Less than a month ago, environmental groups joined the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in expressing deep concern.
The Wisconsin DNR has issued its approval of a controversial crude oil and natural gas pipeline project in northern Wisconsin.
The agency’s approval brings Canadian company Enbridge a step closer to its plan. Enbridge wants to reroute a relatively short but highly sensitive section of its 71-year-old Line 5. The pipeline currently runs through the Bad River reservation. Enbridge proposes looping the line outside tribal land.
Easements with the tribe expired years ago. In 2019, Bad River filed a lawsuit arguing the pipeline should be removed.
On Dec. 12, both the Bad River Band and several environmental groups filed separate petitions to legally challenge the DNR's decision. In the tribe's case, one petition was for a contested case hearing, and the other was a lawsuit in Ashland County.
Tribal Chairman Robert Blanchard says rerouting the line presents a risk to his people’s way of life.
“We do have an annual wild rice harvest, which grows along the rivers here in the Bad River and in Lake Superior; and we hunt, we fish and we gather a lot of our medicines that we use to heal ourselves here. And if something happens to that, our people are going to feel that. We have a lot at stake here,” Blanchard says.
Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA) submitted its own petition jointly with Clean Wisconsin.
MEA is representing the Sierra Club, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and 350 Wisconsin. MEA attorney Rob Lee says they have 16 points of concern.
“One good example of that is Enbridge has not identified exactly which waterway crossings would require blasting through that waterway’s bedrock. Nor did they provide basic site-specific information about the topography, hydrology, and geology of those potential blasting sites,” Lee says.
According to the DNR, the project would require crossing 186 waterbodies.
Enbridge maintains it is addressing the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s concerns while delivering vital energy throughout the Great Lakes region.
The DNR has 30 days to respond to the challenge. Ultimately, an administrative law judge will consider the case.
Enbridge also needs the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ approval to proceed with the project.
