ABOVE is by GLIFWC Authors and Contributors
Aaron Shultz, Adam Ray, Alexandra Bohman, Ann McCammon Soltis, Ben Michaels, Bill Mattes, Dawn White, Dylan Jennings, Esteban Chiriboga, Hannah Panci, James Thannum, Jen Vanator, Jim Stone, John Coleman, Jonathan Gilbert, Melonee Montano, Miles Falck, Philomena Kebec, Robert Croll, Travis Bartnick, Waasegiizhig Michael Price.
Maps, figures, and photographs were produced by GLIFWC unless noted otherwise.
TAKE ACTION for the great lakes region in wisconsin, now
ENBRIDGE LINE 5 EXPANSION
PUBLIC WRITTEN COMMENT PERIODS END MARCH 7 (ARMY CORPS) and MARCH 18 (DNR). GET INVOLVED.
PUBLIC INPUT OPPORTUNITY – DRAFT EIS ON ENBRIDGE LINE 5
On Dec. 16, 2021 the DNR released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (dEIS) on Enbridge's proposed relocation of its Line 5 petroleum pipeline in Ashland, Bayfield and Iron Counties. Access the two-volume Draft EIS below, under Draft Environmental Impact Statement.
The public is invited to review, provide testimony and written comments on the dEIS.
On January 27, 7pm CT there was a webinar Tips and Tricks for Testifying on Line 5 covering the basics on Enbridge's Line 5 and how to comment or testify. There is also a toolkit. On Feb 1, 4-7pm CT there will be Open Office Hours for testimony preparation support.
The DNR held a virtual Public Hearing on the dEIS on Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022.
Line 5 hearing lasted 10 hours.
Pro: 20 | Anti: 147 -- 12% for, 88% against
Live Hearing Now posted onto YouTube below.
DNR written comment period extended from March 4, 2022 to March 18, 2022.
In addition, written comments can be sent by email to DNROEEACOMMENTS@WI.GOV or by U.S. mail to "Line 5 EIS Comments, DNR (EA/7)," 101 South Webster Street, Madison, WI 53707. All electronic and hardcopy comments must be submitted or postmarked no later than Friday, March 18, 2022.
Here’s a one-stop action page from Wisconsin’s Sierra Club.
We can harness the power of our Line 3 experience to #RejectLine5!
PROPOSED LINE 5 RELOCATION PROJECT
The existing Line 5 pipeline runs from Superior to the upper peninsula of Michigan through the Straits of Mackinac and lower peninsula of Michigan to Canada. Line 5 crosses through approximately 12 miles of the Bad River Reservation of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Enbridge is proposing a reroute of Line 5 around the Bad River Reservation.
Additional information regarding the segment of Line 5 within the Bad River Reservation, including a lawsuit [PDF] filed by the Bad River Band, can be found in this brochure [PDF exit DNR] created by the Mashkiiziibii Natural Resources Department.
Enbridge is proposing to relocate a 41-mile-long portion of its existing Line 5 pipeline with new 30-inch diameter pipe within Ashland, Bayfield, and Iron County, WI. Enbridge must receive all necessary local, state and federal permits and/or approvals before construction of the Line 5 relocation project can begin.
Enbridge generally proposes to use a 120-foot wide construction right-of-way (ROW) for the new pipeline, which would allow for temporary storage of topsoil and subsoil, and accommodate safe operation of construction equipment. The construction corridor would include a 50-foot wide permanent ROW plus temporary workspaces needed to complete construction.
Proposed LINE 5 Route & Alternatives
View larger map. [PDF exit DNR]
Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Launches Factsheet
Line 5 draft Environmental Impact Statement Fact Sheet
Line 5 is a pipeline that is owned by Enbridge. It was built in 1953 and transports an average of 540,000 barrels/day of mostly tar sands oil from Superior, Wisconsin to Sarnia, Ontario. The pipeline crosses Bad River and the Straits of Mackinac.
What is the project being proposed?
Enbridge is proposing to install a 41 mile long pipeline around the Bad RiverNation. The proposed pipeline would cross approximately 185 waterways.Enbridge's on-reservation Right of Way permits to cross Bad River expired in 2013. Bad River and Enbridge are in federal court over the company's alleged trespassing on reservation.
