Extinction Rebellion Boston stands against Enbridge

Members of Extinction Rebellion Boston joined a sit-in at the Enbridge office in Waltham to protest their disastrous fossil fuel projects that are driving us toward an unlivable future. 13 activists blocked the entrance for 24-hours. Three arrests were made, including one member of Extinction Rebellion Boston.

Following the lead of the GINIW Collective and Indigenous Water Protectors in protesting the expansion of the Line 3 pipeline, Boston-area activists from Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station (FRRACS), No Coal No Gas, Wendell State Forest Alliance, Mothers Out Front, 350 Mass, and Extinction Rebellion Boston occupied the Enbridge office.

The Line 3 Pipeline proposal has the Enbridge pipeline built on untouched wetlands in the treaty-protected territory of the Anishinaabe peoples in Minnesota, through the Mississippi River headwaters and to the shore of Lake Superior. It would bring nearly a million barrels of tar sands from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin every single day.

Locally, Enbridge funds the Weymouth Compressor Station, a natural gas compressor station adjacent to the new Fore River Bridge in North Weymouth. The Compressor Station brings fracked gas from Pennsylvania through New England and into Canada. Governor Charlie Baker and his administration approved several permits with no public vote and limited public input. Charlie Baker is complicit in this process, and we will hold him accountable.

Enbridge will also fund the new West Roxbury pipeline addition, set to run through Westwood, Dedham, and West Roxbury. Enbridge's new fossil fuel infrastructure poses a serious threat to the health, safety, environment, and economy of the South Shore, and continues to escalate the global threat of the climate and ecological crises.

Extinction Rebellion Boston stands in full support of the demands of this protest, which are:

1. That the Hubbard County Sheriff's Department immediately cease its dangerous blockade of Anishinaabe peoples’ privately-owned #StopLine3 camp and release all arrested protesters.
2. The immediate halt to Line 3 Pipeline construction and drilling near the headwaters of the Mississippi River.
3. The shutdown of Enbridge's Natural Gas Compressor Station in Weymouth, Mass.
4. The shutdown of Enbridge's West Roxbury Lateral gas pipeline in Boston, Mass.
5. The shutdown of the Enbridge-supplied Alton Gas project threatening Mi'kmaq land and water in Nova Scotia.

Companies like Enbridge are driving us toward a world of extreme heat, famine, drought, disease, and catastrophic weather, all for their own short-term profits. We will continue to resist until these climate-destroying projects are halted and their leaders held to account.