Anonymous submission to Unsalted Counter Info.
The forest grows uneasy in the nest of the thunderbirds. Everyday there arrives more machines, more pipe, and more men. So many men that they have a whole camp for their corrupt consciouses. The forest listens as each day brings with it more noise than the last. The sounds of machines humming, men yelling, and trees falling. The forest heard the men talking of a plan to start a new wave of construction by the end of the year. There hasn’t been this much noise on the shores of the medicine river for almost a generation, since the fight for the water against goegebic taconite. The only noise missing is the crackling sound of campfires and the joyous music of the defenders of the earth camping amongst the trees. But just because there is no camp, does not mean that action isn’t being taken. Every week the forest is introduced to new allies. People from all over have been making plans to resist the development of this black snake and have been coming self sufficient and autonomous to the shores of Gichigami to take action. You and your friends are invited to follow suit. The forest is waiting to meet you.
***To see more scouting information and photos on Enbridge’s current activities on the re-route, or to make reports of construction activity, visit watchline5.com > WI Monitoring
***For a KML file of the re-route map go to watchline5.com > WI-Maps
And a Press Release on https://watchline5.com/category/updates/
Enbridge Starts Construction Related Activities for Re-Route of Line 5 Pipeline
ASHLAND, WI – Over the past few weeks, the Canadian pipeline company Enbridge Energy has commenced activities such as logging, preparing construction matting, and securing temporary worker housing around the Bad River reservation in anticipation of re-routing a segment of their Line 5 pipeline. While the Army Corps of Engineers issued a federal permit to Enbridge this past week for construction related to the proposed re-route, an order issued by Administrative Law Judge Angela Chaput Foy on February 28, 2025, prohibits Enbridge from moving forward with full construction pending the outcome of a contested case hearing with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources over the project’s permits.
Based on photographs and observations taken by local residents [attached], as well as property data disclosed in Enbridge’s Environmental Impact Statement, lots leased by Enbridge close to the proposed corridor now contain stacks of pipe and construction matting. Active logging on Enbridge parcels has also begun in the last few weeks.
Temporary worker housing locations for out-of-town workers— often referred to as “man camps”— have been established in Cedar, WI, and Ashland, WI, and another is being constructed in Marengo, WI. The camp in Cedar, WI is actively hosting Enbridge workers, according to local residents. The Coyote Hills campground and trailer park in Marengo has been leased by the company, and neighbors have been told the trailers are intended for out-of-town pipeline workers. Enbridge has explicitly stated they will not build “man camps” for the Line 5 reroute project, likely due to the advocacy of the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women movement showing connections between man camps and increased sex trafficking in local communities. Enbridge is claiming that these campgrounds of temporary workers are not man camps. They have not commented on what exactly makes them different.
In addition, Enbridge workers have cordoned off portions of the North Country Trail, which is a public right-of-way. Enbridge is leasing a property in Gurney that the trail runs through for storing construction equipment (near fire sign 13366 N). To see more information and photos on the aforementioned activities or make reports of construction activity related to the proposed re-route, visit watchline5.com > WI Monitoring. The Bad River Band initiated a contested case hearing against the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in December of 2024 following the approval of DNR permits for the Line 5 reroute project. Bad River contends that the proposed reroute poses an imminent risk to the wetland-rich ecology of the Bad River watershed and to the Band’s usufrutuary rights, which are protected by treaties signed with the United States federal government. Midwest Environmental Advocates, petitioning with the Sierra Club, 350 Wisconsin, and the League of Women Voters, have also contested the permits. A decision in the contested case proceeding is expected by December.
RELEVANT RESOURCES
https://midwestadvocates.org/us-army-corps-ignores-key-step-in-line-5-permit-approval-process/
https://www.wpr.org/news/army-corps-of-engineers-grants-federal-permit-for-enbridges-line-5-reroute
