Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By P.J. GLISSON
The building of a rerouted segment of Enbridge’s Line 5 is moving closer to reality, according to a company spokesperson.
“The permitting process is moving forward,” said Juli Kellner on Tuesday by phone.
She was referring to a segment of the line that is being redirected away from the Bad River Tribe of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians at the request of the tribe based in Ashland, Wisconsin.
The 41-mile rerouting begins at a currently operating segment of the line in Ashland and veers south around tribal land to the area of Mellen, in Ashland County, before continuing into the west side of Iron County, where it rejoins the existing line.
“We have 100% agreement with the landowners,” said Kellner of the new route, which she stated was determined, after studying multiple options, as one that “will minimize environmental impacts while protecting critical resources.”
She explained that the current Line 5 pipeline crosses approximately 12 miles of the Bad River Reservation and “has been safely operating since 1953.”
However, in 2019, the tribe sued to have the pipeline removed from the reservation.
Toward that end, Kellner said that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are involved in the permitting process. Once it is complete, she said construction of the rerouted line will start.
She could not suggest, definitively, when construction will begin or end, but she assured that project planning already is in place.
“We’ve already signed a construction labor agreement,” said Kellner of the company’s intention to work with a Wisconsin contractor. “It will be a union project. We estimate that there will be 700 construction workers.”
Moreover, she added that “roughly $46 million will be spent specifically with Native-owned businesses and training and hiring Native American workers, who will make up at least 10% of the project workforce.”
Kellner, who is a communications expert for Enbridge, also noted that a study on the financial implications of the pending construction project predicts for northern Wisconsin an economic impact of $135 million from the purchase of construction supplies, gasoline, food, etc.
An additional rise of $6.4 million is predicted from tax revenue in the same region.
According to Kellner, the entire Line 5 is 645 miles long, originating at Enbridge’s terminal in Superior, Wisconsin, and terminating in Sarnia, Canada, after crossing near Detroit.
In a Tuesday email, Kellner added of Line 5, “It is a critical source of 540,000 barrels per day of crude oil and natural gas liquids supplying 10 regional refineries in Ontario, Quebec, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, producing transportation fuels and countless consumer goods. The pipeline also supplies Plains Midstream propane fractionators in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ontario, Canada.”
In a separate email last week, Kellner also assured that Enbridge had filed spill and sediment modeling reports for the proposed Line 5 Segment Relocation Project in northern Wisconsin with that state’s DNR.
The purpose of those reports was to assure the related safety of Lake Superior.
“Spill modeling for the Line 5 Segment Relocation Project in northern Wisconsin confirms there is no credible scenario where crude oil would reach Lake Superior from the relocated segment,” stated Kellner. “In the one-in-15 million chance there is a full-bore rupture on this segment, crude oil would not reach Lake Superior even after 48 hours with no emergency response at all.”
She added, “In reality, the pipeline would be shut down and valves closed in 13 minutes or less and crews would be dispatched immediately to contain and clean up any spill.”
As Kellner explained, “This extensive, state-of-the-art computational spill and sediment modeling was done by RPS, a firm with over 40 years of experience. Their results confirm the proposed route is the best of the alternatives based on the relatively shorter construction length, and a reduced potential to impact the Bad River Reservation, stands of wild rice, Lake Superior, and populated areas.”
Line 3, an additional Enbridge conduit, runs from Hardistry, Alberta, Canada, to Superior, Wisconsin. It runs 1,031 miles and has operated since 1968.
In recent years, in more than one region, Enbridge has worked to create a balance between environmental and tribal entities who oppose its presence, versus union and business interests who tout its positive effect on energy supplies and general financial interests.
