News
Enbridge Wants Line 5 Shutdown Order Overturned on Tribal Land in Northern Wisconsin
A “Hail Mary” legal tactic by the pipeline company invokes a 1977 pipeline treaty between the U.S. and Canada. The Bad River Band says the treaty is superseded by 1854 tribal treaty rights.
By Phil McKenna, Noel Lyn Smith
Eleven years after easements for a pipeline buried beneath the Bad River reservation in northern Wisconsin expired, five years after the tribe first sounded alarms over the risk of an imminent oil spill into their namesake river and eight months after a federal judge ordered a shutdown, Canadian pipeline giant Enbridge was back in federal court last week arguing that the flow of oil through its 71-year-old Line 5 pipeline be allowed to continue.
Related Knowledge Center: Pipelines
State of Play
Advocates of rapid action to address climate change face worldwide plans for a significant increase in pipeline capacity, likely committing nations to expanded use of natural gas and oil.