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 today’s show, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with four guests–Joe Bates, Matthew Borke, Rob Lee, and Gracie Waukechon–who are fighting against the reroute of the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation in northern Wisconsin. Enbridge has begun construction on the reroute though the legal battle has not been fully resolved.
Joe Bates discusses how he uses his drone to observe the construction. He’s captured footage of the new easement where Enbridge plans to use horizontal directional drilling to install the new pipeline. Matthew Borke says that what we’re hearing from the Trump administration is a forked-tongue message. He encourages folks to stay informed about the legal proceedings.
Gracie Waukechon says that this issue is personal. In light of the threat that the pipeline poses to the lands and waters of the region she says, “I feel as if my future has been taken away from me.” She’s also worried about the future of resistance in light of a contract that Ashland County officials signed last month for policing protests.
Rob Lee talks about how Enbridge is starting to break ground on construction of the reroute, but it’s not a foregone conclusion that they will get final approval. He reminds listeners that the oil that passes through Line 5 passes from Canada and back to Canada, which should concern people across the political spectrum. Click here to listen to the podcast.
Canadian oil pipeline giant Enbridge has begun construction of its Line 5 crude oil pipeline Northern Wisconsin; it has secretive deals with two counties to reimburse sheriff’s departments for responding to Line 5-related protests. Anishinaabe leaders and local residents are concerned about the potential for constitutional rights violations.
Wenipashtaabe Gokee, Anishinaabe, spoke at the Feb. 24 Ashland County Board meeting, opposing the law enforcement deal: “I’ve got a duty and obligation to stand up for water. Indanishinaabekwe. I’m an Anishinaabe woman, and that’s part of my role…. I don’t like the feeling of having a target on my back.”
Enbridge had similar deals in Minnesota during the 2020-2021 construction of its Line 3 pipeline. Minnesota law enforcement agencies received $8.3 million from Enbridge through a state-run escrow account. It led to biased policing. Indigenous leaders and allies say officers committed “egregious civil and constitutional rights violations,” including surveillance, harassment, ‘pain compliance’ torture, use of rubber bullets and pepper balls, denying medical care, strip searches, and more.
Wisconsin’s deals are worse than Minnesota’s. Enbridge will pay sheriff’s departments using the Wisconsin Counties Association, a lobbying group, as the pass through. The Association is not subject to state open records laws. The public will not know how much Enbridge is paying law enforcement, names of funding sources, or how the money was spent.
Bayfield County rejected the deal on a 10-2 vote. Board Member Mary Dougherty said, “Bayfield County has a responsibility to public safety, civil liberties, and public trust—not to quietly formalize a quasi security partnership around a highly controversial pipeline project with vague funding and extremely limited transparency.”
Line 5 is a 73-year-old pipeline that carries oil from Canada, crossing the Bad River Reservation. In 2019, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa sued Enbridge for illegal trespassing and demanded Enbridge leave their watershed. Several of Enbridge’s easements had expired in 2013, and the Bad River Band refused to renew them, citing the risk of tremendous environmental damage from any crude oil spills.
Enbridge is now working on a 41-mile pipeline reroute around the reservation. The reroute crosses hundreds of rivers, streams, and wetlands that flow into the reservation, threatening the Band’s internationally recognized wild rice beds and walleye spawning grounds. Indigenous leaders call the reroute an act of cultural genocide.
Tribes in Michigan oppose Enbridge the Line 5 oil pipeline replacement plan, arguing the environmental risks to their traditional waters far outweigh any benefits. The proposal to replace the 70-year-old pipeline that currently runs through Michigan and Wisconsin has faced many legal challenges over the years. Now, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the state or federal government should have say over how the project proceeds. The decision could set a precedent on how much power tribes and states have in regulating fossil fuel development. We’ll speak with tribal leaders, Native legal scholars, and others about what’s next for the ongoing Line 5 pipeline legal battle. Listen at this link.
Guests:
Wenona Singel (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa), associate professor of law at Michigan State University College of Law and associate director of the Indigenous Law and Policy Center
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!
See the flier for more information about local government cooperation with Enbridge and Enbridge’s WDNR Permit, including public meetings to attend.
Full text of flier:
To be an ally, our actions must align with our words. We stand with Bad River!
To be in solidarity with the Bad River Band as the Band continues to assert their sovereignty as a Tribal Nation
To honor the treaties by protecting the ecosystems which support the rights of Ojibwe poeple to hunt fish, and gather.
To defend the waters and lands from the harm caused by pipeline construction and the ongoing threat of an oil pipeline in the Great Lakes watershed.
To protect our communities from the sexual violence & trafficking perpetrated by pipeline workers in communities impacted by extractive industry.
Local Government Cooperation with Enbridge
City of Ashland selling water to Enbridge Enbridge has approached the City of Ashalnd Public Works Committee about selling water to Enbridge for the construction of the Line 5 reroute project. On Feb. 11, 2020 the City Council unanimously passed a Resolution “to support the efforts of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa to remove the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline from the Bad River Watershed.” To be an ally, our actions must align with our words and selling water to Enbridge goes against the Bad River Bands efforts to remove the pipeline from the watershed. Public Works Committee Meetings: 5:30pm on 4/9, 5/14 City Council Meetings: 6pm on 3/31, 4/7, 4/21, 5/21, 5/26
Cooperative Agreements with Sherriff Departments Enbridge is trying to establish Cooperative Agreements with the Sherriff Departments in Ashland, Bayfield, and Iron Counties. Ashland and Iron County both passed agreements in February. There’s an effort in Ashland to have a re-vote. Bayfield County is considering a modified version after voting no in February. There is a conflict of interest with teh Sheriff Departments serving to protect the Bad River Band and then having a cooperative agreement with Enbridge. The priority needs to be serving and building trust within our local communities, not protecting a Canadian company. Ashland County Board Meetings: 9am on 3/24, 4/21 Bayfield County Board Meetings 6pm on 3/31, 4/28 Iron County Board Meetings: 6pm on 3/31, 4/28
Hearing about Enbridge’s WDNR Permit
The Bad River Band is continuing to object to the WDNR permiting of the LIne 5 reroute and the case is now being heard by Bayfield County’s Judge Anderson. There is no public comment oppertunity during these proceedings. Instead lawyers representing Bad River and lawyers from the WDNR and Enbridge will be presenting their cases to the Judge Anderson for a decision. Next hearing: 1pm, Thursday April 16th Location: Bayfield County Courthouse with live streaming to the Iron County Courthouse. No virtual option
