Enbridge reports aquifer breach on Line 5 reroute in northern Wisconsin
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Enbridge is responding to an aquifer breach on a $1 billion project to reroute its Line 5 oil and gas pipeline in northern Wisconsin.
The breach occurred last week during installation of a new stretch of the pipeline under the Marengo River. The breach was first reported by Northern News Now.
"A flow of water was observed following the direct installation of pipe beneath the Marengo River. The observation was reported to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR); agency representatives have visited the site," Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner said in a statement.
"Enbridge is working with the DNR and other engineering and environmental specialists to determine next steps. The water flow continues to be monitored and contained," Kellner continued.
The DNR did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In 2020, Enbridge proposed the Line 5 reroute after the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa sued the company in 2019 to shut down and remove the pipeline from tribal lands where pipeline easements had expired.
The tribe and environmental groups have mounted legal challenges against the DNR over state permits for the project.
Earthjustice attorney John Petoskey represents the Bad River tribe. He said the DNR has failed to protect the environment.
"When someone like Enbridge breaches an aquifer and releases artesian water from underground, that water is not going to go back in the aquifer," Petoskey said. "That is healthy, fresh drinking water that will forever be on the surface now."
Petoskey said the DNR and independent environmental monitors informed the tribe that water is flowing from the aquifer at a rate of 85 to 100 gallons per minute. A DNR spokesperson did not respond to WPR's requests seeking to confirm the rate of flow or amount of water that's been released.
Bad River Tribal Chairwoman Elizabeth Arbuckle told WPR that tribal officials were told the flow of water has been ongoing for a few days. She said she's concerned because the Marengo River flows into the reservation.
"These are our treaty rights area. It may be off-reservation, but it does flow into Bad River's Reservation," Arbuckle said. "It's also within our ceded territory, so it's critical to all Ojibwe people that we keep that as safe for humans and animals and plants as possible."
This is not the first time the company has had aquifer breaches during construction of its pipelines. Enbridge has paid millions tied to four aquifer breaches that released hundreds of millions of gallons of groundwater during a project to replace its Line 3 pipeline in northern Minnesota
The breach in northern Wisconsin follows numerous spills on Enbridge's project to build a new 41-mile stretch of Line 5 in Ashland and Iron counties, including an Aug. 25 leak that released more than 1.3 million gallons of natural gas liquids into the air. WPR previously reported the leak is the company's and state's largest oil and gas pipeline leak in Wisconsin.
As many as a dozen spills have occurred on the project, according to a court filing by the Bad River tribe.
The pipeline carries up to 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily from Superior to Sarnia, Ontario. The pipeline runs through the Upper Peninsula, including Dickinson and Iron counties, and under water in the Straits of Mackinac to reach Lower Michigan.
Last fall, Enbridge experts testified during a contested case hearing on permits for the project that there was zero risk of an aquifer breach.
"In view of these facts, impacts to hydrogeology -- including purported risks of aquifer breach -- are essentially nil. It is extraordinarily unlikely that a confining layer above an aquifer would be close enough to the fractured crystalline bedrock," Enbridge attorneys wrote in a post-hearing brief.
Last month, DNR Secretary Karen Hyun said in response to the company's construction of an unpermitted bypass on Line 5 that Enbridge has added to a growing list of violations that demonstrate "disregard for the environment, human health, and the statutory authority of the department."
Arbuckle has called on Gov. Tony Evers and the DNR to revoke permits for the reroute.
Roughly two-thirds of the $1 billion project has already been built. The project employs 700 workers.
Three years ago, a federal judge found the company was trespassing on the Bad River reservation and ordered Enbridge to pay roughly $5 million and shut down or reroute Line 5. The tribe and Enbridge appealed the decision.
In August, a federal appeals panel ruled that Enbridge has been trespassing and must remove the pipeline from the Bad River reservation. However, it gave the company more time to complete the Line 5 reroute.
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WPR's Joe Schulz contributed to this report.