On February 13th, an administrative law judge upheld a key permit granted last year by Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for Enbridge to build the line 5 reroute (41 miles of new pipeline) through the watershed of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in northern Wisconsin. This decision comes after the six-week contested case hearing last fall in which attorneys and expert witnesses presented evidence showing that the DNR permitted the project without fully understanding the risks.
Bad River Band has filed a petition for judicial review to challenge Administrative Law Judge Angela Chaput Foy’s decision. In their petition, they request an immediate stay to halt any construction until the Court can hear the legal claims.
The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has filed a lawsuit against the US Army Corps of Engineers for unlawfully granting Canadian company Enbridge a permit for the construction of a new 41-mile section of its Line 5 oil pipeline.
“For more than a decade, we have had to endure the unlawful trespass of a dangerous oil pipeline on our lands and waters,” said Bad River Band Chairwoman Elizabeth Arbuckle. “The reroute only makes matters worse. Enbridge’s history is full of accidents and oil spills. If that happens here, our Tribe and other communities in the Northwoods will suffer unacceptable consequences. From the Bad River to Lake Superior, our waters are the lifeblood of our Reservation. They have fed and nurtured our Tribe for hundreds of years. We will do everything in our power to protect them.”
In a separate legal challenge, the Band is contesting permits that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources granted Enbridge last year. Although construction on the reroute is legally barred until an administrative law judge rules on that challenge, community members have already documented Enbridge violations, including logging, road work and the construction of a man camp. Community monitoring of Enbridge construction activities is ongoing, please support this effort and keep checking this website for reports received from folks on the ground.
Indigenous Water Protectors and the Duluth Light Brigade sent these images and videos of their action along the highway in Duluth, with more videos visible on fb. Thank you for the update, keep em coming!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sun. Nov. 2nd, 2025 Contact: Robin Clark, Three Waters Pipeline Resistance Team RobinClark12@proton.me
Enbridge Starts Construction Related Activitiesfor Re-Route of Line 5 Pipeline
ASHLAND, WI – Over the past few weeks, the Canadian pipeline company Enbridge Energy has commenced activities such as logging, preparing construction matting, and securing temporary worker housing around the Bad River reservation in anticipation of re-routing a segment of their Line 5 pipeline. While the Army Corps of Engineers issued a federal permit to Enbridge this past week for construction related to the proposed re-route, an order issued by Administrative Law Judge Angela Chaput Foy on February 28, 2025, prohibits Enbridge from moving forward with full construction pending the outcome of a contested case hearing with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources over the project’s permits.
Based on photographs and observations taken by local residents [attached], as well as property data disclosed in Enbridge’s Environmental Impact Statement, lots leased by Enbridge close to the proposed corridor now contain stacks of pipe and construction matting. Active logging on Enbridge parcels has also begun in the last few weeks.
Temporary worker housing locations for out-of-town workers— often referred to as “man camps”— have been established in Cedar, WI, and Ashland, WI, and another is being constructed in Marengo, WI. The camp in Cedar, WI is actively hosting Enbridge workers, according to local residents. The Coyote Hills campground and trailer park in Marengo has been leased by the company, and neighbors have been told the trailers are intended for out-of-town pipeline workers. Enbridge has explicitly stated they will not build “man camps” for the Line 5 reroute project, likely due to the advocacy of the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women movement showing connections between man camps and increased sex trafficking in local communities. Enbridge is claiming that these campgrounds of temporary workers are not man camps. They have not commented on what exactly makes them different.
To see more information and photos on the aforementioned activities or make reports of construction activity related to the proposed re-route, visit watchline5.com > WI Monitoring.The Bad River Band initiated a contested case hearing against the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in December of 2024 following the approval of DNR permits for the Line 5 reroute project. Bad River contends that the proposed reroute poses an imminent risk to the wetland-rich ecology of the Bad River watershed and to the Band’s usufrutuary rights, which are protected by treaties signed with the United States federal government. Midwest Environmental Advocates, petitioning with the Sierra Club, 350 Wisconsin, and the League of Women Voters, have also contested the permits. A decision in the contested case proceeding is expected by December.
A brief report-back from the Nibi Walk held on October 11 along the proposed path of the Line 5 reroute in Wisconsin. For Nibi Walk explanation and protocols, please see https://www.nibiwalk.org/about/: “Led by Anishinaabe Grandmothers, Water Walks respect the truth that water is a life giver, and because women also give life they are the keepers of the water.” Community members walked in ceremony from the Mashkiiziibii (Bad River) in Mellen to Lake Superior in Ashland. Thank you to Adrienne for sharing their message and images from the walk, along with a few additional images we received.
Boozhoo, hello my name is Adrienne Leoso, my Ojibwe name is 3 Standing Woman, I am Wolf Clan from Bad River Wisconsin. I am so happy to be here on this beautiful day. Today I think about the future, my children’s children’s children. I walk for them.
Ninga izhichige nibi onji – I will do it for the water
