ED009-05
Online Hydrocamp Project on Oil Pipelines, Tribal Lands, and Multiple Perspectives

Tuesday, 8 December 2020: 07:13
Virtual
G. H. Crystal Ng1, Kari Hedin2, Laura Matson3, Scott C Alexander4, Joseph Magner5, Jarrod Cicha6, Jordan Mayer6, Woonghee Lee7, Leah Nelson8, Jenn McDonald6 and Peter K. Kang9, (1)University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Earth Sciences, Minneapolis, MN, United States, (2)Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Office of Water Protection, Cloquet, United States, (3)University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Geography, Minneapolis, United States, (4)Univ Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States, (5)University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, Minneapolis, MN, United States, (6)University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minnesota Geological Survey, Minneapolis, United States, (7)University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, United States, (8)University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Earth Sciences, Minneapolis, United States, (9)University of Minnesota, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Minneapolis, MN, United States
Abstract:
The unusual year of 2020 has not only been marked by COVID-19 and the abrupt move to online classes, but also the brutal murder of George Floyd and the push to support minoritized peoples. Just a month before the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities’ Hydrogeology Field Camp went virtual, we converted a regular preparation session scheduled for the day of #ShutDownSTEM into a discussion on ethical obligations of geoscience education. The result was a new capstone project on the Line 3 oil pipeline that runs close to our field site in the north-central part of present-day Minnesota. Importantly, in addition to bringing together various technical concepts from the course to assess hydrogeological risks of the pipeline, the project pushes students to also consider the complex social and political dynamics that are part of current Line 3 debates. The existing aging pipeline traverses two Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) reservations, and proposed replacement routes cross treaty territories on which Tribes hold natural resource rights. Multiple Tribes have opposed many of the replacement proposals, demanding comprehensive environmental and cultural impact assessments. In a course that typically only features “fathers” of hydrogeology, the new online platform enabled a remote discussion panel with a Tribal resource manager actively shaping Line 3 assessments, environmental law attorneys representing another Tribe in their Line 3 litigation, a federal agency scientist specializing in oil spill impacts on groundwater, and a research faculty with extensive experience in state watershed assessments. The students’ final report pulls together geologic mapping, pump tests, land-use change and ecohydrology, groundwater-surface water interactions, contaminant fate and transport, Tribal sovereignty, environmental justice, and personal reflections – elements that future hydrogeologists must think critically about in their work to ensure safe and sufficient water resources for ALL communities.
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