Tribe, environmental groups to hold press conference ahead of public hearing on controversial Line 5 pipeline project in northern Wisconsin
Ashland, Wis. — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, June 4th to hear feedback on its analysis of Enbridge’s Line 5 permit application. Canadian oil giant Enbridge is pushing to a build a new 40-mile segment of its Line 5 oil pipeline around and upstream of the Bad River Reservation in northern Wisconsin.
The construction project—which would cross nearly 200 waterbodies and more than 100 acres of wetlands—would allow Enbridge to continue operating the pipeline in some of the most environmentally sensitive areas of Wisconsin that also include the Lake Superior and Lake Michigan watersheds.
A pre-hearing press conference will highlight increasing public opposition to the controversial plan. Speakers include:
- Dan Wiggins Jr., Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
- Anya Janssen, Midwest Environmental Advocates
- Glenn Carlson, Town of La Pointe
- Janice Penn, APN, health care professional and local resident
- additional invited speakers include Tribal members, local residents and business owners
Press Conference: 9:30 – 10 a.m.
Public Hearing Session 1: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Public Hearing Session 2: 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Northwood Technical College, 2100 Beaser Avenue, Ashland, Wis.
The press conference and hearings will also be live streamed here.
Environmental advocates from across the state are encouraging people to attend the hearings .Visit this link to sign up for transportation options, and view this toolkit to learn how to make an effective public comment.
Backgroound
Originally built in 1953, Line 5 carries nearly 23 million gallons of crude oil and liquid natural gas every day from Superior, Wis. to refineries in Ontario, Canada. Much of that oil originates in the Canadian Alberta tar sands region.
Line 5 currently runs across the reservation of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, but easements that allowed the company to use tribal land expired in 2013. The tribe has since filed a federal lawsuit to expel Enbridge from its reservation. A federal judge recently ruled in their favor, agreeing that Enbridge is illegally trespassing on the Bad River Band’s reservation. That shutdown order is currently on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Enbridge is now pushing to build a new 41-mile section of pipeline that would be routed around the reservation.
Enbridge’s pipeline disaster record includes the Kalamazoo River spill in 2010, the largest inland oil spill in US history. While constructing the Line 3 Replacement Project in 2021, Enbridge punctured three aquifers across Minnesota, causing nearly 300 million gallons of groundwater to flow to the surface and incurring fines and a criminal charge.
