MADISON, Wis. — Enbridge’s controversial plan to reroute an aging pipeline around a tribal reservation in northern Wisconsin moved closer to reality Thursday after the company secured its first permits from state regulators.
Officials with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced that they have issued construction permits for the rerouting of Line 5 around the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa Reservation. The utility still needs discharge permits from the DNR and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The project arouses fierce opposition. The tribe wants to remove the pipeline from its land, but tribal members and environmentalists believe building a new route will damage the region’s watershed and perpetuate the use of fossil fuels.
The DNR issued the building permit with more than 200 conditions. The company must complete the project by November 14, 2027, hire DNR-approved environmental monitors and allow DNR employees access to the site during reasonable hours.
The company must also notify the agency within 24 hours of any permit violations or hazardous material spills into wetlands or waterways; cannot discharge drilling mud into wetlands, waterways or sensitive areas; ensure that spill response equipment is available at work area entrances and exits; and monitor for the introduction and spread of invasive plant species.
Enbridge officials issued a statement praising the approval, calling it an “important step” toward construction that will keep reliable energy flowing to Wisconsin and the Great Lakes region.
Bad River tribal officials warned in their own statement Thursday that the project calls for blasting, drilling and digging trenches that would destroy the area’s wetlands and streams and endanger the tribe’s wild rice beds. The tribe has noticed that investigations revealed water quality violations and three aquifer breaches related to the construction of the Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota.
“I am angry that the DNR signed off on a half-baked plan that spells disaster for our homeland and our way of life,” Bad River Chairman Robert Blanchard said in the statement. “We will continue to sound the alarm to prevent another Enbridge pipeline from endangering our watershed.”
Line 5 transports up to 23 million gallons (about 87 million liters) of oil and natural gas daily from Superior, Wisconsin, through Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario. About 12 miles of the pipeline passes through the Bad River Reservation.
The tribe sued Enbridge in 2019 to force the company to remove the pipeline from the reservation, arguing that the 71-year-old line is prone to a catastrophic spill and that the easements that allowed Enbridge to operate on the reservation expired in 2013 .
Enbridge has proposed a 41-mile diversion around the southern border of the reserve.
The company only has about two years to complete the project. U.S. District Judge William Conley last year ordered Enbridge to shut down the portion of the pipeline that crosses the reservation within three years and pay the tribe more than $5 million for violations. An Enbridge appeal is pending in a federal appeals court in Chicago.
Michigan’s Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a lawsuit in 2019 to close two sections of Line 5 that run under the Straits of Mackinac, the narrow waterways that connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Nessel argued that anchor strikes could tear the line, resulting in a devastating spill. That lawsuit is still pending in a federal appeals court.
Michigan regulators in December approved the company’s $500 million plan to enclose the portion of the pipeline under the Straits. a tunnel to limit the risk. The plan is awaiting approval from the US Army Corps of Engineers.