(The Center Square) – The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is asking the Iron County Circuit Court for judicial review of a recent ruling from Administrative Law Judge Angela Chaput Foy, who allowed permits for a Line 5 reroute to move forward.
The petition is the latest attempt by the tribe to challenge a 41-mile Line 5 reroute in northern Wisconsin. This challenge relates to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources permits for the project.
The pipeline transports more than 500,000 barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids each day through the Bad River Band reservation.
Proponents of the reroute say that energy and jobs throughout the state are dependent on the pipeline and reroute project. The Bad River Band has said that it believes the reroute could threaten water quality, habitats and rice beds on the reservation.
The group is also appealing permits issued for the project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in a separate case.
“For generations, the Bad River — Mashkiiziibii — and the waters that flow into Lake Superior have nurtured our healthy walleye, sustained our wild rice beds, and kept our community vibrant and strong,” Bad River Band Chairwoman Elizabeth Arbuckle said in a statement. “The Band River watershed is not an oil pipeline corridor that exists to serve Enbridge’s profits. It is our homeland. We must protect it.”
The band is joined in the case by Clean Wisconsin, Earthjustice, Midwest Environmental Advocates, the Sierra Club, 350 Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin.
Permit applications for the project were initially submitted in 2020.
“For five years, Wisconsin’s skilled trades workers have stood ready while this critical infrastructure project completed a rigorous approval process. Today, that wait ends,” Emily Pritzkow, executive director of the Wisconsin Building Trades Council, said in a statement. “Now, 700 union workers will soon get to work to construct the safest and best-built section of pipeline in the country.”
