Bad River Band sues U.S. Army Corps over permit for Line 5 reroute

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By Caitlin Looby
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the permit the federal agency issued for Enbridge’s Line 5 reroute project in northern Wisconsin.

The Army Corps issued its permit for the reroute project in northern Wisconsin on Oct. 29 during the federal government shutdown. No supporting documents were included. In the lawsuit, the Bad River Band argues that the permit does not comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act.

The lawsuit adds another layer to existing litigation on the project to move its Line 5 pipeline around the Bad River Band reservation.

“For more than a decade, we have had to endure the unlawful trespass of a dangerous oil pipeline on our lands and waters,” Bad River Band Chairwoman Elizabeth Arbuckle said in a press release. “Enbridge’s history is full of accidents and oil spills. If that happens here, our Tribe and other communities in the Northwoods will suffer unacceptable consequences.”

Enbridge, the Calgary-based pipeline and energy giant, proposed a 41-mile reroute around the Bad River Band’s land in 2020. The Canadian energy giant is under a June 2026 court-ordered deadline to get the pipeline off Bad River Band land − although that decision could also get overturned.

The Bad River Band has long feared how an oil leak or spill could harm its land, water and way of life, as well as the Kakagon Sloughs, home to the largest wild rice bed remaining on the Great Lakes.

The Bad River Band and environmental groups are also awaiting a decision on a contested case hearing that occurred earlier this year, which examined whether the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources followed state law when it approved key permits in 2024. That decision likely will get appealed to state court.

Neither Enbridge nor the Army Corps has signed the Corps’ permit, said Juli Kellner, spokesperson for Enbridge, in an emailed statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Until then, it’s not “judicially reviewable,” she said.

The two entities plan to sign once the DNR case is settled, provided Enbridge prevails. At that time, “Enbridge will move to intervene in the lawsuit and defend the [Army Corps’] forthcoming permit decision,” Kellner said.

The Canadian energy giant first proposed its 41-mile reroute around the Bad River Band’s land in 2020. The new stretch of pipeline would go south of the Band’s land, farther inland into Ashland and Iron counties. It would go through Iron County State Forest, around Copper Falls State Park and cross more than 180 Lake Superior tributaries, including the Bad River.

A 2021 estimate suggested it would cost $450 million.

Laura Schulte, reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, contributed to reporting on this story.