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4 Necessity Valve Turners Court Hearing

Hello friends!

The second hearing for the Four Necessity Valve Turners is set for 1:00 pm on Tuesday,

February 19, at the Itasca County Courthouse located on 123 Northeast 4 th Street in Grand

Rapids, Minnesota. On Monday, February 4 th , the four Catholic Workers – informed by their

faith, their work with the marginalized, and their lives as farmers – took necessary, non-violent

action to address the climate crisis by entering an Enbridge pipeline site near Blackberry, MN

and calling on the company to shut down the flow of tar sands oil through pipelines 3 and 4,

which the company did. The four, who cite the imminent and irreversible damage being done to

the climate, are scheduled to appear before Judge Wahwassuck to be formally read their

charges, which are currently a felony: “Aiding and Abetting Attempted Damage to Pipeline

Property,” and a misdemeanor, “Aiding and Abetting Criminal Damage to Property in the Fourth

Degree.”

A rally will be happening outside the courthouse at 12:30 pm before the hearing in support of the valve turners and to further the effort to educate others on the climate crisis. We hope to see you there!

Line 3 Appeal Resumed

Governor Walz moved to continue the appeal of the commerce department's approval of Enbridge Oil Company's Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Last summer approval was granted for the controversial project, and Walz's predecessor, former Governor Dayton, appealed the approval. An appeals court ruling for the pipeline made it necessary for Governor Walz to take action on the issue. MPR quotes Governor Walz as stating, "When it comes to any project that impacts our environment and our economy, we must follow the process, the law, and the science," and projects like Line 3 "don't only need a building permit to forward, they also need a social permit." Key to these appeals moving forward are the other permit decisions not yet granted by a variety of authorities in Minnesota including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The Four Necessity Valve Turners' action is cited by MPR (linked above) as proof of the continuing controversy over Enbridge Oil pipelines.

Please contact Governor Walz and your representatives to register your concern about pipelines, and your support for a future powered by green energy.

You may also enjoy this blog post that details how the Red Lake Tribal Council found the courage to reject $18.5 million dollars from Enbridge, choosing instead to keep the pipeline off their land.

First Public Appearance at the National Catholic Worker Farm Gathering

Updated: Feb 28, 2019

February 11, 2019

For Immediate Release: contact Mike Miles 715 472 8721 or Diane Leutgeb Muson (218) 565-3660

Pipeline Activists Address National Farm Conference

Four Catholic Worker activists who shut down an Enbridge pipeline on February 4, 2019 will be sharing the keynote address at the Catholic Worker National Farm Gathering Saturday, February 15 at 10:00 am. The conference is taking place at the West Denmark Parish Hall, 2478 170th St, Luck, Wisconsin. This is the first public event they will be speaking at since they were arrested after entering a gated facility near Grand Rapids, Minnesota where they stopped the flow of oil through the pipeline by turning valves off. Their next court appearance is February 19.

The Catholic Worker Movement was started in New York City in 1933 by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin as a faith based response to human misery caused by the Great Depression. Their approach involved what they called Personalism: taking individual and collective responsibility for those who were suffering from the first major collapse of capitalism. The programs they enacted were houses of hospitality and soup lines for displaced persons, education through round table discussions and journalism, and farming communes.

The hospitality and newspapers spread throughout the United States but the farming communes initially faltered due to the lack of skilled farmers and access to land. This changed dramatically within the last 10 years with the emergence of over 25 CW farms across the US and internationally. The failures of industrial agriculture and the rise of regenerative, organic farming has fueled the surge as young people head back to the land to promote the production of nutritious food, honest labor, and climate solutions through biological farming practices.

The event in Luck marks the 5th biennial CW farm conference with over 60 participants registered from all over the US. The upper Mississippi valley is home to four CW farms who are jointly hosting the conference. Activities will include cooking(with mostly locally/seasonally grown farm products), topical discussions, a tour of a CW farm, folk dancing, and a talent show. Everyone who eats is invited to participate and conspire as to how to convert our agro-industrial overlords to change their ways to healing the planet, our health, and just production for all.

Anathoth Community Farm

2015 Gathering and local CW farms