MADISON, Wis. – A Wisconsin Native American tribe asked a federal judge to shut down a Canada-owned Enbridge oil pipeline immediately as an imminent risk of rupturing on reservation land. Enbridge’s Line 5 is rusting, said the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Worse, according to the tribe, chunks of of riverbank has eroded 20 feet in four locations in the past month between the Bad River and Line 5. Judge William Conley scheduled a hearing for next week.. Enbridge claims that a break in the 70-year-old line is virtually impossible. Even so, the company says the tribe has refused to allow the installation of stabilizing barricades made of trees along the riverbank to protect against erosion – or even sand bags.
Bad River. About 60 miles east of Superior.
Line 5 profile
The Bad River tribe has been persistent for years that Enbridge remove a 12-mile (section of Line 5 that crosses tribal lands. The agreement allowing Enbridge to operate on the reservation expired in 2013. Line 5 transports 23 million gallons of oil and liquid natural gas each day across 640 miles of northern Wisconsin and Michigan to Ontario. The Great Lakes economy relies on Line 5, Enbridge notes. The company has proposed rerouting the pipeline 41 miles to end its dispute with the tribe, but it would be a six-year project. Meanwhile, Enbridge faces resistance in Michigan, where it wants to drill a tunnel under Mackinac Strait to replace a lake-bottom section of Line 5 at the juncture of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.