Protesters maintain blockade at Minnesota oil pipeline site

Activists lock arms as they occupy an Enbridge Line 3 pump station near Park Rapids, Minn., on Monday, June 7, 2021, as State Troopers, in background, direct traffic on Highway 71. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

A group of activists sit under a shade as two others sit locked to a piece of construction equipment at an Enbridge Line 3 pump station near Park Rapids, Minn., on Monday, June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

Security guards check on protesters under a boat blocking an entrance to an Enbridge Line 3 pumping station near Park Rapids, in northern Minnesota, Tuesday June 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Dave Kolpack)

Activists sit on construction equipment while others are arrested and escorted out of an Enbridge Line 3 pump station near Park Rapids, Minn., on Monday, June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

An activist uses an umbrella for shade while sitting locked to an excavator at an Enbridge Line 3 pump station near Park Rapids, Minn., on Monday, June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

Activists are escorted out of an Enbridge Line 3 pump station after being arrested near Park Rapids, Minn., on Monday, June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

Authorities from multiple law enforcement agencies secure the inside of an Enbridge Line 3 pump station from activists, near Park Rapids, Minn., Monday, June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

Indigenous protesters and their allies occupy an active Enbridge pump station, Monday, June 7, 2021, in Hubbard County, Minn. Indigenous protesters and allies occupied the active site, some physically chaining themselves to equipment, forcing workers to leave, in protest of the construction of Enbridge Line 3. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

A makeshift "black snake" resembling a pipeline is carried as demonstrators march along Highway 9, on Monday, June 7, 2021, in Clearwater County, Minn. More than 2,000 Indigenous leaders and "water protectors" gathered in Clearwater County from around the country to protest the construction of Enbridge Line 3. The day started with a prayer circle and moved on to a march to the Mississippi headwaters where the oil pipeline is proposed to be built. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

Jesse Barrientez, aka Red Feather, center, plays the drums and sings tribal songs with other Indigenous people during a march, on Monday, June 7, 2021, in Clearwater County, Minn. More than 2,000 Indigenous leaders and "water protectors" gathered in Clearwater County from around the country to protest the construction of Enbridge Line 3. The day started with a prayer circle and moved on to a march to the Mississippi headwaters where the oil pipeline is proposed to be built. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

Nancy Beaulieu rests her shoulder on Everlasting Wind, aka Dawn Goodwin, during an interfaith prayer circle at LaSalle Lake State Recreation Area, on Monday, June 7, 2021, in Clearwater County, Minn. More than 2,000 Indigenous leaders and "water protectors" gathered in Clearwater County from around the country to protest the construction of Enbridge Line 3. The day started with a prayer circle and moved on to a march to the Mississippi headwaters where the oil pipeline is proposed to be built. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

Actress and activist Jane Fonda joins Indigenous elders as they prepare to perform a traditional water ceremony, on Monday, June 7, 2021, in Clearwater County, Minn. More than 2,000 Indigenous leaders and "water protectors" gathered in Clearwater County from around the country to protest the construction of Enbridge Line 3. The day started with a prayer circle and moved on to a march to the Mississippi headwaters where the oil pipeline is proposed to be built. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

Everlasting Wind, aka Dawn Goodwin, joins others by raising her fist in the Mississippi River near an Enbridge pipeline construction site, on Monday, June 7, 2021, in Clearwater County, Minn., to protest the construction of Enbridge Line 3. Goodwin is a co-founder of RISE Coalition. More than 2,000 Indigenous leaders and "water protectors" gathered in Clearwater County from around the country. The day started with a prayer circle and moved on to a march to the Mississippi headwaters where the oil pipeline is proposed to be built. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

Roy Broncheau, aka Walks Through Hail, raises his hand to the sky after performing a prayer with tobacco on the bank of the Mississippi River, on Monday, June 7, 2021, in Clearwater County, Minn. More than 2,000 Indigenous leaders and "water protectors" gathered in Clearwater County from around the country to protest the construction of Enbridge Line 3. The day started with a prayer circle and moved on to a march to the Mississippi headwaters where the oil pipeline is proposed to be built. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)

