Suit filed over water crossings in Line 5 reroute in Wisconsin
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The Bad River tribe and environmental groups are again suing the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources over decisions allowing work to move forward on Enbridge's Line 5 reroute at four waterway crossings.
The tribe, Clean Wisconsin, 350 Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin filed the lawsuit Wednesday in Ashland County Circuit Court. The legal challenge comes after the DNR granted Enbridge a permit to cross Beartrap Creek and permit exemptions for three other waterways. They include Little Beartrap Creek, Bay City Creek and an unnamed tributary to the Brunsweiler River.
The groups argue that Enbridge is not eligible to conduct work at the four waterways because it did not own land next to them. The lawsuit is their latest legal challenge against the DNR as litigation continues over key state approvals for the project, including a wetlands and waterway permit.
In May, a Bayfield County judge allowed work to move forward on the Line 5 reroute except at the four waterways. Midwest Environmental Advocates, who is representing 350 Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters, accused the company of a "workaround" by obtaining ownership interests at three of the four crossings.
"Despite Enbridge's repeated attempts to overcome these legal barriers, their Line 5 proposal continues to run afoul of Wisconsin law," MEA spokesperson Peg Sheaffer said. "Until they demonstrate that they have met all the requirements of Wisconsin law, construction at the four stream crossings must not be allowed to proceed."
A DNR spokesperson said it's reviewing the lawsuit.
"The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) issued authorizations for Enbridge to complete erosion control and stream restoration at four waterbody crossings, following established rules and policies and after a thorough review," Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner said in a statement.
Enbridge's Line 5 carries up to 23 million gallons of oil daily from Superior across northern Wisconsin and Michigan -- including Dickinson and Iron counties in the Upper Peninsula -- to Ontario. The company proposed a 41-mile reroute of Line 5 after the Bad River Tribe sued in 2019 to shut down the pipeline on its lands. The project is crossing about 200 waterways, and it's slated to affect about 100 acres of wetlands in Ashland and Iron counties in Wisconsin.
The $450 million project has undergone years of review, protests, tens of thousands of comments and legal challenges. Enbridge has said 600 people are now working on the project, which is projected to employ 700 union workers at peak construction.
Supporters say it will contribute $135 million to Wisconsin's economy. Opponents point to multiple spills on Enbridge pipelines, including up to 1,900 gallons of drilling fluid that spilled on June 27. Kellner said the clay and water mixture used for horizontal directional drilling at Vaughn Creek, where the spill occurred, was approved by the DNR and is non-toxic. She said the spill has been cleaned up.
The company is responsible for some of the nation's largest oil spills on land, including a 2010 oil spill into Michigan's Kalamazoo River.
In 2023, U.S. District Court Judge William Conley ordered Enbridge to pay $5.15 million for trespassing on roughly 2 miles of tribal lands and shut down or reroute Line 5 around the Bad River reservation by mid-June this year. Both the tribe and Enbridge appealed the decision. In March, Conley paused his shutdown order until a federal appeals court issues a ruling, citing potential "devastating" impacts of a sudden shutdown.