Wisconsin DNR sends Enbridge a list of demands

By Barbara With*

Posted Nov. 1, 2022, on Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative

Reprinted here with permission

Terrain near Copper Falls State Park, Wis., where Enbridge plans to do horizontal directional drilling to build a pipeline. (Photo courtesy Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative)

On October 31, 2022, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WIDNR) sent Enbridge Energy a letter asking for data needed to prepare the environmental impact statement (EIS) for their proposed Line 5 reroute through the Bad River watershed. Among other things, the letter questions the drilling fluids -- how many and what other damaging additives they plan to use -- and how they will contain PFAS.

READ LETTER HERE

Just two weeks prior, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison filed criminal charges against Enbridge for the damage they did in northern Minnesota when they built Line 3. Among other things, on August 10, 2021 the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) released a report saying there had been more frack outs of drilling fluid spilled along Line 3 than Enbridge had previously reported. The state water permit issued to Enbridge did not authorize the release of drilling fluid to a wetland or river. But between June 8 and August 5, Enbridge created 28 releases at 12 river crossings, with 13 spills into wetlands and 14 in upland areas. Enbridge brokered an $11M settlement with the State and must promise to not break the law again.

WIDNR is in the process of developing an EIS in response to Enbridge’s proposed plan to reroute their ailing pipeline out of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s reservation. The Band did not renew Enbridge’s easement in 2013, but Enbridge continued to operate illegally. Bad River sued in 2019, and on September 7, 2022 Enbridge was found guilty of criminal trespass and unjust enrichment and ordered to pay financial compensation.

Instead of decommissioning Line 5, they plan to reroute it into the million-year-old watershed of the Penokee Hills. They are proposing doing horizontal directional drilling (HDD) through terrain that, in the event of a spill, would be near impossible to respond to. The watershed flows into Lake Superior through the Kakagon Sloughs, home of Bad River’s wild rice. Considering the damage done in Minnesota and their propensity to lie, Enbridge should be pressed with the hard questions of how they would plan to protect the area from their reckless practices.

In August 2022, WIDNR reported that an Enbridge contractor discovered oil-contaminated soil along the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline just south of the City of Ashland. Several thousand pounds of dirt were removed according to eye witnesses. Enbridge reported it was only about a tablespoon. Enbridge continues to demonstrate that they cannot be forthcoming with the truth.

Bad River Chairman Mike Wiggins Jr: "Deep Blue under Earth drinking water aquifers look like they are reaching out but they are actually pouring down and pouring in. Wispy areas are where surface waters and groundwaters interact, and it’s hardly a place for Earth destroyers. Water is life." Click on map for larger version. (Map courtesy Mike Wiggins, Jr.)

To make matters worse, Enbridge has already signed a contract with the Michels Corporation to build Line 5. Owner Tim Michels would profit greatly from WIDNR granting permits. The Michels Corporation, however, has been part of criminal charges recently filed by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro against Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) for the work they did on the Mariner East 2 pipeline. Michels was the construction company and the grand jury investigation revealed that Michels lost drilling fluid 22 different times during the drilling of the 20-inch line and another nine times during work on the 16-inch line.**

READ THE GRAND JURY REPORT

Drilling for a 16-inch line began in May 2020 with Michels as the subcontractor. Between May and August, the drill lost circulation of fluid totaling approximately 100,000 gallons. These losses were not reported to DEP (Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection). From August through September, drilling fluid flowed into Snitz Creek five different times, resulting in five more Notices of Violation from DEP.

Grand Jury investigation into Mariner East 2 Pipeline 

Taking all of this into account, how can Enbridge or Michels be trusted here? Does it matter how they respond to WIDNR request for information?

Enbridge should not be trusted to monitor themselves. Million-dollar fines are calculated as a cost of doing business, leaving behind damaged aquifers, contaminated soil, poisoned wells, millions of gallons of water wasted, and remediation projects that cost millions of dollars and take years to complete. In light of the evidence that Enbridge breaks the law repeatedly, WIDNR would be wise to not allow them into the watershed.

Decommission the line and let Enbridge use any of the many other lines they have running through Wisconsin to reroute their oil.

Editor's Notes:

* Guest author Barbara With is a journalist for the Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative.

** When Tim Michels was running for governor of Wisconsin in the recent midterm election, he promised to break up WIDNR. Since the original date of publication of this article, he lost that election to incumbent Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers.

GUEST EDITORIAL: We are all connected, and we are all being threatened by Enbridge and the politicians who support them

By Barbara With*
Posted Oct. 2, 2021, on Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative
Reprinted with permission

On July 19, 2021, Mary Klein, Winona LaDuke, Barbara With, Trish Weber, Cheryl Barnds, Kelly Maracle, and Flo Razowsky were arrested on an Enbridge easement running illegally through 1855 Treaty Territory at the Shell River near Park Rapids, MN. (Photo: Citizen X)

Dear friends and neighbors,

As many of you might know, I spent this past summer at Shell City Water Protector Camp in northern Minnesota, taking a stand to protect the water there from Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline. The destruction this project has caused is a nightmare.

