Bad River Band Challenges Federal Approval for Line 5 Reroute

The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has filed a lawsuit against the US Army Corps of Engineers for unlawfully granting Canadian company Enbridge a permit for the construction of a new 41-mile section of its Line 5 oil pipeline. The pipeline would encircle the Band’s Reservation in northern Wisconsin, endangering waters, fish, and wild rice that are culturally sacred and economically critical to Tribal members. The Bad River Band, represented by Earthjustice, argues that the Corps’ permit fails to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Water Act. Enbridge aims to reroute a section of Line 5 that has been trespassing on the Band’s Reservation for more than a decade and faces a court-ordered shutdown deadline in June of 2026.

“For more than a decade, we have had to endure the unlawful trespass of a dangerous oil pipeline on our lands and waters,” said Bad River Band Chairwoman Elizabeth Arbuckle. “The reroute only makes matters worse. Enbridge’s history is full of accidents and oil spills. If that happens here, our Tribe and other communities in the Northwoods will suffer unacceptable consequences. From the Bad River to Lake Superior, our waters are the lifeblood of our Reservation. They have fed and nurtured our Tribe for hundreds of years. We will do everything in our power to protect them.”

The Corps approved the reroute project in October despite broad public opposition. Last summer, the agency received more than 150,000 comments opposing the project, including from faith groups, businesses, and health experts. Many of them point to the project’s potential impacts on the Kakagon-Bad River Sloughs, an internationally recognized wetland that harbors the largest remaining wild rice beds on the Great Lakes.

“This reroute will mean blasting, horizontal drilling, and trenching across hundreds of wetlands and streams,” said Earthjustice Managing Attorney Gussie Lord. “It will likely do permanent damage to the Band’s treaty-protected water, plants, and medicines – all for the enrichment of a foreign oil company.”

In May, the Band presented evidence and analysis to the US Army Corps detailing how the project will violate the Tribe’s water quality standards, which are stricter than Wisconsin’s.

“All of these impacts to the Band’s water requirements and violations of its water quality standards will be caused by the Line 5 Reroute,” wrote the Band’s attorneys in the latest comment letter. “No conditions could be attached to a permit to prevent it.”

In a separate legal challenge, the Band and environmental groups are contesting permits that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources granted Enbridge last year. Construction on the reroute cannot begin until an administrative law judge rules on that challenge.

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