In January 2017, the Bad River Tribal Council passed a resolution not to renew easements on some parts of the tribal reservation land with Enbridge Energy for part of its Line 5 pipeline. The Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa wants the Canadian energy firm to remove its pipeline from the reservation.
The line, originally built in 1953, is more than a decade past its 50-year shelf life, and runs from Superior to the Straits of Mackinac.
Patty Loew, a member of the northern Wisconsin tribe, said the pipeline’s route is in an environmentally sensitive area. She said the area, which includes 71 acres of wild rice, is where Lake Superior’s lake trout spawn and is where people get their drinking water out of Chequamegon Bay.
"We’re trying to protect our way of life, of course, but we’re trying to protect our water not just for ourselves, but for everybody in the area, because clean water and clean air doesn't know reservation boundaries," Loew recently told "Central Time," after penning a piece in Madison Magazine titled, "The next big pipeline protest?"
She said it’s clear the Dakota Access Pipeline route and the protests on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota elevated public awareness about pipelines on a national scale.
However, she said there are key differences between the Dakota Access Pipeline and Enbridge's Line 5.
"The Dakota Access Pipeline was on disputed treaty land north of the reservation. The Enbridge Line 5 pipeline is clearly on our sovereign land, and it traverses the entire width of our 120 acres from west to east," she said.
The roughly 1,200-mile Dakota Access Pipeline goes from the Bakken oil fields in northwestern North Dakota, to South Dakota, Iowa and ends at a terminal in southern Illinois. Standing Rock Sioux Reservation tribal members and supporters fear the pipeline could harm waterways and threaten historical artifacts.
According to NPR, tribal and supporters argue they were not adequately consulted about the pipeline's path. Part of the pipeline runs under a Missouri River reservoir, a primary source of water for the reservation, and construction could cause damage and violate tribal treaty rights.
Loew argues the battle over Enbridge has different and bigger stakes than the Dakota Access Pipeline, particularly given the Trump administration. She said most observers expect this issue to end up in court.
"I’m not sure that anyone wants the issue to go to the U.S. Supreme Court, given the makeup these days, but we’ll just have to wait and hope that ethics and good sense prevail," she said.
Enbridge expressed surprise over the Bad River Band's decision not to renew easements in a press statement. They maintain the pipeline has been safely operating since 1953 and is a vital link to energy supplies in northern Wisconsin and in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
"We will be taking some time to review the Band's decision in detail to determine our next steps," Enbridge said in January.