Biden administration agrees that Enbridge is trespassing on Bad River Band Reservation

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.”

The Line 5 pipeline has leaked over 1 million gallons of oil to date and threatens the Great Lakes.

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.”

Enbridge has earned over $1 billion by trespassing on the Bad River Band’s reservation.

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.

SEITC briefs the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights on Canada’s violations

A group of Alaska Tribes with roots along Canada’s transboundary rivers, the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC), submitted a brief to the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights requesting a hearing on the looming threats of several risky and under-regulated gold mines in British Columbia.

Decision comes after overwhelming opposition from Wabanaki Tribes, local businesses, and conservation groups

Tlingit Tribes originating along the Unuk River want a say in risky mining proposals

Prepared for Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC) as part of a petition submitted to Canadian environmental regulators affirming their historic presence along the Unuk River, which is threatened by rapidly expanding transboundary mining.

The Taku, Stikine, and Unuk rivers flow across the Canada-United States border, from headwaters in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia through Southeast Alaska to the sea. These watersheds are some of the largest and most productive salmon habitats remaining in the world. Alaska Native and First Nations peoples have harvested salmon and caribou from…

Christopher Clark, Senior Attorney, Midwest Office: “In the contested case, we had a tunneling expert and a pipeline safety expert raise significant safety concerns about this tunnel. The concern is that there would be a leak of product within the enclosed tunnel that would create an explosive environment underneath the Straits of Mackinac, which just…

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 Line 5 backgrounder for reporters with the current status of related legal fights.

Stefanie Tsosie, Attorney, Tribal Partnerships Program, Earthjustice: “The Menominee tribe has been pushing for this listing regardless of whether there’s a mine there.”

The pipeline is a few yards from exposure to the Bad River, risking a leak that could spread oil into the Great Lakes.

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.