Given recent news related to both Enbridge and the pipelines the Canadian company operates in Wisconsin, we wanted to share a brief update on where related issues currently stand in our state and what to expect over the next few months.  

Why the challenge to Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline is urgent

The same week the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources issued the first round of permits needed by Enbridge to reroute the Line 5 pipeline around the Bad River Reservation – versus shutting it down and removing it – Enbridge reported a spill on a separate pipeline they operate in southern Wisconsin known as Line 6 pipeline. We now know this is the largest failure in Wisconsin history – 70,000 gallons of crude oil permeated soil in the area of the rupture. The spill occurred in Jefferson County, about four miles east of Cambridge, a village between Milwaukee and Madison.

We can expect more spills in the future putting the freshwaters of the Great Lakes at risk. 

Line 5 legal challenges in Wisconsin

Today’s legal challenges began in 2022 when a judge ruled on a case between the Bad River Tribe and Enbridge that found Enbridge guilty of ongoing trespass, but would not go so far as to order the pipeline shut down and removed and instead granted Enbridge three years to solve the trespass issue.

The Bad River Tribe then asked the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a review of the reroute under the Clean Water Act. There will be a virtual public hearing with the US Army Corps of Engineers on May 13 and 14. The Bad River Tribe will argue that even with the reroute, the pipeline will cause damage to wetlands and water crossings, and is a threat to their water quality. Information on how the public may participate in the hearings will be posted at www.mvp.usace.army.mil/Enbridge_Line5-WI by May 7 and a public comment period will follow. 

In addition to the Bad River water quality certification issue, both Midwest Environmental Advocates and the Bad River Tribe successfully filed contested case hearing petitions, following the issuance of permits from the Wisconsin DNR favoring the highly problematic reroute around Bad River. We are happy to share that an administrative law judge has approved a combined contested case hearing process for both the Bad River Tribe and Midwest Environmental Advocates.  

A contested case hearing is a way for parties (in this case, a tribal government, public interest attorneys and environmental protection advocates, and a government agency) can argue in trial-like proceedings about a decision, bringing evidence and testimony to prove their position. The process will go through at least September. 

Contested case hearing timeline

August 12 – public hearing at Northwood Technical College about the Bad River Tribe’s legal challenge to the DNR’s approval for the reroute.

September 3-12 – contested case hearings in Madison with presentations by environmental groups.

September 15-19 – contested case hearings in Ashland with presentations by Bad River Tribe. 

September 22-October 3 – contested case hearings in Madison with defense presentations by Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and Enbridge.

Michigan’s challenges to Line 5 in Lake Michigan’s Straits of Mackinac

While we have our own serious Line 5 issue in northern WIsconsin, the State of Michigan is also pursuing the removal of the Enbridge Line 5 Pipeline where the focus is on safety surrounding a pipeline lying exposed on the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac where it has been struck by anchors on more than one occasion. Enbridge is proposing a complex, untested engineering solution though safety concerns lead the State of Michigan’s attempt to have the pipeline permanently removed rather than rebuilt under the Straits of Mackinac.

Michigan took the company to court seeking to completely remove Line 5 from the Straits of Mackinac. Unfortunately, the court ruled on this case in favor of Enbridge. The project still faces opposition by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and state Attorney General Dana Nessel whose office filed a lawsuit in 2019 to try to void the easement from 1953 that allows the line to run beneath the Straits. That case is still pending in state court. 

Despite ongoing litigation, the Trump Administration wants to expedite the Straits of Mackinac tunnel through an emergency order based on an emergency energy declaration issued at the beginning of the executive’s term. 

As you can see, the legal issues surrounding Line 5 are numerous and complex, with the State of Wisconsin and the State of Michigan both holding – and both facing– quite different legal situations. But both are facing potentially tragic accidents tied to the same, single outdated and no longer wanted oil pipeline. 

River Alliance agrees with the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Midwest Environmental Advocates, and the other organizations that the DNR should not have issued these permits. In addition, we stand with our neighbors to the east who also face a Line 5 threat. This project cannot ensure that no harm will come to Michigan’s own Great Lakes.

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