Senate OKs bill making it a felony to trespass on pipeline projects

Listen to this article

A bill that would make it a felony to trespass on the site of a pipeline project earned the state Senate’s approval on Tuesday.

The bipartisan proposal comes in response to protests at pipeline-project sites in northern Wisconsin. If the bill becomes law, people found guilty of trespassing on sites used for petroleum, renewable-fuel, chemical and water infrastructure will be subject to a felony carrying a punishment of as many as six years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Although the proposal has drawn support from construction groups and business interests, environmental and civil-rights organizations have argued that it could infringe on protestors’ ability to oppose projects such as Enbridge Energy’s long-planned Line 3 pipeline, which is to cross northern Minnesota before reaching its terminus in Superior.

During the Senate’s floor session on Tuesday, Sen. Chris Larson, a Democrat from Milwaukee, introduced an amendment that would have made trespassers guilty of a felony only if they disrupted service or did something that presented a “substantial threat” to people. Larson said some are worried that the bill, without such a change, could be used as a cudgel against people taking part in peaceful protests.

“Trespassing is already a crime,” Larson said. “This is just saying that if your intent is to make sure workers are protected, and it’s not just the intent to protect big energy companies from peaceful protests, then this amendment would cover that.”

But the Senate, on a 19-14 party-line vote, rejected the amendment before approving the bill and sending it to the state Assembly.

The proposal has drawn support both from construction groups such as the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139 and the Wisconsin Laborers District Council and business interests such as the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.

Despite unions’ support, union members themselves have sometimes been caught up in protests against pipeline projects. In one incident dating to 2017, a group of protestors entered an Enbridge construction site in Superior and crawled on equipment and piping. The police later found that an excavator’s window had been smashed, causing about $175 worth of damage.

Some activists have compared Wisconsin’s trespassing bill to legislation being pushed in various states by the conservative group American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. Greenpeace, an environmental group that is opposed to the bill, has said that nine states have adopted versions of ALEC’s bill.

Proponents, however, argue that Wisconsin’s proposal differs in several ways. The Wisconsin proposal, for one, would not impose its penalties on site inspectors, union organizers and protesters gathered lawfully.

Among the bill’s opponents are the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, which contends the proposal could deter people from using their free-speech rights to protest pipeline projects.

“This expanded definition sends a message to protesters, who are often members of Native tribes and the organizations that support them, that the government is watching them and wants them to stop vigorously protesting the impending damage to their lands, homes, and livelihoods,” according to an ACLU memo opposing the bill.

Sen. Van Wanggaard, a Republican from Racine and an author of the bill, said on Tuesday that the proposal is in no way meant to hinder peaceful protests.

“We worked with the union representatives and they support these because of the potential for damages to their equipment,” Wangaard said. “This is not an anti-protest bill. It is a bill to clearly define that it is not acceptable to be in these areas.” Follow @natebeck9