For more than a decade, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has fought to remove the Line 5 oil pipeline from their homeland in northern Wisconsin. A federal judge recently ruled in their favor, agreeing that Enbridge is illegally trespassing on the Bad River Band’s reservation. However, Enbridge wants to reroute the pipeline to get around the reservation’s borders, keeping the oil and the profits flowing while putting the entire watershed, and the people who depend on it, in the path of a potentially catastrophic oil spill.
Now, the Army Corps of Engineers is pushing full steam ahead to kickstart the federal permit process without understanding the project’s dangers to Wisconsin and Tribal waters. By skipping an important (and mandated) part of the environmental review, the Army Corps is ignoring science, and placing the watershed, Tribal rights, and the people of northern Wisconsin at great risk.
We need citizens to take action now and urge the Army Corps to delay its public hearing until the State of Wisconsin and the Bad River Band weigh in.
The reroute project is a false solution that doesn’t protect the Band or the rest of the Great Lakes region from the threat of Line 5, which carries up to 23 million gallons of crude oil and gas each day. Studies show that shutting down Line 5 would have almost no impact on jobs, prices, or fuel supplies in Wisconsin. Yet, an oil spill could devastate the region’s economy and end generations of cultural practice and identity for members of the Bad River Band, who have relied on the wild rice, the fish, and the watershed for centuries. Before rushing to invest in a risky pipeline that will prolong fossil fuel emissions decades into the future, the Army Corps must do a proper environmental review.
Stand with the Bad River Band and send a letter to the Army Corps today to delay the public hearing and give both Wisconsin and the Band a chance to weigh in.