Army Corps approves Enbridge pipeline reroute around Wisconsin reservation

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Wednesday approved energy company Enbridge’s plans to reroute an aging oil pipeline around a northern Wisconsin tribal reservation.

Enbridge wants to build a new 41-mile (66-kilometer) segment of pipeline around the reservation of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa to replace a 12-mile (19-kilometer) segment that now crosses tribal land.

The tribe wants the pipeline off its land. But along with environmental groups, the tribe argues that regulators have underestimated the environmental damage of construction and that the project perpetuates the use of fossil fuels. The opponents are suing to try to reverse construction permits issued by the state of Wisconsin.

But the Army Corps of Engineers approved the separate federal permit Wednesday.

“The approval of the Enbridge Line 5 reroute application is a great success and will advance the President’s energy dominance agenda for America,” Adam Telle, assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, said in a statement.

Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge has been using Line 5 to transport crude oil and natural gas liquids between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario, since 1953. The company called the federal approval “a major project milestone."

A decision in the challenge to the separate state permits is expected in the coming months. Construction has been on hold in the meantime.

“We’re confident state permits will soon be confirmed. Once that occurs, Enbridge expects the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Proffered Permit to be signed and finalized, allowing construction to move forward,” Enbridge spokesperson Juli Kellner said in an email.

Environmental groups criticized the Corps' decision to grant the federal permit as “premature and unlawful” given that the litigation over the state permits is ongoing.

“This is a clear violation of the Clean Water Act. It appears the Army Corps is fast-tracking a fossil fuel project at the expense of environmental protection and legal due process,” Rob Lee, a staff attorney for Midwest Environmental Advocates, said in a statement.

The Wisconsin project is separate from Enbridge's plan to build a protective tunnel to encase a different segment of Line 5 in Michigan that runs for 4 miles (6 kilometers) beneath the Straits of Mackinac, a channel linking Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Applications are still pending before Michigan and federal regulators, and litigation is ongoing.

The Corps fast-tracked that $500-million-plus project in April after President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to identify energy projects for expedited emergency permitting.

Conservationists and tribes have balked at the Michigan proposal, calling it too risky and demanding Enbridge simply shut down the pipeline.

Concerns about the Michigan segment rupturing and causing a catastrophic spill have been growing since 2017, when Enbridge officials revealed that engineers had known about gaps in the segment’s coating for three years. A boat anchor damaged the line in 2018, further stoking fears. Enbridge says the segment is structurally sound.