While I appreciate being thanked for my service, I would much prefer to see an engaged community who are aware of these dangers and also willing to take a stand to protect our beloved Lake Superior from the destruction this multinational corporation is bringing our way in Northern Wisconsin via Line 5.

Two months after my arrest, Enbridge is proving they are indeed a threat to us all as they destroy the waters even before they turn on their tar sands to flow through those damaged and damaging Line 3 pipes.

September 26, 2021: Near the headwaters of the Mississippi--rising drilling fluids in the wetlands caused by Enbridge Line 3. According to Minnesota licensed geologist Jeffrey Brosberg, recent rainfall may have added to the groundwater pressure causing the drilling fluids to rise weeks after their horizontal directional drilling was completed. Five drilling fluid releases were documented at this location, but only two were reported to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, who are in charge of Enbridge’s 401 Clean Water Permit. (Photo: Ron Turney)

September 28, 2021: Massive waste containment failure at Enbridge’s Line 3 Clearwater River crossing. Water Protectors monitoring the situation reveal what appears to be another aquifer breach with drill mud and groundwater rising from the drill pad. The waste holding tanks that have been constructed fill up fast and the excess is discharged onto the grass. A holding tank can be seen leaking and was drained into the nearby woods thru straw bales. A blueish oily residue can be seen in the grass. What is in those chemicals? (Photo: Ron Turney)

Line 3 was re-routed out of Canada and into the water-rich lands of 1855 Treaty Territory in northern Minnesota without consulting the Tribes and after Enbridge achieved what is known as "regulatory capture." Minnesota regulatory agencies have abandoned the public trust and are being dominated by the very interests they are charged with regulating. In this case, the foreign multinational corporation convinced politicians on all sides of the aisle and every level of government to protect them over protecting the water, land, wild rice, and people of the State of Minnesota.

Because of this, on August 4, 2021, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe sued the Minnesota DNR. Plaintiffs assert that the diversion of 5 billion gallons of water for an oil pipeline will interfere with both the rights of manoomin (wild rice), as well as the rights of tribal members to use Treaty lands to hunt, fish, and gather wild rice.

As of August 2021, Enbridge-funded Northern Lights Task Force has paid over $1.7 million for Minnesota county law enforcement to protect the multinational foreign corporation and to make over 900 arrests of water protectors. Task Force members were recently documented using pain compliance and rubber bullets on non-violent water protectors. Minnesota is now an oil company with a police force.

This insanity is now in Wisconsin, as Enbridge prepares to do the same over here with their proposed new Line 5 through the Penokee Hills. It’s a looming nightmare that must be stopped before it starts.

Enbridge’s proposed new Line 5 through the Penokees crosses every major river in the watershed. Plans include mile-long horizontal directional drilling -- the same that produced the many breeches in the Minnesota aquifers as they drilled under 207 waterways over there -- and blasting through the million-year-old granite, rich with asbestos, in order to install their new line. (Map: Carl Lemke Sack)

Enbridge is proposing the new Line 5 through the Bad River watershed in the Penokee Hills because their permit to operate the original Line 5 through the Bad River reservation expired in 2013. The Tribe is suing them to decommission the line and remove it from the ground. Enbridge is now operating Line 5 illegally.

Enbridge Line 5 exposure in the Denomie Creek subwatershed. Sandbags were temporarily installed under the free-standing pipeline. (Photo: MNRD)

From Bad River, Line 5 continues on into Michigan, where it is also operating illegally, as Gov. Whitmer ordered Enbridge to shut down the now 68-year-old line that is damaged and dangerously positioned under the Straits of Mackinac. They refused, forcing Whitmer to start more extreme actions to protect the Straits.

After that, Line 5 heads back to Canada via Sarnia, where it is shipped off to Canadian and foreign markets.

I live in Lake Superior, on Mooningwaanekaaning Minis (Madeline Island), the sacred center of the Anishinaabe universe. I understand that we have a paradise here, but we non-Indigenous people are the privileged who get to live here when so few Indigenous folks can afford to visit their sacred homeland, much less own property here. Because of that, we never see the economic and social struggles of the Tribes because they are systemically excluded from coming and living here. We are privileged because so many of us will never have to deal with, for example, the racist conditions of the Ashland County jail, like those our Indigenous friends and neighbors are subjected to. It’s time to recognize how our privilege to just ignore these problems stemming from centuries of genocidal US Government policies are preventing us from effectively dealing with them, and continuing to harm the Indigenous people whose homelands we inhabit.

