U.S. Judge Ordered Enbridge Inc. to Close Down Wisconsin Pipeline

Canadian energy giant Enbridge Inc. has been ordered by a U.S. judge to shut down sections of its oil pipeline that crosses indigenous land in Wisconsin within three years, as well as to pay the tribe roughly $5.2 million in trespassing damages and a share of its profits until the pipeline is shut down.

The injunction was issued on Friday in Madison by U.S. District Judge William Conley. After powerful spring rains damaged a riverbank shielding the pipe, the Bad River Band requested an urgent shutdown, and the judge granted their request a little over a month later.

Through the Great Lakes region, the pipeline transports 540,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada.

On Saturday, a representative for Enbridge announced that the company will be appealing the judge’s decision.

Conley stated in the ruling that an unexpected shutdown might cause oil shortages and price rises in the United States, and that “given the environmental risks, the court will order Enbridge to adopt a more conservative shutdown and purge plan.”

In court documents submitted before the judge’s order, the company argued that suddenly shutting down the pipeline would lead to “extreme market turmoil.” However, Enbridge has yet to obtain the necessary federal permits to reroute the pipeline away from the tribal reservation.

A pipeline breach over the 19-kilometer (12-mile) stretch that crosses the reservation would threaten fishing waters, wild rice habitat, and possibly underground aquifers, according to the tribe.

In 2019, the tribe filed a lawsuit against Enbridge, claiming that riverbank erosion represented a “looming disaster” that justified removing the pipeline and that the business no longer had the legal right to operate on the land due to the expiration of pipeline easements in 2013.

Last year, Conley established that the pipeline was trespassing on the territory, but he resisted ordering the shutdown out of public and foreign policy concerns. In November, the judge ruled that severe erosion was unlikely to produce a breach but ordered the parties to prepare a shutdown plan.