The Bad River in Mellen, Wis., south of the Bad River Band’s reservation. (Henry Redman/Wisconsin Examiner)

A coalition of Wisconsin environmental advocacy groups has filed a lawsuit challenging an administrative law judge’s decision to uphold the Department of Natural Resource’s permit approval to reroute the Enbridge Line 5 oil pipeline across northern Wisconsin.

The petition, filed Feb. 23 in Iron County Circuit Court by Clean Wisconsin and Midwest Environmental Advocates on behalf of the Sierra Club, 350 Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, argues the administrative law judge ignored extensive evidence that the pipeline reroute will damage local waterways.

A similar lawsuit also had been filed in February by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The tribe for years has fought against the pipeline, which currently runs across its land. The reroute is happening because a federal judge previously ruled the pipeline must be moved off tribal land, but the tribe argues the new proposed route will continue to harm its water resources.

The administrative judge upheld the DNR’s permit decision after six weeks of hearings last year. The petitions from the environmental groups and the tribe move the case from the administrative legal process to the state’s court system. Separately, a challenge has been made against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Line 5 permit decisions.

“We are more committed than ever to protecting Wisconsin’s waters from the irreversible harm this project threatens to cause. We believe the administrative ruling incorrectly decided critical legal and factual issues, and we are confident that our efforts to hold DNR and Enbridge accountable to Wisconsin’s environmental laws will ultimately be vindicated,” MEA Senior Staff Attorney Rob Lee said in a statement.

Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge has been using Line 5 to transport crude oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario, since 1953. The line routes through the Upper Peninsula, including Dickinson and Iron counties.

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