"EPA Agrees With Bad River Tribe on Enbridge Oil Pipeline," 25 Jul 2022

... The site is part of a 12-mile stretch where the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has been embroiled in a yearslong legal battle with Enbridge Inc., to remove Line 5 from tribal lands.

... Naomi Tillison, the tribe’s director of the Mashkiiziibii Natural Resources Department, said the tribal council previously rejected renewal of pipeline easements due to the threat of an oil spill. “That’s why the council said we are not going to do these,” Tillison said. “We need to protect our water. We need to protect our wild rice beds. We need to protect our fisheries.”

... [T]he U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the state’s review failed to fully analyze the ways in which the project could harm the environment, as well as tribal resources and treaty rights.

... “Enbridge is committed to protecting the environment — and has proposed a 41-mile reroute, chosen because it minimizes environmental impacts and protects critical resources,” said Michael Barnes, an Enbridge spokesperson. “Less than one-tenth of an acre of wetlands will be permanently impacted by the project.”

... The EPA finds that impact is closer to 34 acres of mostly forested wetlands that would be permanently changed into emergent wetlands.

... Enbridge has said the company will not bar tribal members from lawfully exercising treaty rights where the route crosses public land. However, the company said access to the route’s right-of-way will be restricted during pipeline construction to ensure public safety.