The controversial proposal by Enbridge Energy to reroute a segment of its Line 5 oil and gas pipeline in northern Wisconsin has reached another critical inflection point. On May 20, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a draft decision document and announced a public comment period which ends August 4. Critically, this may be the public’s last chance to weigh in on the federal regulatory process. If the reroute plan is approved, Enbridge would construct a new, 41-mile segment of pipeline around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s Reservation, putting hundreds of wetlands and waterways, including Lake Superior, at risk.
After more than a decade operating Line 5 in trespass on land belonging to Bad River Band, Enbridge is framing the reroute as a solution to environmental justice and water quality concerns. In reality, the reroute would be just as big of an environmental threat as the current pipeline. Clean Wisconsin actively supports the Bad River Band’s efforts to eject Line 5 from its territory and its opposition to Enbridge’s reroute proposal. While the history of Line 5 and the interconnected legal and regulatory proceedings are complicated, it is worth understanding how things got to this point. Here’s what everyone should know:
Line 5 is a 645-mile-long pipeline that begins in Superior, Wisconsin, travels through northern Wisconsin, the upper and lower Michigan peninsulas, and terminates in Sarnia, Ontario. It primarily transports crude oil and natural gas liquids from tar sands in Alberta that are turned into various products at refineries, mostly in Ontario. Line 5 began operating over 70 years ago and has never been subject to comprehensive environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) or Wisconsin’s equivalent, WEPA. It continues to transport about 23 million gallons of oil and gas liquids every day despite exceeding its designed life expectancy.
In 1953, the United States government, without consent from the Bad River Band, permitted construction of Line 5 across the Reservation. In the decades since the pipeline’s construction, federal law changed to recognize Tribal authority over their lands. When Enbridge’s easements expired for 12 parcels of land on the Reservation in 2013, the Bad River Band declined to renew them, citing environmental concerns. According to the terms of the agreement, Enbridge had six months to decommission and remove the pipeline. Ever since, Enbridge has been in ongoing, intentional trespass on the Bad River Band’s lands. As documented in the recent film, Bad River, Enbridge’s actions are an affront to Tribal sovereignty and perpetuate the legacy of environmental injustice that members of the Bad River Band, and indigenous communities generally, have endured for centuries.
In 2019, the Bad River Band filed a federal lawsuit against Enbridge to rectify the trespass. In June 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that Enbridge is indeed in trespass on Bad River Band lands. The judge ordered Enbridge to pay approximately $5 million in damages and a small percentage of profits from continued operation of Line 5. The judge also issued an injunction ordering Enbridge to cease operation of Line 5 on the Tribal parcels by June 16, 2026. The Bad River Band and Enbridge both appealed this decision in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The Bad River Band appealed the monetary damages, arguing they are inadequate, and the 2026 shut-down order as insufficient remedy for Enbridge’s trespass. Enbridge appealed the lower court’s trespass finding and asked for the shut-down order to be vacated in an attempt to continue operating Line 5 on the Band’s land.
Clean Wisconsin filed an amicus curiae brief before the Seventh Circuit, urging the court to consider the imminent environmental harm of a potential oil spill. Of particular concern is a vulnerable segment of the pipeline known as the “meander,” where the pipeline crosses the Bad River at a tight curve. Over the years, the river has eroded its banks such that the pipeline is at serious risk of becoming suspended above ground. Once enough of the pipeline is exposed, it will rupture and spill oil into the Bad River. Enbridge’s own experts agree that oil released in a spill could flow down the rest of the Bad River, reaching the Kakagon Sloughs and Lake Superior. The Seventh Circuit held oral arguments in February 2024 but has yet to decide the case.
Meanwhile, around the time the Bad River Band filed its lawsuit, Enbridge announced plans to build a new, 41-mile segment of pipeline through Ashland and Iron Counties to divert the pipeline around the Reservation. Enbridge is seeking numerous state and federal permits for the reroute, including state wetland, waterway, and discharge permits, and a federal Clean Water Act permit to discharge fill into waters of the United States. Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and accepted public comment on it in Spring 2022, and the Army Corps has indicated it will finalize its environmental review after the August 4 public comment deadline. Exact timing is uncertain, but both agencies could make final decisions in the coming months.
The reroute is not a just resolution to Enbridge’s trespass nor an adequate solution to the risks posed by the current line. It would still be in the Bad River watershed, continuing to put the Bad River Band’s land at risk and endangering even more miles of waterways than the current line. Construction and operation of the reroute will impact sensitive wetlands and their ability to mitigate increasingly harsh flooding in the area. The reroute is also a threat to drinking water. Many residents in the region rely on private wells in groundwater aquifers which are susceptible to puncture during pipeline construction. An oil spill could also reach Lake Superior, a source of drinking water for 20 million people. Unique landscapes like the Kakagon Sloughs, home to the largest manoomin (wild rice) beds in the Great Lakes, and Copper Falls State Park, one of the gems of Wisconsin’s State Parks System, are also at risk from the reroute.
With so much at stake, it is critical that decision-makers hear from everyone concerned about Line 5 and the threat it poses to Wisconsin. Clean Wisconsin attorneys are monitoring the Seventh Circuit for a decision and closely following the Army Corps and DNR permitting processes. Visit Clean Wisconsin’s website and sign up for our Action Network to stay informed about opportunities to weigh in with public officials and other ways to get involved and help stop Line 5.
