MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A northern Wisconsin tribe along with a coalition of groups moved Thursday to block plans to reroute an aging pipeline around the tribe’s reservation, arguing that regulators would ignore the environmental damage the construction would cause. have underestimated causes.
The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa filed a lawsuit in Ashland County, asking a judge to suspend the state Department of Natural Resources’ environmental impact statement for the project and reverse the state’s construction permits. The tribe also joined a number of other groups Thursday, including Clean Wisconsin, the Sierra Club and the League of Women Voters, in petitions demanding a hearing on the approvals.
The tribe and its allies argue in the lawsuit and hearings that the DNR could not legally approve the diversion because Enbridge failed to show how it would minimize damage to state waterways and wetlands, and the company underestimated the impacts and overestimated its capabilities. to restore the environment.
“In my opinion, the DNR failed our children when it gave Enbridge the permits to build this diversion route,” Bad River Chairman Robert Blanchard said in a news release announcing Thursday’s actions. “As tribal chairman and elder, it is my responsibility to protect the generations to come. That is why we are challenging this diversion in court.”
DNR spokesperson Molly Meister declined to comment.
Enbridge officials said in a statement that the bypass proposal has undergone rigorous reviews and studies, and that the new challenges will delay an economic boost for northern Wisconsin. The company promised the diversion work would create more than 700 jobs and maintain the energy flow that millions of people in the region need every day.
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, in Canada. About 12 miles of the pipeline runs through the Bad River Reservation on the shores of Lake Superior in Ashland County.
The tribe sued Enbridge in 2019 to force the company to remove the pipeline from the reservation. The band argued that the easements that allowed Enbridge to operate on the reservation expired in 2013 and that the 71-year-old pipeline is susceptible to a catastrophic spill that would devastate the local watershed and ruin the tribe’s sacred wild rice beds.
A federal judge ultimately ruled that Enbridge must remove the pipeline from the reservation by 2026. The energy company has asked a federal appeals court in Chicago to review that decision.
Enbridge has proposed a 41-mile diversion around the southern border of the reserve. The tribe and conservationists oppose that plan, saying construction efforts would pollute the environment and that the diversion would only perpetuate the use of fossil fuels.
The DNR issued state permits for the diversion in November. The project still requires permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
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 encase the portion of the pipeline under the Strait in a tunnel to reduce risks. The plan is awaiting approval from the US Army Corps of Engineers.
