Urge the Biden administration to shut down the Line 5 pipeline

32,614

Supporters spoke up in this action

Delivery to Biden administration

What Happens Next

Thank you to all who took action! We’re grateful for your support.

What Was At Stake

The Line 5 oil pipeline is only a few yards away from imminent catastrophe in Wisconsin’s Bad River. It must be shut down and purged before any erosion exposes the pipeline to the river current and the elements. Built in 1953 by the Canadian oil giant Enbridge, the outdated pipeline pumps up to 23 million gallons of petroleum per day from western to eastern Canada, cutting through Tribal territories in Wisconsin and Michigan and running beneath the heart of the Great Lakes. It’s estimated that Line 5 has spilled more than 1 million gallons of oil in over 33 incidents. Send a letter today and tell the Biden administration to decommission Line 5! 

Last week, a federal court ordered Enbridge to shut down and decommission within three years a segment of the pipeline that is trespassing on the reservation of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. However, heavy flooding and rapid erosion in the Bad River this spring has shown that a more immediate shutdown is needed to prevent a rupture and an oil spill.  

Even worse, Enbridge wants to re-route the pipeline to get around the Bad River Band’s reservation, keeping their oil and their profits flowing through the same watershed. But the re-route project is a false solution that doesn’t protect the Band  — or the rest of the Great Lakes — from the threat of Line 5. The only way to prevent the environmental, economic, and human health consequences of an oil spill is to shut down Line 5. 

The Bad River Band has relied on fishing, wild rice, medicines, and other plants and animals from the Bad River and Lake Superior for centuries. A rupture poses a catastrophic threat to their culture, their livelihoods, and to the wider public. Now, it is up to the Biden administration to use its power to decommission the pipeline by revoking the presidential permit for Line 5. Send a letter to the Biden administration to decommission the Line 5 pipeline today! 

The Bad and White rivers flow through the Bad River Reservation and into Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin. Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline currently crosses both rivers and threatens the Bad River watershed and reservation. (Jaida Grey Eagle for Earthjustice)
The Bad and White rivers flow through the Bad River Reservation and into Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin. Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline currently crosses both rivers and threatens the Bad River watershed and reservation. (Jaida Grey Eagle for Earthjustice)

Your Actions Matter

Your messages make a difference, even if we have leaders who don't want to listen. Here's why.

You level the playing field.

Elected officials pay attention when they see that we are paying attention. Read more.

They may be hearing from industry lobbyists left and right, but hearing the stories of their constituents — that’s your power.

Our legislators serve at the pleasure of the people who gave them their job — you.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. When you contact your elected official, you’re putting a face and a name on an issue.

Whether or not you voted for them, they work for you, for the duration of their term.

Make sure your elected officials know whose community and whose values they represent. (Find your local, state, and federal elected officials.)

Your action is with us in court.

If a federal agency finalizes a harmful action, the record of public comments provides a basis for bringing them into court. Read more.

Throughout each of the public comment periods we alert you to, Earthjustice’s attorneys are researching and writing in-depth, technical comments to submit — detailing how the regulation could and should be stronger to protect the environment, our communities, and our planet.

We need you to join us — your specific experiences, knowledge, and voice are crucial to add to the Administrative Record through the comment periods.

Lawsuits we file that challenge weak or harmful federal regulations rely on what was submitted during the comment period. The court can only look at documents that are in the Administrative Record — including the public comments — to decide if the agency did something improper.

Your actions aid our litigation. Taking action and submitting comments during a comment period is substantively important.

It’s the law.

Federal agencies must pause what they’re doing and ask for — and consider — your comment. Read more.

Many of us may have never heard of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), but laws like these require our government to ask the public to weigh in before agencies adopt or change regulations.

Regulations essentially describe how federal agencies will carry out laws — including decisions that could undermine science, or weaken safeguards on public health.

Public comments are collected at various points throughout the federal government’s rulemaking process, including when a regulation is proposed and finalized. (Learn about the rulemaking process.) These comments become part of the official, legal public record — the “Administrative Record.”

When the public responds with a huge outpouring of support for environmental protections, these individual messages collectively undercut politicians' attempts to claim otherwise.

What this means is each of us can take a role in shaping the rules our government creates — and ensuring those rules are fair and effective.