On Thursday Morning, October 4, water protectors erected a tripod and tipi in front of the Wells Fargo building in protest of an upcoming $1.48 billion dollar credit renewal to Canadian-based Enbridge, Inc. Enbridge is behind Line 3, a nearly 1M barrel per day tar sands pipeline it wants to send through Anishinaabe treaty territories, the Mississippi River headwaters, wetlands, and the Great Lakes.
Ongoing divestment efforts have cost financial backers of fossil fuel infrastructure projects billions of dollars in the last two years, coming out of a groundswell of resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the human rights abuses that occurred during its construction. Wells Fargo is one of three major financiers of the upcoming credit facility to Enbridge – the others are Chase and Credit Agricole.
One water protector was atop the tripod constructed, saying, “I am here in solidarity with the Anishinaabe peoples and protection the water for future generations. We cannot let these companies put our futures on the line any longer. Expansion of fossil fuels must end. Drinking water is a human right. Wells Fargo, stop funding genocide.”