Enbridge Energy Co. on Tuesday said it will appeal a federal court judge’s ruling giving the company three years to close a section of its Line 5 pipeline that runs through tribal territory in Wisconsin and ordering it to pay the Indian tribe more than $5 million in compensation.
Enbridge said its contract with the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa allows it to continue operating the disputed section of pipeline through 2043.The company also said it 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.
“While the three-year timeline is arbitrary, it is achievable, provided government permitting agencies follow reasonable and timely processes,” the company said in a statement. “We urge prompt government action so this project can be completed within the next three years.”
A spokesperson for the Bad River Band could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The line runs through easements granted by the tribe when the pipeline was built in the early 1950s. But the tribe refused to renew the easements after they expired in 2013 and filed suit in 2019 to force closure of the section that runs through the easements. Enbridge has argued that a 1992 agreement to renew the 12 contested easements.
The tribe had sought a permanent shutdown of the pipeline section on its land, saying a recent erosion of a section of riverbank, known as a meander, through which the pipeline runs has increased chances that the line could be undermined, leading to a rupture.
In his ruling Friday, Western District of Wisconsin Judge William Conley said “a rupture of Line 5 at the Bad River meander would unquestionably be a public nuisance and that the current conditions at the meander create a real and unreasonable risk of that nuisance occurring such that equitable relief is warranted.”
The judge, however, said the risk of rupture is not so immediate as to warrant the impact on energy prices and supply that an immediate shutdown would create in the upper Midwest and Canada. The judge also pointed to the tribe’s refusal to allow Enbridge to conduct work to shore up the eroded section of riverbank posing a threat to the pipeline.
The judge said the three-year timeframe represents “a more conservative” shutdown and purge plan than the company proposed in December.
The judge also ordered Enbridge to pay the band $5,151,668 for its use of the land following the band’s objections and established a formula for future payments as long as the section of pipeline remains in operation.
The 540,000 b/d pipeline carries oil and natural gas liquids to four U.S. refineries in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania as well as six refineries in Ontario and Quebec.
The company’s dispute with the Indian band led the Canadian government in August to formally invoke a 1977 treaty with the U.S. concerning transit pipelines, which ensures the uninterrupted transmission of hydrocarbons from one place in Canada to another through the U.S.
In its statement, Enbridge said shutting Line 5 down before the disputed section is relocated to other land would violate the treaty “Line 5 is operating safely and reliably. It is critical infrastructure which transports affordable and essential energy used by millions of U.S. and Canadian families and businesses in the upper Midwest and Great Lakes region.
Shutting down Line 5 prior to completion of the proposed relocation project would threaten North American energy security, disrupt local and regional economies, and violate the Transit Pipeline Treaty,” the statement said.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
–Reporting by Steve Cronin, scronin@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com
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