Extinction Rebellion demands Chase Bank defund Line 3 and honor Indigenous treaty rights

Extinction Rebellion Demands Chase Bank Defund Line 3 and Honor Indigenous Treaty Rights

JPMorgan Chase funds Minnesota’s Line 3, despoils sacred lands and waters, dishonors treaties, and tramples Indigenous rights.

JPMorgan Chase is the World’s #1 funder of fossil fuels, driving the Climate and Ecological Crises.

NASHUA, NH — On Saturday, July 10, Extinction Rebellion-New Hampshire (XR) occupied the area near the entrance of the Chase Bank on Amherst St. The climate activists demand an immediate cessation to JPMorgan Chase’s financial support of the fossil fuel industry, including the bank’s support of Enbridge Inc. (1,2) Enbridge is building the Line 3 Pipeline in Minnesota, which is proposed to bring nearly a million barrels of tar sands per day from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin. (3)

“JPMorgan Chase must commit to respecting human rights, particularly the rights of Indigenous Peoples. This includes the right to sovereign ownership of their water and land and the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, as articulated in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous.(4) Chase must cease financing projects and companies that are destroying Earth and abusing human rights,” said Sue Durling from Extinction Rebellion NH.

Arriving at Chase shortly after the branch opened for business, activists stated their demands to bank management. They also communicated their demands through e-mail to senior management. Distributing leaflets to customers detailing Chase’s funding of Line 3, activists explained to customers that they can influence institutional behavior by moving their money to more responsible banks. The demands are as follows:

1. COMMIT to a meaningful zero-emissions target by pulling investments in ALL fossil fuel infrastructure, especially on treaty-protected lands. #DefundLine3
2. START funding a just transition to green energy that will create millions of jobs and promote a true economic recovery.
3. RESPECT Native American treaties, letting Indigenous communities control their own energy sources, and don’t fund fossil fuel projects on their land.

JPMorgan Chase has lent more money to the fossil fuel industry than any bank on Earth. (5) Their support of Enbridge’s Line 3 Pipeline comes without Prior, Free, and Informed consent of the Ojibwe people, whose land the pipeline passes through,(6) and Chase’s business choices are accelerating the Climate Crisis and the Sixth Mass Extinction. (7,8)

Line 3 is an especially egregious example of valuing corporate profits over life and morality. At $7.5 billion,(2) the proposed Line 3 Pipeline would be the largest project in Enbridge’s history and one of the largest crude oil pipelines in the world,(9) carrying up to 915,000 barrels of tar crude sands per day.(10) Tar crude sand is one of the dirtiest fuels on earth. Approximately three times more global warming pollution is released during tar sands mining and refinement than in the production of conventional crude. It uses triple the freshwater resources, creating ponds of toxic waste, and generates tons of hazardous by-products. (11)

Enbridge calls Line 3 a "replacement," but it doubles the current capacity, and uses a new corridor. (12) Despite strong indigenous-led opposition by the Ojibwe peoples,(13,14) landowners, environmental groups, and communities across the Great Lakes over the last 5 years, Enbridge continues to push ahead with construction.

Granite Staters have seen the ominous human-created climate changes all around the globe. Some feel they have escaped the Climate Crisis here in New Hampshire. (15) Yet there is evidence of the Climate Emergency all around us. Winter ticks that were killed in frigid winter temperatures now threaten our iconic symbol, the moose. The astonishing average number of ticks on a moose calf is 47,371, and greater than two thirds of calves die through blood loss. (16) New Hampshire is getting warmer, and sooner. In just 14 years, New Hampshire is projected to be warmer by the largest increase in the contiguous United States, and as much as 20 years sooner than the rest of the earth reaches the same average temperature increase.(17)

“For the sake of our children and all living beings on earth, we can no longer afford to ignore the Climate and Ecological Crises,” said Sue Durling from Extinction Rebellion NH.

Extinction Rebellion embraces Four Demands: Institutions must Tell The Truth about anthropogenic climate change, Act Now to stop biodiversity loss, create and be led by a Citizen’s Assembly on climate and ecological justice, and provide a Just Transition, prioritizing interventions for the most vulnerable communities suffering from environmental injustice. (18) Extinction Rebellion demands that JPMorgan Chase stop funding Line 3, divest from all fossil fuel projects, and invest in renewables in order to ensure a safe and habitable earth for ourselves and for future generations. If they don’t, humanity will face worsening water shortages, food shortages, extreme weather events, and climate migration, with the collapse of civilization projected as soon as 2050. (19)

Extinction Rebellion New Hampshire is an autonomous chapter of the international grassroots movement, Extinction Rebellion (XR), which started in London in 2018. The purpose of XR is to tell the truth about how dire the ecological and climate crisis is and spark immediate action in order to prevent complete climate and ecological collapse. We aim to mobilize people around the world to utilize nonviolent direct action to demand that governments take radical action to avert societal collapse caused by widespread climate and ecological disaster, and to protect front-line communities, biodiversity, and the natural world. This movement is non-political, and unites all of humanity behind a singular goal of a just and livable future. Visit rebellion.global/about-us to learn more.

1. Banking on Climate Chaos - Rainforest Action Network (ran.org)
2. Line 3 Replacement Project - Enbridge Inc.
3. Line 3 Pipeline, Wikipedia
4. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, United Nations, 07-58681. March 2008.
5. Banking-on-Climate-Chaos-2021.pdf (ran.org), page 7
6. 'It's cultural genocide': inside the fight to stop a pipeline on tribal lands | The Guardian
7. The World Speeds Up—and We Slow Down | The New Yorker
8. Vertebrates on the brink as indicators of biological annihilation and the sixth mass extinction | PNAS
9. Stop Line 3
10. Line 3 Resolution (minneapolismn.gov)
11. The Dirty Fight Over Canadian Tar Sands Oil | NRDC
12. Line 3 and the Pipeline System, Sierra Club North Star Chapter
13. The Teck megaproject is dead, but there’s still hope in the oil sands - The Globe and Mail; Canada's Trans Mountain pipeline sees fortunes shine after KXL's demise | Nasdaq
14. Ojibwe bands ask for halt on Line 3 construction | MPR News
15. Pembroke agrees on most issues; not climate change, though (concordmonitor.com)
16. UNH Researchers Say Winter Ticks Killing Moose at Alarming Rate | UNH Today
17. Fourth National Climate Assessment (globalchange.gov)
18. What Is XR | Extinction Rebellion
19. Climate change report: Human civilization at risk by 2050, according to new Australian climate change analysis - CBS News