The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and allies across the Great Lakes are calling on us to help protect drinking water, wild rice, fisheries, and cultural survival.

The Line 5 pipeline is a few yards from imminent catastrophe at the Bad River Reservation in northern Wisconsin. Springtime flooding and erosion have caused the Bad River to come within 10 feet of the pipeline. Over one month, more than half the remaining riverbank disappeared. The next rainfall event could cause a “guillotine rupture,” – a vertical break causing oil to gush from both sides, poisoning Mashkiiziibii (Bad River), Gichigami (Lake Superior) and Madeline Island.

The Biden Administration has the authority to respond to this emergency and shut down the pipeline. Urge President Biden to act now!

“I can’t overstress how devastating a spill in the watershed would be,” says Naomi Tillison, Director of the Bad River Mashkiiziibii Natural Resources Department. “The Bad River hatchery is the largest producer of walleye fingerlings in Lake Superior. If the waters that our hatcheries and wild rice beds rely on were contaminated with oil, not only would our supply of food, water and medicines be depleted, our coastal wetlands would be devastated and all of the businesses and people in the region who depend on our fisheries would suffer.”

On June 16th, a federal judge ordered Enbridge to shut down the portion of Line 5 that crosses the reservation within 3 years and pay the Band $5.1 million for unlawful trespass on the reservation. The court’s ruling is a win in that it places tribal sovereignty above corporate profit.

However, the ruling leaves us concerned for three reasons. First, there is no evidence-based reason to extend Enbridge’s trespass and its public nuisance for three more years. A more immediate shutdown of Line 5 would have little to no noticeable effect on jobs, prices, and energy supplies, while protecting valuable ecological and cultural resources.

Second, the shutdown plan that Enbridge has in place for high river flow and heavy rainfall is not stringent enough to guard this critical watershed from the threat of the pipeline’s rupture, even with the court’s amendments. And finally, the monetary award that Enbridge must pay the Band is far too small to deter further trespass by fossil fuel companies against the Band and other Tribal Nations.

Built 70 years ago with an engineered lifespan of 50 years, the expired Line 5 pumps up to 540,000 barrels of petroleum per day from western to eastern Canada, cutting through Tribal territories in Wisconsin and Michigan and running beneath the Straits of Mackinac. Line 5 threatens to rupture at any moment into Lakes Michigan and Huron, which provide drinking water for millions of people.

Send a message today urging the Biden Administration to #ShutDownLine5 to protect the Great Lakes from an oil disaster.

In 2010, Enbridge was responsible for the largest inland oil spill in our nation’s history when Line 6B released nearly one million gallons of heavy crude oil into the Kalamazoo River. It took Enbridge employees 17 hours to even realize a rupture had occurred. The spill polluted more than 4,000 acres of land and closed the river to the public for two years. The damage to Nottawaseppi cultural and treaty-protected practices are felt to this day.

During the months-long shutdown of Line 6B in 2010, there was no sizable impact on gas prices in the area. Similarly, the market would quickly adjust to a shutdown of Line 5. Enbridge’s own experts predict that a shutdown of Line 5 would cause gasoline prices to rise by less than 1 cent per gallon in Michigan and Wisconsin.

In comparison, the cleanup and remediation from a full-bore oil spill could amount to over a billion dollars. That price doesn’t include the irreversible cultural devastation to the Bad River Tribe, depressed property values, and impacts to local fishing and tourism that could last for generations.

The Biden Administration has the power to act and avert an oil disaster in the Great Lakes, which hold 84% of North America's surface freshwater.

President Biden, please take a stand now: decommission the Line 5 pipeline!

Team 350 Chicago