Wisconsin DNR extends Public Comment Period For Draft Environmental Impact Statement on proposed Enbridge pipeline relocation

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)

By Barbara With*
Posted March 16, 2022, on Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative
Reprinted with permission

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced on March 16, 2022, it is extending the public comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement that it has prepared for the proposed relocation of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline. The comment period is extended by one month and will now close on April 15, 2022.

The department is currently reviewing the more than 10,000 written comments it has received to date. The department has determined that this extension is reasonable given the project’s complexity, the volume of technical information, the length of the draft Environmental Impact Statement and the public interest in the project. The department hopes the extended comment period will provide the public with ample time to review and provide comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement.

The public is encouraged to submit written comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement by email or regular mail. Submit electronic and hardcopy written comments at any time through Friday, April 15, 2022, to:  

Department of Natural Resources Line 5 EIS Comments (EA/7) 101 South Webster Street, Madison, WI 53707 Email: DNROEEACOMMENTS@WI.GOV

The Wisconsin DNR will consider all public comments received during the comment period and any other pertinent information that becomes known to the department and prepare a Final Environmental Impact Statement. The public will be notified when the Final Environmental Impact Statement is completed. No permit decisions will be made until after the Environmental Impact Statement process is complete.

More information on the proposed project and the Draft Environmental Impact Statement is available on the DNR’s Enbridge Pipeline Projects webpage.**

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

** See also the Feb. 9, 2022, article "Guest Article: Citizens expose gross inadequacies in Enbridge Line 5 draft EIS, tell DNR to do their job." 

Guest Article: Speak Up for Lake Superior’s Bad River Watershed: Work to Save What You Love!

Lake Superior. (Photo courtesy Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative)

Posted Feb. 13, 2022, on Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative (WCMC)
Reprinted here with permission

A Zoom Webinar will be held from 6 p.m. - 7 p.m. (CT) / 7 p.m. - 8 p.m. (ET) on Monday, February 14. This second Webinar in WCMC's Kairos-supported* events focuses on the following:

• What is included and what was omitted in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource’s draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the proposed re-routing of Enbridge Line 5
• What points to highlight in written responses to the WI DNR within the public response period (closing on March 18, 2022)
• Resources and toolkits for effective letters to the WI DNR and government leaders

Guest Speakers:

Marcia Bjornerud, professor of environmental studies and geosciences at Lawrence University, is a structural geologist. She has done field research in arctic and mainland Norway, arctic Canada, Scotland, New Zealand, Italy and the Lake Superior region, including the Gogebic Range/Penokee Hills. She has worked pro bono with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission in challenging two mining projects in the Lake Superior watershed. In 2008, she was an expert witness in an administrative court case against the Eagle copper-nickel sulfide mine northwest of Marquette, Michigan. In 2012, she prepared a report for GLIFWC on the potential environmental effects of a proposed mountaintop removal iron mining project in the Gogebic Range and testified about this at a hearing at the Wisconsin State Capitol. She is a mother of three sons, an avid cross-country skier, and a wild food forager -- and once bicycled around Lake Superior with two friends (it took 13 days).

Philomena Kebec belongs to the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. She moved home 10 years ago to advocate for protection of watershed resources. Philomena is an elected Ashland County Supervisor and runs a small nonprofit, Badriverharmreduction.org, that provides services to prevent overdose and infection for people who use drugs. (She would welcome financial support for her nonprofit.) Philomena is deeply knowledgeable about the Bad River watershed and its residents.

Register in advance for this webinar at:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_JiGj1oHTSLan_zNjBvq-hQ

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

*A Webinar sponsored by First Congregational UCC Appleton with support from the Wisconsin UCC Creation Care Team and a Wisconsin Conference UCC’s Kairos/Catalyst grant.

Editor's Note: See also this Feb. 9 guest article from WCMC: "Guest Article: Citizens expose gross inadequacies in Enbridge Line 5 draft EIS, tell DNR to do their job."