Native American business owner rips 'hypocritical' protesters for disrupting pipeline work in Minnesota

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'Hypocritical' protesters disrupt pipeline work in Minnesota: Business owner

Matt Gordon, Vice President of Gordon Construction in Mahnomen, Minnesota, tells ‘Fox and Friends’ environmental protesters vandalized his company’s equipment.

A Minnesota business owner is defending his construction site after hundreds of "hypocritical" protesters stormed in and destroyed his property.

Matt Gordon, vice president of his family’s construction company in Mahnomen, Minnesota, and a member of the White Earth Nation tribe, told "Fox & Friends" Wednesday, environmental protesters – some claiming to speak for Native Americans – vandalized his company’s equipment.

"It's very hypocritical to travel somewhere to protest oil when you're using…gas and diesel-powered vehicles," Gordon remarked. "Then when you do get there, you end up destroying equipment, leaving debris and garbage all over, most of them plastic products from water bottles and packaging." 

LEFT AIMS TO DEFEAT ANOTHER PIPELINE, BUT NATIVE AMERICAN BUSINESS LEADERS DEFEND CONSTRUCTION

Gordon Construction is among the Native-owned companies that are contracting with the Canadian energy firm Enbridge on the construction of Line 3, a pipeline carrying oil from Canada into the United States. But climate activists – emboldened by stopping the Keystone XL Pipeline – have made Line 3 their new target. 

FILE - In this Aug. 21, 2017 file photo, workers make sure that each section of the Enbridge replacement Line 3 that is joined passes muster in Superior, Wisc.  (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP) (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP)

Earlier this month, multiple protesters attacked the energy pipeline in Minnesota as workers had to be evacuated from the site in attempts to deescalate the situation, according to Enbridge.

FILE - In this June 7, 2021, file photo, activists are walked through an Enbridge Line 3 pump station after being arrested near Park Rapids, Minn. Members of the Rise Coalition, an Indigenous-led environmental organization, and allies erected a prayer camp on June 7 at the Enbridge construction site along the Mississippi River near Solway. They and other Line 3 opponents had marched to the area with hundreds of others protesting the pipeline before pitching their camp at the end of a wooden boardwalk leading to the site. (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP, File) (Evan Frost/Minnesota Public Radio via AP, File)

"While we respect everybody's right to peacefully and lawfully protest, that is not what happened. Protesters attempted to trap workers while forcefully entering and then occupying the site, trespassing and criminally damaging the property. This is unacceptable, and we will seek the full prosecution of all of those involved," Enbridge mentioned in a statement. 

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Gordon expressed his frustration with the protesters that vandalized "hundreds of thousands dollars’ worth" of equipment and added it took three days to clean up the property. 

Fox News' Fred Lucas contributed to this report.