XR Rebels Spill Oil Outside DC Bank Funding Toxic Line-3 Pipeline
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March 27, 2021, Washington, D.C. - Rebels from Extinction Rebellion DC (XRDC) spilled fake oil outside the Columbia Heights branch of Chase Bank to demand the bank stops financing the destructive Enbridge Line 3 oil pipeline in Minnesota, which will lock in as many planet-burning carbon emissions as 50 coal-fired power plants for decades.
Rebels met at Hiatt Place NW in Columbia Heights and marched to the Civic Plaza at the 14th Street intersection, demonstrating with speech and dramatic art displays, including a long black snake symbolizing the pipeline. Rebels carried the snake into the Columbia Heights branch of Chase Bank and spilled “oil” outside its front entrance to illustrate the toxic oil spills from Line 3 that threaten the water security of millions of Americans.
“We are in a climate emergency. Mass extinction is underway. People are suffering and dying. The climate crisis risks triggering social collapse. And these banks are funding it all. They are paying for climate chaos and social collapse,” a spokesperson for XRDC said.
XR rebels demand that banks withdraw their financial support for the Enbridge Line 3 project and that Enbridge halt the construction of this hazardous pipeline. If completed, Line 3 will pollute and destroy pristine wetlands, Anishinaabe territories, the Mississippi riverhead, and the coast of Lake Superior, and will intensify the climate breakdown that threatens societal collapse around the world. Enbridge forges ahead with the pipeline expansion even though it violates indigenous people’s treaty rights.
Chase Bank, along with Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citibank, provide billions of dollars to Enbridge to build Line 3. Enbridge is the same group responsible for one of the largest inland oil spills in U.S. history. Its current project will cement ecological destruction in Minnesota.
WHO: Extinction Rebellion (XR) is an international movement that uses non-violent civil disobedience to halt mass extinction and minimise the risk of social collapse. Along with branches and chapters in 70 countries and 350+ cities, XR Washington DC is in open rebellion against the world's governments for their criminal inaction on the climate and ecological crisis.
