(The Center Square) – The Bad River Band filed a pair of challenges to a proposed Line 5 reroute that was recently approved by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and still requires federal approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The band is contesting the wetlands permit and filed a lawsuit against the Wisconsin DNR claiming it had an inadequate final Environmental Impact Statement that violates the Wisconsin Environmental Protection Act.
The band says that the approved reroute involves blasting, horizontal drilling or trenching through at least 186 waterways and 101 acres of high-quality wetlands that drain into Lake Superior.
This land does not belong to us, it is borrowed by us from our children’s children,” Bad River Band Chairman Robert Blanchard said in a statement. “We harvest our wild rice from the waters, we hunt from the land, fish from the lake, streams, and rivers to feed our families and gather the medicines to heal our relatives. Many of our people will feel the effects if we lose these resources.
Enbridge Energy agreed to cease transporting oil and gas through the pipes in 2020 and proposed to reroute the line by replacing 20 miles of existing pipeline – including the 12 miles currently within the reservation – with a 41-mile-long stretch of pipe around the reservation.
“The DNR failed our children when it gave Enbridge the permits to build this reroute. They failed to consider the company’s multiple disasters in Minnesota and in Michigan, which are still being cleaned up,” Blanchard said. “They failed to consider our Tribe, our water quality, and the natural resources of the entire Bad River watershed.”