Canadian Oil Giant Enbridge Builds Unauthorized Pipeline Bypass Following 1.3 Million Gallon Spill

Saxon, WI – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) repeatedly requested Enbridge keep its Line 5 pipeline shut down following the largest oil and gas spill in state history on Aug. 25. Enbridge defied the requests. Without receiving the required permits, it built a new pipeline to bypass the rupture and restarted Line 5’s operations.

Enbridge’s actions raise serious questions about the state’s ability to regulate large, multinational corporations and its willingness to enforce its permits.

Bad River Tribal Chair Liz Arbuckle asked DNR officials if the permits meant anything at all: “What are the consequences if they are violated?”

Arbuckle said the DNR representatives gave evasive responses. They told tribal leaders they are continuing to work with Enbridge in the permitting process. The DNR would not answer whether they would issue Enbridge retroactive permits for the bypass work.

DNR Sec. Karen Hyun and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers have criticized Enbridge’s conduct, but so far they have stopped short of meaningful enforcement action, such as revoking permits or taking legal action.

In a Sept. 9 letter to Enbridge, Hyun said that Enbridge has a growing list of environmental harms and permit violations, “demonstrating disregard for the environment, human health, and the statutory authority of the department.” Hyun said Enbridge’s Line 5 reroute permit violations have caused “continued frustration and profound unease” for state officials and the people of Wisconsin.

People living near the pipeline have been unsatisfied with the DNR’s construction oversight. Bad River Tribal Member Joe Bates and others have taken it upon themselves to keep an eye on things and make sure that spills and violations are promptly reported. It is worth noting that Bates’ drone footage of the spill made international headlines.

Enbridge’s spill site bypass required state permits to cross streams and wetlands. The DNR did not approve the work. Enbridge blocked state officials from accessing the rupture site for weeks, citing safety concerns. When the DNR got access to the site, the bypass was under construction.

The federal government imposed a no-fly zone for 20 days, preventing independent monitors from recording drone footage of the spill site. During this information blackout, the DNR and the community at-large were dependent on Enbridge’s self-reporting about spill impacts. The no-fly zone was lifted on Sept. 14, the day Enbridge restarted the flow of oil through Line 5.

Beth Wallace of the National Wildlife Federation criticized Enbridge’s lack of transparency at a recent press briefing. “Enbridge claims to have learned from the 2010 Kalamazoo oil spill, but [their recent actions show] that they have only escalated the ways in which they shut out local communities, and that is making communities less safe.”

Wallace urged Wisconsin officials and residents to take the issue seriously, calling attention to Enbridge’s “alarming escalation of federal preemption.” She referenced a federal case currently playing out in Michigan where “Enbridge is trying to destroy state rights to regulate [projects] of this nature.”

Enbridge has received strong criticism from other state and Tribal leaders.

Enbridge’s Line 3 construction in Minnesota ruptured several artesian aquifers. The company withheld information from the state about its first breach for months. Minnesota DNR Commissioner Sarah Strommen said in a media release that “Enbridge’s actions are clear violations of state law and also of public trust.”

On Sept. 9, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer renewed her call for a Line 5 shutdown in the Straits of Mackinac, calling the pipeline a “ticking time bomb in the heart of the Great Lakes.” Whitmer urged outgoing Enbridge CEO Gregory Ebel to shut it down “within months.”

In a press briefing, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians Tribal Chair Winnay Wemigwase stressed that the spill was a “grave warning sign that cannot be ignored,” not just an isolated incident.

“This 73-year-old pipeline infrastructure poses an immediate, unacceptable threat across its entire 645-mile span,” said Wemigwase, one of a growing number of voices calling for orderly decommissioning as the only sensible path forward.

Cover image contributed by Devon Cupery: Enbridge built multiple unpermitted bridges to support its above-ground Line 5 bypass around the Aug. 25 spill site.

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