Lee Bergquist

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A northern Wisconsin Indian tribe wants pipeline company Enbridge Energy off of its tribal land.

The Bad River band of Lake Superior Chippewa has notified Enbridge that it will not renew right-of-way easements that expired in 2013.

The tribe also called for Enbridge to decommission the pipeline on tribal land and in the surrounding Bad River watershed that empties into Lake Superior.

The move casts uncertainty over the future of the pipeline, known as Line 5, if an accommodation can't be reached.

The pipeline moves petroleum from North Dakota and Canada. After crossing a strip of far northern Wisconsin, including tribal land, the line runs across the Upper Peninsula, crosses the Straits of Mackinac to lower Michigan before terminating in Sarnia, Ont.

In addition to the tribal action, Line 5 is drawing closer scrutiny because of heightened political concerns over pipelines nationally.

In North Dakota, environmentalists and Indian tribes are protesting completion of the Dakota Access pipeline. Enbridge has a potential stake in the pipeline.

But because of protests and the decision by the U.S. Army Corps to deny an easement that would allow the current owner of Dakota Access to cross the Missouri River, Enbridge recently said it was delaying a $1.5 billion investment in the line from Dec. 31 to March 31.

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In Michigan, Line 5 has sparked controversy because of worries about the potential that the six-decades-old underwater pipeline could leak and contaminate Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

As for the pipeline and the Bad River tribe, Brad Shamla, vice president of U.S. operations, declined to comment on what would happen if no agreement could be reached. "It's really too early to speculate on that," Shamla said.

The Bad River Tribal Council passed a resolution on Jan. 4 not to renew easements on 11 of 15 parcels that cross the reservation.

The main concern: the environmental threat to the Bad River watershed if the pipeline leaked.

Tribal Chairman Robert Blanchard said in a statement that Line 5 "threatens the rights of people living in our region." He said the tribe will meet with local, state and federal officials to evaluate how to remove the line.

"We don’t need anyone to tell us that pipelines corrode and the adverse impact that they can have," Dylan Jennings, a tribal member, said in an interview.

He was referring to the 2010 spill of an Enbridge pipeline on the Kalamazoo River — the largest inland spill in U.S. history. The company agreed to a settlement of more than $170 million and spent $1.2 billion on the cleanup.

Shamla said there have been no spills on the tribal lands during his 25-year history with the company.

But in 2003, nearly 19,000 gallons of crude oil spilled on the frozen Nemadji River when a pipeline ruptured at Enbridge's terminal in Superior. Because the river was frozen, most of the oil was recovered.

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In May, the Detroit Free Press reported that a 1980 incident involving a small spill in the Upper Peninsula was producing environmental problems decades later. When Enbridge revisited the site in 2011 to check conditions, it had to remove 825 tons of contaminated soil and install groundwater monitoring wells.

The incident raised questions about the company's initial cleanup efforts. But Enbridge, then known as Lakehead Pipeline Co., said it followed all standards and requirements at the time.

According to the company, recent inspections show that Line 5 is in excellent condition.

Even though the easement agreements lapsed three years ago, the tribe's vote caught the company by surprise, Shamla said. He said the easements represent about 20% of all of the easements the company has with the tribe. Other arrangements extend into the 2040s.

Enbridge is emphasizing the economic importance of the line. It transports 540,000 barrels of light crude and natural gas liquids per day, including 65% of the propane used in the UP. "It's a pretty significant energy infrastructure, Shamla said.

In the event the pipeline is lost, Shamla said there is inadequate capacity on Enbridge pipelines that run the length of Wisconsin from Superior to the Illinois line.

"The ability to just take that and swing that to another pipeline would require significantly more infrastructure," he said.