Our aim is to stop the flow of tar sands oil through the Midwest by denying extractive industries a means to get the oil to markets via pipelines. In this way, we are helping to defuse the “carbon bomb” that climate scientist James Hansen stated would mean “game over for the climate.” Our current priority is to #ShutDownLine5.
The Line 5 pipeline transports synthetic crude oil from Superior, Wisconsin, through Michigan and ultimately to refineries in Sarnia, Ontario. Built in 1953, this aging pipeline is owned by Enbridge Energy, a Canadian company. Much of the oil originates in the oil sands of Alberta, transported from there to Superior via Enbridge’s Alberta Clipper pipeline. Thus, despite the company’s penchant for giving different pipeline segments different names, Line 5 and the Alberta Clipper are in actuality one pipeline that carries oil from Edmonton to Sarnia. Wisconsin is just a shortcut Enbridge uses to move Canadian oil from Canada back to Canada. For our state, it’s all risk—no reward.
A 12-mile portion of the pipeline bisects the reservation of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, which borders Lake Superior. Several of the easements that allowed Enbridge to use the tribal territory expired in 2013, and the tribe demanded that the company remove the pipeline—not just from their territory, but from the entire watershed. Enbridge refused, and the Bad River Band filed a federal lawsuit.
Understanding that it will likely lose this legal challenge, Enbridge is seeking state approval of an alternative route. But the company’s proposed course just barely skirts the edge of the Bad River Reservation, such that any spill would contaminate the watershed that feeds into the area’s many rivers. The health and livelihoods of tribal members, the region’s wildlife and wetlands, and Lake Superior’s coastline are all at risk as long as Line 5 is allowed to continue operating in the area.
Enbridge’s plan to reroute Line 5 around the Bad River Reservation raises issues of tribal sovereignty, environmental racism, climate change, eminent domain, and disaster prevention.
Calls to decommission Line 5 are also coming from Michigan, where the pipeline crosses the Straits of Mackinac, creating a risk of a catastrophic spill into the Great Lakes. Environmental groups, tribes, and Michigan’s governor and attorney general are locked in a protracted battle with Enbridge, demanding that the company remove the pipeline from the Straits. This spill simulation shows how an oil spill beneath the Straits could devastate Great Lakes ecology, wildlife, and coastal communities.
Video: University of Michigan Water Center
In the words of Beth Wallace, the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes Campaigns Manager, we can’t continue to play Russian Roulette with the Great Lakes. It’s time to #ShutDownLine5!
The 350 Madison Tar Sands Team has been working to block Enbridge’s Midwest tar sands invasion for more than five years, with outsized success:
Read about our success stories here. Learn more about tar sands here.
We’re at a critical and promising point in our movement to rid the Midwest of oil pipelines. Tribal leaders, rural landowners, farmers, climate activists, environmentalists, youth activists, and other concerned citizens are coming together and finding common ground. To take a stunning example, more than 500 people attended the Department of Natural Resource’s July 2020 online public hearing on a wetlands permit for Enbridge’s Line 5 reroute. The hearing lasted more than five hours, as 73 citizens spoke with passion and eloquence in opposition to the pipeline, while only 6 spoke in favor.
The struggle to move from our fossil fuel past to a just and green future is playing out right in our own backyard. Please join us! There’s a place on our team for anyone with an interest in making a difference; no contribution is too small. Email Phyllis Hasbrouck or click here to get involved.
Photo: Monika Blazs