Just such an expansion project is proposed by Enbridge for a pipeline that goes from Superior on a southeasterly path right through Wisconsin and south. The proposal for this Enbridge Line 61 has escaped notice until recently. With nine new pumping stations and new storage facilities, it would increase capacity from 400,000 to 560,000 barrels per day in 2014 and 1.2 million barrels in 2015 — significantly more than the 830,000 barrels per day proposed for the Keystone XL pipeline.

This proposal doesn't present a test for weighing the process versus the product, simply because Enbridge has such a terrible environmental track record. The company has had significant spills in recent years in Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Illinois and North Dakota. The worst was the Kalamazoo River spill in July 2010, when about 20,000 barrels of heavy crude flowed into a tributary of Michigan's Kalamazoo River. The cleanup has cost more than $1 billion, and it's not done.

Chemicals used to dilute the thick oil sludge in order to move it through Enbridge's pipeline in Wisconsin further increase the risks to our state's lands, water and inhabitants.