Enbridge responds to Indigenous band’s challenge to Line 5 pipeline

Alberta-based Enbridge Inc. is pushing back hard against an Indigenous band’s efforts to shut down the cross-border Line 5 pipeline.

The Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa wants a federal judge in Wisconsin to order the pipeline closed, fearing a rupture on its territory due to spring flooding.

But in new court documents, Enbridge says the band is overstating the risk and engaging in what the latest filings describe as “counter-factual speculation.”

The company says even under current conditions, the chances of a rupture are miniscule and the band has not proven otherwise.

The band argues that the erosion at the location where the pipeline crosses the Bad River, which feeds into Lake Superior, has been so significant that it poses an “imminent threat” to the watershed.

District court Judge William Conley has scheduled a hearing for Thursday before deciding on the band’s request for an emergency injunction.