The Bad River Band of Lake Superior is contesting the wetland and waterway permit that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources granted to Enbridge to construct the Line 5 reroute project.
The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa filed a lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for producing an inadequate final Environmental Impact Statement on Enbridge’s proposed Line 5 reroute, violating the Wisconsin Environmental Protection Act.
The Line 5 pipeline has already leaked over 1 million gallons of oil to date and threatens the Great Lakes. Now, Anishinaabe tribes are in court fighting the company’s dangerous plans to keep the oil flowing.
Comments submitted by Earthjustice on behalf of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa requesting a more thorough review by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of the impacts of Enbridge’s proposed Line 5 reroute project.
The Band urges the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to postpone the public hearing set for June 4, 2024, until the Band and the state have evaluated the Line 5 re-route project’s impacts on their water quality.
Stefanie Tsosie, Attorney, Tribal Partnerships Program: “The Bad River Band is already at a risk of an oil spill because the pipeline is going directly through their reservation. And the re-route, if you look at the map, it’s basically hugging the reservation boundaries.”
Stefanie Tsosie, Attorney, Tribal Partnerships Program: “It’s a band-aid for an aging pipeline. The risk of an oil spill will still exist in the Bad River watershed. And instead of moving it out of the watershed, [Enbridge moves] it upstream of the reservation. So now the entire reservation would be subject to an oil spill.”
A letter from more than 30 Tribal Nations in the Great Lakes region sent to President Joe Biden urging the United States to speak out against the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline’s trespass on the Bad River Band’s land.
Debbie Chizewer, Managing Attorney, Midwest Office: “It would really limit the ability of state governments and tribal nations and others to protect the interests that have been widely accepted for many years. If you can’t protect your land from a trespass because of the oil pipelines, what’s the point of having your own land?”
Stefanie Tsosie, Attorney, Tribal Partnerships Program, Earthjustice: “Enbridge’s appeal — like their proposal to re-route the pipeline — is just a misguided attempt to keep the oil and their profits flowing at the expense of the Band and everyone else who relies on the Great Lakes. Hundreds of wetlands and waterways in this unique ecosystem…
A federal court ordered Canadian oil giant Enbridge to cease the flow of oil and to decommission within three years the segment of its Line 5 pipeline that is trespassing on the reservation of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.
Debbie Chizewer, Managing Attorney, Midwest Office, Earthjustice: “We are extremely alarmed to see the shrinking distance between Line 5, which is operating in trespass of the Bad River Band, and the raging river current. If government officials don’t use their power to shut down Line 5, this disaster will be on their hands.”
