Enbridge's plan to fund policing costs of pipeline reroute in U.S. raises concerns

Enbridge has agreed to funnel money to U.S. law enforcement in anticipation of protests against its Line 5 pipeline reroute project, a move that has raised concerns about the depth of the company's influence in policing issues.

The Calgary-based company says it volunteered the public safety fund to help governments in Wisconsin cover the extra costs related to the rerouting of the pipeline opposed by Indigenous communities.

The proposed deal has alarmed some local residents and observers in Canada who say it smacks of a conflict of interest and fear it could incentivize police to act as the company's hired security.

"It's hard to think that there's not some kind of transactional benefit to paying the bills," said Jeffrey Monaghan, a Carleton University sociologist who's written extensively on the policing of protests.

Monaghan said while resource companies cultivate close relationships with police in Canada as a way to advance their projects or quell protests, this type of deal would likely be received poorly north of the border. That said, Canada has been influenced by U.S. criminal justice policy before, he says.

"I think it certainly could migrate up. I really hope it doesn't," he said.

Line 5, a conduit for much of Ontario and Quebec's crude oil, moves around 540,000 barrels per day of western Canadian oil and natural gas liquids across the Great Lakes and the U.S.-Canada border to Sarnia, Ont.

Enbridge faced a court-ordered relocation of the pipeline in Wisconsin after it was found to have been trespassing on the land of a tribal nation that opposed the project over fears of an oil spill.

The company began work last month on the $450 million US reroute of the pipeline around the reservation. The community opposes the project and says it threatens the watershed.

In anticipation of protests, Enbridge worked with local officials in Wisconsin on a deal to reimburse law enforcement for costs incurred to police the pipeline.

Law enforcement would be able to seek compensation for, among other things, daily patrols and crowd control at Enbridge's construction sites, according to the deal's draft text. Guns, vehicles and bulletproof vests are off limits, though police body armour could be reimbursable if it's used at a protest, the deal suggests.

What police eventually seek reimbursement for is to be kept "highly confidential," says the draft deal reviewed by local officials.

Enbridge will pay into a public safety escrow fund managed by the Wisconsin Counties Association, which represents the state's local governments. A lawyer for the association told local officials there would be no time limit and no cap on how much Enbridge may contribute, suggesting the fund would contain millions of dollars. Local officials file reimbursement requests to a former Wisconsin county sheriff, appointed to review and decide the claims.

Officials in Ashland County, Wis., who backed the proposed deal in a narrow 10-7 vote at a meeting last month, suggested their already-constrained budget could buckle under expected policing costs. The same deal was offered to other Wisconsin counties along the pipeline route. One agreed, and another turned it down.