Construction progress on Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline near one of its Mississippi River crossing points in northern Minnesota. According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, there were 3 separate drilling fluid frac-outs at this river crossing site during July 2021 alone. Enbridge uses a drilling method called Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) in order to lay pipe under waterbodies, and a "frac out" refers to a leak of the fluid used to lubricate an HDD drill bit while in use. Drilling fluid is typically made up of pressurized mud and chemical additives. July 19, 2021.

(left to right) Alex Golden Wolf (White Earth), Taysha Martineau (Fond du Lac) and Jaike Spotted Wolf (Three Afiliated Tribes-Mandan, Hidatsa and Sahnish) perform a sunrise ceremony while blockading the entrance to an Enbridge drill site on the Red Lake River. Alex and Taysha are Anishinaabe; "Anishinaabe" refers to a large group of culturally related Indigenous tribes around the Great Lakes region of what is now Canada and the United States. Anishinaabe peoples have been at the heart of resisting the Line 3 pipeline. July 23, 2021.

Demonstrators hold a "March for Manoomin" walk against the Line 3 oil pipeline in downtown Duluth, Minnesota, USA. Manoomin is the Ojibwe word for wild rice, which grows in the wetlands crossed by Line 3. August 19, 2021.

Wild rice (called Manoomin in Ojibwe) and the sunset sky reflect on the water along the shores of a lake in northeast Minnesota. The White Earth Nation is currently engaged in a historical "rights of nature" legal case regarding wild rice, Manoomin et al v Minnesota DNR. In August 2021, White Earth sued state environmental regulators on behalf of wild rice, arguing that Manoomin is a living, culturally significant entity with rights, which have been violated by permits for continued construction on the Line 3 pipeline. September 14, 2021.

Deer antlers rest ontop of a yurt at Red Lake Treaty Camp in northwest Minnesota, one of the Indigenous-led resistance camps along the Line 3 pipeline's route. July 18, 2021.

Alex Golden Wolf (center), a two-spirit water protector from White Earth, is violently arrested while in ceremony, as part of a peaceful blockade of an Enbridge drilling site. During the arrest, law enforcement ripped open Alex's shirt, threw them to the ground, stepped on religious artefacts and held arrestees in a closed vehicle in almost 90°F temperatures. July 23, 2021.

Ira Francisco (Diné and Ojibwe), an anti-Line 3 activist, greets the morning by singing and playing a handmade drum on the shores of the Red Lake River in northern Minnesota. The sign marking this swimming spot states the name of the river in both English and Ojibwe, the native language of the Anishinaabe people. The Ojibwe language is also referred to as Anishinaabemowin or Ojibwemowin. August 6, 2021.

Quiiroi (left, Blackfoot and Taino) and Sonny (right, Iñupiaq) lead a protest at Red Lake Treaty Camp. August 3, 2021.

Taysha Martineau of Fond du Lac stands alone in front of a police line while in ceremony. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act (42 U.S.C. § 1996) gives Native Americans the right to worship through ceremonies and traditional rites, yet Anishinaabe leaders were regularly interrupted by law enforcement while in ceremony on land that fell in the Line 3 pipeline’s path. Half an hour after this image was taken, Taysha Martineau was arrested. July 23, 2021.

Children swim in the Shell River at Shell Camp, a Line 3 protest camp run by Winona LaDuke (White Earth) and Honor the Earth, an environmental organization. July 15, 2021.

Taysha Martineau (Fond du Lac) stands in the Shell River, at a site where Enbridge has drilled under the water in order to lay pipe. Taysha is the founder of Camp Migizi, one of the protest camps along the Line 3 pipeline route. July 25, 2021.

Members of "The Squad," a progressive coalition of U.S. congress members, visit with Indigenous leaders about Line 3 concerns, alongside the Mississippi River. From left to right: Samuel R. Strong (Secretary, Red Lake Nation Tribal Council), Mary K. Kunesh (Minnesota State Senator, D41, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe), Rashida Tlaib (U.S. Congress member - Michigan), Ilhan Omar (U.S. Congress member - Minnesota), Silas Neeland (Anishinaabe - White Earth), Cori Bush (U.S. Congress member - Missouri), a Lakota elder, and Tara Houska (Couchiching First Nation, founder of Namewag Camp). The elected representatitves pictured have co-signed an open letter opposing the Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline. September 4, 2021.

An armed member of law enforcement guards an Enbridge drill site on the Red Lake River in Northern Minnesota. Enbridge has made a slush fund available to the Northern Lights Task Force, a law enforcement coalition, prompting criticism that police branches are acting as private security for the Candian company while it builds the Line 3 pipeline across Anishinaabe land. August 3, 2021.

De'Von Anderson (Ojibwe, Red Lake) holds a homemade mirror up to a member of law enforement during a protest at Red Lake Treaty Camp. August 3rd, 2021.

A water protector stops construction by climbing onto equipment at an Enbridge drill site on the Red Lake River. There are almost 2 dozen river crossings in the Line 3 pipeline’s path. Each of these waterways risks contamination in the event of an oil spill. July 21, 2021.

