Wisconsin tribe and other groups move to block Line 5 pipeline reroute plans
Global News
Enbridge officials said in a statement that the reroute proposal has gone through rigorous reviews and studies.
A northern Wisconsin tribe along with a coalition of groups moved Thursday to block plans to reroute the aging Line 5 pipeline around the tribe’s reservation, arguing state regulators have underestimated the environmental damage that construction would cause.
The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa filed a lawsuit in Ashland County asking a judge to stay the state Department of Natural Resources’ environmental impact statement for the project and reverse state construction permits. The tribe also joined with a number of other groups, including Clean Wisconsin, the Sierra Club and the League of Women Voters, in petitions Thursday demanding a hearing on the approvals.
The tribe and its allies argue in the lawsuit and hearing petitions that the DNR couldn’t legally approve the reroute because Enbridge didn’t show how it would minimize harm to state waterways and wetlands, and the company is underestimating the impacts while overestimating its ability to restore the environment.
“In my view, the DNR failed our children when it gave Enbridge the permits to build this reroute,” Bad River Chairperson Robert Blanchard said in a news release announcing Thursday’s actions.
“As a tribal chairman and an elder, it’s my responsibility to protect the generations still to come. That is why we are fighting this reroute in court.”
DNR spokesperson Molly Meister declined to comment.
Enbridge officials said in a statement that the reroute proposal has gone through rigorous reviews and studies, and that the new challenges will delay an economic boost for northern Wisconsin. The company promised the reroute work would create more than 700 jobs and preserve the flow of energy that millions of people across the region need every day.
Line 5 transports up to about 87 million litres of oil and natural gas daily from Superior, Wis., through Michigan to Sarnia, Ont. About 19 kilometres of the pipeline run across the Bad River’s reservation on the shores of Lake Superior in Ashland County.
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