Thread by @ResistLine3

Let's talk about Minnesotans for Line 3, the propaganda arm of @Enbridge's #Line3 expansion project. 🧵 (1/10)

Minnesotans for Line 3 (M4L3) was founded in 2018 by the late Bob Schoneberger, a previous Enbridge employee and the then-CEO of United Piping Inc., a fossil fuel infrastructure contractor that stood to benefit from a Line 3 expansion. (2/10)

linkedin.com/in/bob-schoneb…

Not long after its founding, M4L3 began to play dirty.

In 2018, members of M4L3 stockpiled limited tickets to an @MN_PUC hearing regarding Line 3, only to skip the meeting, depriving the public of its ability to voice concern over Line 3. (3/10)

mprnews.org/story/2018/06/…

While that was happening, this "grassroots" group was spending massive sums of money on pro-pipeline propaganda - so much so that it became one of the top 10 interest groups pushing digital campaign ads in 2018. (4/10)

duluthnewstribune.com/business/energ…

And where was that money coming from?

Turns out, Line 3's grassroots support is greatly exaggerated. Enbridge itself bankrolled M4L3's TV ads and hired a PR firm to manufacture support for the pipeline. (5/10)

desmogblog.com/2019/06/06/enb…

Ironically, Velocity Public Affairs (the PR firm hired to push Line 3) was so embarrassed by the dirty work it did for Enbridge that it deleted the web page describing that work. Spreading oil propaganda must be bad for business. (6/10)

.@Enbridge is no stranger to this kind of deceptive propaganda-pushing. They've done it before in 2017, when they funded ads to "modernize Minnesota" (with oil) from Consumer Energy Alliance, another front group for big oil. (7/10)

news.littlesis.org/2017/12/06/out…

M4L3 is even on Twitter at @minnesotans4L3, where they presumably use their @Enbridge cash to further spread dishonest propaganda about Line 3.

For reference, our account is run by volunteers who care about more than just paychecks :) (8/10)

So if you're listening to the radio or on YouTube in Minnesota and you encounter an ad for Line 3, consider the source. What are their interests? Who's paying them to say these things? In all likelihood, it's an oil company paying them to promote oil infrastructure. (9/10)

Foreign oil executives and their lackeys are posing as concerned neighbors in Minnesota, and something needs to be done about it. Join us in the movement to #StopLine3, so we can put an end to tar sands in Minnesota. (10/10)

Support the movement: linktr.ee/stopline3