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Line 5 Pipeline

Why More Than 60 Indigenous Nations Oppose The Line 5 Oil Pipeline

The Line 5 oil pipeline that snakes through Wisconsin and Michigan won a key permit this month: pending federal studies and approvals, Canada-based Enbridge Energy will build a new section of pipeline and tunnel underneath the Great Lakes despite widespread Indigenous opposition. You may not have heard of Line 5, but over the next few years, the controversy surrounding the 645-mile pipeline is expected to intensify. The 70-year-old pipeline stretches from Superior, Wisconsin, through Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario, transporting up to 540,000 gallons of oil and natural gas liquids per day. It’s part of a network of more than 3,000 miles of pipelines that the company operates throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Protests Against Line 5 Continue In Wisconsin And The Courtrooms

“We need to avert an oil disaster in Lake Superior. We need to save our water and our future.” That was water protector Gina Peltier’s message this summer. Peltier is one of many water protectors in the Midwest organizing against Line 5 tar sands oil pipeline in a growing movement against Canadian energy corporation Enbridge, which runs the largest oil export pipeline network in the world. On August 5, 2023, water protectors coordinated a rally and flotilla at the Fish Creek Landing in Ashland, Wisconsin at the site of one of the original Anishinaabe camps on Lake Superior.

Enbridge Ordered To Shutdown Line 5 And Pay Bad River Band $5.1 Million

Ashland, Wisconsin — Canadian oil corporation Enbridge has been ordered to shut down its Line 5 tar sands oil pipeline and pay the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians $5.1 million. Chief Judge William M. Conley of the U.S. District Court for Wisconsin ruled on June 16, 2023 that Enbridge must adopt a more conservative shutdown and purge plan for its remaining time on the Bad River Indian Reservation. Water protectors gathered on the day of the ruling in Ashland, Wisconsin to demand the immediate emergency shutdown of Line 5. Unicorn Riot heard from water protectors on the state of the Line 5 fight and why they actively protest.

Indigenous-Led Activists Protest Oil Pipeline In Green Bay

Green Bay, Wisconsin – About a dozen environmental activists took to the streets of downtown Green Bay Friday evening to protest a proposed oil pipeline reroute in northern Wisconsin. “We’re trying to raise awareness about Line 5,” said organizer Justice Peche. Canada-based Enbridge Energy is rerouting the Line 5 pipeline around the Bad River Ojibwe Reservation at the request of the tribe. About 12 miles of active pipeline pass through the reservation, but as easements have started to expire the tribe filed a lawsuit in 2019 to have the pipeline removed. The company is planning a new 41.2-mile section around the reservation, but tribal officials and activists are calling for greater scrutiny of the project arguing that construction and operation threatens rare plants and animals in the area.

Judge Keeps Oil Pipeline Case In Federal Court

A federal judge retained jurisdiction Tuesday in a dispute over a Canadian oil pipeline that runs through a section of the Great Lakes, rejecting Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's contention that the case belongs in state court. The clash over whether Enbridge Energy's Line 5 should continue operating raises issues “under consideration at the highest levels of this country's government” involving a U.S.-Canada treaty and federal pipeline safety regulation, U.S. District Judge Janet Neff ruled. The matter "is properly in federal court,” she wrote in a 15-page opinion that drew praise from Enbridge. Whitmer's office expressed disappointment and environmentalists ramped up pressure on President Joe Biden to intervene.

Enbridge Line 5 Shut Down In Accordance With Governor’s Order

Vassar, MI - On Tuesday morning, an unidentified Michigain Water Protector turned a valve on Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, stopping the flow of oil through the line which has been operating illegally since May 12, 2021. The water protector called Enbridge so that they could safely halt the flow of oil before reading a statement and turning the valve to halt the operation of the pipeline. Governor Whitmer has stated in a press release, “Enbridge has imposed on the people of Michigan an unacceptable risk of a catastrophic oil spill in the Great Lakes that could devastate our economy and way of life.” The valve turner echoed this urgency, stating, “Enbridge has no legal right to operate this pipeline and the continued operation of Line 5 is an imminent threat to my life, and the lives of an untold number of other people and living beings.

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