Shut Down Line 5: No stream crossing permits for Enbridge

Comment submission on four Enbridge permit applications

I’m submitting a public comment regarding four of Enbridge Energy’s Wisconsin DNR individual permit Applications for streambank erosion control at: - Unnamed Tributary to Brunsweiler River (Docket Number IP-NO-2025-2-N03672) - Beartrap Creek (Docket Number IP-NO-2025-2-N03673) - Little Beartrap Creek (Docket Number IP-NO-2025-2-03679) - Bay City Creek (Docket Number IP-NO-2025-2-03680) In approving these permits the DNR would allow Enbridge, a foreign corporation, to jeopardize Wisconsin's waterways by continuing to operate an outdated and hazardous oil pipeline, and extending that pipeline across 41.1 miles of previously unaffected land. I urge you to deny these permits. Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline transports 22 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas liquids across 645 miles of countryside every single day — from Superior, Wisconsin through the Bad River Reservation, where it’s operating illegally, under the Straits of Mackinac, and down to refineries in Sarnia, Ontario. Originally built in 1953, this aging line — which has long outlived its anticipated lifespan — has significantly deteriorated over the course of the last several decades and poses catastrophic risks to the neighboring farmland, pristine natural areas, valuable freshwater sources (including 400 rivers, streams, and wetlands), and tribal lands that it cuts through. In its lifespan, Line 5 has spilled dozens of times and released over 1 million gallons of oil. The projects Enbridge proposes are permanent stream bank stabilization structures and the proposed reroute cannot be finished without them. Despite the necessity of these projects to the overall Reroute, Enbridge has failed to secure the necessary property interests at the four proposed project locations to be eligible for the permits it has applied for. If these permits are approved they will violate the rights of nearby riparians and the public, and facilitate the continued operation of Line 5, putting the people, land, and waters of northern Wisconsin at risk for decades to come. The time to transition away from our dependence on fossil fuels is now, and that goal cannot be accomplished by continuing to invest in dirty infrastructure and perpetuating the status quo. It also appears that Enbridge has mischaracterized the proposed reroute as a solution to their illegal trespass on the Bad River Reservation, when the Bad River Band has repeatedly made it clear that they oppose the reroute project in the Bad River watershed. These projects threaten tribal sovereignty and treaty rights and these concerns must be taken seriously. We also saw the consequences of Enbridge’s construction with the Line 3 project in Minnesota. From devastating and unfixable aquifer breaches to frac outs during horizontal directional drilling, the risk cannot be overstated. Enbridge plans to use the same techniques with the Line 5 reroute project and these permits facilitate the harm that may come with that construction. The area this project is proposed in also has a history of flooding that wiped out roads, cut people off from services and sustained significant damage, some of which has never been repaired. Continuing to allow Line 5 to operate here is exceedingly dangerous, when studies have shown there would be minimal economic impact in Wisconsin if it were to shut down. Please deny these permits.