Over 5,000 Protest in Twin Cities at Historic ‘Tar Sands Resistance March’

(EnviroNews World News) — St. Paul, Minnesota — On June 6, 2015, over 5,000 took to the streets in protest of tar sands in the Twin Cities. The event titled the “Tar Sands Resistance March” drew a mass of people, equipped with signs and chants, wielding a unified message: “Say no to tar sands!”

It has been reported by several groups that the event constitutes the biggest tar sands march in the history of the Midwestern United States — surely it was one of the largest tar sands-specific events in U.S. history as well.

The Minnesota Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are in the line of fire when it comes to the plans of big tar sands. Several massive pipelines, including the Alberta Clipper, have been proposed, and in some cases slated for development in an effort by big oil to bring the nastiest type of crude on the planet from the Alberta tar sands, to the Great Lakes area.

Bitumen crude is what’s extracted from the Alberta disaster — and is’t absolutely loaded with carbon — about two-and-a-half times as much carbon as conventional crude oil in fact. Bitumen is a highly viscous product that typically has to be cut with other substances like diesel in order to send it down pipelines — making it an even deadlier brew.

The substance is also known to be much more corrosive than standard crude, a fact that unfortunate residents of Kalamazoo Michigan know all too well ever since pipeline company Enbridge breeched a tar sands pipeline there that devastated communities in 2010. Affected neighborhoods are still reeling from health problems while Enbridge struggles to get a handle on the mess to this very day.

Environmental groups said indigenous groups took the lead in the march. The Sierra Club floated around pictures on social media of todays event.


According to the Beyond Oil website, a site that had been advertising the event, speakers scheduled for the event included: Sierra Club President Aaron Mair, Bill McKibben (350.org), Rev. Yearwood (Hip-hop caucus), Kandi Mossett (Indigenous Environmental Network), Sharon Day (local Anishinaabe elder & activist), Akilah Sanders-Reed (youth activist), Frank Waln (indigenous hip-hop artist), representatives of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN), and local student, faith, clean energy, and tribal leaders.

A website for the event TarSandsResistance.org touted an impressive coalition of organizations that had signed on as participants for the march including:
The Sierra Club
350.org
MN350
Interfaith Power and Light
Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light
Indigenous Environmental Network
National Wildlife Federation
Energy Action Coalition
CREDO
Bold Nebraska
Honor The Earth
ForestEthics
Friends of the Earth
Oil Change International
NRDC
Center for Biological Diversity
MICATS
350 Madison
Milwaukee 350
Northwoods 350
Sierra Club North Star Chapter
Sierra Club Beyond Oil and Tar Sands Committee MN
Sierra Club John Muir Chapter
Citizens Acting for Rail Safety
350 Stevens Point
MN Native Lives Matter / Native Lives Matter Coalition
Alliance for Sustainability
Izaak Walton League of America Minnesota Division
Future First
Women’s Congress for Future Generations
350Kishwaukee
MPIRG
Idle No More Michigan
Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy, Minnesota
Dakota Rural Action, South Dakota
Women Against Military Madness
Socialist Action – Twin Cities
Community Power MN
Houston County Protectors
Indigenous Peoples Literature
Idle No More-Minnesota
CASM. Citizens Against Silica Mining
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, MN
Lakeville Friends of the Environment
MUUSJA – The MN Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance
EcoSpirits Ministry of SJA Catholic Community
Tackling Torture From the Top, Minnesota – A Wamm Committee
International Forum on Globalization, CA
Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota Citizens for the Protection of Migratory Birds
Northland Sustainable Solutions, Minnesota
Forest City 350
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, Iowa
Wica Agli South Dakota
Tar Sands Free Midwest, Illinois
Vote-Climate.org
The Climate Mobilization (National)
IdleNoMore Wisconsin | Peace Action WI
Divest Carleton… Minnesota
Minnesota Conservation Federation