Two spirit water protector Little Tree (Dakota-Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate) during a peaceful demonstration in front of Enbridge's drill site on the Red Lake River in Northwest Minnesota. Little Tree wears a U.S. flag spray-painted with "Land Back" around their shoulders. The red handprint on Little Tree's face is a symbol of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement, which aims to raise awareness about the disproportionate violence experienced by Indigenous Canadian and Native American women. Sexual assaults and other crimes targeting indigenous women have been linked to "man camps" of pipeline workers, where predominantly male and out-of-state oil workers move from town to town, following construction work. According to Vice News, at least four Enbridge workers were arrested in 2021 during human trafficking stings in Minnesota. August 3, 2021.

Activists from Camp Migizi lock their arms together on top of a pipe designed to transport tar sands oil, stopping construction at an Enbridge work site near the I-35 freeway south of Cloquet, Minnesota. Anti-pipeline activists commonly refer to themselves as "water protectors." August 23, 2021.

A young boy from the Red Lake Nation swims in Red Lake, an Indigenous sacred site and the 16th largest lake in the United States. A large portion of Red Lake is on land that belongs to the Red Lake Indian Reservation, which is entirely owned and occupied by members of the Red Lake Band, making it a sovereign territory within the United States. Many miles of the Line 3 pipeline cross Red Lake Nation lands. July 16, 2021.

Taysha Martineau (Fond du Lac, right) celebrates their birthday by locking themselves to the gate of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's residence, alongside a Lakota comrade (left). Their demand from this direct action was for Governor Walz to schedule a face-to-face meeting with Indigenous community members who oppose Line 3, to talk about its negative consequences for the environment, community health, and Anishinaabe land rights. August 28, 2021.

Water protectors at Red Lake Treaty Camp shine lights at police officers who have had rotating shifts watching the camp 24/7 for the last few weeks. Shining lights and chanting are among the few recourses available to protestors to defend themselves against police surveillance of the Line 3 resistance camps, without fear of legal repurcussions. August 3, 2021.

Water protectors Gabe (left) and Rainbow (right) hold hands while facing off with police at Red Lake Treaty Camp, a ceremonial and Indigenous-led protest camp against the Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline. Over the course of the almost decade-long battle against Line 3, thousands of people have passed through the various resistance camps along the pipeline route, in order to support Anishinaabe treaty rights, Indigenous land sovereignty, and the ecosystems that Line 3 cuts through. July 23, 2021.

Gina Peltier (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) holds a "Land Back" flag on the banks of the Middle River in northern Minnesota. Behind the treeline, Enbridge has contructed a drill pad in order to run the Line 3 pipeline under this section of the Middle River. "Land Back" is slogan used by many decolonial and Indigenous sovereignty movements, which aim to return Indigenous lands to Indigenous management. All of the modern-day United States was formerly Indigenous land. As one environmental activist put it, "climate change is a result of colonization." July 19, 2021.

A protestor sticks their face out of a paddy wagon (police detainee bus) window after being zip-tied and arrested as part of a demonstration in Minnesota's capital against the Line 3 pipeline. Line 3 crosses the entirety of the state of Minnesota in the United States. August 28, 2021.

Sasha Beaulieu of the Red Lake Nation stands on a formerly submerged part of the Middle River, where Enbridge is pumping water for use in construction of Line 3. Despite a historic drought which caused water levels in rivers across the Great Lakes Region to be extremely low throughout 2021, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources granted Enbridge a permit to pump 5 billion gallons of water from Minnesota waterways, further straining the wetlands and other freshwater ecosystems where manoomin, or wild rice grows, a food staple and sacred crop for the Anishinaabe. Frustrated with how regulatory agencies have repeatedly backed the Line 3 pipeline despite opposing Indigenous voices and clear environmental impacts, many activists feel that direct action is their only option to stop oil infrastructure projects like Line 3 which fuel the climate crisis. July 19, 2021.

Jason Goward of Fond du Lac attends a zoom court hearing on his mobile phone, inside a yurt at Camp Migizi, a resistance camp along the Line 3 pipeline’s route. Jason is a former employee of Northern Clearing — an Enbridge contractor — who quit his job to fight Line 3. Jason is now facing felony charges and potential prison time for locking down to construction machinery in order to delay work on the Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline.

Pipe is laid along the Line 3 route in preparation for final connection and burial. The stretch of pipe pictured crosses through a rural wetland and forest area 20 miles (32km) outside of Bemidji, Minnesota, near to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Over 18 million people depend on the Mississippi River for drinking water. July 13, 2021.

Anita Wolfe wears a ribbon skirt and a "Stop Line 3" shirt on the steps of the Minnesota state capitol, during a public event where Anishinaabe tribal leaders gathered to request a nation-to-nation dialogue around Line 3 with Minnesota state government representatives. The majority of tribes with territory crossed by Line 3 are against the tar sands oil pipeline. However, state and federal agencies have repeatedly backed the pipeline's construction. July 14, 2021.