Imagine oil washing up at Joni’s Beach, or on your own beach. Imagine your drinking water being made undrinkable because Enbridge uses PFAS -- forever chemical -- just to install the pipelines. Imagine watching the Penokee Hills get blasted apart in order to put that pipeline through.

Today [October 2] we will be celebrating the 167th Anniversary of the 1854 Treaty, signed here on the Island. It is our responsibility to learn what it means to be Treaty People. Water Protectors from Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin will be here all day to educate, inspire, and ask you to TAKE ACTION to stop this monstrous situation from destroying what we all hold so dear. We will be at the Harry Nelson Ballpark all day. Come learn how to help.**

THIS IS NOT ONLY A REPUBLICAN EFFORT. Our Democratic Senator Janet Bewley crafted the Felony Protest Bill, originally drafted by the American Petroleum Institute, of which Enbridge is a member. Despite huge objections from her constituents, and despite the Chequamegon Dems writing a resolution begging her, Rep. Beth Meyers and Gov. Tony Evers, all Democrats, not to support that horrible bill, they did -- they passed it. All without consulting the Tribes. Now it’s a felony to even be caught standing on an Enbridge easement. This is how regulatory capture happens.

Now Indigenous community members, whose spiritual obligations have always included protecting the water and providing for their community, are facing felony charges if they fulfill these spiritual responsibilities.

(Cartoon: William J. Krupinski)

Please familiarize yourself with Man Camps, temporary Enbridge housing for construction workers that threaten all Indigenous women. One out of every three Indigenous women will go missing or murdered. ONE OUT OF THREE. These Man Camps harbor those who prey on Indigenous women. Right now, the AmericInn in Ashland is housing the influx of Enbridge workers who have come to start building this devastating project, even before Enbridge has received permits, and before the Wisconsin DNR finalizes their Environmental Impact Statement.

This is a potential disaster we can and must prevent. Stopping the construction of Line 5 and the social, environmental, cultural and spiritual devastation it will bring is not just about our beautiful, beloved and sacred part of the world. It’s about the survival of the entire planet. We are all connected, and we are all being threatened by Enbridge and the politicians who support them.

In the end, you simply cannot drink oil.

Editor's Notes:

* Guest author Barbara With is a journalist for the Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative.

** Although it is too late to attend this event you can learn more and help by supporting/following the Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative, a volunteer organization.

La Pointe, Wis., passes resolution supporting shut down of Enbridge Line 5

This map shows the location of Mooningwaanekaaning Minis -- Madeline Island -- and its proximity to the Bad River Indian Reservation. Bad River is suing Enbridge because of threats from Line 5, which crosses through 12 miles of sensitive habitat on the Reservation. (Maps and photos courtesy Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa)

By Barbara With*
Posted Aug. 28, 2019, on Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative
Reprinted with permission.

LA POINTE, Wis. -- In a stunning show of support for the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Town of La Pointe (Wis.) Board of Supervisors unanimously voted on Aug. 27, 2019, to pass Resolution 2019-0827 Enbridge, denouncing Enbridge Line 5 and all pipelines in the Great Lakes, and standing by Bad River in their July 23, 2019, lawsuit against the foreign oil company. La Pointe is on Mooningwaanekaaning Minis -- Madeline Island -- in the middle of the Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin.

The Bad River suit is to force the foreign oil company to comply with its legal obligations to decommission and remove the 66-year-old pipeline from the Bad River watershed. Oil continues to flow across 12 miles of sensitive reservation habitat, even though the right-of-way easements expired in 2013, and Line 5 is in imminent danger of failing. The suit comes only after several years of mediation that failed to get Enbridge to shut the line down.**

According to the lawsuit:

A meander bend in the Bad River adjacent to where the pipeline is currently buried under the River -- and directly upstream from the Kakagon and Bad River Sloughs -- has been migrating, causing the river to move ever closer to a portion of the pipeline that is buried much shallower than the adjacent river bottom. That bend is highlighted in blue below. When the migrating channel of the Bad River reaches the buried pipeline, the river will erode and remove the surrounding soils (a process known as scouring) until the pipeline is exposed. When this occurs, portions of the pipeline will no longer be supported by underlying or surrounding soils for the length of the exposure, and the unsupported span will lengthen as the river continues to carry away the soils.

This aerial view shows the Line 5 pipeline (slightly diagonal orange line) crossing the meandering Bad River on the Bad River Reservation. Click on image for larger view.

The foregoing circumstances represent an existential threat to the Band, its Reservation resources, and its way of life. They pose a dire threat to the treaty-protected rights of the Band and its members in the lands and waters of the Reservation. Accordingly, in addition to constituting a trespass and unlawful possession of the Band’s lands, Enbridge’s refusal to halt the flow of oil across the Reservation constitutes a grave public nuisance.

Read the entire lawsuit here.

