Mylène Vialard, a member of the Boulder Police Oversight Board, is pictured Thursday near Boulder Creek. She was recently convicted of felony obstruction for protesting an oil pipeline in northern Minnesota in August 2021. (Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)
It’s been a little over two years since Mylène Vialard traveled north to protest a major oil pipeline in Minnesota.
Late last month, Vialard, a veteran activist and member of the Boulder police oversight board, returned to Minnesota to stand trial. After a difficult week filled with examples of what she called “egregious” misconduct by the prosecution, Vialard was found guilty of obstructing the legal process. She faces up to a year and a day in prison, but the 54-year-old water protector said she would do it again if she could.
“The message is always the same. The reason I fight in court is always for the same reasons,” she said. “It is an aberration that we are criminalizing people like me – activists – while our planet burns. We know it comes from fossil fuels and all extractive industries, and we are doing nothing about it. We continue to destroy land and we continue to obtain permits for pipelines and extraction. And it has to stop. »
The 1,097-mile Line 3 pipeline, owned by Canadian multinational oil company Enbridge Energy, extends from Edmonton, Alberta, to Superior, Wisconsin, crossing several states and passing near the headwaters of the river Mississippi. It is also known for causing major oil spills: in March 1991, the pipeline created the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history when it ruptured and spilled 1.68 million gallons of oil in a river near Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
Enbridge proposed replacing the pipeline in 2014, and although sections in North Dakota and Wisconsin have since been replaced, the project has faced firmer opposition from indigenous groups and environmental activists in Minnesota . Vialard said there were “so many reasons” for her to join the protests.
“(Enbridge) failed to do its due diligence. They did not consult all the indigenous peoples along the pipeline. Throughout construction they continued to pollute, saying they were cleaning it up, but we know it’s never really cleaned up. …The indigenous people did not know how to stop this construction. And the construction was endangering their way of life,” she said. “There came a point where I couldn’t just watch and forget. I had to be there.
So, on August 26, 2021, Vialard climbed on top of a structure near where a pumping station was under construction along line 3, in protest. Six other demonstrators occupied the same structure. Within hours, they were all arrested.
Vialard said her charge of “obstructing the judicial process” was essentially a charge of obstructing or resisting law enforcement, which she denies doing.
When she and others climbed the structure, she said, “I never thought about law enforcement. I was thinking about Enbridge and Line 3, and the damage that was going to happen, that was happening…because of that pipeline being under over 200 bodies of water.
In court, Vialard described the prosecution’s behavior as “shocking.” Prosecutors brought charges such as trespassing that were not considered in her case, alleged she was on a private road — an allegation Vialard denies — and failed to turn over phone records at the request of a judge.
Aitkin County Prosecutor Garrett Slyva, who prosecuted the case, could not immediately be reached for comment.
When her guilty verdict came down on September 1, Vialard was not surprised, even if she does not feel guilty.
“I’ve said this before, but I’m really not the culprit here,” she said. “Enbridge, the fossil fuel industry, the extractive industries… guilty of the climate we are currently suffering from. And it’s getting worse and worse. And you criminalize me because I say “stop” in a non-violent way? »
Vialard also doesn’t consider herself unique or special for what she did. She said many other protesters, even in Boulder County, “put their bodies on the line,” just like she did. But she decided to go to court in part because she wanted to raise awareness about the pipeline and inspire people to take action, because she knows activism doesn’t happen “in a vacuum.”
“Let’s resume the conversation. Let’s make sure people know what Line 3 is. And also, there are so many other places in the United States where activism is needed, where activism is happening,” Vialard said. “It’s really important to bring the conversation back to the center of the conversation, tie it to everything that’s going on that we need to fight for and really encourage people to take action.”
Asked to comment on the case, Claire Glenn, one of Vialard’s lawyers, said in a statement that she would appeal the verdict.
“The frequency and seriousness of the errors committed by the prosecutor during Ms. Vialard’s trial were worrying. In no case did she benefit from a fair trial. Unfortunately, the district court denied our request to livestream the jury trial, depriving countless people of the opportunity to see for themselves what the government is doing on their behalf and with their tax dollars.” , Glenn said.
“If constitutional guarantees mean anything, the district court should overturn Ms. Vialard’s conviction. Otherwise, we will head to the Minnesota Court of Appeals and seek justice from a higher court.
