Thread by @ResistLine3

Manoomin (wild rice)🌾is lead plaintiff in first ever "Rights of Manoomin" lawsuit filed by White Earth against @mndnr. The agency permitted Enbridge to take 5 billion gallons of water during a drought to build #Line3.

This case is reshaping the law as we know it: a thread (1/6)

@mndnr Plaintiffs are claiming that the DNR violated the rights of manoomin as well as multiple treaty rights to hunt, fish and gather along Line 3's route.

“Manoomin will have its day in court; this is big,” said Michael Fairbanks, chairman of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. (2/6)

@mndnr The move stems from the "Rights of Nature" doctrine, a legal theory acknowledging that an ecosystem is entitled to legal personhood status and has rights to defend itself in a court of law against harms, including environmental degradation caused by projects like Line 3. (3/6)

@mndnr A federal judge just dismissed the DNR's attempt to block the case -- a brazen move by the Walz Administration.

“This is a matter of U.S. Supreme Court decisions holding that tribes have sovereign immunity.” said Angelique EagleWoman, Mitchell Hamline School of Law. (4/6)

@mndnr Ojibwe people migrated to Minnesota from the East Coast to fulfill a prophecy that they would find food growing on the water.

They found manoomin, a densely nutritious species of the food that is unique to Ojibwe land and sustained their people for generations. (5/6)

@mndnr Manoomin is more than a plant, it is integral to Anishinaabe peoples, and exercising its legal rights will allow White Earth to make its case against the DNR and Enbridge for devastating the drought-stricken ecosystems in the region. (6/6)

#StopLine3

indiancountrytoday.com/news/manoomin-…