Active construction is taking place all along the reroute. Below are a few hot spots based on recent observations and conversations with residents. Community monitors please visit the following locations to take pictures. Please take detailed notes and describe everything you are able to see and share your observations.
Sites along the western stretch of the reroute along highway 112 – observation points 3,4,6,8, and 21 Work on access roads, flagging, some matting; also setting up erosion control structures
White River crossing? Point 8 is the nearest observation point, but there is no good visibility from here.
Some work is happening on the drill pad prep for HDD crossing at Deer Creek – point 12 and 13
Matting and drill prep work at Marengo River HDD at point 23
Silver Creek HDD is near complete as of last week – updates? – Points 51, 52. – Also points 54, 55 [Caution points 51 and 52 are at the Michael’s Pipeyard where Enbridge security have been particularly aggressive to drivers just passing by]
Trout Brook HDD – updates? – Points 44, 45, 46
Billy Creek, Points 47, 48, 49: Active work on drill pad for HDD under Billy Creek as of last week;
Brunsweiler River HDD crossing, work is visible – Point 32
HDD crossing at Bad River – drill pad prep, matting work – east side of the drill site is visible from Butler Road, Points 68-73. West side of drill prep is visible from point 68 along highway 13 — caution, fast traffic and hard to slow down or pull over
Vaughn Creek – is work on this HDD finished? see Point 97
Potato River – HDD – updates?? It was active as of last week – Point 94
Aggies Rd, northeast section – lots of activity but very aggressive security; they have been following local residents driving by Points 100-101,102
Curry Road also very aggressive security, following drivers who are going north passing points 94, 95, 97
Diesel spill at Scott Taylor creek northeast of Mellen; [all equipment is supposed to have a “sock” underneath to catch and contain diesel which inevitably leaks].
Local communities demonstrate resilience in the face of the impending Line 5 reroute with community sugarbush. The traditional cultural event was held on the easement for Enbridge’s line 5 reroute, where the company will attempt to drill under the Bad River.
[3/29/26] Mellen, WI— Communities from the full diversity of WI – hailing from Bad River to Superior, Bayfield to Madison – gathered at the site of the Bad River Crossing, a beloved formerly public park, to demonstrate opposition to the danger posed by the multinational energy conglomerate Enbridge Energy.
“We’re resilient, but we’re not more resilient than thousands of gallons of crude oil being dumped into Lake Superior and irrevocably damaging our fisheries, wetlands, and drinking water.” says Liam Smith, resident of Bayfield, WI.
Nearly 500 acres in WI and across Lake Superior are under active threat from the rapidly advancing construction of Enbridge’s reroute of the massive Line 5 pipeline project. According to public documents, Enbridge intends to blast open stream beds, deforest fragile wetlands, and drill under rivers using toxic fracking fluids in pursuit of keeping their profits flowing.
This is not the first time Enbridge has pushed an unneeded and unsafe project on rural people in Wisconsin: Enbridge already maintains an aging and unstable Line 5 pipeline that cuts through the sovereign lands of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Enbridge has a long history of oil spills: with more than 800 spills in the last 15 years. In 2022, the US District Court declared that Enbridge was trespassing on the territory of the Bad River Band, and the company was ordered to route the pipeline around the reservation border. This new pipeline segment adds threat to ongoing threat.
The gathering featured a traditional sugar bush along the Bad River: sap from maple trees throughout the region was brought in to be boiled, as the mature maples along the Bad River at the site of the sugarbush were slated to be cut in the next weeks: it is against tradition to tap trees without committing to caring for them. At the start of the day, Oneida tribal member and Elder Paul DeMain offered a welcome to those gathered, and words of support towards resistance to ongoing pipeline construction activities. DeMain said:
“…Don’t forget your responsibility for the protection of the resources, for not just us. We look at the seven generations that people contemplated when they did the treaty negotiations with the federal government- looking seven generations ahead like our elders did.”
The Many Harms of Ongoing & Completed Construction
The tribal lands of Bad River have been occupied by the Anishinaabe for hundreds of years since the migration of their people to the Great Lakes region, the place where food grows on the water. Through that time, people have continually resisted forced migration, attempted elimination, harmful assimilation, and land theft policies.
The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has been challenging Enbridge’s Line 5 reroute project in court for more than a decade. Most recently, courts upheld DNR permits that Bad River and Midwest Environmental Advocates had challenged with lawsuits. Both the tribe and MEA have filed petitions for judicial review. The federal government pressured a US district Judge to stay his order of a permanent injunction on oil flowing through Bad River by June 2026: Enbridge is legally allowed to continue to operate the pipeline through the reservation until the Seventh Circut court resolves appeals on the case.
