Energy company Enbridge has finally started work on rerouting an aging oil pipeline around a tribal reservation in northern Wisconsin after seven years of legal wrangling, moving ahead despite two new lawsuits that still could delay the project indefinitely.
About 12 miles (19 kilometers) of Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline runs across the Bad River Band of Lake Superior's reservation along the shores of Lake Superior. The tribe sued Enbridge in 2019 to force the company to remove the section from its land, arguing land easements allowing operation expired six years earlier and the 73-year-old pipeline was prone to a catastrophic spill.