Line LINE 5 COALITION ORGANIZERS
Stop Enbridge’s Line 5 –
Ganawendan Nibi : Protect Water
The Line 5 Pipeline threatens Tribal land, Treaty Rights in the ceded territory, the Great Lakes, and the climate. The pipeline, which is long past its lifespan, is currently pumping tar sands oil under expired permits. Despite the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s request that Enbridge remove Line 5.
Shut Down Line 5 - Protect the Water
Shut Down Line 5 - Protect the Water. 571 likes · 10 talking about this. Protecting the water, land, and our communities through grassroots organizing to shut down Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline!
OIL AND WATER DON’T MIX
Act Now to Keep Oil Out of the Great Lakes
It's shocking to think that every day, aging Enbridge Line 5 pipeline move nearly 23 million gallons of oil through the Great Lakes at Michigan's Straits of Mackinac. With a terrible safety record of spills and lying, we need your voice to help prevent a disastrous oil spill now because Oil & Water Don't Mix
UPCOMING EVENTS
LATEST NEWS
How a Shoddy Environmental Review Could Cause a Catastrophic Oil Spill in Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s inadequate environmental analysis of Enbridge’s rushed and haphazard Line 5 pipeline reroute does grave injustice to frontline Tribal communities.
By Bala Sivaraman | January 31, 2022
“The White River and Bad River power the fisheries of Lake Superior and inside the watershed itself,” says Bad River Band Chairman Mike Wiggins, Jr. “If you’re trying to protect Lake Superior for the future, you have to start right in Bad River.”
Enbridge received easements from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to construct the 12-mile segment of Line 5 through the Bad River Reservation in 1953. “At the time, government consultation with tribes about how they might be impacted by such a project was non-existent”, says Edith Leoso, the Bad River Tribal Historic Preservation Officer. "The Tribe was told ‘this pipeline would be going in’”.
Line 5 runs only a few miles from Lake Superior, and is increasingly likely to rupture in the Lake due to its age and a heightened frequency of severe storms brought on by climate change. The Band had been trying to access information from Enbridge in order to evaluate the pipeline’s risks to treaty resources, safety, and the environment since several of its easements expired in 2013. In 2017, following a 500 – year flood in the watershed in 2016, the Bad River Tribal Council denied the easements, requiring Enbridge to remove the 12-mile segment of the pipeline from the Reservation and watershed because of the health and safety risks it presented. But in the five years since, the segment has remained and oil continues to flow.
Instead of removing the pipeline, Enbridge drafted two relocation plans: one within the Reservation boundaries and a second that situated the pipeline around the Reservation but still within the surrounding Bad River watershed. This second re-route does little to prevent the impacts of construction or an oil spill, and poses an even greater threat given the geography of the watershed: the surface water shares an intimate hydrological connection with the groundwater along the pipeline’s relocation, so construction or any leak will quickly contaminate tribal drinking water. The Tribe’s Reservation is located downstream, so discharges from construction, fill changes to water quality, or a spill anywhere upstream will make its way through the watershed and empty into the Reservation.
“I can’t overstress how devastating a spill in the watershed would be,” says Naomi Tillison, Director of the Bad River Mashkiiziibii Natural Resources Department. “The Bad River hatchery is the largest producer of walleye fingerlings in Lake Superior. If the waters that our hatcheries and wild rice beds rely on were contaminated with oil, not only would our supply of food, water and medicines be depleted, our coastal wetlands would be devastated and all of the businesses and people in the region who depend on our fisheries would suffer.”
MOVEON.ORG
Save the Great Lakes: Shut down Line 5 | MoveOn
Two 62-year old oil pipelines are threatening the Great Lakes. Called Line 5, owned by Enbridge, a Canadian energy company, they carry 23-million gallons of crude oil daily.
Join the Sierra Club’s Petition
Don't Let Enbridge Risk Our Communities
Enbridge's proposal for a new Line 5 segment jeopardizes our water and wetlands, violates treaty rights, and contradicts the Task Force on Climate Change recommendation to avoid new fossil fuel infrastructure.
Banner photo by Keri Pickett