by Michelle Woodhouse
Aug 23, 2023
Excerpt:
Recently, a court ruled that fossil fuel giant Enbridge must shut down a section of the Line 5 oil pipeline that runs through the territory of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa by June 2026.
The band has been fighting a legal battle against Enbridge since 2019 to have the pipeline removed from its watershed. Enbridge has been found guilty of trespassing on Bad River Band territory since 2013.
This order is an important step toward permanently closing down this dangerous pipeline. Line 5, which is 70 years old, has had numerous safety violations and has been documented in a state of ill repair. The entire pipeline poses an immense threat to the health of the Great Lakes, especially in highly sensitive areas such as Bad River (a.k.a. Mashkiiziibii/Medicine River), an important tributary to Lake Superior, and the Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.
Unsurprisingly, Enbridge is trying to downplay the risk of a Line 5 rupture into the Great Lakes. However, recent spring flooding events have caused alarming rates of erosion along the Medicine River, bringing the pipeline dangerously close to open water and potential strikes from fast-moving debris. Heavy summer rainfall events could further compromise the pipeline’s safety.
There have also been several close calls in the Straits of Mackinac. Notably, Line 5 was struck and damaged in 2018 by a 12,000-pound anchor and again in 2019 by cables being used by nearby vessels.
As part of Enbridge’s ongoing efforts to continue operating this deteriorating pipeline, it is attempting to reroute 65 kilometres of pipeline around the Mashkiiziibii Chippewa’s territory. However, this proposal ignores the band’s call to have the pipeline removed from the entire Mashkiiziibii watershed. This plan also puts even more of the watershed at risk because it is situated further upstream from the current route.
Read the entire original text from Canada’s National Observer HERE
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