For Immediate Release: January 12, 2022
Contact: Phyllis Hasbrouck | Organizer | 350 Madison | phyllis.hasbrouck@350madison.org
Elizabeth Ward | Chapter Director | Sierra Club Wisconsin | elizabeth.ward@sierraclub.org
Wisconsinites Call for Rejection of Line 5
Activists deliver petitions using art and creativity to call on the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to deny permits for the pipeline
MADISON- On Wednesday, activists called on the DNR and Army Corps to deny permits for Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline expansion proposal. Local community members met at the DNR building in critter hats designed to demonstrate the wildlife at risk from the pipeline. After remarks, they delivered an art project and a box containing petitions calling on the DNR to reject Enbridge’s proposed new segment of the existing Line 5 pipeline. The petitions were also sent to the Army Corps of Engineers.
“Enbridge’s proposed Line 5 expansion risks Wisconsin waters and wetlands, locks in fossil fuel infrastructure, and violates the treaty rights of Wisconsin’s tribes. Despite demands by the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Ojibwe to move the pipeline outside of the Bad River watershed, calls by Wisconsinites to shut it down, and the science of climate change, Enbridge continues to propose investing in its 68-year old Line 5 pipeline,” explained Elizabeth Ward, Director of the Sierra Club Wisconsin.
Activists delivered over 1,300 petitions to Department of Natural Resources Secretary Preston Cole and the Army Corps of Engineers. Additionally, a large art collage made up of art created by Wisconsinites across Wisconsin that depicts the risks of the pipeline was delivered. The people who delivered the petitions were wearing hats depicting fish, otters, turtles, and other animals that could be jeopardized by a spill on Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, a pipeline that has already spilled over a million gallons of oil.
Dianne Brakarsh, of 350-Madison’s Art Collective Team, describes the importance of art in the movement. “We use art in our messaging because it speaks to the heart and soul of this issue - the fact that an approval of the Line 5 reroute will endanger many species, of which humans are only one, as well as fragile, precious ecosystems. People are using their creativity to call on the DNR to reject Line 5." In spring, the Art Collective Team demonstrated the importance of the animals and ecosystems at risk in a parade around the Capitol. You can view and use the video of the parade here: https://tinyurl.com/CritterParade
A spill on the Line 5 pipeline could contaminate the waterways and wetlands in the area, including the Bad River, the White River, the Kakagon Sloughs, and even Lake Superior. The 1842 U.S. treaty with Chippewa Tribes guarantees them the right to hunt, fish, and gather in ceded territory through which the Line 5 expansion is routed. This right is nullified if a spill results in contamination of the resources there. Finally, an investment in the pipeline like this new segment, could extend the life of the Line 5 pipeline and lock in more fossil fuel use, contrary to the Governor’s Task Force on Climate Change recommendation to avoid all new fossil fuel infrastructure and at a time when the world needs to rapidly cut its carbon emissions.
Abby Novinska-Lois, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Health Professionals for Climate Action explained the risks to the health of Wisconsinites posed by the pipeline, "We have the clean energy technology available now to improve the health of Midwest families immediately. By switching to 100% clean energy in Wisconsin alone, we could avoid $21 billion in health damages every single year. We could see lower hospitalizations, fewer heart attacks, and less lives lost immediately. Continuing to invest in outdated and harmful fossil fuel infrastructure, like Line 5, is holding us back from the clean water, air, and better health our communities deserve."
In mid-December, the DNR released a draft of its environmental impact statement (DEIS) and is currently accepting public comments until March 4, 2022. The public is invited to submit comments on the DEIS by attending the public hearing on February 2 or writing to the DNR at DNROEEACOMMENTS@WI.GOV or by mail to: Line 5 EIS Comments, DNR (EA/7)," 101 South Webster Street, Madison, WI 53707.
Line 5 is the same pipeline facing fierce scrutiny in Michigan for the risk that the 68-year-old pipeline poses to Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Michigan Governor Whitmer has ordered Enbridge to stop operating the pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, but Enbridge has refused to comply.
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About Sierra Club Wisconsin- The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. The Sierra Club - Wisconsin Chapter’s 20,000 members work to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit http://www.sierraclub.org/wisconsin.
About 350-Madison- 350 Madison is the Madison, WI local action group of the international organization 350.org. 350 Madison is an unstoppable movement of everyday people, working together to build a future powered by 100% renewable energy and a reduction in greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Collective, grassroots action is essential for achieving climate justice and bringing about the changes that will solve the climate crisis. We must join together to pressure government, community, and business leaders to rapidly implement the far-reaching changes we need. 350 Madison offers a wide range of meaningful ways to engage on climate change. Together, we are making a difference! Learn more at https://350madison.org
Language of the Petition:
The Line 5 Pipeline threatens Tribal land, Treaty Rights in the ceded territory, the Great Lakes, and the climate. The pipeline, which is long past its lifespan, is currently pumping tar sands oil under expired permits. Despite the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s request that Enbridge remove Line 5 and not put a pipeline in the Bad River watershed, Enbridge has moved forward with their reroute just south of the reservation. This expansion is within the watershed, and the risk to the treasured ecosystem remains.
If a rupture were to occur on the current or proposed Line 5, it could be devastating. All of the waterways in the area flow into Lake Superior and are critical for the water-rich area, especially with the importance of the wild rice in the area. The local economy, which relies on tourism, would also be impacted by a spill.
Additionally, as clearly articulated in Governor Evers’ Task Force on Climate Change report, we need to be moving away from fossil fuel infrastructure, not investing in new infrastructure. Please work to ensure that the Line 5 pipeline is decommissioned and removed, not expanded.