disruption, and violations of the collective human rights of Indigenous People. They have been called the most destructive industrial projects in human history.

Enbridge's pipelines facilitate the continued extistence of tar sands in Alberta, Canada, since these projects require pipelines to be financially viable.

Line 3 pipeline replacement project Enbridge began construction in December 2020, despite COVID risks, legal challenges and sustained Indigenous-led opposition. This project is an environmental catastrophe: the construction would add 193 million tons of GHG to the atmosphere annually, annual emissions that are equivalent to 50 new coal plants. According to Honor The Earth, it also violates the treaty rights of the Anishinaabeg by endangering critical natural and cultural resources. Ironically, Enbridge’s ESG goals include contributing “to Indigenous reconciliation through employment strategies and training”.

Spills In the period of 2010 - 2016 Enbridge and its subsidiaries and joint ventures had 147 spills totaling 40,794 barrels of hazardous liquids. Of those spills 137 were crude oil, 7 were refined petroleum products and 3 were High Volatile Liquids (HVL). Around half of Enbridge’s total comes from a catastrophic 20,082 barrel diluted bitumen spill into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River in 2010. In total, Enbridge saw 17 significant spills during this time period, all crude oil spills. Enbridge and its subsidiaries and joint ventures currently operate 66,000 kilometres of oil and gas pipelines in North America.

Spills into Kalamazoo River In July 2010, Enbridge’s Line 6B pipeline ruptured, spilling over 20,000 barrels of diluted bitumen into the Kalamazoo River near the town of Marshall, Michigan. The spill impacted hundreds of families, polluted 36 miles of river, and only narrowly avoided contaminating Lake Michigan. The spilled bitumen sunk to the bottom of the river triggering a years-long, billion dollar clean-up operation that required dredging the river bottom. Even today the river and its surrounding still show the impact of the spill.