{"id":3697,"date":"2023-06-21T05:04:50","date_gmt":"2023-06-21T05:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=3697"},"modified":"2023-06-21T05:57:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-21T05:57:27","slug":"wisconsin-manufacturers-and-commerce-urges-dnr-to-move-on-permitting-line-5-pipeline-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=3697","title":{"rendered":"Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Urges DNR to Move on Permitting Line 5 Pipeline Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/wisconsin-manufacturers-and-commerce-urges-dnr-to-move-on-permitting-line-5-pipeline-project\/mkittle\/2023\/06\/21\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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Time is of the essence for the Evers administration to act on a critical energy pipeline relocation project in northern Wisconsin, according to the state\u2019s largest chamber of commerce and manufacturers\u2019 association.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) is urging the state Department of Natural Resources to swiftly move forward with a slow-moving permitting process of\u00a0Enbridge Energy Co.\u2019s Line 5 relocation project<\/a> in northern Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Court Judge William Conley of the Western District of Wisconsin issued his ruling<\/a> on Friday, giving the Canada-based oil company three years to complete its rerouting of the oil and natural gas pipeline off land owned by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court will give Enbridge an additional three years to complete a reroute. If Enbridge fails to do so, the three years will at least give the public and other affected market players time to adjust to a permanent closure of Line 5,\u201d the judge wrote in his decision. He also ordered Enbridge to pay the tribe $5 million in compensation.<\/p>\n

While WMC said it applauds the court\u2019s decision to not immediately shut down Line 5 and allow it to continue to safely operate, Conley\u2019s deadline draws more urgency to the regulatory process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWisconsin businesses depend on the energy provided by Line 5 and a shutdown would have devastating impacts on our state\u2019s economy and families,\u201d said Scott Manley (pictured above), WMC executive vice president of Government Relations.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Enbridge announced it will appeal Conley\u2019s ruling. The company asserts its contract with the tribe to operate in the disputed area runs through 2043. It\u2019s the lengthy permitting process that has slowed down the relocation project, critics say. Enbridge first filed for federal and state permits three years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the three-year timeline is arbitrary, it is achievable, provided government permitting agencies follow reasonable and timely processes,\u201d the company said in a statement. \u201cWe urge prompt government action so this project can be completed within the next three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enbridge said its contract with the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa allows it to continue operating the disputed section of the pipeline through 2043. Last year, Conley found the energy provider has been trespassing on portions of the tribe\u2019s land since 2013, when some of Enbridge\u2019s easements expired.<\/p>\n

WMC and other supporters of Line 5 argue the pipeline is vital to the upper Midwest\u2019s energy infrastructure and to Wisconsin\u2019s economy. It moves as much as 540,000 barrels of energy products each day throughout the region. As WMC notes, to transport the equivalent, it would require 2,100 Tander trucks traveling across Northern Wisconsin roads each day \u2014 or about 90 trucks leaving the Superior terminal each hour.\u00a0The 60-foot-wide line runs 645 miles in total, from\u00a0Northwest Wisconsin to Michigan\u2019s Upper Peninsula, beneath the Straits of Mackinac and into Canada.<\/p>\n

Enbridge officials said they will continue to pursue government permits needed to reroute the pipeline away from the tribal lands. It filed for the federal and state permits in 2020.<\/p>\n

Manley said the company began the permitting process for the $450 million-plus Wisconsin Segment Relocation Project in 2020. In July 2019, the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians filed a lawsuit seeking the removal of the section of the pipeline, built 70 years ago, from the Bad River Reservation. Enbridge proposes relocating 12 miles of Line 5 from the property, replacing it with approximately 41 miles of pipe outside of the reservation.<\/p>\n

But the company can\u2019t move forward until the DNR makes a decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been over three years since Enbridge began the permitting process with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, yet no decision has been made,\u201d Manley said. \u201cThere is no excuse for this delay, and Wisconsinites who rely on this critical energy infrastructure deserve better. We call on the Wisconsin DNR to immediately approve this project, and allow the relocation work to begin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tribal officials and environmental activists have been trying to shut down the line for years. Last month, Bad River Band officials filed an emergency motion asking Conley to immediately shut down the stretch in question, arguing spring floods were only exacerbating erosion and putting the pipeline in risk of rupturing.<\/p>\n

Conley said the tribe didn\u2019t prove an imminent threat existed to the pipeline, while expressing frustration over the tribe\u2019s refusal to work with Enbridge to slow erosion on the river, Wisconsin Public Radio<\/em> reported.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe band has not helped itself by refusing to take any steps to prevent a catastrophic failure at the meander,\u201d the judge said.<\/a> \u201cYou haven\u2019t even allowed simple steps that would have prevented some of this erosion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the regulatory slog continues at a Department of Natural Resources ultimately led by Governor Tony Evers, a far left Democrat with a penchant for an extreme climate change agenda and powerful environmental allies.<\/p>\n

While the DNR released its draft environmental review in 2021, it has yet to publish its final environmental impact state or issue permits for the reroute.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin Public Radio reported<\/a> last year that the Environmental Protection Agency found the state had yet to fully analyze its potential effects on water resources, climate change, treaty rights and spill risks. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is also reviewing Enbridge\u2019s application for a permit<\/a> under the Clean Water Act.<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n

M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
\n<\/strong>Photo \u201cScott Manley\u201d by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce<\/a>. Background Photo \u201cWisconsin Department of Natural Resources Building\u201d by I<\/a>. CC BY-SA 3.0.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Urges DNR to Move on Permitting Line 5 Pipeline Project<\/a> appeared first on The Wisconsin Daily Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/wisconsin-manufacturers-and-commerce-urges-dnr-to-move-on-permitting-line-5-pipeline-project\/mkittle\/2023\/06\/21\/ Time is of the essence for the Evers administration…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-daily-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3698,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3697\/revisions\/3698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}