A man occupying an Enbridge Line 3 pump station is arrested near Park Rapids, Minn., on Monday, June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

Activists occupy construction equipment at an Enbridge Line 3 pump station near Park Rapids, Minn., on Monday, June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

A forklift sits with flat tires after activists let air out of the tires inside of an Enbridge Line 3 pump station near Park Rapids, Minn., on Monday, June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

Journalists stand inside of an Enbridge Line 3 pump station as police move in to clear out activists who occupied the site early in the day near Park Rapids, Minn., on Monday, June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

Activists are walked through an Enbridge Line 3 pump station after being arrested near Park Rapids, Minn., on Monday, June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

A Department of Homeland Security Helicopters uses its rotor wash to stir up dirt as activists take materials to build barricades at an occupied Enbridge Line 3 pump station near Park Rapids, Minn., on Monday, June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

A person in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter records activists with a cellphone at an Enbridge Line 3 pump station near Park Rapids, Minn., on Monday, June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

A Customs and Border Protection helicopter descends near activists by an Enbridge Line 3 pump station near Park Rapids, Minn., on Monday, June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

Activists and journalists brace for the rotor wash of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter that descended over a construction site at an Enbridge Line 3 pump station near Park Rapids, Minn., on Monday, June 7, 2021. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)

PARK RAPIDS, Minn. (AP) — Protesters fighting a Canadian-based company’s push to replace an aging oil pipeline across northern Minnesota maintained a blockade at a pump station Tuesday as part of a summer drive to stop the project before it can go into service.

Two protesters spent the night locked down in a boat blocking the entrance to one construction site, while two others locked themselves down underneath, tucked in behind duffel bags, beach chairs, water bottles and clothing. A Hubbard County sheriff's deputy and a handful of private security guards stood by in the morning, but other law enforcement officers arrived as authorities went to work cutting the protesters free.

Deputies freed the two women in the boat early Tuesday afternoon and led them away. They worked into the afternoon to cut through the device that two men used to make it difficult to extract them from the trailer under the boat, which bore the name “Good Trouble" on its stern, a quote from the late civil rights leader and U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who was known for encouraging people to get in “good trouble” in a worthy cause.

The pumping station near Park Rapids was a major focus of protests Monday, with some people chaining themselves to construction equipment before police made arrests. Law enforcement officials had still not released arrest figures by Tuesday afternoon. One of the lead groups organizing the protests, the Giniw Collective, put the number of arrests at over 150.

Environmental and tribal groups say Enbridge Energy's plan to replace Line 3 would worsen climate change and risk spills in sensitive areas where Native Americans harvest wild rice, hunt, fish, gather medicinal plants, and claim treaty rights. The line would cross the Mississippi River while carrying Canadian tar sands oil and regular crude from Alberta to Wisconsin.

Enbridge says the original pipeline — built in the 1960s — is deteriorating and can run at only about half its original capacity. It says the new line, made from stronger steel, will better protect the environment while restoring its capacity and ensuring reliable deliveries to U.S. refineries

Protesters said the Treaty People Gathering was the largest show of resistance yet to the project. They also rallied Monday at the headwaters of the Mississippi, roughly 20 minutes away, chanting “Stop Line 3!” and “Water is life!”

Among those attending was actress Jane Fonda, who held signs with President Joe Biden’s image that said, “Which side are you on?”

“This is important. This is what we need,” she told The Associated Press, motioning toward the crowd.

Biden has not taken a stand on Line 3.

Calgary-based Enbridge this month began a final construction push on Line 3, which clips a corner of North Dakota on its way across northern Minnesota to Enbridge’s terminal in Superior, Wisconsin. The Canadian and Wisconsin replacement segments are already carrying oil.