First Permits for Enbridge’s Line 5 Re-Route Issued in Wisconsin

Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) approved construction permits for Enbridge’s Line 5 re-route around a tribal reservation, a crucial step forward for the embattled project.

The move is one of several permitting steps the project must take before work begins.

“The wetland and waterway permit authorizes Enbridge to conduct specific construction-related activities that impact navigable waterways and wetlands as specifically described in the permit application, associated plans and permit conditions,” the Wisconsin DNR said in a statement. “The permit contains more than 200 conditions to ensure compliance with the state's wetlands and waterways standards.”

Enbridge applied for the project permits in 2020, following a dispute with the Bad River Band after the original contract allowing the pipeline to cross the reservation expired in 2013. In 2022, a federal judge ruled that the company was trespassing on 12 miles of tribal land.

In 2023, the court ordered Enbridge to pay $5.15 million to the tribe, along with additional payments for as long as the pipeline remained on the reservation. The judge also gave Enbridge three years to build the new route.

In a statement, Enbridge called the permit approvals a major step towards getting construction underway. The proposed route for the 30-inch diameter crude and propane pipeline is 41 miles long.

“The project will build a new segment of the Line 5 pipeline around the Bad River Reservation, send millions of dollars in construction spending into local communities, create over 700 family-supporting union jobs and preserve the flow of essential energy that millions of consumers in the region rely on every day,” the company said.

Federal permits for the line, which passes from Canada through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, are still pending.

Tribal leaders and environmental groups have opposed the rerouting project, saying that construction and the pipeline's continual presence in wetlands around Lake Superior threaten the environment and the people living in the area.

“I’m angry that the DNR has signed off on a half-baked plan that spells disaster for our homeland and our way of life,” Bad River Band Chairman Robert Blanchard said in a statement. “We will continue sounding the alarm to prevent yet another Enbridge pipeline from endangering our watershed.”

The battle over the Wisconsin route for Line 5 is one of several fights the pipeline faces. In Michigan, the line passes underwater through the Mackinac Strait, which separates Lake Michigan from Lake Huron.

Enbridge seeks to build a tunnel underneath the straits to house the pipeline segment, which currently sits underwater along the bottom of the lake. Environmental groups have also hotly contested the project, and some Michigan political leaders, such as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have announced their opposition to the tunnel.

In September, Enbridge announced it would continue to move forward on the project, which has been delayed in the permitting process.