Trees are actively being cut along the pipeline reroute path, which travels through the Bad River’s watershed: a biodiverse and sensitive ecosystem. The DNR’s Environmental Impact Statement admits that a spill above the Brownstone Falls would send crude oil downstream into Lake Superior faster than humans could respond. Digging and blasting activities are set to begin in May.
The gathering took place at the site of the proposed drill pad: Enbridge plans on drilling under the Bad River twice on a parcel they bought from the city of Mellen that was formerly a public park.
The People of Wisconsin Deserve Better
Local communities are bracing for long term impacts of Enbridge meddling in local policing in the wake of Ashland and Iron counties accepting contracts with an intermediary to enable Enbridge to reimburse local law enforcement for pipeline related costs. Bayfield County Board is still in deliberation. Concerns around militarized equiptement and conflict of interest are forefront for communities in all three counties.
The economic and cultural significance of clean water in Northern Wisconsin cannot be understated: it underpins vital fishing, tourism, and retirement sectors. The impact of an oil spill in the Great Lakes would devastate these industries, and impact our neighbors in ports across Lake Superior. Meanwhile, the climate impacts of continued use of crude oil jeopardize the future of midwestern ecosystems, and the viability of sugarbushes into the future due to unpredictable winter weather.
For Bad River tribal members with treaty-protected hunting, fishing and gathering rights, a spill would be catastrophic. Bad River Elder Sandy Deragon:
“We can’t utilize the resources of the land when they harm the land…I brought my medicine box to the Army Corps hearing, 25 kinds of medicine I harvest, all at risk if the pipe spills.”
On Sunday the 29th of March, water protectors from near and far opened a day long sugar bush to boil sap, make maple sugar, and resist the rerouting project of Enbridge’s Line 5. Active construction of the new pipeline path, cutting through sensitive wetlands upstream of the Bad River reservation, started at the beginning of March.
Enbridge plans to drill under the Bad River twice at the formerly public park where the sugar bush was held. Protecting the river and the water, as Edith Leoso says in this video, is all up to the people. The traditional harvesting and processing of maple sugar offers us all lessons: reminding us to be sweet in cold times, and to give thanks for the gifts we all have as part of creation.
From the Bad River reroute to the tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac, the continued operation and expansion of the outdated Line 5 pipeline is a threat to the Great Lakes and all the life that depend on them. Not Needed! Not Safe! Shut down Line 5!
The Line 5 reroute is a 41 mile segment of oil pipeline around Mashkiiziibii (Bad River Reservation). Michels Corporation is the lead contractor for construction with offices in Wausau, Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit.
After years of legal proceedings and an appeals process, Enbridge Energy has acquired all of its permits and a greenlight to commence construction. Local organizers are seeking solidarity in resistance efforts. If you can offer support in legal representation (civil and criminal lawsuits), media and art making, press coverage, creative direct action, resistance camp building, violation monitoring, community resiliency work, or other diverse tactics, now is the time! Get in touch with local organizers, or plan an action in your city.
Keep your eyes on watchline5.com for updates on the struggle or to submit & view updates on construction and violations.
Line 5 Construction Reroute Timeline March 1-May 1 Seasonal roadway weight restrictions go into effect in Wisconsin –> Enbridge will work on logging the 497 acres that need to be deforested using chain saws and do any other work they can without bringing heavy machinery onto the state highways for these two months. See below for more information on the weight restriction regulations: https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/dmv/com-drv-vehs/mtr-car-trkr/ssnl-wt-rsrctns/class2roads.aspx
March 20 @ 9 AM, legal hearing – Public can attend at the following locations: Washbourn Circuit Court – 117 E 5th St, Washburn, WI Iron County Circuit Court – 300 Taconite St # 101, Hurley, WI Hearing for Bad River Band’s requested stay on construction related to the easement areas covered by the DNR permits. If the Judge orders a stay on construction in this hearing, Enbridge will have to halt construction, if a stay is not ordered Enbridge will be able to proceed with construction. Media must request to take pictures or video in advance, there will be no public zoom option.
Early April: Enbridge will sign contracts with heavy machinery companies to lease heavy equipment for May (as long as judge Anderson does not order a stay on construction in the March 20th hearing).
Mid April-Mid August: Bird and bat breeding occurs and causes various state-wide restrictions on tree cutting. Enbridge cannot legally perform tree cutting during this period.
May 1: At this point the seasonal roadway restrictions will lift and Enbridge will start grading, blasting and trenching — this will likely continue for at least a few months or until the re-route is completed.
June 16: Court ordered date that oil must stop flowing through the current Line 5 pipeline running through the Bad River reservation. The DNR attorney noted that the re-route will not be finished by this date and that every day it takes to build the re-route past June 16th will be days, where oil will not be able to flow through Line 5.
***Note: The information in the timeline below was presented by DNR and Enbridge attorneys in a recent court hearing. Please take it with a grain of salt as these entities do not always follow the plans that they present in court!