The Tribe continues to monitor and document the dangerous conditions of the pipeline and the imminent danger to the entire Chequamegon Bay because of Enbridge’s refusal to stop the oil. Bad River is hoping to avert a potentially devastating situation before it happens and bring the company’s unauthorized presence to an end.

This photo was taken  where 25-40 feet of Enbridge Line 5 pipe are unsupported and exposed to the elements at the Denomie Creek tributaries on the Bad River Reservation. 

Resolution 2019-0837 Enbridge addresses the 1,244 spills, leaks and releases over a 17-year period, the failure of Enbridge to have a plan to clean up a spill under ice, and the urgency to decommission Line 5, considering the extremity of the problem and the great risk La Pointe and Madeline Island are currently in because of Enbridge’s refusal to stop the oil.

Residents of La Pointe who attended the meeting were in agreement with the resolution.

Mashkiiziibi (Bad River) Band requests Enbridge line 5 cessation of oil flow

On August 21, 2019, Bad River Natural Resources Department and technical experts discovered over 48 feet of exposed pipeline on Enbridge line 5 at the Denomie Creek site identified as slope # 18. Various interactions with storm events combined with the natural unpredictability of the land and water have naturally eroded enbankments throughout the area.

Tribal staff and technical experts are currently on site analyzing the threat and have been directed to prepare for emergency management response. Over the last few years, Bad River NRD has been communicating to Enbridge that these right-of-ways need to be continually and routinely monitored and brushed because of the natural changes of the landscape and threats the pipeline poses. Slope # 18 represents an area that Enbridge bas not presently brushed and maintained on the surface.

In a letter dated August 21, 2019 from Bad River Chairman Michael Wiggins, Jr., to Enbridge President Guy Jarvis, Wiggins states, "I do not need to tell you that the discovery of this exposed and unsupported stretch of pipeline is a highly significant and alarming development." Chairman Wiggins acknowledged two steps considered by the Band to be essential to addressing the situation: 1) The Band requested the cessation of oil flow through the reservation. 2) The Band requested that Enbridge respond and participate in the further investigation of the situation.

The Band filed suit in the Western District of Wisconsin Federal Court on July 23, 2019, asserting invaluable resources at stake and that certain areas were at risk for pipeline exposure.**

With over 7,000 members, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians is located on an 125,000-acre reservation in an area within Ashland and Iron Counties on the south shore of Gichi-Gami (Lake Superior). The Ojibwe people have a long and rich heritage throughout the Great Lakes region prior to European contact and through to today. Treaties signed by eleven Ojibwe Tribes ceded millions of acres throughout the region, including what is currently the upper one-third of the State of Wisconsin, but retained the rights to hunt, fish, and gather in the ceded territories, both on and off of their reservation land.

Bad River Band logo courtesy Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

Click here to learn more about the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

* Guest author Barbara With is an award-winning author and composer, international peace activist, founding member of Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative, and defender of Lake Superior and the Penokee Mountains.

** See our July 28, 2019, article, "Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa sues Enbridge to remove Line 5."

Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative: Grothman brings back asbestos bill just in time for DNR revelation

By Barbara With
Posted Oct. 11, 2013, on Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative (WCMC)
Reprinted in part with permission

This is the first in a WCMC four-part series on asbestos.

MADISON, WIS. -- On Monday, Oct. 7, 2013, Wisconsin State Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) introduced a substitute amendment to controversial SB13, the torts and personal injury trusts reform bill that makes it harder for victims of asbestos poisoning to receive trust money allotted for dealing with mesothelioma. Introduced back in February by Grothman and Rep. Andre Jacque (R-De Pere), SB13 had a public hearing on April 11, although  the hearing results have yet to be posted on the official Wisconsin legislative website.

On Oct. 6, WCMC broke the story of abundant grunerite asbestos at Bulk Sampling Site 4 of the proposed Gogebic Taconite (GTac) mining project in the Penokee Hills. GTac repeatedly denied the presence of asbestos in their bulk sampling permit application. The state Department of Natural Resources knew that grunerite was present at GTac’s bulk sample sites but did little to give the public information on the potential health risks. DNR Hydrologist Larry Lynch went so far as to say he would trust GTac to come up with a plan to contain the asbestos that they themselves were denying existed.

Bad River Tribal Chair Mike Wiggins Jr. accused GTac of a cover-up, calling their denial of the presence of asbestos "a compelling premeditation for disaster." ...

Photo insert: A cross polarized light image of a piece of grunerite asbestos from Bulk Sampling Site 4 taken by pointing a cell phone down the camera port of a microscope showing the asbestos needles. The width of the piece is approximately 300 microns = 0.3 mm or about 1/100th of an inch. (Photo © and courtesy Dr. Joseph Skulan)

Click here to read the rest of this article on wcmcoop.com.