Fake news! It’s not the cry of President Trump but reporters, residents and others in Minnesota following an elaborately-staged prank.
The truth is now known….there won’t be any oil pipeline cutting through golf courses and cemeteries as announced over the weekend in Duluth, Minnesota. It was a hoax, carried to perfection by a group called the Indigenous Pipeline Council.
Members went so far as to hold a news conference to announce the pipeline followed up by a fake news release from Canadian firm Enbridge which is in the process of building a controversial line in Minnesota.
The real Enbridge was quick to alert the press.
“It’s completely fake. It’s a hoax,” Enbridge spokeswoman Juli Kellner said. “They sent a fake news release from Enbridge, they sent a fake news release from themselves.”
The Star Tribune in Minneapolis reported the story.
On Saturday, two members of the group calling themselves Carl Iron Eyes and Coyote Mick Tomi — actually indigenous activists Gitz Crazyboy and Tito Ybarra — held a news conference in Duluth announcing a pipeline route that “cuts a jagged but efficient path through golf courses, cemeteries and neighborhoods” in an apparent protest of the Line 3 pipeline.
“It ensures that those who share in the wealth from oil production and transport also share in the risk,” said Tomi.
He and Iron Eyes, wearing suits and ties with American flags on their shirts, gave a deadpan delivery of their tongue-in-cheek proposal, according to a video of the event.
“The IPC has a program to relocate residents to a beautiful parcel of land on the other side of Morgan Park, with free medical services and ample leisure opportunities,” Iron Eyes said.
When reached by the Star Tribune on Monday, the pair did not break character and said they had already “successfully and respectfully removed some remains” in the fake project’s right of way.
Monday night, prank organizers the Yes Men came clean with their role in the stunt alongside groups Honor the Earth and Stop Line 3.
“It’s hard to imagine that a pipeline as bad as the IPC’s could exist, but it’s actually close to the truth, just in reverse,” said Winona LaDuke, executive director of Honor the Earth.
The actual proposed Line 3 replacement would travel 330 miles across Minnesota, bringing 760,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta to in Superior, Wis.
Click here to read entire Star Tribune story.
